Alumni

Ramera Abraham is a London-based vocal producer, recording engineer, and songwriter. Having spent her younger years studying music in the Philippines, Abraham is now classically trained in piano, vocals, and drums. After completing her undergraduate degree in Canada, the multi-faceted created moved to London in 2017 to study our Advanced Diploma in Sound Engineering and Music Production course at Abbey Road Institute.

Upon graduating from the Institute, Abraham earned an engineering residency at Spotify’s Noteable studio, under the mentorship of Berklee College of Music. It was there that she dealt with daily studio operations and delved into the world of vocal production and engineering. After her Spotify residency, Abraham became a runner and then assistant engineer at Metropolis Studios, where she assisted on several projects. Including: Little Mix’s last two albums, Grammy-nominated musical theatre album “Cinderella” with Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ album, Carnage.

Abraham has since progressed into a freelance role, primarily at music distribution and artist services company, Platoon. Some of her biggest career highlights include working with Saint Harison, TianaMajor9, RAYE, Luz, Ms Banks, Henry Moodie, Kamille, and Matt Taylor. She was also included in SheSaid.So’s Alternative Power 100 List 2021 as one to watch, and is the Music Producers Guild’s Vocal Producer of the Year 2023.

Abraham has also taught several vocal production masterclasses with MPW, ICMP, University of Winchester, and at her alma mater, Abbey Road Institute. She has been creating vocal arrangements and writing harmonies from a very young age and has been in the professional recording industry for nearly six years. The majority of her work spans across the pop and R&B genres. Find out more about Ramera Abraham on her website. 

Abigail Adams is a musician and producer who completed our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering in June 2022.

Originally from Florence, Massachusetts (USA), Abigail grew up playing classical and folk violin, becoming interested in live sound engineering and production at high school. After participating in the Boston Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, performing in their New York Times critically acclaimed Carnegie Hall debut, Abigail attended Carnegie Mellon University, where she studied Classical Violin Performance and Sound Production. She moved to London in 2018 to pursue a Masters Certificate in Jazz Violin at the Guildhall School of Music.

Some of Abigail’s highlights whilst studying with us include producing classical sessions alongside John Dunkerley in Abbey Road’s Studio One and Two, arranging string quartets for artist Le Montais, and engineering for Jazz drummer Romarna Campbell and spoken word artist DemiMa Nokusa Mseleku. She also recorded two of her original tracks with producer Haydn Bendall in Studio Two at Abbey Road and Studio One at Angel Studios.

Alongside her other work, Abigail performs under the name Sloane Monroe where she combines blues rock sounds and vocals with folk classical string arrangements. She now continues working as an artist, session musician, producer and recording engineer as well as a technician with our students.

Following an internship at Australia’s largest recording studio Studios 301, Becky Arnold took up an assistant engineer position at Dean Street Studios in Soho London. Becky’s role is varied; from assisting with setting up sessions, patching outboard gear and operating pro-tools to building baffles and making shelves for microphones. “I would love to progress into running sessions myself as an engineer, and also mixing tracks that are recorded there. The atmosphere of the studio is so great, I’m very glad I got the opportunity to be a part of their team and I’m looking forward to my future there.” Becky has also recently launched the company Amplifindr for which she is raising funds on Kickstarter. Amplifindr is an online studio rental portal for emerging producers, engineers, and artists.  Becky hopes to ‘make music more accessible for young and amateur creatives since commercial studios are usually too expensive for people getting started in the business.’ In her own time, Becky is busy developing her artist profile under the name of Violet Beck and planning to release an EP.

Lizzie Arnold graduated from her studies with us in 2019, went onto work at the BBC and now works as a Studio Intern at Platoon in Tileyard. Her work at Platoon includes assisting on recording sessions, prepping sessions for mixing, and ensuring all studio equipment is properly maintained. She also supports Platoon artists with any technical issues they may have during sessions.

Before landing this role, she worked as a Sound Engineer at the BBC, across Radio Two and Radio Three. Some highlights from her work at the BBC include Late Junction, Proms 2019, The Jazz Show with Jamie Cullum, The Listening Service, Radio 3 Breakfast, In Tune. For Radio Two her favourite session was with Jeff Goldblum.

Lizzie has worked on sessions at Maida Vale Studios and also on the Proms, which was a childhood dream of hers. Today, alongside her work at Platoon, she also continues to freelance in radio and live sound.

Domenico Autuori graduated in 2017 and now works as both a freelance music producer with other artists as well as making music as part of the band Screams from the Sun and as a solo artist under the name ‘Mimi Out’. Domenico’s work with his clients is multi-faceted and typically includes production, instrumentation and mixing. He also supports artists to create a visual brand through photography and video content.  He is based in Florence, Italy, and works from his home studio, The Pleasuredome, which is named as a tribute to one of his favourite producers, Trevor Horn.

Domenico has experienced great success as a member of the band Screams from the Sun, where he plays the drums. The band has released an EP and many singles, and have played around the UK and in London regularly. Prior to the release of their first single release, the band were featured in the French Rolling Stone magazine. In addition to this, Domenico works as a session and live drummer for artists and tribute bands. He developed his skills as a drummer at the Conservatory of Music in Salerno where he studied Percussion Instruments. In 2022, Domenico released his first singles as a solo artist ‘La Stanza Piena’ and ‘Sorry is not Enough’. These singles are also available on vinyl 7” inch as apart of his project named ‘SHOUT’. He is now working for multiple artists as a producer and is finishing more new tracks to come.

Moving forward, Domenico hopes to continue his work with his band, building their profile, as well as collaborating with and producing many more artists.

Oscar Bailey is a Producer and Musician who completed our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering in January 2023.

He picked up the guitar at just age 17, then, during lockdown, his inspiration grew into collaboration, and as his love for music production began. Whilst on the course, Oscar recorded a variety of artists including Hiding Places, Bsmnt J, Seb Bonner, and fellow course-mate Jessi McDonald.

Now, Oscar works as a Technician at Abbey Road Institute as well as being a Runner at our very own Angel Studios. He also assists at, recently founded, Slide Studios in Peckham. Co-founded by Abbey Road Institute alumni, Will Bassett and Lucas Boydell-Loftus.

