Are you a snivelling sponger? Are you scrimping off the state or living on beans and Special Brew?…read moreNeed a job? Call Morgan Hunt. One of the better recruitment agencies on the market, Morgan Hunt offer a professional, tailored job search and recruitment service. They work across the UK with a base in Manchester as well as some other prime locations which makes them a great place to start if you are a graduate looking to spread your wings. Working on both sides of the coin, they help the unemployed masses find work whilst offering headhunting services for companies and businesses. I've had some great temp work through them and regularly check their site for new vacancies and training opportunities. As they are a large company the service is a little cold and impersonal, but the flipside of this is that they have a lot of fingers in a lot of pies so there are plenty of juicy jobs for you to choose from.

Oh dear, oh dear.......... details of my agency experience…read morecan be found on my blog: http://grahamchalk.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html Morgan Hunt keep sending me job emails where if you click on "apply now" you get "error 404" It's been like this for aaaages. I told them about it. aaaaaaaaages ago....It's still like this....lol Oh and I signed up in a branch (Newcastle) that according to their website...doesn't actually exist. Hogwarts here I come!

Pump up the volume!…read more Formed in 2000 by head honcho Dave Cooper, In House Press has grown to become one of the best music PR companies around. Based in central Manchester, Cooper, press manager Will Lawrence and officer Lisa Durrent work tirelessly to promote a brilliant roster of cool UK and US labels. We're talking Stones Throw, Light In The Attic, Daptone, Deltasonic, Morr Music, Melodic, Memphis Industries, Illegal Art, ATP and Twisted Nerve. If you're a label boss or band looking to get your album played on the radio and reviewed in the best magazines, give these guys a call. They look after some of the best emerging and established artists around from psyche-folk and prog-rock artists like F*u*c*k Buttons and The Black Angels to funk, soul and protest singers like Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings and Rodriguez. Over the last 12 to 18 months, they've also started promoting some awesome new eletro / dance artists like Dan Deacon and Girl Talk. As I said earlier, pump up the volume!

Cam, Ry, and Olly were great & friendly bartenders. Very respectful and made great drinks!!!…read more Sully, Cal, and Greg, on the other hand, were rude and were incapable of manning the bar. Will not be coming back. (due to the fact that I live in America, not Manchester)

Hallelujah! After…read morefour years of redevelopment, not-for-proft charity Inner City Music finally re-opened the doors of Band on The Wall last September. Aside from redecoration and a spacious chill out area, the main difference to the legendary music venue is the stage. There's a spanking new state of the art PA system installed, new lights, new audio-visual equipment and for the jazz fans amongst you, a concert grand piano. What's more, the venue looks set to make local funk, soul, blues, jazz, hip hop and world music fans extremely happy with a packed programme of live shows and deejays most nights of the week. They've already had gigs from Breakestra, Nitin Sawhney and The Mad Professor and Southern soul legend Candi Staton is set to grace the stage in April. The show you have to reserve a ticket for however, is 27 March when 10 piece band Introducing will be attempting to recreate DJ Shadow's seminal Entroducing album live. Yup, that's note for note, loop for loop, for the very first time, live AND in front of an audience! Listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmzHRGoKca0&feature=related

Went to see a film music tie-in at this venue and really enjoyed though massive number of stairs to…read moreclimb to get to my seat. Also slightly restricted viewing.

Lovely venue to listen to live music! I've been here many times to listen to the Hallé play, and…read morethe architecture of the room allows for great acoustics! Every seat has great views and great sound of the music, and the foyer of the hall holds many people. It's a great venue situated in Manchester that should be experienced once.

Royal Northern College of Music is a bit of a jewel in Manchester's crown…read more Situated inbetween university buildings on Oxford Road, it's a well respected college where amateur singers, musicians, composers and conductors study to become professionals. What distinguishes it from similar facilities across the country is there's a big research centre within the building where students can learn composition, musicology and practise-as-research. Though one of the courses is keyboard and piano orientated, most of them revolve around classical music, jazz and opera. Handily, RNCM also has a large auditorium which doubles as a music and performing arts venue for students and professionals. There's special seasons devoted to particular composers or styles and one off concerts from visiting orchestras, jazz, soul and world music artists. Occasionally, the RNCM also host excellent spoken word events. I saw Chuck D waxing lyrical here many moons ago and was involved in a reading Armistead Maupin did for The Big Gay Read / Queer Up North. Both were sold out and had the audience on the edge of their seats. Handily, the RNCM also has a cute cafe-bar on the ground floor where you can have coffee, tea and snacks in the day and wine and beer at night.

