Waterbear Brighton Campus
Studio & Venue Partner Facilities
Record, rehearse, and perform across Brighton’s professional studio network. Free access to Small Pond Studios, Brighton Electric, and Alphabet gives you real-world experience across Brighton’s active music scene.
Access Brighton studios and venues citywide
WaterBear – The College of Music Brighton provides extensive citywide studio and venue partner facilities including professional recording studios, rehearsal spaces, and our own live venues. We also believe in preparing you for the realities of working across the wider music industry. By partnering with Brighton’s established studios and venues, we extend your learning environment across the city. You’ll experience how different studios operate, learn to adapt to varied equipment setups, and understand the commercial realities of session work. This approach mirrors how professional musicians actually work: moving between studios, adapting to different workflows, and building relationships across multiple facilities.
These partnerships give you access to specialist equipment, diverse recording environments, live performance stages, and real-world industry experience. Working across multiple studios and venues teaches you to navigate the professional studio landscape and live performance spaces with confidence. You’ll understand booking procedures, studio etiquette, session dynamics, backline setup, stage management, and how to get the best results in any recording or performance environment. These skills matter whether you’re recording your own projects, performing live, working as a session musician, managing backline as a tech, or building a career as a producer or engineer.
Brighton Partner studio and venue benefits
Real-World Studio Navigation
Professional musicians work across multiple studios throughout their careers. Session players adapt to different facilities. Producers choose studios based on gear, acoustics, and creative atmosphere. By working across WaterBear’s own studios and partner facilities, you’ll develop the flexibility and confidence to walk into any recording environment and deliver great work.
Industry Experience and Commercial Pathways
Partner studios are commercial operations with regular client bookings, staff teams, and professional workflows giving you invaluable insights and experience within the industry. You might assist on sessions, help with studio maintenance, support live events, or shadow experienced engineers. These opportunities often lead to paid freelance work, industry contacts, and pathways into employment after graduation.
Diverse Equipment & Workflows
Different studios solve problems differently. Small Pond’s analogue chain teaches signal flow and vintage tone-shaping. Brighton Electric’s multi-room setup shows how complex facilities manage multiple projects simultaneously. Alphabet’s live sound focus develops real-time mixing skills under pressure. Combined with WaterBear’s own facilities, you’ll experience the full spectrum of modern recording and performance environments.
Cost-Free Professional Access
Commercial studio time is expensive, often £30 to £50+ per hour. As a WaterBear student, you access Small Pond’s rehearsal rooms and recording studio free of charge. Brighton Electric and Alphabet sessions are integrated into your timetabled teaching. That’s thousands of pounds worth of professional studio access included in your degree, letting you focus on developing your craft rather than worrying about session costs.
Networking in Active Music Hubs
These facilities buzz with working musicians. Between your own sessions, you’ll encounter touring bands, independent producers, and local artists navigating the same creative challenges you face. Small Pond’s common areas, Brighton Electric’s café, and Alphabet’s bar aren’t just social spaces. They’re where collaborations form and opportunities emerge organically.
Performance Students
Rehearse across multiple professional spaces. Develop live skills on Alphabet’s stage. Learn how different venues affect your performance. Gain industry experience in live sound and backline support.
Songwriting Students
Access diverse recording environments for demos. Experience how room acoustics and equipment choices affect your songs. Build relationships with studios where you might record future projects professionally.
Production Students
Work on vintage Neve consoles and modern digital systems. Learn how different studios approach signal flow, monitoring, and mix environments. Shadow experienced engineers in commercial sessions. Develop adaptability essential for freelance production work.
Electronic Music Students
Explore different production environments and equipment setups. Understand how live electronic performance translates across venues. Experience specialist DJ booths and digital performance systems.
Music Business Students
Witness venue operations, studio logistics, and session economics firsthand. Understand equipment riders, technical specifications, and artist requirements. Learn how professional bookings, client relations, and facility management work in real commercial contexts.
Partner studios create pathways into professional practice through:
Studio Assistant Roles
- Session preparation and equipment maintenance
- Client liaison and booking coordination
- Recording session observation and assistance
- Mix room setup and technical support
Live Sound & Venue Work
- Sound check support at Alphabet and Brighton Electric
- Backline management and stage setup
- FOH and monitor mixing assistance during events
- Lighting and visual production support
Commercial Session Exposure
- Observe professional engineers at work
- Learn session dynamics and client management
- Understand studio economics and booking systems
- Build industry contacts for future freelance opportunities
The music industries team can help identify and secure work experience that aligns with your career goals.
Small Pond Facilities
Located 10 minutes’ walk from WaterBear HQ, Small Pond is where WaterBear students access free rehearsal bookings, recording sessions, and analogue production projects. The facility’s vintage Neve console and extensive amp collection provide distinctive recording character that complements modern digital workflows.
Small Pond’s analogue workflow teaches you techniques that digital systems handle differently. You’ll understand how vintage gear shapes tone, learn to work within analogue limitations creatively, and experience the different sonic character that makes producers choose these tools for specific projects. The 8 rehearsal rooms and central Brighton location create a collaborative musician’s hangout where networking happens naturally making it a focal part of the Brighton music scene.
Brighton Electric Facilities
Situated 1.4 miles from WaterBear HQ (32-minute walk or quick bus journey via Lewes Road), Brighton Electric hosts WaterBear’s pre-production modules. Students gain access to multi-room recording facilities, live venue operations, and professional mix suites, while the café and bar areas create natural networking opportunities within Brighton’s music community.
Brighton Electric has worked with The Cure, Royal Blood, and Foals. WaterBear partners with this facility to deliver pre-production teaching in spaces that mirror professional studio environments, preparing you for session work beyond graduation. The multi-room complex shows you how professional facilities manage multiple projects simultaneously, from tracking to mixing to mastering.
Alphabet Facilities
Just 4 minutes’ walk from WaterBear HQ in a historic former Gothic chapel building, Alphabet delivers WaterBear’s Live Performance Workshop lessons. Students learn stagecraft and live sound in a professional venue environment, where the unique acoustics and HiFi-focused sound system offer specialist performance training.
Alphabet’s former chapel acoustics and focus on pristine sound quality make it ideal for understanding how venue architecture affects live performance. You’ll learn sound check procedures, monitor mixing, and performance dynamics in conditions professional artists experience. The intimate setting teaches you to connect with audiences in small venues, where every detail matters. As well as working with Alphabet, we collaborate with numerous venues across Brighton, alongside our own live music spaces, the WaterBear Venue and WaterBear Music Bar, to deliver regular WaterBear and student-led events and provide work experience opportunities.
Please note: The use of outside venues and studios is subject to change. They are selected based on the positive impact we believe they will have on student experience and review the facilities we use on a regular basis, considering student feedback. If working with a particular venue or studio is important to you, please contact the Programme Manager to discuss.