Following the completion of his studies with us and graduating in 2018 Zak Baker now works as a recording engineer, mix engineer and Dolby Atmos Mix engineer at Blue Bell Hill Studios, a residential recording studio in Kent which is part of the Miloco network of studios. Zak engineers most of the sessions that come through the studio which can sometimes involve taking on the producer role, as well as mixing the projects. On other bookings where the artist brings their own engineer, he takes on the role of assistant. The studio is run by Barny Barnicott (Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, Sam Fender) and Zak works with Barny as his mix engineer and works on mixes in the box before spreading them across the SSL console to be worked on.

After finishing his studies with us Zak travelled to Australia to take up an internship at Studios 301 alongside his fellow student Becky Arnold.

A couple of career highlights so far for Zak include engineering 4 tracks on the J Hus album, Big Conspiracy which went to number 1 in the album charts as well as assisting on the You Me At Six album and engineering for The Dualers and Octavian. You can find out more about Zak on his website.

Following his graduation in 2017, Ashyar Balsara secured a job at Island City Studios in Mumbai as a Recording & Mixing Engineer. Joining the team at Island City before the studio was functional meant Ashyar assisted with the final stages of construction as well as planning and setting up all of the audio equipment. He also supported with training the assistant engineers, which he says was a great learning experience.

Now, his primary responsibility is recording and mixing, and he’s worked on many projects including mixing Netflix True Crime documentaries such as ‘Indian Predator’, wildlife documentaries, radio plays for BBC Radio 4 such as ‘The Jungle Book’, recording with independent artists on acclaimed, commercial Bollywood projects, movie background scores, podcasts and audiobooks. A highlight for Ashyar is the vast variety of work he gets to be involved with and he hopes going forward he will be able to continue helping facilitate a great studio experience to all his clients/ artists. He also aims to be continuously working to improve his studios’ systems and processes, a number of which have been adapted from the way the Custom 75 studio at the Institute is operated.

Following graduating in 2019, Mia Bradley is now working as a Product Manager for dance record label Anjunadeep. After working as a Label Assistant, Mia was promoted to Product Manager, overseeing album campaigns and releases from some of dance music’s biggest stars. Mia’s main role is planning all aspects of a campaign, including working closely with artists and industry-leading companies to ensure the success of every release.

This role has allowed Mia to further delve into different genres of electronic music, not only getting a better understanding of the business side of the industry but also allowing her to pursue her own musical endeavors. She has released music under the name Mia Aurora, as well as becoming a globally touring DJ. 2022 saw Mia play DJ sets in Ibiza, Berlin, Dubai, Israel, Albania and more. Mia’s experience working for a global dance label has helped her develop her own musical projects.

Since completing our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering in 2017, Richard Bradshaw spent two years working as an Audio Producer at the Royal National Institute of Blind People. The job entailed recording audiobooks, magazines and podcasts for both commercial clients and for the RNIB itself. Since 2021 he has been the Senior Audio Producer at RNIB, and as part of the management team manages a team of 7 audio producer and the London based RNIB studios. Outside of his day job Richard Bradshaw has been working on many projects such as developing a fully mobile 32 channel UAD/ Pro Tools rig which he has been taking out to record bands in situ as well as working on various solo projects. This definitely keeps him busy and he says the experience and learning he gained on our music production course has been invaluable in his career since leaving.

Carlos Bricio graduated in 2017 and went on to join our team in London as a technician where he was then promoted to Head Technician. Following his return to Madrid, Carlos is now working as a freelance engineer and producer.

His work focuses mainly on engineering (recording, mixing and mastering), remote drum recording and content writing. He set up his own studio in Madrid that he works out of, whilst also working as an assist engineer at GG producciones.

As well as his regular clients such as Abbey Road Institute or Sonimus, his clients as of late have included artists such as Miguel Ganzo, SudhaChandran, and even fellow alumni James Li and Ramera Abraham. He has worked with companies such as Antelope Audio and Scienseed and Universities / research centres like Universidad Carlos III and CENIEH. His podcast production La Lupa Sónica was even awarded twice in 2022, with a special mention to the sound design work Carlos did for it.

Continuing his career as an educator Carlos also offers one-on-one teaching sessions in music production and sound engineering whilst also writing articles for several online platforms. He collaborates with the plugin company Sonimus as content creator, making videos, audio examples and writing articles about their products and audio production techniques.

Collaborating with Eres Ciencia and Herstoricas, Carlos enjoys participating in educational projects where he can contribute with his insight knowledge on audio and video production. 

You can find out more about Carlos Bricio in this interview on our blog and on his website where he posts his own educational content. There, he talks about audio, sound and share production and recording tips. Carlos regularly contributes to our blog and you can also read his articles on The Decca Tree, Studio Etiquette and much more.

Since graduating from our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering in the summer of 2022, Justina Bryce has gone on to work at Abbey Road Studios as a Runner.

During her time at the Studio, she has acted as an assistant engineer on sessions for Stormzy and on the highly anticipated new Wonka film amongst many other projects.

Outside of her work at Abbey Road, she has worked on multiple projects for upcoming artists, short films, and adverts and has also edited music for sync. She releases her own music productions which have been featured on notable platforms such as MTV Base & BET. Justina has worked with artists such as Ling Hussle, Capella Grey, Chase Young, Charlie Is Ready, Amahla, Dainá and many more.

One of Justina’s most notable highlights in her career so far is the GRAMMY-nominated Chris Brown album ‘Breezy’, on which she is credited as a recording engineer on the first track ‘Till The Wheels Fall Off’ featuring Capella Grey & Lil Durk. Find out more about Justina over on the Abbey Road Studios website.

After graduating from Abbey Road Institute, Guy Buisson went straight into the third year of university at the University of West London. There, he studied ‘Recording, Mixing and Production’, and has since graduated with a 1:1. 

Whilst in his third year of university, he actually began working as the Front of House Sound Engineer at the notorious Amersham Arms, where he still works to this day. Guy is also a part-time runner at Dean Street Studios in Soho, where he is quickly learning everything he can about engineer commercial recording sessions. Guy does all of this whilst also doing freelance mixing and mastering and is finding that the more he is progressing, the more projects he gets to work on.

