Guildhall School’s Recording and AV team wins three awards for installation of ground-breaking technology during pandemic
Mondo DR and AV Awards recognise world-class broadcast network that can capture teaching and performance from over 50 rooms and venues within the School, as well as enabling low latency rehearsal and performance
Guildhall School is delighted to announce that its Recording and Audio Visual team has won three awards for ground-breaking technology installed in the School during the pandemic.
In summer 2020, Guildhall School made its largest investment in recording and broadcast infrastructure to date. A £350,000 investment enabled by the City of London’s Priorities Investment Pot resulted in the creation of a world-class broadcast network and suite, including one of the best analogue mix rooms in London. Partnering with industry-leading manufacturers Solid State Logic, Newtek and Audinate, a new network capable of capturing teaching and performance from over 50 Guildhall School venues, rehearsal rooms and classrooms was installed in under six weeks. This new technology was developed and designed by Guildhall School’s dedicated Recording & AV team, who have experienced rapid growth in both responsibility and staffing during the pandemic.
The first public usage of this cutting-edge technology was the School’s prestigious Gold Medal final, broadcast in September 2020. To allow for social distancing, the musicians’ performances took place across four different spaces across two buildings at the School, synced using low latency technology. The new network allows musicians in different spaces within the School to play with virtually no delay in audio and video. It is believed that Guildhall School is the first institution in the world to use this technology for the rehearsal and performance of a full orchestra.
Since the installation of the network, the department has broadcast over 250 Guildhall performances and has reached a combined online audience of close to half a million views.
Subsequently, the work of the Recording and AV team has been recognised at two of the world’s leading technology industry awards events. The Mondo DR awards celebrate technological installation across Europe and Asia. Guildhall School’s project won ‘Best Performance Venue’ in July 2021. More recently, the team picked up 2 gongs at the AV Awards, winning ‘Best Education Project’ & ‘Best Entertainment / Event Project’. The shortlist for the latter of these featured a number of multi-million-pound projects such as Dubai Expo 2020, world renowned opera festivals and international arena projects, which made the recognition of the School’s project even more impressive.
The broadcast industry is a heavily male-dominated world, where access to training and opportunity is limited. Less than 5% of audio-visual engineers are non-male. Guildhall's Recording and AV team are committed to ensuring the next generation of broadcast engineers more widely reflect the society in which we live, and is proud of the success of its young, gender-diverse team, who are leading the sector in the School’s delivery of online events to a global audience.