External Curricular Internship Programme

SonoLAB offers an External Curricular Internship Programme each academic year for students enrolled in the Bachelor's Degree in Musicology and the Master's Degree in Spanish and Hispanic American Music at the Complutense University of Madrid. The programme provides practical training in professional environments focused on music production, audio recording, digitisation, restoration, and sound heritage preservation, enabling students to develop technical and methodological skills through active participation in the activities carried out in SonoLAB's studios and research facilities.

Places available per academic year: 2 undergraduate students, 2 master's students.

 

Audio Digitisation and Restoration Internship

• Installation and configuration of the laboratory's hardware and software.
• Operation of analogue and digital playback equipment: open-reel tape recorders, cassette decks, microcassette recorders, turntables, DAT, MiniDisc, and Compact Disc players.
• Management of the A/D and D/A signal chain, including stylus selection and preamplifier configuration.
• Configuration of digitisation parameters in the DAW (Pro Tools) and audio interface, including sample rate, bit depth, and signal routing.
• Cleaning and restoration of physical media, including open-reel tapes, cassettes, shellac discs, and vinyl records.
• Digitisation of analogue audio formats according to established technical standards.
• Perceptual audio encoding: preparation of audio files in different compressed formats (MP3, AAC, Ogg, etc.) for streaming platforms.
• Application of audio restoration processes (noise reduction, click removal, hum reduction, etc.) using specialised software (iZotope RX).
• Metadata creation, management, and standardisation for the resulting audio files.
• Recording of sound sources using stereo and Ambisonic techniques.
• Assistance with sound and music analysis tasks, including content identification, dating, and the documentation of technical and aesthetic parameters within ongoing research projects.
• Creation and updating of databases and catalogue records.
• Dissemination of the laboratory's activities through the preparation of short texts, images, and audio/video clips documenting work carried out in Studio A and the Research Room for publication on SonoLAB's social media channels, newsletter, and website news section, under the supervision of the internship tutor.

 

Music Production Internship

• Signal flow and patchbay operation in Studio B: identification of all signal sources and destinations (microphones, preamps, compressors, equalisers, audio interface, DAW) and basic routing practice.
• Voice-over recording in the vocal booth: microphone selection, gain adjustment, level monitoring, and recording of multiple takes for subsequent editing.
• Recording of acoustic and electric instruments using mono and stereo microphone techniques, DI boxes for electric instruments, and professional recording workflows.
• MIDI studio configuration: connection and routing of MIDI and audio signals between hardware synthesizers (Proteus, Yamaha, Korg, Akai), hardware sequencers (Roland), and the DAW, including synchronisation and latency verification.
• MIDI programming and sequencing: creation of rhythmic patterns and melodic lines, quantisation and MIDI event editing, and recording of synthesizer output into the DAW.
• Pitch correction using Melodyne: pitch and timing analysis, note and phrase correction, and A/B comparison between the original and processed signals.
• Sample library creation in Kontakt: multilayer sampling, sample editing (trimming, fades, normalisation), consistent file naming, and organisation of folders and metadata.
• Virtual instrument design: sample mapping, velocity layer creation, and programming of controls (filters, envelopes, effects) within software samplers.
• Audio editing and analysis: comping, noise removal, time alignment, and the use of spectral and dynamic analysis tools.
• Hybrid mixing and pre-mastering: session organisation, balance and panning, combined use of software plug-ins and external hardware (compressors and equalisers), mixdown preparation, and application of a basic mastering chain.
• Dissemination of the studio's activities through the preparation of short texts, images, and audio/video content documenting work carried out in Studio B and the Research Room for publication on SonoLAB's social media channels, newsletter, and website news section, under the supervision of the internship tutor.