As a FOH Sound Engineer, Guy is responsible for all elements of running a live show. Working with various equipment and people, he says that he can sometimes set up and mix up to 9 bands a night! As a runner at Dean Street Studios, he is mostly assisting with the setup and pack down of sessions. He also spends a great deal of time assisting with file prep for mix sessions (including for Dolby Atmos mixes). 

Guy works frequently with fellow producer and Abbey Road Institute alum, Daisy Rutter, and they even have a song out together on Spotify called ‘Lost’. Guy says they are working on more music to release together, and are co-producing for several artists they met through live sound work. 

Guy wishes to continue writing and producing, as well as learning more about how to be the best studio engineer possible! The end goal for Guy is for his studio work to become full time and say a sweet goodbye to his career in live sound. 

Since 2019, alumnus Lucas Christoff has been working as a Producer and Sound Engineer in France. Starting at Dime On Music in the South of France then moving on to Ever Estudio Sound in Paris where he is working currently. In this role, Lucas is responsible for engineering on all the sessions organised by the label as well as mixing the majority of tracks.

Outside of this, Lucas works as a freelance producer with a number of different artists, recording and arranging their tracks and working across a wide range of genres such as funk, pop and hip hop. His band ‘Bird Voices’ continue to release music, having released their debut album ‘Mirage’ in 2022. Despite completing the course and moving countries, Lucas still finds ways to work with other alumni across Europe, saying they make a great team having both been trained together at the Institute. Some of these projects include the recording of his album ‘Pigeons & Rats’ in Rome, producing an upcoming hip hop release and starting a new project ‘Band and Breakfast’ in collaboration with fellow alumni Francesco Putorti.

Jack Chown graduated from our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering in 2016 and now works as a freelance music producer, composer and music supervisor.

Straight after graduation, he started working as an assistant/engineer at Baltic Studios. During this time he worked with an impressive client list of artists and producers such as Liam Gallagher, James Bay, MIA and Kid Harpoon, Stint and Andrew Wyatt. Following his work at Baltic, he also spent some time working for Spitfire Audio as a developer.

Jack now splits his time between being a producer, composer and creating music for sync, which often intersect. As a producer, he has recently started a solo project under the moniker kiskadee; as well as collaborating with artists such as Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Tycho Jones + Haelos on their own releases. He started working in sync as a composer and supervisor in 2018 with brands such as Asahi, Adidas, Sony, American Express, Levi’s, Nike and Puma. This led him to co-found Underscore, a sync-focused label, and publisher. Outside of this Jack is also working on various non-sync-related projects such as an upcoming VICE/HBO documentary series.

In 2020, he also launched his own solo project : kiskadee, a collection of bittersweet beats and electronic soundscapes. The project has garnered support from BBC 6music, Complex and Clash. Here, he is also able to explore new ways of experiencing audio-visual works in clubs, galleries and the metaverse; and is currently developing an album project for release later this year, 2023.You can find out more about Jack on his website. 

From Abbey Road Institute to Abbey Road Studios, Marta Di Nozzi has been working as a runner at the world-famous recording studios since she graduated in 2019. Marta is responsible for preparing the studios for each client’s arrival and making sure they are comfortable during sessions. This includes helping the engineering team to set up the rooms and making sure that all the gear is working at its best. The job also entails supporting the engineer and assistant engineer during sessions, from taking notes during recording, to patching and operating a DAW.

Since starting at Abbey Road Studios, Marta has been involved in projects across a wide range of music genres, from classic music and movie scores to rock albums. A highlight has been assisting the recording of Joe Bonamassa’s album in Studio One where she shared the live room with musicians including Reese Wynans, Anton Fig, Michael Rhodes, Jools Holland and Bernie Marsden. Her ambitions for the future are to continue and build upon her career as a sound engineer/record producer in a studio environment and ‘to keep learning from the best people in this industry while strongly supporting equality in the music industry’.

Since graduating in 2018, Antonio Esposito has been working as a freelance producer, songwriter and mix engineer out of his studio in Italy. He regularly collaborates with both Italian and international artists, as well as being part of a songwriting and production duo with fellow alumnus, Ramera Abraham. Some of his latest works are for ARI alumna Gianna Lei, for whom he produced and mixed her latest single ’Tie Dye’, and Italian artist Adriana whose songs reached over 500k streams on all streaming platforms.

As well as working from his own studio, Antonio has travelled to Dublin and London multiple times, coming back to Abbey Road to record artists like Hawke, and recording in studios like the Spotify Secret Genius Studio, based at Metropolis Studio. 
His latest works include releasing two singles in 2022 as a producer, under the artist name of N-TONE, and he is working to release more in 2023. Antonio has mixed for the likes of Matt Taylor, producer duo Afterparty and Hawke. Antonio has just begun teaching in Italy, including some masterclasses about synthesis, and for the future, he would like to further expand his freelancing activity, working with more and more artists from all over the world.

kityiu grace, a London-based artist-producer, has amassed an impressive list of achievements and accomplishments since graduating. She currently holds the position of International Digital Manager at a London-based record label while volunteering with ESEA Music as an A&R and project manager, dedicated to elevating East and Southeast Asian artists and professionals in the UK music scene.

She works closely with major DSPs like Spotify, Apple Music and many indie labels. Her work involves digital music marketing and creative campaigns planning for notable projects like Arlo Parks, Cigarettes After Sex, PJ Harvey, and recent Mercury Prize-Winner Ezra Collective. She also took the lead in project-managing two writing camps for ESEA Music in 2023, one of which was partnered with Platoon, contributing to diversity promotion and cultural exchange within the industry.

kityiu grace, as an artist-producer, made her debut with ‘hey hey butterflies‘, known for its intimate and delicate sound. The track garnered recognition on various radio plays and earned her an invitation to be the opening artist for mui zyu’s sold-out headline show at Servant Jazz Quarters in March 2023. kityiu is currently working on finalizing her debut EP and preparing for more upcoming live performances.

