If you were in Montreal in October 2016 you had to be aware that the Red Bull Music Academy was in town. Ads promoting the carefully designed events for the Academy were hard to miss.
You think you know the Red Bull Music Academy? If like most people you noticed the public events, the shows, the lectures and other artistic events you would believe it’s a festival of some sort. Well you are WRONG … and right at the same time.
Let me explain: the Red Bull Music Academy or RBMA has been around since 1998 and it’s amazing! The RBMA selects 60 artists (70 for RBMA Montreal) from around the world and invites them in groups of 30 for 2 weeks. They are fed, housed, lectured, inspired and even provided with opportunities to perform with the international guest artists.
Photo from the Red Bull Content Pool / Karel Chladek
In the words of the academy « The Red Bull Music Academy is not a sponsored event, but a long-term music initiative, committed to fostering creative exchange amongst those who have made and continue to make a difference in the world of sound. »
So at night there are public events and during the day the participants have lectures and studio time. During the first 2 weeks the lecturers were Iggy Pop, Kaytranada, Black Coffee, Alex Tumay, Win Butler (Arcade Fire), Tanya Tagaq, Suzanne Ciani, Cardinal Offishal, Veronica Vasicka, Junior Marvin, Robert Ouimet & Pierre Gagnon, Matana Roberts and more are coming in the next 2 weeks … and RBMA is nice enough to film them and share them free online here!
Some of the Musitechnic staff were lucky enough to spend a day at the RBMA. We sat in for a lecture by Alex Tumay and it was a pretty interesting insight into the life of a sound recording engineer working in the Atlanta Rap and Hip-Hop scene. We then got to see the academy facilities. Wow! Of course the Phi centre in Montreal is already a very nice place and has an incredible studio. On top of that the RBMA built 10 “bed room” studios to provide a collaborative mood for the participants to create and get inspired by the others.
Take a moment to get to know the 70 2016 RBMA participants.
