Patrick ShambrookDamian FiedlerLucy IronmongerLawrence Allen Jan Huss Omar FergusonIan Walpole Rohaan GreyRocco HarrisElle HolgateMihaela Koleva
Patrick Shambrook
Director
Patrick is a partner and teacher at SEM, who has helped develop the school since 1996.
Patrick is still involved in all departments of the School, He says “every day can be different – I enjoy working in such a creative Industry with like minded staff that are all passionate about their roles at SEM”
He is also an undercover geek along with being a complete snowboarding and drum‘n’bass addict!
Damian Fiedler
Director
Damian is a partner at SEM. He holds the status of Principal.
He works closely with our academic partners and institutions – Pearson, the BAC, and UCLan University.
Like Patrick, he’s also a keen snowboarder and not too bad on the 1s and 2s!
Lucy Ironmonger
Operations Director
Lucy is Operations Director at SEM. She ensures everything runs smoothly, and is always working to enhance the student experience and develop the training programmes we run.
Lucy works closely with our industry partners Ableton Live and Native Instruments, and with all departments at SEM. Despite this, she is never too busy to speak with students on an individual basis who need guidance or support, as she has previously been at student here!
In her spare time, Lucy is a DJ (since 2007) and promoter for the incredibly successful techno night ‘Meat Free’ (run with 3 other SEM graduates) which was nominated for ‘Best UK Club Night’ in the DJ Mag awards. You’ll catch Lucy teaching the occasional women-only DJ Taster at SEM, as she’s passionate about encouraging women into music.
Lawrence Allen
Head of Course Administration & Student Services
Former student Lawrence is the first port of call for all student enquires.
He can help you with absences, ID cards, room bookings, work hand-ins and any general enquiries, as well as pastoral care and support.
Outside of SEM, Lawrence is a musician and drag queen performing self-produced electronic pop rap music, and has been featured on i-D/Vice and World of Wonder.
Jan Huss
Course & Careers Advisor
Jan and Omar are the course advisor dream-team at SEM – either he or Omar will be your first point of contact if you are seeking course advice. Like Omar, Jan was originally been a student at SEM, and made the big move from Germany to Manchester in order to study. As such, Jan can comfortably guide you through the whole process (in German or English!): from relocating to Manchester and settling in, to detailed course advice suitable for your situation.
Jan is also a successful dubstep artist and sound designer, playing gigs as big as Bluedot Festival. In his spare time he manages an up and coming dubstep duo that met at SEM, by the name of DIGIKILL. Give Jan a buzz for a friendly natter, or pop in for a coffee with him at SEM!
Omar Ferguson
Course & Careers Advisor
Omar and Jan are the course advisor dream-team at SEM – either he or Jan will be your first point of contact if you are seeking course advice. Having originally been a student at SEM, Omar can comfortably guide you through the whole process: from timetables, to funding, to fitting training in around work, along with explaining what it’s like to be a student here.
Omar is also a successful alt-pop/RNB artist bubbling up on the Manchester scene. Most recently he has played a sold-out show at Gorilla (supporting Crazy P), featured in over 14 publications including Acid Stag & La Belle Musique, and has featured on BBC Introducing and in BBC Hotlist 2019.
Ian Walpole
Marketing Executive
Ian comes from an advertising background and is part of our marketing team.
He works on all of our social media platforms, marketing, website, video editing and design.
Speak with him if you have any music-related activities that you’d like to see promoted through the SEM social channels.
Rohaan Grey
Marketing Manager
Rohaan is an established music producer, DJ and SEM alumni.
Since studying at SEM, Rohaan has gone on to release music on a multitude of global record labels that have accumulated over 1.8 million digital streams. This has lead him to DJ on stages all over the UK and EU.
As well as overseeing all activities within the marketing department, Rohaan offers personal 1-2-1 meetings giving marketing and branding advice helping students bridge the gap between studying and work.
Helping you develop your CV, assist with your digital footprint and creating professional rollout plans for your music career.
Rocco Harris
Digital Content Creator & Maschine Tutor
Rocco began his journey here at SEM from a very young age.
Former student and multi-genre DJ, Rocco is responsible for all our video content and editing. On top of making sure our video content is on lock, Rocco is our in-house 1-2-1 Machine tutor. He will cater to any questions you have about using Machine.
Elle Holgate
Digital Content
Elle is a vocalist, producer, DJ and regularly contributes to the SEM Blog. You may also spot her as a host for the SEM Sessions!