Being able to contribute her skills and knowledge within the heart of the music industry as an East and Southeast Asian representative has always been a dream of hers, for which we are so incredibly proud of and cannot wait to see kityiu take the music industry by storm.

Alice Haine graduated from our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering in 2020. Since then Haine has worked at DMY as a Publishing A&R Manager & Head of Sync, and is now on a new venture with Pitch & Sync as a Music Supervisor / Creative.  On top of this, she also freelances as a producer and releases her own music under the moniker, ‘Naughty Alice’. Haine built up a client base during her studies and quickly took the leap into freelancing from the moment she graduated.

Her work as a producer varies depending on the artist’s needs. Typically she works with an artist from initial demo through up to post-production at which point she then hands over the reins to a mixing/mastering engineer.

This journey typically includes; studying the structure of the song and seeing if any changes are needed, potentially re-recording anything that needs to be, adding instruments, removing instruments, timing, tuning, and effects. The variety of the work she is involved in is one of the things she enjoys most and the different needs and expectations of the artists mean she’s always kept on her toes.

Having graduated from Abbey Road Institute studying music production and sound engineering in October 2019, Jessica Heap moved onto an exciting role as Broadcast Engineer at the leading UK media company Global. Whilst working there, Jess has had the opportunity to work for some of the biggest UK radio brands such as Capital, Heart, Radio X, LBC and Classic FM to name a few.

Some of the most recent highlights of her career have been from being the only sound engineer at the Queen’s funeral for LBC at Buckingham Palace to trying to broadcast a Radio X show from the Jungle Cave Cafe.

Alongside this, Jessica has also been working as a freelance sound engineer for podcasts and an assistant engineer at studios in London, Peckham. In her spare time, she is a member of a four-piece band formed with a fellow classmate from the Institute who are aiming to release their first EP in 2022.

Tom Hunt is a songwriter, producer and mix engineer, who graduated from our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering in 2022.

Before studying with us, Tom studied at Bath Spa University and achieved a first-class honours in Commercial Music.  He has been actively performing live in various bands, playing festivals that include Dot to Dot, Tramlines, Barn on the Farm, Bath Festivals, and Left of the Dial to name a few. He has also written and produced music for media, including the Teach a Man to Fish campaign for Mayhem Creative x Jigsaw, which won the Gold Arrow at the 2016 British Arrows Craft Awards. Tom has produced work in some of the UK’s leading recording studios, including Real World Studios, and Rockfield Studios.

During his time at Abbey Road Institute, Tom recorded and produced artists of a variety of genres, including multiple live sessions and had some of his original work produced and recorded by Bernard Butler. After finishing the course Tom joined our team as a technician supporting our students. He also continues to work while writing and releasing music with his current project, White House Down.

Igor Jankovski graduated from our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering in 2019. His current projects include a 5 song EP, as well his album, Cultivation.

One of Igor’s career highlights so far has been producing two records with help from music producer and guest lecturer Martin “Youth” Glover, whose previous work includes hit records with Kate Bush, The Verve, The Cult and Dido. Igor found this an incredibly rewarding experience, where he was able to learn a lot about music production in a very short period of time. ‘I’ve learned that music has to come from the heart and that you don’t have to impress anyone but yourself’.

Igor plans to continue working on improving his production and mixing skills, taking on new clients and opportunities that allow him to explore all the skills he has learnt as well as building up his artist profile. You can find out more about Igor on his website.

Tristan Holmes-Jefferd graduated from our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering in 2019 and has been pursuing his career in live sound since then. He is currently working at Britannia Row Productions as a Warehouse Operative as well as working across various freelance jobs, be it in production or live sound. His role at Britannia Row is focussed on managing equipment, which means that on a daily basis he is testing equipment, loading in and out from trucks, maintaining speakers and looming cables, for clients such as the BRIT Awards. Outside of this work, he has mixed front-of-house for Sofar Sounds in Portsmouth and produced for a fashion-themed horror escape maze in Paris by Jean Paul Gaultier. Moving forward he would love to continue branching out into the live sound industry and will be releasing music he has mixed on label K7 Records in 2020.

You can read our interview with Tristan on our blog here.

Tom Larner graduated from the Abbey Road Institute in 2017 and now works as an Agents Assistant in the Personal Appearance & Music department at WME. Following his graduation, Tom decided to gear his career ambitions towards the music business/label & management areas of the industry, rather than production and engineering. This decision was partly inspired by his music business lecturer, Ian Ramage, whose lectures provided a compelling insight into business aspects of the music industry.

Since joining WME, Tom has had the opportunity to work in several departments. One of Tom’s first assistant roles at the company was within the International Festival Department under Jesse Fayne, where he assisted in booking WME clients onto 50+ major festivals throughout the UK & Europe, working with the companies diverse roster from major headline artists through to up-and-coming artists.

In 2019, Lucy Dickins joined WME and Tom was given the chance to join her team. He has since been working alongside James Simmons, assisting him in booking global tours for both of their impressive rosters of clients.

Tom really enjoys working with developing artists on the companies roster and learning the strategies behind helping break an artist. At the moment he is embracing all the learning and opportunities afforded to him at WME with Lucy and James. In the future, he would like to work towards becoming an agent himself.

Cory Lawrence is a composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist who graduated in 2023 after having completed the Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering.

As a composer, Cory specialises in composing video game music in a variety of styles such as orchestral and jazz. Cory regularly composes for video game projects, such as the announcement trailer for the highly regarded community video game, Project: Eden’s Garden. Cory has also taken part in a number of video game jams as a composer and works on music for sync. Cory is also a content creator and has a YouTube channel with over 1 million views, Everything Fantasy, dedicated to video game arrangements, compositions and education, utilising skills such as video editing and coding.

Some of Cory’s highlights whilst studying on the course include creating a video game inspired by Abbey Road for the artist business presentations, performing keys at Abbey Road Studio Two for a song written by Jessi McDonald produced by Haydn Bendall, and inviting over a dozen artists from the London music community to feature on an original piece of music produced by Cory inspired by Wade in the Water.

Cory is also a school governor and avid public speaker,  having provided speeches at schools and organisations aiming to inspire young people. In January and March 2023, Cory ran sessions for the Arts Council funded project Unsigned and Gifted discussing the world of video game music.

