Andhra University gets first-of-its-kind Dolby Atmos studio

A five crore-worth studio is being set up at the Department of Music and Dance, Andhra University, to provide audio engineering, music production, music theory courses to the students, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Andhra University and St Luke's Audio Engineering and Music Production to offer these courses. A brochure containing the details of the courses was released during a press conference held at Senate Hall in Visakhapatnam on Friday, October 28, a briefing about the MoU and the courses being offered ensued. Speaking on the occasion, Vice-Chancellor PVGD Prasad Reddy stated that this collaboration is one of the many innovative ideas for the benefit of the student community at large.

"Synonymous with its name Andhra Viswa Kala Parishad, we aim at creating various paths for the students to find their interests and excel in it, especially in the field of arts on par with science and technology. Since these courses can be taken up by any student, it will help them as an extra-curricular activity or a distraction from their academic stress," Prasad Reddy said.

"One of the major advantages to students who take up any of these courses is that they can swap one of their electives with a course being offered here. So the number of credits earned in these courses will substitute for the credits of an elective of their choice," he revealed.

The production duties of the studio are taken by Aditya Modi, a renowned Sound Engineer and studio designer, who has designed as many as 250 studios so far. One of the recent studios he built was for AR Rahman in Dubai. "I am delighted to design the first Dolby Atmos Lab at Andhra University, the first of its kind in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Since there's a great demand in this field, this move will be useful and boost the interest in youth" stated Aditya.

"St Luke's has successfully produced its students in achieving awards like Oscar, Grammy and Indian Idol, which speaks to the efficiency of the institute's ability. We are looking forward to facilitating the students in the field of music production, audio engineering and many such courses being offered," expressed M Ashirvad Luke, a musician and composer.

Courses offered under this collaboration are a three-month certificate course in Basic or Sound Engineering and Music Production, a three-month certificate course in Film Editing, a six-month diploma course in Audio Engineering, Music Production and Music Theory and a 12-month PG Diploma in Advanced Audio Engineering, Music Production and Music Theory course.

Rector K Samatha, Registrar V Krishnamohan, Preethum Luke, Suman Peter, Ratan and others were present. Internationally renowned Sound Engineer, Aditya Modi was honoured on this occasion on behalf of the university.