Education Focus: Abbey Road Institute's Alex Braithewaite

In the lead-up to Abbey Road Institute's Open Day on 20 Feb, we chat to Alex Braithewaite, who's currently studying an Advanced Diploma of Sound Production.

Why did you choose to undertake the Advanced Diploma of Sound Production at Abbey Road, over other courses and other education providers? What outcome do you want out of it? The Abbey Road name is highly regarded in my family. My father was interviewed there for his work on Pink Floyd's The Wall tour. Compared to other courses, ARI's extreme focus on practical understanding was most appealing to me.

What was your favourite thing about the first year of your course? The master classes which we receive from international producers. Having professionals talk candidly about their industry has been informative and eye-opening. Interacting with professionals that have worked with the likes of Queen, Stevie Nicks and Michael Jackson is invaluable.

What was the most challenging thing? Being an internationally touring DJ, committing to 48 contact weeks a year, producing my own music and studying has been hard. It has certainly ironed out some of my prior time management issues though!

What are you most looking forward to this year of your course? I am only a third of the way through, and have already seen massive improvements to my own music, as well as my mixing and mastering work. I am excited to see my skills continue to grow.

If you could go back a whole year and give yourself some advice about the first year of the Advanced Diploma of Sound Production, what would it be? Go to sleep because you're not going to be getting much of it soon!