SSR History

SSR began life as Spirit studios in 1980. Located on Tariff Street, Manchester, Spirit was a small complex comprising of 4 small rehearsal rooms and a single 4 track recording studio.

The Smiths and other rising bands of the time came through our doors including The Stone Roses; Simply Red; Happy Mondays; 808 State and New Order. Bill Wyman (The Rolling Stones) also visited as did the legendary Tony Wilson.

Spirit Studios was always at the heart of the Manchester music scene and producers such as Trevor Horn (Frankie Goes To Hollywood/Seal etc); Martin Hannet (Stone Roses, Joy Division etc); Arthur Baker (Bruce Springsteen; Bob Dylan; Kraftwerk; Al Green); all visited Spirit to record and produce their work. Since then SSR has continued to work with high profile musicians and rising stars such as Delphic, Doves, The Whip, The Orchids, Eliza Doolittle and the Dutch Uncles to name a few.

We are particularly proud of our links with The Stone Roses. Spirit Studios features prominently in the history of the band as highlighted in John Robb’s book “The Stone Roses and the Resurrection of British Pop” and the bands first single “Sally Cinnamon” was recorded as part of a student project at Spirit, later released on FM Revolver Records. Their original demo tape, which got the band a record deal, also hangs proudly on the wall outside the modern day Spirit Studio in our Manchester HQ.

Click here to view the Spirit Studio Discography

These same producers were also involved in the transition from commercial recording studio to educational facility and helped create our new company SSR, the School of Sound Recording, in 1984.

These leading producers assisted and advised on course content based on their own experiences of the industry. Arthur Baker delivered a series of lectures to SSR students as part of our first Audio Engineering Technology and Techniques programme. SSR staff consulted with commercial studios, leading manufacturers and service providers to investigate the skills and knowledge they expected of new recruits. Roland UK supplied a complete training studio based on their state of the art digital equipment and used that studio to train their own staff. We linked with various leading music software manufacturers including AVID (Pro Tools) and Steinberg (Cubase). We forged links across the Atlantic delivering training in Sonar (Cakewalk) and later Propellorheads (Reason). So SSR, from its inception, was industry-led and that theme continues today.

SSR continues to be at the heart of the music and media industry with top ranking professionals delivering guest lectures and master classes. We work with Universities and colleges delivering innovative and highly practical degrees and offer scholarship programmes to support new talent. We celebrated the 25th anniversary of SSR in 2009 and finished the year with an award of Manchester’s 'Business of the Year' in recognition of the quality and standard of our training.

SSR never stands still. Each year we have continued to develop our curriculum adding important leading service providers and manufacturers to our ‘Creative Partner’ list. We have branched out into fields such as TV and broadcast, post production, live sound, computer games, radio, theatres and retailers.

In 2010 we opened a second facility in London, while 2011 saw the opening of SSR Jakarta. We are also developing new centres overseas.

SSR is now a truly international brand and one that is trusted by the industry to deliver professional, first class training for the creative sector.

A small selection of industry statements of support:

Wigwam Acoustics Managing Director Chris Hill "We linked in with SSR as a creative partner for many reasons. The dedication and commitment of the teaching staff, the strong industry focus, the amazing facilities and up-to date approach to teaching are just some of those reasons."

AVID Mike Case Head of European Business "We are happy to use SSR to showcase our equipment as we know it’s going to be used by tomorrow’s professionals."

STS Touring - Managing Director Peter Dutton "I have employed students from SSR since 2007, and they are all great guys. I don’t know what you do over there but whatever it is, just keep on doing it!"

Tour Supply UK Manager Paul Collis "SSR have provided us with students with not only good technical skills but students with the right attitude. In this business you can’t afford to employ anyone else. SSR focus on soft skills as well as technical skills. They listen to the industry and adapt their training accordingly."