So, you're a music buff. You want to watch important, intelligent music, or you want to become a…read moreBachelor of Music, a Master of Music, or become an instrumental or performing arts educator. Where else can you come but one of the most prestigious music colleges in the country? The college is divided into the schools of academic studies, composition, keyboard studies, strings, vocal and opera studies and wind, brass and percussion. There are also departments for conducting, jazz, period performance and an international chamber music studio. It's also a venue for some of the best music around, from recitals to operas, theatre to ensembles. Occasionally you get a non-music event though, and this was why I was at the Royal Northern College of Music. One of my most beloved authors, Bret Easton Ellis, was doing a reading, Q&A and signing here, and it was the perfect excuse for me to down a cocktail for Dutch courage but still end up giggling like an eleven year old schoolgirl. Oh well, you win some... you lose some. The theatre and space itself is more than impressive and I'd happily see any performance here.

Extra cool now that's its a pub featured on Fresh Meat but I've always liked going there and I've…read morebeen to few many shows upstairs, which are always very cool also. Friendly staff, nice atmosphere but only one toilet!

Over the last decade, The King's Arms has become something of a Manchester institution. Tucked away…read moreon Bloom Street in Salford, it's a ten minute walk from Deansgate and the hustle and bustle of the city centre. The surrounding new build flats aren't the prettiest but it's worth making a special trip to enjoy a pint and a bit of culture in this charming boozer. A grand looking, red brick building with several floors, The King's Arms has been lovingly nurtured and restored back to life by current manager Jon Cooper. There's a community theatre company and a collective of visual artists and photographers based on the top floor and a performance area for local and visting bands on the first floor. There's free folk and jazz gigs every Wednesday and Greek /Klezma musicians every Thurs. There's also occasional film screenings, poetry readings and community benefits. The reason I love The King's Arms so much however, is for their gorgeous bar with comfy leather seating, high ornate ceiling and worn wooden tables. The bar staff are as welcoming as the decor and whenever I've been there's always been something cool on the stereo from Serge Gainsbourg to The Shangra Las. The fact they also serve great ales, beers, spirits and warm drinks at reasonable prices is what makes it one of Manchester's coolest drinking dens! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-52UnhQhu8

Well, it's not every day you find yourself in a professional music studio, no siree. And my, was it…read moreamazing! I shall give you some context first, as although it would be awesome, I am not some kind of upcoming, next-big-thing music maestra (sigh), although my dad has been writing songs for a long time and has enough for a full album. So, seeing as I have music contacts, I arranged for him to record it in a proper studio. And boy, did I pick exactly the right place!! Marcus Alexander was our studio engineer for the day, and has been a friend of mine for quite some time, so he was how I found out about 80 Hertz. The studio is based in The Sharp Project, which has been built as sort of a counter point to Media City; an alternative space to use, if you will, and therefore has all the facilities necessary for almost any media work; there are studios in which they film T.V. for Channel 4 and Sky, media lawyers have offices there, there are web development, promotional and advertising companies... Basically, anything you may want in the world of media, you will find it here! Back to the studio though; upon arrival we were treated with a really friendly welcome and brew (always a winner), and were given the tour by John, who was helping Marcus, while my dad was able to set up and get his bearings around the studio. It was all of our first times in that environment as we were told to "Make [ourselves] at home" and were given free reign of the facilities such as the kitchen, canteen, vending machines, and were given an access pass allowing us into and out of the building for smoking purposes. We immediately felt comfortable, though obviously the initial hour or so we were trying to get used to the environment, but I highly recommend this studio for anyone who wishes to record an album or lay down a track in Manchester. I am aware there are alternatives, of which I am not yet versed, but I know that the way in which we were treated by everyone involved in the studio was lovely to each of us, and our first day of recording was hard work, but tonnes of fun! None of us can wait for day two of studio antics, and whether you are looking for an unusual gift for a budding musician, or something to further along your own musical ambition, 80 Hertz is a wonderful place in which to live and love the rock'n'roll experience!

From the owner: Music Composition | Recording | Mixing | Masteringread more