Early in 2024 I was asked to meet with the school leaders at GEMS World Academy - one of the premium schools in Dubai. The original school had been opened 15 years before, and the growth in pupil numbers meant that they were having to create a completely separate campus for all senior pupils. Conveniently there was an existing former school only a few hundred yards away that was vacant, and mostly suitable in terms of accommodation. However, some extensive remodelling was going to be needed.
At that initial meeting it became clear that the school was looking for an innovative solution for their senior pupils, all of whom study IB. While the original school had a suite of music classrooms and practice rooms, this new campus was going to focus on the use of technology to facilitate an immersive environment where students could work independently, especially at diploma level (DP).
In addition, the school was going to need pianos for performance, in two locations: the school foyer, an open, welcoming space where pupils could hold small, informal concerts; and the auditorium, which was to offer a more formal location for concerts and drama performances. We were able to source two immaculate pre-owned Steinway grand pianos for the two spaces: a Model B for the foyer, and a Model D concert grand. The only option in order to protect them was to fly them out to Dubai in a temperature-controlled environment, protected in crates.
In August I arrived at the school in advance of the rest of our team, to check everything was ready for us. It was slightly challenging to find that the floor and stage in the Auditorium still hadn't been completed!
However, Dubai is one place where seemingly miraculous things can happen overnight, and it wasn't long until the Auditorium was ready for the Steinway to be wheeled in and placed on the stage.
The rest of the team from Chamberlain Music flew out a few days later to look after the installation of all the equipment that had been ordered. A few hectic days followed, and though it almost reached 50 degrees outside, we were thankful that for the most part the air conditioning in the school was operational! Our piano technician Max concentrated on unpacking and setting up the two grand pianos, while the rest of us began work on the other areas.
The first space that I started working on was the Recording Studio suite in the basement. Central to this was a Control Room and Live Room, though there was also connectivity to 5 practice rooms on the same floor. The system we installed is based around an Allen & Heath SQ6 digital mixer, connected to an Apple Mac Studio computer running Logic Pro. Monitoring is done through a pair of Yamaha HS8 high quality monitor speakers.
Adjacent to this is the Live Room, and here we supplied and set up a range of instruments for students to use, including guitars, amplifiers, drums and a stage piano.
Although these two rooms had some basic acoustic treatment, we felt it was necessary to 'tune' the room using a range of diffusion and absorption panels, made by Vicoustic. While they have the added advantage of looking very attractive, their primary purpose is to remove any problem frequencies within the spaces, thus making the recording process that much easier.
Some of the practice rooms were equipped with keyboards, but three of them were equipped as breakout spaces or group rooms, for activities such as those recommended by Musical Futures International. As well as a keyboard or piano, digital drum kit and guitar, the Zoom L12 mixer and Boss Cube Street stereo amplifier enable students to hear themselves and to record any compositions or performances without resorting to using the main studio.
Upstairs, in the music classroom we installed 4 Apple iMac workstations, each with keyboard and audio interface. We also supplied 4 sets of Roland Aira synths, which can be interconnected to facilitate composition and live performance.
On the same floor, we had been asked to equip the new Media Room, which was to be used for video and podcasting activities. Once again an Apple Mac Studio was the choice for processing the video content, connected to cameras via a Blackmagic ATEM video controller. As well as high end studio cameras, we also installed a range of different LED lights to provide fully adjustable lighting in the room, and to work with the green screen. As in the Recording Studio, the ideal solution for holding all the mixing equipment was one of the British-made AKA Design desks: in this case the ProMedia XB version.
In the same space we set up a podcasting station, with tables and microphones for two, and a MacBook Pro with PreSonus audio interface for recording audio.
Finally, in terms of what we had been asked to do, we were able to set up a mobile sound system, to be used outdoors and also around the school. The ideal solution was a set of PreSonus CDL speakers (both 'tops' and 'subs'), as they behave almost like much more expensive line array speakers, providing excellent coverage width-ways, and at the same time throwing the sound to the back of any audience, so that everyone can hear equally well.
All in all it has been a very successful project, with some unique challenges but a lot of satisfaction in providing a range of solutions that were both innovative and educationally relevant.
For more information on the Zoom L-12 mixer as an ideal component in any breakout space, check out our article here.
For more information of how to manage breakout spaces, see this article.