His future ambitions are to open up more platforms for people to achieve their creative dreams and establish a studio one day to provide creative spaces for those without access. Separately Cory aspires to compose for larger video game projects and continue pursuing a career in sync.

Cory is currently a technician at the Abbey Road Institute which involves supporting students and being a runner in commercial sessions at Angel One. Cory will also be delivering lectures on video game music.

Gianna Lei was born in Switzerland and raised in the Czech Republic. In school, she started playing instruments such as guitar and piano which led her to her to discover her ability to become a singer-songwriter. Having spent most of her childhood watching music channel MTV she started admiring performers such as Rihanna and Taylor Swift.

As she approached high-school, Gianna started to pursue her music further by studying music production in Prague. Soon after, she continued following her passion by studying in London at the Abbey Road Institute. After completing the course, she worked as an A&R and has since been exposed to various musicians and artists.

As she works on broadening her audience and fanbase, Gianna continues to focus on her ultimate dream of becoming a recording artist by releasing her own music and developing her artistry. Using social platforms  Tik Tok, Instagram and Youtube, she is focusing on engaging with her audience as well as marketing her music.

With the release of her debut single “Falling Through” featuring on BBC Music Introducing London, she plans to continue releasing new music whilst collaborating with previous Abbey Road Institute Graduates. 

James Li graduated in 2020 and since then has been working across a number of projects and roles in the music industry. He’s recently started working as a music consultant as well as balancing ongoing work freelancing as a mixing engineer. Collaborating with clients in both the UK and the US James is working predominantly on alternative/indie music.

In addition to his client work, James is also a recording artist, writing, recording and mixing his own music under the name ‘Liance’ and also ‘Ministry of Interior Spaces’. After finishing his studies with us James wrote, mixed, and recorded his new album “This Painting Doesn’t Dry” during the lockdown from his home. It was mastered by fellow alumnus Forbes Anderson at Studio 13. This was James’ first album to be published on vinyl and it was featured on the American syndicated radio show ‘Snap Judgement’.

In summer 2021 James joined a number of other ARI graduates to work as part of the team behind Abbey Road’s first Open House event. He was on hand throughout the week-long studio opening imparting his knowledge about the studio and helping guide visitors around.

His plans for the future are to continue building on the knowledge and skills he has. James continues exploring different ways of writing lyrics that incorporate humour, universal truths and other intriguing themes. With new music planned to be released this year, including a song workshopped with Bernard Butler titled “Distorted Dog World” there’s lots happening and coming soon for James.

Daniels responsibilities can range from recording, producing and mixing, to working closely with artists from the Electronic and R&B genre, to working on sessions with Jorja Smith, Stormzy and Wale. As well as working sessions, he works closely with Riccardo Damian as part of a group at Studio 13. He is in charge of inventory, redesigning, preparing studios for sessions, cleaning and rewiring.

Daniel considers every project he works on to be a highlight. He says he is extremely grateful for the music he was able to create at ARI using his skills in writing, recording, engineering, producing and mixing and is excited to release in the near future. Other highlights include the Jorja Smith sessions at Studio 13, and overall just getting to utilise his time in the studio environment with valuable mentorship from Riccardo Damian.

Daniel’s goals for the future are to release more music and to focus on his own artistry whilst still freelancing.  He is constantly looking for new artists to collaborate with whilst also aiming to keep a long-standing relationship with his current collaborators.

Since graduating in London, Andrea Mastroiacovo now works as as a freelance Producer, Engineer and Mixer, collaborating with world-class songwriters, artists, and producers. He has worked with Amaarae, Burna Boy, Olivia Dean, Sigrid, BMTH, FCTR, Lewis Capaldi, Arctic Monkeys, Rina Sawayama, James Bay, Sampha and more, with a Grammy Nomination under his belt for his contribution as engineer on Burna Boy’s record “I Told Them..”, in the ‘Best Global Music Album’ category.

Previously to his freelance career, Andrea was the Head-Engineer and Studio Manager at Baltic Studios, contributing greatly to its expansion. There, he made sure that the studios were curated, running smoothly and as up to date as possible, making sure that it was a welcoming, cutting edge, and safe space for creators to experience.

Andrea says he is privileged to make music with amazing artists and that it is a joy to be involved in such creative projects.

Since graduating from Abbey Road Institute, Thomas McConnell has become a self-employed musician. He spends most of his time working on recordings, gigs, art, videos and anything else required for his project, Novelty Island.

McConnell records mostly out of his own home but has done several sessions for the Abbey Road Institute since leaving the course. Those recordings have ended up on Novelty Island records alongside many others that he’s worked on with course-leader Carlos Lellis – who he says has been a great support to him.

Right now McConnell is studying a degree at the University Of Liverpool on Music Theory and Music History. Developing Novelty Island whilst studying at Abbey Road Institute opened many doors for the alumni. He later went onto perform a range of gigs in London in 2020. In 2021, he wrote and released an album titled ‘How Are You Coping With This Century?’ This album went onto receive support by BBC Radio 6 and others.

As we emerged from the pandemic, Novelty Island live-band re-emerged and within a year toured the UK supporting The Pale White. In addition to opening the Acoustic Stage at Glastonbury 2022.

Stay tuned for more future Novelty Island plans…

Since graduating from our Music Production and Sound Engineering course in May of 2023, Jessi McDonald has progressed into becoming a Technician and Runner at Abbey Road Institute and Angel Studios.

Jessi’s main roles and responsibilities include helping students with technical support, but also using her background as a musician and songwriter to connect and assist in more creative ways.

Jesse herself says, ‘I loved my time at ARI as a student, and I feel my acquired production and sound engineering knowledge has only helped me become a better artist’, which excites us as Jessi is currently working on her second EP under the stage name, Jessi Mac. The EP is in its final stages, and she is very much looking forward to releasing it out into the world! Especially seeing as lots of songs were written during her time at Abbey Road Institute…

Arthur Navarro graduated from our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound engineering in 2018. During his time on the course, he met producer Youth and signed to his label, Suriya recordings, and released his debut solo album, Polyphonic Omnipresence. Now, based back in his home country of Brasil, Arthur has started his own company Atlantis Music & Sound, in which he works in a multi-faced role as composer, music producer and sound engineer, and is now starting to establish partnerships with movie directors and cinema producers.

