More than three months since the last newsletter, actually. And while we're inclined to think that most of you will have managed to continue living, we know that deep down it must have felt wrong.

...please accept our apologies and click here to send a pre-fromatted email (nothing to write, jut click and send) and never hear from us again. But if you have got this far reading, read some more and see what you'd be missing.

In this issue:

• LSS expands, new staff and new studios
• Win Ableton Live and two days of training (and win more next month)
• Digital Village and London School of Sound announce partnership, everybody wins
• What you really need to make great records
• Miloco Studio Christmas Madness, get studio time half-price!

First things first: after a whole summer spent browsing through CVs and interviewing candidates (and thanks to all those that applied, too many good people for too few jobs), we are fortunate enough to have found Frank Pike and Ciaran Robinson, who have joined us in September this year. Their roles can be loosely described as 'School Manager' and 'Lecturer of Everything', respectively. Frank is now the first point of contact for students, visitors, guest lecturers, and everyone else, and without him running the office it's safe to say that we would have never made it through the last three months.

Ciaran is a guitar player, audio engineer, writer, a very experienced teacher and a true tech-head. It's extremely rare to find all these qualities in the same person, and his multiple talents are put to good use teaching various classes in Angel and Clapham (Clapham? Read on).

The story of how LSS came to move in to the premises suddenly vacated by Gateway School of Recording would fill a couple of pages so we'll skip it for now, but the result of more than a month of negotiations is that we have more space for everyone: the studio in Britannia Row (in Angel) will now be known as the North Campus, and the new larger facilities in Bromells Road (Clapham Common) will be known as the South Campus. Clapham Common is a great area with many bars, restaurants, a park and a cinema all next to the school. Traveling from one campus to the other is extremely easy and takes just 20 minutes on the Northern Line, check here for directions.

And now to answer some frequently asked questions: no, we do not plan to leave Britannia Row anytime soon, and no, we don't intend to open branches all around the world. There is only one London School of Sound, but we needed more space and are glad to have found it a few tube stops away.

Having two new large classes, two control rooms, a spacious live room and a smaller mastering room, we have now a brilliant excuse to buy even more instruments and studio equipment. We started with the most important necessities, obviously, but a lot more stuff is on its way.

On Thursday the 21st of October we had the pleasure to host a free Ableton Live workshop in our new class in South London, celebrating our new appointment as one of very few Ableton Certified Training Centres around the world, which means that we have another logo to show off. Here we go:

Quite a few people attended and entered a competition to win a two-day course on Live. Thanks to Focusrite/Novation (Ableton's new UK distributors) and the good guys at Digital Village, we are pleased to announce that the competition has been extended and the prize now includes a copy of Ableton Live Suite which includes every single instrument and sample pack available from Ableton.

To have a chance of winning the lot all you have to do is answer an Ableton-related question, unless you are one of those that attended the workshop in which case you have been automatically entered in the competition and you don't have to move a finger.

To know more follow this link to the news on dv247.com – but hurry up, your email must get there before the 1st of December! The winner will be contacted on the same day, and the results will be published on the next newsletter and DV's website.

And if you don't win this one, stay tuned. LSS and DV will bring you a competition for a copy of the new Reason Premium + training in January and a copy of Logic Studio + training in February.

Since our new South Campus shares the same building with Digital Village South, we have been doing more than chit-chat by the water cooler with these guys. For a start, current LSS students will benefit from discounts on a wide range of products: just show your LSS student card and see what DV can do for you (the amount of the discount depending on the product).

For those that are not students yet but want to take a short course on Logic, Ableton Live, Reason, or Pro Tools, it's possible to book a place directly on DV's website or in one of their eight stores in London, Bristol, Southampton, Birmingham and Cambridge. We have set dates for the next six months so it shouldn't be a problem finding a place even if the classes fill up very quickly.

Finally, our staff and students have now access to a virtually unlimited choice of the best and the latest equipment: say for instance that you are doing an exercise that involves synthesis and sampling, and you wonder how the latest Akai MPC5000 compares to other instruments in the school... what will you do? Just ask our neighbours if you can borrow one for the day and take it downstairs to the studio where you are working. Life is easy when you have good friends.

If you are serious about running a recording studio you should know that there are certain priorities to respect. Certainly, we all like valve compressors and expensive microphones, but are those really going to help you achieve a better sound?

We should remember that what really makes for truly unforgettable records is -before and above anything else- the musicians' performance.

Following that, good engineering, great songwriting, and bold creative production.

That's why, you see, we had no choice but to go buy and install this Foosball table. What, you don't see the connection?

What better way to keep the band busy while you take your time positioning microphones? And if the artist doesn't get bored and frustrated while you figure out why the computer keeps crashing, won't we end up with a better performance? Not to mention how much aggression can be discharged and tension diffused before a meeting to discuss some controversial production ideas.

So while you study to improve your engineering and production skills we suggest you start saving for the investments that really matter. On the next newsletter we will continue on this topic and explain why it was also absolutely necessary for the school to have a videogames console installed in the lounge.

There is a great tradition at Miloco Studios, Christmas discounts. They probably do it in a last attempt to impress Santa with their goodness and get more presents, but all that matters is that for a few days every year we get a chance to taste top-quality facilities at a fraction of the price.

If you have a project tucked away that has been waiting for an excuse to get going, this is an opportunity not to be missed.

And if you haven't been checking Miloco's website for a couple of months, go there now and take a look at the programming rooms and recording studios available. The residential facilities outside London would actually be perfect for a bit of a working holiday too.

These are the prices as published on their website:

From November 1st...

The Engine Room - £ 500.00 / day (discounted from £ 800.00 / day)
The Toyshop - £ 200.00 / day (discounted from £ 300.00 / day)
The Square - £ 300.00 / day (discounted from £ 400.00 / day)
The Yard - £ 300.00 / day (discounted from £ 400.00 / day)
Musikbox - £ 400.00 / day (discounted from £ 600.00 / day)
The Garden - £ 400.00 / day (discounted from £ 600.00 / day)
The Pool - £ 400.00 / day (discounted from £ 600.00 / day)
Alpha Centauri - £ 600.00 / day (discounted from £ 850.00 / day)

From December 22nd to January 4th...

The Engine Room - £ 350.00 / day (discounted from £ 800.00 / day)
The Toyshop - £ 150.00 day (discounted from £ 300.00 / day)
The Square - £ 250.00 / day (discounted from £ 400.00 / day)
The Yard - £ 250.00 / day (discounted from £ 400.00 / day)
Musikbox - £ 300.00 / day (discounted from £ 600.00 / day)
The Garden - £ 300.00 / day (discounted from £ 600.00 / day)
The Pool - £ 300.00 / day (discounted from £ 600.00 / day)

To enquire about any of the Miloco studios get in touch with bookings at the office on 020-7232-0008.