Coffee and a catch up with Nick: "There's something for everyone in the music industry"
We are so pleased to be relaunching our Sound Check Programme again in 2023. We sat down for a coffee with the Head of Live Events at Future Yard, and the Sound Check Programme Lead Tutor, Nick Simcock, to get the lowdown on all things Sound Check, creative careers and getting into gigs!
From sound engineers to event managers, lighting designers to box office, this programme will introduce young people to the range of job roles and skills you need to make a career in the live music industry. Based at Future Yard, a community music venue on Argyle Street in Birkenhead, Sound Check will support learners to build skills and knowledge in a real industry setting. A core programme of workshops runs alongside the opportunity to gain hands-on skills at live events.
Sound Check is an industry skills programme that provides an entry level route for local young people into careers in the live music industry, with a traineeship programme running in partnership with The Learning Foundry.
The Sound Check course with The Learning Foundry gives young people an opportunity to people who want to run all the backstage elements of live events and concerts, with practical and shadowing experience of all the backstage crew from sound and light engineers to event managers. There is no traditional job advert to be a sound engineer, in fact a lot of careers in the music industry have hidden career paths. The Sound Check course gives young people access into the music industry, sometimes in behind the scenes roles they didn’t even know existed.
I wish there was something like The Learning Foundry available to me when I first got into the music industry. Although I also started behind the scenes, it was much more difficult. I started off working with band merchandise, working in the box office and even flyering nightclubs until the early hours of the morning. It resulted in me going on tour with bands, then running events and festivals. For the last ten years I have run my own music venue in Leeds.
The young people who take part in the Sound Check course are supported in a way that I wasn’t. Students are taught what to do and what to expect in a controlled, safe environment. They have time to make mistakes – instead of doing it first at a live event! Young people learn through traditional teaching, hands on experience and shadowing. They get to see professionals do what they are training to do. They get used to performing under pressure but always with the support of a professional. You don’t see this in a lot of other places.
It's great to see the confidence of the young people grow throughout the programme. We teach all the elements separately and I love seeing the moment when it all makes sense to the student and all the elements come together. At the end of the course, students run their own live event, they run their own show that people have paid to come to. We then see confident trainees leaving the programme with the right skills, and these graduates are successful! Some have been employed in some amazing venues such as the Liverpool Philharmonic and even by Future Yard!
Think a career in Sound Check could be for you? Apply here: Sound Check @ Future Yard (google.com)
Got any questions? Get in touch with a member of our team on: info@thelearningfoundry.co.uk or via phone 0300 123 8088