Some of his projects to date include work on an original sound track as well as sound design for a 3D short-film animation called “Centaura” and an original track for an environmentalist documentary for the Institute Last Refuges (Instituto Últimos Refúgios). Arthur continues to work with his Institute peers, including regular work with Natalia Rodrigues Milanezi, and is looking to release a solo album in the future.

You can find out more about Arthur’s time on the course and what he’s been upto since then, in this interview on our blog.

Since graduating, Neil O’Hagan now currently works at The Harbour School, Hong Kong as a High School/Middle School Music Technology Teacher. Here, Neil teaches Music Tech classes to Middle School Students (Grade 6 GarageBand, Grades 7 & 8 Logic Pro X) and for High School students (Grades 9-12) he teaches two subjects: Music Production & Songwriting + Audio Composition & Post Production for Film & TV.

Following his graduation, Dominic Parry worked as a full-time apprentice at leading audio equipment rental company Britannia Row Productions. Founded by Pink Floyd, Britannia Row has grown to become a global leader providing equipment for the London Olympics, Foo Fighters, Mumford & Sons and The Cure‘s tour. Dominic assisted in the 2019 Brit Awards as a stage technician for numerous performing acts including James Bay, Calvin Harris, Hugh Jackman, and P!NK. He has also worked on Andrea Bocelli’s world tour and the MTV European Music Awards. Dominic’s apprenticeship scheme at Britannia Row Productions continued the training he started at Abbey Road Institute. He worked for several months in each of the companies departments (Maintenance, Speakers, Cables, Rigging, RF, Digital, Warehouse Manager Assistant & Prep) whilst taking part in two 15 week training courses; Live Sound fundamentals and Live Sound Intermediate graduating with distinctions in both.

Despite COVID having cleared his calendar of potential work in 2020, Dominic was not disheartened but instead moved to New Zealand, who were COVID free at the time, to find stable audio work. There he freelanced for Oceania Productions on: All Blacks vs Australia Bledisloe Cup (Corporate Lounge), Aotearoa Music Awards (mic & backstage management) and Plane Sailing festival 2022 (stage tech). He also started as a Production Technician for Streamliner Productions where he was then promoted to Head Venue Technician for Sky City.

Dominic is extremely proud of his work in New Zealand, working on projects that hold extreme significance to Māori culture such as operating the audio for The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care in 2022.

Dominic is currently taking the Ableton Professional Certificate with Berklee Online, hoping to break into playback engineer roles in the future.

George Papadopoulos is a mixing engineer and composer who graduated from our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering in June 2022.

Prior to joining our programme in 2021, George was the head engineer of the Thessaloniki Piano Festival, recording renowned pianists, chamber music ensembles and a full-scale symphonic orchestra.

In addition, George is a classically trained pianist with a BA in Applied Music which he gained at the University of Macedonia and a Master’s Degree in Composition for Film and Performing Arts which he also achieved at Ionian University.

During his time studying with us, he recorded more than twenty artists across a wide range of genres including Elua Percussion and The Migdalia van der Hoven Quartet’s new album. He also recorded an original track, co-written with alumna Abigail Adams and produced by Haydn Bendall in Studio Two at Abbey Road.

George work’s as a freelance mixing engineer and composer. You can some of his work over on YouTube in the documentary “Julie-Mehretu-Palimpsest”.

Gili Portal is a Sound Engineer, Music Producer, Mixing Engineer, and Artist. She began her career as a vocal coach for eight years before completing the Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering Diploma at Abbey Road Institute in October 2021. Gili’s professional journey led her to Rak Studios in London, where she started as a runner and quickly advanced to become an Assistant Engineer.

Throughout her tenure at Rak Studios, Gili has worked alongside acclaimed artists such as Coldplay, J Balvin, Elton John, Jess Glyne, Stormzy, Stromae, Chase and the Status, Amber Run, The Smile, Arctic Monkeys, ect. Her credits include various projects involving vocal producing and recording, band recordings, film scoring and orchestral recordings.

Francesco Putorti enrolled at Abbey Road Institute London having completed a Masters in Sound Engineering in his home country of Italy. Straight after his graduation he started working as an intern at Forum Music Village, a studio in Rome which was founded by Ennio Morricone. Having worked as a Chinese translator prior to studying audio engineering he was invited to go on tour with an orchestra across many cities in China during this period.

Today he works at Forward Studios, where his role involves engineering for both established and upcoming artists. He works on a Neve 88R on a day to day basis, managing and ensuring the smooth running of the sessions in the studio. As part of his work at the Forward he is also developing a recording format called Band and Breakfast which aims to provide an immersive music experience.

Since graduating in 2021, Sam Robins now works at Universal Music Group as an Audience Development Intern. Sam’s main responsibilities involve Digital Marketing: finding new ways in which he can bring the UMG catalogue to a new global audience.

Even though Sam is relatively new to his job role, he is quickly settling in and thoroughly enjoying working within the music industry.

Sams goal for the future is to move across into the A&R department very soon. Eventually, he hopes to work as a Senior A&R, specialising in Dance and Jazz music, as well as achieving success as an artist/producer and DJ with his project BVNQUET made up of himself and his friend Pete.

Their single, ‘Sublime’, has amassed over 130,000 streams on Spotify alone.

BVNQUET have since been featured on BBC Radio 1, Kiss FM, Spotify & Apple Music Editorial playlists and the Beatport homepage. They aim to bring the soul back to dance music through fusing jazz guitar with UKG drums.

Ollie Robinson graduated from our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering in 2019 and is now working as the Director of Armistice Records, the record company he set up before studying at the institute. The company has now entered into a joint partnership with Apex Studios in Hampshire to form Arcadia Music Group, and Ollie is also one of the two directors of the joint venture company.

His main responsibilities within this role are the recording and mixing of clients projects as well as arranging. He also does day to day management and client A&R for Arcadia Music Group and the respective subsidiaries under it, centered around the growth of the company.

