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Leeds Beckett strikes a chord for country’s top music students
The fourth annual Gus Dudgeon Foundation (GDF) and JAMES summer course brought together 12 of the best-performing final year music technology and production students from across the UK to take part in five days of recording on both analogue and digital systems with experienced producer and engineer, Mark Hutchinson. Mark has worked with a variety of genres of artists at the famous Rooksmere studios in Northampton; from pop and rock to classical, Indian and jazz.
The course, which took place from Monday 11 to Friday 15 July, is held each year for universities accredited by JAMES, a consortium of music, entertainment and media industry organisations collaborating in the support of education and promotion of excellence. It is run by JAMES in collaboration with the GDF, a non-profit foundation established to help top audio technology students in British universities gain real-life production experience alongside their studies. The GDF was created in tribute to the late producer, Gus Dudgeon, who is best-known for his work with Elton John, a patron of the foundation.
Hosting the event, and awarding the prize for the best student on the course to Anthony Sotelo from De Montford University, was Beatles engineer and David Bowie producer, Ken Scott. Ken is a Visiting Senior Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University with 52 years’ experience in the recording industry.
Speaking about the success of this year’s course, Dr Steve Parker, Principal Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at Leeds Beckett, said: “The Gus Dudgeon Foundation summer school at Leeds Beckett University finished on Friday with the prize for top achieving student going to Anthony Sotelo. The panel of Mark Hutchinson, Ken Scott and myself deliberated for quite some time as the diligence and enthusiasm shown by the students was outstanding and it was a very difficult choice to make. Anthony received the sponsor’s prize of a complete set of SSL plug-ins but the panel were so impressed by the students that we asked SSL to give a set of plug-ins to all those who participated. They also all received a signed copy of Ken Scott’s book 'Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardust’.
“The students spent the week working with Catherine O Neill, who is graduating from Leeds Beckett this summer in BA (Hons) Music Production and Performance, as their resident recording artist. They also had the opportunity to record strings orchestrated by Ray Russell and took part in a masterclass delivered by Ken Scott, where he ‘deconstructed' Rocket Man by Elton John and demonstrated Gus Dudgeon's production techniques using the original multi-track tapes.”
Cat-Una
Representing Leeds Beckett on the course was BA (Hons) Music Production student, Paul Brown. Paul currently produces music under the name Sons of Great Men and has previously drummed for bands including the Bazaars and the Blueskins. He was nominated by academic staff at Leeds Beckett as a result of his passion for recording, his commitment to his studies and his proactive work ethic.
Having a lovely time recording with this fabulous bunch of humans for #gusdudgeon2016 https://t.co/p7hs3gC9Qp
— Cat-Una (@_CatUna_) July 12, 2016
Such a good day with Ken Scott #GusDudgeon2016 pic.twitter.com/bNqn4hL2ru
— David Jones (@DaveDelirious) July 13, 2016
Having great fun in Leeds with this fantastic bunch! @Gusdudgeon @JAMES_News #gusdudgeon2016 https://t.co/c5RmUBPZmF
— Mark Hutchinson (@rooksmere) July 13, 2016
Some shots from Day 2 with @Gusdudgeon team @leedsbeckett university #gusdudgeon2016 #musicproduction pic.twitter.com/4svAPfqoWw
— Matt Billington (@billington1983) July 13, 2016
Universities taking part alongside Leeds Beckett were Leicester De Montfort, Abertay, Huddersfield, Hertfordshire, Anglia Ruskin, Lincoln, Buckinghamshire New University, University of South Wales, Derby, Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, and the University of Central Lancashire.
Sponsors for the event supplied a selection of equipment for use on the recording. They were: Unity Audio, who provided Unity Rock nearfield monitors; Source Distribution, supplying an API the Box console, API Lunch Box and Genelec 8351 monitors; and Solid State Logic donated a full set of SSL plug-ins for all students.