Student Spotlight, Volume 8: Listen to New Works by Student Artists

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This latest Mainstage session proved to me once and for all that, yes, we can have it all: beautiful weather and outdoor summer fun and making progress and advancing in our music careers.

Once again, it’s time for some of our top tracks by student artists from the last session! All of the following tracks came out of recent sessions with our Soundfly Mentors, who worked with these students either through one of our in-depth Mainstage courses or a self-designed curriculum via our Headliners Club program. There were a number of works created in the past month by students, some still in progress, some merely ideas of amazing pieces to come, but these five stood out for being clear artistic statements that their mentors were excited to share with the world.

Want to work with one of our Soundfly Mentors yourself? Tell us a bit about yourself and your musical goals and we’ll find the right program for you!

In the meantime, check out the full playlist below, and then scroll down to read more about each student and who they worked with.

“Untitled Beach Scene”

Student-Artist: Greg Panciera
Course: The Creative Power of Advanced Harmony
Mentor: Andre Madatian
Focus: To learn more sophisticated approaches to harmony to incorporate into his productions. With an interest in film music, he aimed to deepen his ability to sync musical ideas with characters and their traits.

Andre: Greg is a fantastic student. He approached every assignment with much creativity and effort. His productions were always high quality and often went above and beyond the assignment guidelines. I thoroughly enjoyed answering all of his questions and mentoring him along the way!

“Break the Lock”

Student-Artist: Konstantinos Damianakis
Course: Beat Making in Ableton Live
Mentor: Sam Friedman
Focus: To create beats that hit harder and sound tighter and more decisive. 

Sam: Konstantinos constantly pushes the creative boundaries in his work, always keeping the listener on their toes. I was impressed right away with his imaginative beat making, and as we moved through the six-week course, his skills continued to grow, as did his creative expression. The result is a truly unique sound.

Konstantinos: One of the most significant lessons I learned through the course is how to use Ableton Live to shape the sound, groove, and phrasing of my beats into powerful and flowing music.

“Lips”

Student-Artist: Kent Wadsworth
Course: Faders Up I: Modern Mix Techniques
Mentor: Jamie Billings
Focus: To move from Logic to Pro Tools, and get comfortable routing between DAWs, as well as learning to produce better-sounding mixes. 

Jamie: Kent was an absolute joy to work with. I have never worked with a student before who showed so much dedication to his course work and passion for orchestral instruments. While his arranging techniques were already strong, his mixing techniques grew to be on par.

“Nostalgia” (30-second version)

Student-Artist: Dainius Characiejus
Course: Unlocking the Emotional Power of Chords
Mentor: Raven Katz
Focus: To become more intimate with how chords shape the flow of a song or piece, and internalizing their emotive impact. 

Raven: Dainius is a curious and creative composer. He has a natural musical ear and uses that as the basis for his sonic explorations. As his musical vocabulary widens, so to does the quality of his pieces. I can’t wait to see where his writing goes next!

“Crucial FEWSION Episode 1: Introduction”

Student-Artist: Diane Hope
Course: Headliners Club
Mentor: John Hull
Focus: To complete a piece of music from the sounds she recorded during her water treatment plant project.

John: It was great to work with Diane again. In this session we explored song form and some compositional tools, as well as deeper sound design skills and tricks in Pro Tools. Not only did Diane complete a great new piece, she also arranged it and mixed it into an podcast she completely produced and engineered. This episode is part of a series she’s producing on renewable energy and resources. Many of the sounds in her piece are mangled samples from a water treatment facility she visited as part of her research. It all fits nicely together and I look forward to checking out the rest of the episodes!

You can follow Diane’s incredible work on her website.

Ready to reach your musical goals?

Our one-on-one mentorship program is built on our belief that accountability and guidance can have a huge impact on students reaching their goals and developing their musical identities. Soundfly’s community of mentors will help you set the right goals, pave the right path toward success, and stick to schedules and routines that you develop together, so you improve every step of the way.

Tell us what you’re working on, and we’ll find the right mentor or course for you!

*If you think you have what it takes to be a Soundfly Mentor, learn more about the program here.

Ryan Lott: Designing Sample-Based Instruments

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