As a producer her influences range from dreampop, early 90s ambient dance music and shoegaze.
Mihaela Koleva
Photographer
Mihaela is the first point of contact at SEM for any photograph related content.
Being our in house photographer, Mihaela will also be offering press shots for our DJ students.
Tony Rigg Paul Carnac Jonny BatchelorChris Kolev Yoss Brady DJ Rasp Neil DiabloMartyn EllisNeil BruceDominic Tanner
Tony Rigg
Head of Music Business Education
Tony has worked across the spectrum of the music industry, holding command positions in market leading organisations including Operations Director for Ministry of Sound.
Tony has overseen the management of 100+ music venues, delivered thousands of events, has a chart pedigree as an artist producer, and founded the MA Music Industry at UCLan University.
He operates his own consultancy practice and oversees a broad portfolio of music enterprises when he’s not teaching at SEM.
Paul Carnac
Academic Head, BA Hons & Music Production Tutor
Paul worked as a sound engineer and programmer for many successful artists and labels (from Oasis to N-Trance, and Creation Records to Factory) before concentrating mostly on sound design and synthesis.
He has worked on diverse projects from TV nature documentaries to producing grime artist collaborations with the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
Paul also holds a PGCE, and is an all-round music production Boffin with a capital B!
Jonny Batchelor
Head of Tech Support & Logic Pro Tutor
Jonny was a student with us back in 2012, after which he went on to do a degree in Music Production at Leeds College of Music.
Jonny is the Logic Pro X Tutor and Tech Support Manager at the school and also works for Samplephonics, Noiiz and Touch Loops creating sample packs under MrJonnyBatch.
As the head of Tech Support, Jonny has a hand in everything that takes place on the school floor, including the ongoing development of the facilities.
Chris Kolev
Audio Engineering Tutor & Technical Support
Chris began by writing metal and industrial music and later moved to drum and bass and dubstep after studying our HNC in Music Production.
Today he works mainly with cinematic and heavily guitar driven music, and is very experienced with lots of hardware, microphones, recording techniques, digital and analogue desks.
He began his music career as a performer but today prefers the other side of the mixing console, working as a recording, mixing and mastering engineer at Oscillate Recordings and running his own studio eXk Studio when not supporting students at SEM.
Yoss Brady
Music Production Tutor
Yoss has a very high level of mixdown and mastering knowledge, as well as a deep understanding of how to produce different genres of music.
Alongside teaching, he works in-house with Humbled Soul and 80 Hertz, which is now the UK’s largest independent studio, regularly alongside high profile artists. These have included Diana Ross (EMI), Peter Asher (Apple Records), and Matthew Halsall (Gondwana Records).
DJ Rasp
Head DJ Tutor
DJ Rasp first started out on the scratch battle scene, making a name for himself by winning 7 British DJ championship titles (DMC and IDA).
He now captivates crowds in clubs, festivals & events worldwide, with a healthy balance of musical selection, showmanship and technical skills.
He’s got many releases to his name, and a huge amount of enthusiasm and knowledge when it comes to teaching DJing.
Neil Diablo
DJ Tutor
Neil’s signature blend of leftfield house and spirit-lifting disco has earned him an unshakable reputation as a super-musical, crowd-loving crate-digger who never fails to set it off.
As well as his vast DJ knowledge, he brings to the classroom his experience of how to build a brand and run successful events. His own brand El Diablo Social Club has been a staple on the Manchester scene since 2003, and has enabled Neil to undertake world tours regularly.
Martyn Ellis
Audio Engineering & BA Hons Tutor
Martyn Currently teaches at several Manchester universities.
Outside of teaching he is a freelance sound recordist and editor, working on a variety of film content, including features, shorts, and international advertising campaigns.
Neil Bruce
Audio Engineering Tutor
Neil is an audio engineer, guitarist, composer, and sound designer, with a PhD in Acoustics and MSc in Signal Processing.
His engineering credits range from Al Green to Led Zeppelin, and his compositional work has featured in films, TV and computer games, along with a number of albums over the last 15 years.
Between gigging, Neil provides masterclasses at universities in the North West, and has authored a book entitled, Guitar Creativity, a new way of thinking.
Dominic Tanner
Technical Support
Dom has been making and touring with his music for about 16 years, playing in metal, punk, experimental/improv and psych bands, and has over 60 albums to his name on Bandcamp.
He runs Bojanić Audio & Mastering, where he primarily focuses on mastering local unsigned bands, as well as more established overseas acts.
He has also composed and produced music for many adverts and online promotions.
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