CMI’s Education Finance program offers education institutions a unique opportunity to access their wealth of world class audio brands.
Music technology and audio equipment within the education space has come a long way over the past five to ten years. This accelerated growth has given both students and teachers the opportunity to harness tools within the classroom and wider learning environment previously only available in professional recording studio spaces, top tier music venues or to those with whopping, overly inflated budgets on tap.
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However, despite these technological leaps, this doesn’t necessarily equate to every educational institution affording themselves decked out music technology labs, a spec’d out music auditorium, performance spaces or the luxury of providing each of their students a full studio package without some serious upfront capital – after all, this isn’t an episode of Oprah. Thankfully, there are solutions now being made available to educational institutions registered with the government here in Australia.
CMI Music & Audio has been a staple music wholesaler in Australia since the 1970’s. Currently representing industry leading music technology brands such as Universal Audio, Native Instruments, Korg and Arturia and pro audio brands JBL, AKG and Soundcraft, and Adamson, means there’s a lot of ground covered, and an opportunity for educational institutions to take full advantage of this fruitful portfolio of brands.
Having embedded themselves into some of the world’s most infamous recording studios, live music venues, stadiums, arenas and prestigious educational facilities, these world leading brands have also become synonymous with the high demand workflow of countless producers, engineers and artists, providing them with the quality and reliability these types of creative environments require.
As any educational institution will appreciate, the confines of budgets are indeed a reality, with every penny needing to be carefully considered. Creative arts faculties will understand better than any, the importance of keeping up with current technologies, particularly that of music technology and pro audio. With the rapid rate of technological change, often outright purchases of equipment aren’t necessarily the way to go, as all too often a software production package or audio interface for example, will be superseded within a couple of years.
Whilst this isn’t the be all and end all, it’s certainly in the best interests of an educational facility to be as up to date as possible when it comes to fitting out a music technology lab, live performance space or recording studio. This helps alleviate the chances of falling behind the competition and risking providing equipment (and the subsequent hands on experience) that is not in alignment with the current standards within industry.
The option to lease equipment is a superb solution to this type of conundrum, and with financial flexibility and pre-approval solutions at the ready, it makes this process even easier. CMI’s Education Finance program offers education institutions a unique opportunity to access their wealth of world class brands, offering two-year lease terms with monthly payments. Pre approval of up to $100,000 is available, with a minimum order value of $5,000.
The flexibility at the end of a lease term is where things are particularly appealing, with options to simply reset and forget – allowing for a completely new set of gear to be swapped out at the same or varied quantities, with this option also affording customers improved pricing. The Half/Half option ensures leased equipment is kept up to date where required, and for other gear that isn’t requiring an upgrade, customers can simply continue leasing that gear as normal. Lastly, the student buy out option is particularly appealing for institutions that have students that would like to buy out their gear at a discounted rate at the end of the lease term. Of course, returning leased equipment at the end of a lease term is as simple as it should be.
As mentioned earlier, the CMI family of brands is impressive.
Popular product lines such as Native Instruments KOMPLETE 14 production suite is ideal for MIDI classrooms or music tech labs. Available in education site licences for decking out these types of spaces, KOMPLETE 14 when paired with a solid MIDI controller such as the Arturia Keylab Controllers along with Minifuse USB audio interfaces provide a great quality audio production solution with a superb array of included software. Other great offerings include the likes of Universal Audio’s VOLT series of interfaces, which boast great spec with some appealing vintage styled features.
As for pro audio solutions, there are numerous options for portable powered PA systems such as the JBL EON One Compact – ideal for use for sports carnivals and outdoor settings. The affordable and well spec’d EON 700 series loudspeakers are an ideal option for music practice and jam spaces, as well as outdoor spaces.
For medium to larger scale setups, the SRX range of loudspeakers offer both point source and saleable line array options, ideal for installs as well as teaching the concepts of live and install sound systems in the line array format. Of course, for those wanting to go the whole hog, Adamson systems are available for a truly world class and industry leading pro audio solution.
A production suite, recording studio or live sound stage wouldn’t be complete without a healthy array of microphones and headphones where required, and suitably, CMI touts one of the most prestigious microphones and headphone brands on the planet – AKG. Ranging from classic studio microphones such as the C414 through to iconic D112, built to withstand the most demanding live environments. The AKG range is both broad and comprehensive.
To have not only great brands, but genuinely flexible leasing options, educational instructions have a fantastic opportunity to spec out their spaces, future proofing for both them and their students, getting access to the most up to date, industry leading equipment available today. It’s no surprise that some of Australia’s leading music education institutions such as Collarts, JMC Melbourne and Box Hill TAFE are taking full advantage of CMI’s offerings, providing their students with the best possible gear and setting them up for work in industry post degree.
For more information, head to CMI Music.
