The Placement Year

For each student on the Tonmeister programme the third year of registration is normally a Professional Training Year (PTY), during which they will be working for an employer in the audio industry. The PTY scheme has advantages for employers and for students...

For Employers

This leaflet explains the gist of the placement scheme, gives some examples of how it might help you as an employer, and mentions a few of the other employers who use it: TonmeisterPlacements.pdf

Employers who have registered their intention to offer a placement this year can view shortlists of candidates plus CVs on our Members Only Website.

For further information please contact the Tonmeister Senior Professional Training Tutor.

For Students

The placement year forms an important part of your education and aims to develop your professional, practical, interpersonal, organisational, and creative &/or technical skills, and to allow you to apply some of the theory that you have learned in the first two years of the programme. Full placement scheme details for current students are available in the programme handbooks and module descriptions but, as a taster, here (in no particular order) is what some of the students on placement in 2024/25 thought were the 5 'coolest' (i.e. most useful, interesting, remarkable, exciting, impressive, enjoyable, etc.) things about their placements...

Adam : AIR Studios : Runner

• Worked with incredible composers and engineers everyday
• Assisted on multiple blockbuster films
• Was Pro Tools operator on a commercial TV scoring session
• Went to almost every pub in Hampstead Heath with the studio assistant team
• Got backstage passes to Chase and Status at the O2 from a client

Albert : The Premises Studios : Assistant Engineer

• Used every patch cable in the building to set up Pulp's as-live demo session
• Had front row seats to some Jazz legends recording BBC Radio 3's 'Round Midnight with Soweto Kinch
• Made homemade mulled wine for The Last Dinner Party whilst they were in their 2 month writing camp
• Engineered and mixed an album with the Brown Boots Boogie Band at the studio while on placement
• Became a pro in Wii Golf on my final day

Ben : Sky Post-Production Services : Trainee Audio Dubbing Mixer

• Shadowed Premier League Football game live from the galleries
• Attended the filming of a TV show
• Saw Eddie Redmayne
• Dialogue Edited for Portrait Artist of the Year
• Enjoyed music in a 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos Suite

Daniel : ICP Studios : Assistant Engineer

• Worked with lots of great rock bands.
• Used lots of amazing historic outboard gear.
• Played lots of vintage guitars through amazing vintage amps./li>
• Ate amazing food, including the best steaks I've ever had.
• Lived in and explored a new country.

Ewan : BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra : Trainee Audio Supervisor

• Lived in the best city in the world (Glasgow)
• Sat in the room with a live orchestra every week
• Mic'd up a bag of rice cakes
• Ate Britain's 3rd best fish and chips in Oban
• Recorded interviews with the stars of classical music

Eze : Guildhall School of Music and Drama : R&AV Intern

• Engineered 50+ sessions in a recording studio
• Built a recording studio control room
• Big Christmas and summer staff parties (lots of drinking)
• Worked on the Jazz FM awards show
• Vision mixed and camera operated live shows

Francis : Tape Notes : Assistant Editor

• Recorded with Finneas
• Recorded with Hayley Williams
• Got to hear an unreleased Rudimental album
• Had my name read out on an episode
• Got to visit Platoon Studios and meet the creator of iTunes

Gabriel : RSNO Scotland’s Studio : Trainee Audio Engineer

• Assisted on score recordings for exciting projects with established engineers
• Engineered recordings of RSNO concerts, with my work broadcast on BBC Radio
• Operated ProTools on scoring sessions
• Assisted on filming session at the largest TV studio in Scotland
• Met and visited incredible musical people and places all around Scotland

Gabriel : World of Sound : Assistant Audio Engineer

• Recorded at the Royal Albert Hall twice
• Worked with the BBC Concert Orchestra
• Mixed the British Open Brass Band Championships
• Worked internationally on recording and AV jobs
• Worked with the best brass bands in europe

Gregory : Dolby Europe Ltd : AV Support Engineer

• Watched a lot of films months before release and spotted quality issues in some of them
• Created supporting video content for films by big film studios
• Researched a company product nobody knew much about and developed tools for it
• Learned a lot about projectors, colour science, and HDR
• Networked with people from the film, music, and broadcast industries

Iris : Pinewood Studios : Trainee Sound Editor

• Edited films in 40 different languages
• Got paid to watch new films and TV shows
• Improved my Pro Tools skills hugely
• Worked with an amazing team of people
• Tried a large variety of strange cheeses!