A highlight for Ollie in his work is the variety of songs, artists and projects he gets work on, especially track recorded and produced at the studio called “She Knows” by Donny Brook. He says his greatest achievement to date is building the studio and says the Institute course equipped him with the skills to identify any problems that arose to immediately deal with it and fix it. His goals for the future are to start to work with more established bands and to develop the company brand as well as start working with clients and artists from countries all over the world.

Natalia Rodrigues Milanezi graduated from our Advanced Diploma in September 2017 after also completing a course in Music Production from the Institute of Arts and Communication Techniques in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2015.
As a certified software operator in Logic Pro X and Pro Tools 12 she joined the Abbey Road Institute team as a technician early in 2018.
Outside of her role at the Institute Natalia works as an audio engineer, personal production assistant for producer Martin “Youth” Glover and as label manager at his record label Painted Words Records.
Natalia’s portfolio of work includes work with various bands and artists such as Jaz Coleman (Killing Joke), Steve Diggle (Buzzcocks), Zoe Devlin (Alabama 3 and X-Factor), Kandle Osrbourne, Kiranpal Singh (maestro in Indian music) and many more. Alongside these different roles, Natalia is a freelance music producer, audio engineer, mixer, composer, arranger, musical director and artwork designer.

UK-based, Canadian alumna Hayley Roscoe graduated from our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering in 2019, having previously studied at Berklee in the USA. She now works as Client and Societies Administrator at Lime Blue Music, an industry leader in neighbouring rights as well as continuing her work as a songwriter, producer and musician.

Among her many freelance projects, Hayley co-wrote debut EP ‘Product of Procrastination’ with London-based artist Am.i, and is a featured vocalist on 80s synth-wave tune ‘Savour’ with DUETT. Her ambitions for the next couple of years are to release further solo projects as well as continue to collaborate with other artists.

Read more about Hayley’s career in our interview with her here.

Raphael Sater is a guitarist, songwriter and producer who joined ARI London after completing a Level 3 Diploma in Songwriting from BIMM London, a Summer Program in Guitar at Berklee College Of Music, and to top it off, a Professional Guitar Diploma at Music Academy International in Nancy, France.

After graduating from Abbey Road Institute London, Raphael worked with us on a year-long placement as a Technician, where he excelled at assisting students with their technical problems. Since then, Raphael has worked on song and film production, and we anticipate his return to London from Paris very soon.

Continuing to collaborate with industry professionals, Raphael has played alongside alumni David Dargahi (DARGZ) on the track “Hold On, Pt.2” from David’s extremely successful album ‘Happiness’. Raphael Sater also works quite frequently with South African singer Kileza.

One highlight of his career that he is excited to see come to life, is the short films he scored finally being released for film festivals in Spain, and one that he will always remember is recording at Abbey Road Studio 2 and The Gatehouse.

Joana Selome graduated in 2018 and is now based in her home country France. She is focusing on writing and developing herself as an artist in her own right.  Through her time at Abbey Road Institute Joana found working with her peers really pushed her forward creatively. Since finishing the course Joana has collaborated with other alumni from her class. These including composing and recording with Balazs Zalan Szabo at Pannonia Studio in Budapest. This also led to Joana working with Hungarian musicians – drummer, Iván Ágoston, and guitarist, Martinkó Tamás. Her experience studying music production and engineering really helped her get the most out of each session and understand the dynamics of the full recording process.

Joana is now working on multiple projects as an artist, including releasing music with fellow alumni Shez and as part of London based trip-hop band. Joana says: ‘The two years after the course taught me patience, gratitude and how to be realistic though indulgent with myself. And the latter actually made me create more. Eager to see what 2020 is going to teach me.”

Since graduating in 2022, Oscar Simons currently works full-time on his alias project ‘Loren‘, with highly anticipated releases to come, paired with videos, press and radio-play. Not only is Loren a personal project, it’s also a production company that he is in the process of building. Oscar plans to write and produce for other artists and Loren will be a means of doing so, much like MXM and the Wolf Cousins, The Monsters and the Strangerz and TMS. He is always on the look for collaborations from a wide range of genres such as drill, rock, pop or house.

Oscar is the definition of a DIY artist, being completely independent and unsigned. He says that he is lucky to have befriended some like-minded creatives including film makers, radio pluggers and sync licensing folk. All of the musicians, co-writers and co-producers that he works with he met at ARI and he says they will always be a core part of his team. Sessions are always a highlight of his career, especially when they’re successful. Other highlights include growing his network, building the business and meeting new talent.

Future plans for Oscar are for the business to take off and he is also aiming to sign to a publisher/management company to help take his artistry to the next level.

Ed Shaw joined us to study music production and change the direction of his career. He had previously spent years performing in the West End in musicals such as Billy Elliot. Ed graduated from the Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering in October 2019 and has been working across multiple jobs since then. 

During his studies Ed was already working within the industry composing music for Milwaukee Ballet company and for the Japanese fashion brand, John Lawrence Sullivan for their shows at London Fashion Week and assisting record producer/engineer, Ian Tregoning (YELLO, Fella Kuti).

After graduating, Ed began working out of The Biscuit Factory, then moving on to his own studio within Strongroom Studios. He has since worked with, Dawn Penn, helping her with vocal production; producing and engineering for many independent artists such as Ewan Jackson, Tommo and Sober Seven.

He worked for two years as a verification engineer for Warner Music Group working on records like ‘Crash’ – Charlie XCX and ‘Reason to Smile’ – Kojey Radical. He has recently released a remix for Warner artist, Selin under E.C.S an artist duo with Christie Stanislas.

Ed Shaw still composes music, for brands such as the Dutch ballet company Introdans and the fashion label Max Zara Sterck at London & Milan Fashion Weeks, all whilst shaping his craft and striving to push the boundaries and explore new dimensions within modern music.

