Day Two

The academy is nuts! Your days here are so full! Classes start at about 11am. Just after breakfast. Lectures go all the way to about 7pm. Then we have studio time till about 11pm-12am. After that we head to our gigs till about 5 in the morning. Sleep. Then do it all over again! Its bananas!

Before we all jumped on the bus to head to the academy, Ruari from Ireland sporting this little kiaora tee! haha.
We got there and it looked amazing! Local architect Frank Dominiguez repurposed an old textile factory, Fabra i Coats, in the district of Sant Andreu for this year’s Academy headquarters. The massive space contains eight preproduction studios, a rehearsal room, two control rooms and a recording room, plus a terrace to chillax with a 150-yr old olive tree.

As soon as we sat in the cafeteria, Benji B from BBC1 came and said hi!

The cafeteria. They feed us too well!
Red Bull Music Radio.
Marek aka Eltron John wasted no time to get on the decks. Playing obscure polish disco to deep house. This guy is the most interesting person ive ever met. Hes a little odd, but got so much knowledge its NUTS! He speaks truths on everything!!!
Chairman Jeff Mao (from the renown EGOTRIP) said whats up!

These guys below are the pioneers. They started the academy back in 1998 and drink a ridiculous amount of sugar free redbull.

Waiting patiently.
This is fellow participant Natalia LaFourcade. She is amazing. Beautiful voice and talent. She has won 3 latin grammys!!! Crazy huh?! Still she aint got nothing on my year 4 basketball runners up medal. Sit on that Natalia!!!

These mini fridges are in EVERY room!

There are also various art installments around the academy..


There is not much i can say about the studios. Except. Sweet Sassy Molassy. The place is incredible! So many resources. There are like 4 of each machine in the equipment room so that no-one misses out. All these photos explain themselves really...

Out the window...



Fellow aussie participant NHJ from Melbourne...

Teebz from LA - part of the beat scene in LA, Flylo etc...
Eltron John from Poland speaking on philosophy and how the RBMA is not "real" in the conventional sense. ???
Natalia representing Mehico!
Benji B.
Pursuit Grooves from NY.
Goldie.
Sauce81 from Tokyo.
Piper Davis from Canada. Crazy bluespop artist.
Lecture room.

Onra from Paris. In my opinion. The dopest beatmaker here. His style is unbelievable!
The prolific Nino Moscshella. He is an amazing singer songwriter. Drums, bass and keys. The man.
Jammed in the studio for a bit with Brazils DJ Babau.
Academy at night. Looks amazing.

At this time im absoulutly wrecked! Time to skip the gig and catch the shuttle back to the hotel. My eyes were so red. Bah!It has been a surreall experience. So grateful and count myself blessed. The next couple of days will never leave me. Im a bit delayed with this blog and am currently on DAY 5 of the academy. More photos to come...but..can i add...last night was one of the greatest things that have ever happened to me...if i thought 5 years ago id be eating dinner with ChuckD from Public Enemy in Barcelona, Spain. Id probly pass out...and its probably time i should. Will show you Chuck D pictures soon.

Stay tuned!