James : Spitfire Audio : Intern

• Assisted 18 days of recording sessions in Armenia
• Played the piano from ‘Rocket Man’ for 5 days in chateau in France
• Composed music for Spitfire Audio
• Designed presets for various Spitfire libraries
• Was offered a raspberry by Simon Rhodes, who later referred to me as “James, lovely James”

Luke : Ben Holland Sound : Sound Engineer/Dubbing Assistant

• Gained an end-to-end understanding of TV sound
• Worked in many different roles at several locations around the country
• Helped build a gallery
• Worked on both the FA Cup Semi-Finals & Non-League Finals Day at Wembley Stadium
• Worked on multiple large reality TV jobs with household names

Luke : ALM Busy Circuits : Design Engineer Intern

• Coded my own formant synthesis voice, released as a firmware update for an ALM module
• Helped at a synth workshop done in collaboration with Nepenthes, a designer clothes store in London
• Made my own commercially released JUCE plugins
• Enjoyed the company of my boss' cats while working
• Soldered together a voltage controlled oscillator from scratch

Matthew : Trinity Laban : Recording Studio House Engineer

• Engineered, mixed and mastered lots of singles, EPs and albums which have been released on streaming platforms
• Recorded a podcast that aired on BBC sounds with A.R.Rahman
• Mixed a live recording of a 22 piece metal band with an orchestra
• Sat in on sessions at Lightship and Strongroom studios
• Met lots of incredible artists I’m still working with now

Misha : Miloco Studios : Studio Intern

• Visited 16+ studios throughout London
• Worked on multiple sessions with high profile clients
• Assisted in the refurbishment of Miloco flagship studio
• Edited and mixed the ‘Another Take’ podcast
• Learned how to make a bangin’ cup of tea

Monty : Royal Academy of Music : Studio and Recording Work Placement

• Assisted and ran recording sessions for 100s of Concert recordings
• Learnt to organise and maintain Dante and NDI networks
• Set up and assembled a Prototype Steingraeber hybrid grand piano
• Channeled my inner Sherlock Holmes and solved “The mystery of the broken Harpsichord”
• Got a thumbs up and ‘no notes’ regarding my monitor mixing from Jacob Collier

Sam : ICP Studios : Assistant Engineer

• Worked with extremely talented artists and engineers from all over the world
• Gained substantial practical experience with vintage analogue consoles, microphones, and hardware
• Played with over 600 guitar pedals and many legendary amplifiers and effects units
• Was fed Michelin-star level meals twice a day
• Thrived in an exciting city in a different country and learned a bit of French

Simon : Setmixer : DevOps

• Built my own stem splitting tool
• Listened in on top London venues for free
• Ran linux on my laptop
• Learned how to code in a team
• Trained the company AI to recognise instruments

Tom : The Post Republic : Audio Post-production Assistant and Mix Assistant

• Mixed a BFI nominated short film
• Received credits on films and shows by companies like Amazon/BBC/Paramount/etc
• Worked alongside award-winning editors, re-recording mixers and other professionals
• Was flown to Berlin in December to meet my German colleagues and attend the annual Christmas party
• Got the opportunity to attend premiere's and meet industry front-runners

Will : Thonk : Junior Product Designer

• Designed a module that is now available to buy
• Made new modular synth patches every day
• Had access to hundreds of different modules
• Met some cool people in the synth industry
• Learnt a lot about electronics and programming

William : Floating Earth : Assistant Engineer

• Worked on the Brits 2025 in the music truck
• Edited 3 albums worth of material/li>
• Balance engineered for John Rutter and the RPO
• Flown to Croatia and Germany to run tech on a tour
• Assisted on large orchestral sessions

Yaman : World Heart Beat Studios : Assistant-Engineer/Intern

• Learned how to do live sound
• Learned live vision mixing and Dante
• Got better at keeping a professional attitude around/with clients
• Watched and did live sound for many incredible jazz concerts
• Met Richard Spaven, one of my favourite artists/drummers