Technology and technical support are essential for many of the activities at the Royal Conservatoire, such as amplification for concerts and exams, the repair and restoration of electronic equipment or the editing of music and sound fragments. For that support students, teachers and staff members of the Royal Conservatoire can rely on the Electronics Workshop (EWP).
Three professional technicians are on hand every day to provide every conceivable form of technical advice and assistance. But there is even more to the electronic workshop. With lessons and coaching, students are already able to gain practical experience while they are still studying. They can also use the workplace for projects during their course. Students of the Conservatoire’s creative departments in particular use the workplace to design new, innovative electronic equipment for a variety of purposes, such as interfaces, sensors, electronics and interactivity under the guidance of the workshop’s staff.
Services EWP
As the name suggests, the Electronics Workplace is the place where equipment is repaired or restored and is responsible for the procurement of new equipment. Students can design, build and test their own electronic (interactive) devices under the guidance of the workshop’s technicians, who also ensure that the audio-visual equipment in the halls, studios and classrooms throughout the building is always working properly.
Students and teachers can borrow equipment at no cost. Microphones, recorders, cables, video cameras, adapters, DSP equipment and numerous other items are available from the workplace. Items can be reserved from the workplace for short periods (up to three days). If you need equipment for a course project, be sure to reserve it in time.
It is important to note that no equipment can be borrowed for a project that is unrelated to the school without the express consent of a teacher of the head of the department.
The workplace serves as the technical helpdesk for the entire school. Students and teachers turn to it for the answers to the widest imaginable variety of problems.
The Electronics Workplace is responsible for all the electronic (audio-visual) equipment in the building. The workplace will try to repair any defective equipment, and will if necessary buy new equipment.
Part of the workplace is used as a classroom. The "Introduction to Electronics" course is given for students from specific courses, as well as students who have expressed a desire to learn more about the subject.
The workshop also gives a course in soldering cables for students in the Art of Sound department.
To meet the enormous demand for DVDs, CDs, adapters, batteries and memory cards, the Electronics Workplace also serves as a small shop where students and teachers can buy those products for a very affordable price.
The workshop can copy audio and video tapes for individual teachers and/or departments. The Electronics Workshop has a machine that can make large numbers of copies of video or audio recordings to CDs and DVDs (from one source to five destinations) or to a different format. Note: only projects for the Conservatoire (orchestra projects, for example) will be copied.
Who works in the Electronics Workshop?
The Electronics Workshop is staffed by a team of three full-time employees, each with a specific area of specialisation. During each academic year the team is reinforced by students from the Sonology and/or ArtScience departments.
Permanent technicians:
Lex van den Broek is the head of the electronic workplace. He studied Electronics, specialising in Information Technology, at the University of Applied Sciences in Rotterdam. In June 2017 he successfully completed a Master’s course in 'Instrument and Interfaces' in the Sonology/STEIM department. Lex’s principal activity is designing and building sensor applications for music and multimedia installations and he advises students and teachers on a wide variety of projects. Lex also teaches the courses ‘Introduction to Electronics’ and ‘Sensors, Actuators and Microcontrollers' for students in the creative departments.
Marko Uzunovski is the sound engineer in the Electronics Workplace. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Sonology in 2013 and is currently studying for a Master’s. Marko arranges the engineering for live concerts and maintains the electronic technology in the studios at the Royal Conservatoire. He gives workshops in ‘Sound engineering for Electroacoustic Music’ to the students of the creative departments.
Paul Schenkels is specialized in electronics, in particular video and audio equipment. He repairs and maintains the equipment, builds new devices for the studios and maintains the studio technology. He assists teachers, staff and students during lessons and presentations and handles the procurement of new equipment.
Siamak Anvari is a composer and sound artist based in the Netherlands. He graduated at the Institute of Sonology. His main focus is facilitating livestreams and videoregistration for the Conservatory.
Student assistants:
Kamile Rimkute (Master Sonology)
Francesco di Maggio (Master Sonology)
Luca Serafini (Bachelor Artscience)
Siavash Safari (Bachelor Sonology)
Opening hours
Monday: 1.00 - 5.00 p.m.
Tuesday to Friday: 10.00 a.m.- 5.00 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: closed
Contact
Questions
Have any questions? Reach out to EWP or check out EWP's Facebook.
More information
Looking for more information? Visit the EWP-website.