The space was presented to the Governing Board in their visit to premises on 30 November while the students were attending classes.  The space is called Transmedia Lab, and is located in the Beta Building, 2nd floor on the Barcelona Campus and has been operational since the beginning of this 2022-23 academic year. It’s more than a radio, sound or video podcast studio: ‘transmedia’ refers to multiple media and platforms for communication, so that in the same space, all the technology is available to innovate with audio and video formats, both in class and in professional practice training or in extra-academic projects.

Rector Alfonso Méndiz, who was dean of the Faculty of Communication Sciences from 2015 to 2021, has very favourably valued the Transmedia Lab. “As a former Faculty of Communications teacher, I am proud to see that today’s students can prepare themselves with the very same tools that radio and television professionals use every day in their work.  I had this dream when I was dean, and I am very pleased that we were able to see it come true and I am sure that other centres will use Transmedia Lab as a reference, because someone working in the world of audio-visual communication or journalism today must have training that covers everything: including sound, image, movement and live performance,” the rector said.

Rebeca Pardo Sainz, dean of the Faculty, stressed that “the new spaces are catalysts of radio and sound vocations,” and that “they are attracting great interest from students, teachers and even visitors from other centres.” The new spaces opened with the incorporation of Pau Robert Martínez as a radio, sound and multimedia technician, to support students and teachers. Within the first few months of opening the lab, there have already been several requests to use the free times between classes to do everything from podcasts to recording songs.

The space comprises the newly built and equipped Transmedia studios (107 m2) and a digital newsroom (138 m2). Each studio has a robotic PTZ camera, professional software such as Dalet Galaxy and Adobe, a digital mixing console and space for six speakers/announcers, as well as a workstation for dubbing films and speech (both advertising and institutional), which also allows music recording.

The studios also have multifunctional 85-inch plasma screens. The screens located on the walls behind the speakers allow other audio-visual content to be projected for formats that include recording or retransmission of images, as well as program masks or other branding elements. In front of the speakers are more screens that allow you to follow the news or view any needed content, for example, for dubbing.  

Equipped with state-of-the-art technology, the Transmedia Lab allows you to explore both sound formats (radio and podcast, music recording, speech, dubbing…) and image formats, allowing you to work like the professional using all the new hybrid formats such as the video cast or video podcast, and just like a television program: news, interviews, talk shows... 

Thanks to the seating rows in the studios, students can follow classes and practice training of their peers. They will also allow the public to attend while programmes are being recorded.

The newsroom has ten large round tables for work teams of up to six members with thirty laptops. These computers are equipped to work with professional software such as Adobe and Dalet Galaxy in a wireless network environment. The newsroom is connected to both studios to allow both image and sound connection. 

In short, with the Transmedia Lab, the Faculty of Communication Sciences puts UIC Barcelona at the forefront of professional facilities, merging the best of the academic world with the most advanced tools in the media world, and at the same time promotes the teaching innovation that characterises the University.