Sussex Academy of Music

SAM is the personable acronym of Sussex Academy of Music, a business started up in 2008 by two entrepreneurial youngsters in their early 20s. The premises are a converted business unit in the Riverside Business Centre, and being so new, are well equipped with nothing missing or broken. The situation is good as well — although it initially looks a bit soulless, a moment’s walk over to the sea wall provides you with beautiful boats aplenty on the river and a lovely place to practise outdoors on a sunny Saturday. They mostly give lessons to youngsters, but adults can be involved as well. I went here, though, not as a student but to use their recording studio. This proved to be a good move on the part of those who were deciding. The studio was in good condition, with a little daïs for drums and a medium sized area for recording — we fitted an eight piece band in here comfortably for a day’s session. Our engineer was an enthusiastic, friendly guy with a great musical ear and infinite patience, and really took care with it, almost as if it were his band, which put me right at ease. I’d definitely recommend this place if you want to be well taken care of.