John Canning

What did you do before joining dBs?

"I was a course leader at Bath college, doing something very similar for BTEC and HNC/D level courses. I was also composing bits and pieces and released a couple of tunes on a label."

Why did you first get into electronic music production?

"I used to play the guitar when I was younger, bass as well, and I think I felt a bit disenfranchised by the fact that there wasn't a whole band around me. Even though I had lots of friends that play music and I could play with them, I didn’t like the fact that most of the time it was just me. As I got a bit older I started going out to raves, and I suddenly got this idea of getting back involved in making music again, but this time electronically. The idea of being in control of all the elements really excited me. So I bought a Roland MC 303, started playing with that and then it just grew from there."

Any special areas of interest?

"’ve always been quite interested in how we interface with a computer. So I’m into things like Ableton Push and instruments that use MIDI polyphonic expression. One of the things I like to think about is how we can make that transaction a bit easier, between us and a computer, because a keyboard isn’t always the most intuitive thing. I’m also quite interested in modular synthesis and doing DIY stuff like building my own circuits/circuit boards."

What do you love most about what you do?

"I know it sounds cheesy, but I get pretty inspired working with students. I get to listen to fresh tunes and see three years of knowledge being put into a single composition. I find that really interesting. And then there are the conversations that I have with students in classes. I like to open things up for discussion a lot in my teaching. I like taking in other people’s ideas and I often get lots of useful nuggets of information back, like “Have you tried this sampler or this VST?” That’s probably the thing I like the most."

Tell us about your proudest career moment.

"Playing to a packed out tent at Shambala with a dubstep/hip-hop band I used to be a part of. It felt like a really nice culmination of what we’d been up to at the time."

What do you get up to outside of teaching?

"The same kind of things I get up to inside of teaching! Music-making stuff mainly. I am also doing a computer programming degree with The Open University."

Tell us something our students may not know about you.

"I once made a composition using only the sounds of a shopping trolley, which lived in my dining room for about three months."