People of NOMA – Jack Taylor

5 February 2026

Beneath the bustle of NOMA sits a creative hub many people don’t even realise is there. In the basement of New Century, you’ll find dBs Institute of Music – the self-described “Home of the Sound Obsessed”. A specialist centre for music and sound education, dBs exists to help the next generation of creators explore, experiment, and carve out their own path in music. Step inside and you’ll feel it instantly – humming synths, mixes in progress, and students trading tips on compressor settings.

dBs Institute’s studios are fully kitted out with industry-grade equipment, preparing students for careers in sound production, game development, and the wider creative digital technology industries. At the centre of it all is Jack Taylor – Senior Technician and musician – who has been part of dBs Institute since day one.

Jack is one of those people who orbits multiple worlds at once – building studios by day and touring the UK and Europe with his band Corella by night. For him, NOMA, New Century, and dBs Institute form a single creative ecosystem, where students, staff, musicians, and the venue itself all feed into each other.

How has your role at dBs Institute evolved?

So, when we first opened back in 2022, I was actually the only technician. And we only had 14 students! The job back then was to make sure every piece of equipment in the building was functional and to support all the sessions.

Four years on and we’ve grown massively. There are now three of us on the tech team and we’re about to hire more. Plus, we take in around 80 to 100 new students every year and we’ve just seen our first cohort, the class of 2022, graduate.

Music Production and Sound Engineering is still the most popular course, and it uses every corner of what we’ve built here. We’ve got one main recording studio, a Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 surround-sound studio, and four production studios. It’s amazing because when students walk in you can just see how blown away they are by the facilities, the energy, and the history of the New Century building. People come here for the atmosphere and the community as much as the training.

Balancing my role at dBs with the band has been ideal. I work three days a week at dBs and spend the rest of the time writing, recording, and touring with Corella. The two parts of my life feed each other so much. Working here has made me better technically and the band experience gives me real industry knowledge that I can pass on to students. When dBs was quieter in the early days, I used to spend my evenings demoing our first album here. Building these spaces taught me everything about how a studio should work, which helped when we made our own.

What projects are you most proud of?

Building four new production studios last summer has definitely been my proudest achievement. It took the most research and development as we built it from the ground up out of an empty space. But now, each one has its own setup of synths, monitors, and outboard gear, not to mention the custom furniture. They all feel different which really is a feat. Walking past and seeing them full of students is the best feeling, it makes all the work worthwhile.

The Dolby Atmos studio I built in summer 2024 was also a huge achievement. It took a lot of research to get the equipment and layout right, and I learned a lot.

How do you see your work as part of Manchester’s future?

For me it’s all about giving young creators access to professional spaces. When they walk into New Century Hall or step into the studios they’re instantly switched on. There’s nothing better than seeing them buzzing after a live session. We also bring in regular guests from the industry to help students refine how to use their skills. Universal did an AR session with us recently and sometimes labels reach out directly to students whose work they’re impressed by. That’s huge for them.

Everyone who works here is a musician, so we push each other and keep things moving forward. My band Corella recorded an album in Malta recently in a little studio on the beach, and we’re doing loads of festivals this year and touring with Kaiser Chiefs in February. Students ask a lot about how to balance studio work with touring and honestly, most of what I teach comes from real experience. Some of them would make brilliant producers, engineers, and sound techs, their work inspires me all the time. There’s so much talent here and it never stops.

Has Corella played at New Century?

Yes, we’ve played New Century. It was so special, and it sold out which was amazing. We had students come for soundcheck and hired a few to work tech on the night. They absolutely smashed it. One of our students now works full-time in New Century and another runs a night in New Century Kitchen. That’s what I love about this place – everything connects and people grow into their roles naturally. When we played the Ritz we had our afterparty at New Century Kitchen – it just felt right. I’ve been around this building since the beginning and seeing it all link up is something I’m really proud of.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

I love the ecosystem here. Moving between the Kitchens, New Century, and the dBs Institute studios feels completely natural. You feel like you’re part of something bigger than just a course or a venue. Even though the building is listed, there’s been so much development. We’re launching new performance-based courses for September 2026, refreshing the branding, renovating spaces, and opening up a dedicated venue downstairs for students. So many of them are in bands or DJ collectives, so having somewhere built specifically for that is going to be massive!

We’re also working on linking the New Century stage straight into the studios, so you could record a live band performing in the Hall directly into the dBs rooms. The whole building will operate as one creative hive. That’s always been the dream.

Any last words?

Honestly, I just love working here. What’s been built inside this building is incredibly special and the vision for where it’s going is really strong. It fits perfectly with what I do outside of work and I get to pass on everything I’m learning in real time. It’s a place full of creative people who want to support each other, and that’s exactly the environment I want to be in.