After her course at ARI, Gabriëlle started working as an assistant engineer at SARM Studios, where she worked her way up to become an engineer. Here, she engineered for Little Mix and most notably assisted on Madonna’s most recent album ‘Madame X’. Whilst at SARM, her first producer cut, Koffee ft. Gunna ‘W’, came out. She is now signed under her producer name ‘GG’ to Warner/Chappell and is Grammy nominated for her work on Masego’s album ‘Studying Abroad: Extended Stay’. Outside of her work there she also producing her own music to pitch to artists. Some of her highlights so far at SARM include working with American producer Jeff Bhasker (Kanye West, Jay Z, Mark Ronson), engineering during his writing sessions. Engineering has been her main focus since graduation, and Gabrielle also plans to maintain both work in production and songwriting as part of her future career plans.

You can find out more about Gabrielle’s experience at SARM in her interview on our blog.

Sinéad Storey graduated from Abbey Road Institute London in 2019 and went on to enrol on a degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering at the University of London. She says this was due to her being particularly inspired by her electronics lectures, taught by Nikolay Georgiev, so she decided to pursue this particular subject further. During her time studying with us, Sinead collaborated with her fellow students and went onto form band Harimau with class members Boris Massot and John Butcher. Their music is inspired by a variety of artists and genres from Lorde to Arctic Monkeys, Massive Attack, and Billie Eilish. Harimau started gigging and releasing their own music early in 2020.

Sinéad’s future ambition for the band is to continue writing, recording and releasing more music with the hopes of playing festivals and securing synchronisation opportunities for film and tv.

Adolfo Suarez graduated from our London school in 2018, and then returned to his home country of Spain. He now works at Berklee College of Music’s Valencia Campus as an Academic Technology Assistant. His main duties include overseeing and taking care of the studio facilities and the production rooms as well as being on hand to assist with troubleshooting during recording sessions. Having studied music production himself, Adolfo is in the ideal position to offer guidance and support to students that are new to music production and recording. One of the most rewarding parts of the job is when Adolfo observes students gaining confidence in the studio, which then helps inform and develop their ideas.

Outside of his role at Berklee, Adolfo is part of the rock band, Somos Trinidad who are working on new music with an album release. We’ll be sharing news on how they’re getting on our social media in the months to come.

Shortly after successfully completing our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering, Mario Simanovsky immediately began pursuing his passion for audio engineering and music production.

Right after completing his diploma, he secured a position as a Runner and Assistant at Studio 13. This opportunity has allowed him to work alongside some of the industry’s most esteemed producers and engineers, including Ricky Damian and Giacomo Vianello. Mario’s dedication to learning from these experienced professionals is undoubtedly helping him further develop his audio engineering skills.

In addition to his Runner role at Studio 13, Mario is also a Technician at Abbey Road Institute and a runner at Angel Studios. This entails helping students with any technical problems they may have and running on sessions at Angel, making teas and coffees and helping set up and pack down.

Furthermore, Mario is actively collaborating with a local artist named Tally Spear, taking on the role of producer for her upcoming releases. This collaboration is a testament to his developing talent and commitment to nurturing local artists.

Pedro Syrah graduated from our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering in 2018 and is now working as a freelance producer and engineer. His work encompasses many areas of production and music-making and he’s currently focussed on working with upcoming bands, producing, recording, mixing, and mastering their music. He says his job is to ‘Guide them, find the strengths in their work and add value’ wherever he can.

After studying with us Pedro undertook audio training at the BAFTA-winning post-production company The Farm Group where he collaborated with Director Libby Burke-Wilde (Royal Blood, David Gilmour, Daughter).

Highlights of his career so far include working with Grammy-Award winner Thomas Pridgen (Mars Volta) and after co-producing, recording, mixing, and mastering Steve Diggle’s (Buzzcocks) album “Station X”.

Outside of his freelance work, he is a bassist in the band Cosmic Kite, alongside Nick Hodgson (Kaiser Chiefs, Mark Ronson), Mark Collins (The Charlatans), and Ben Gordon (The Dead 60s). He is also building a studio in the heart of the Arrabida Natural Park, in Portugal, which will be the first residential studio in the country and will have a unique collection of vintage and modern gear available. His goal is to bring international artists to record and retreat in the middle of nature. Find out more about Pedro on his website.

After completing his studies in 2018 Balazs Szabo moved back to Budapest and secured a job at Pannonia Studios as a recording and mixing engineer. Pannonia is one of the most respected and established recording studios in Hungary, built for recording purposes in the 1950s. Balazs’ role was to set up, record or mix orchestral or pop sessions/projects. Since joining the team, one of his most memorable moments was his first working day, assisting on the orchestral recording for Ferenc Rófusz – The Last Suppers session. In addition to studio work, Balazs worked as a freelancer under the professional name Deadman’s Recordings. His work encompassed a broad range of music industry projects including production, engineering and mastering of albums, film soundtracks, live recording, sound reinforcement (BBC Worldwide). 

Since graduating from our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering, Louis Tong has a amassed a plethora of achievements and skillsets under his belt. He has experience as a Recording Engineer, Mixing Engineer, Live Engineer, Producer, Composer, Arranger and most recently, as a Technician and Runner for Abbey Road Institute / Angel Studios. He has worked on arrangements for multiple artists such as Rosabelle Baysan, Eminzada, Katja Melina, Domiziana and Armanious to name a few.

Louis says that his main career goal is to become a Mixing Engineer, but his passion for being a musician will always stay close to his chest, as he began his journey as one at just age four.

Gigging regularly in London for two years with his then band, Johnny’s Gun, has inspired Louis to now shift his focus onto working with artists to develop their vision, by helping them communicate their sound more clearly and concisely. Not only does he do this as well as mixing, he also regularly works as the Front of House Engineer for multiple venues, including CLF Art Lounge in Peckham.

Louis Upton-Wheeler graduated in 2022, and now works as an assistant to fellow alumni, David Leondi, at his studio, Rosslyn Hill Studio. On top of this, he helps run events at The Alpaca in Islington. This ranges from weekly DJ sets to Folk Nights to open mic and comedy events.

At Rosslyn Hill Studio, Louis assists Dave in every sense of the word. He acts as his right hand man, which means assisting in engineering and mixing sessions, helping Dave develop the business of the studio, running the social media and scouting new clients to collaborate with. As this is a new studio, their main focus is to build their roster of clients and develop the studio space to be a professional and comfortable environment to work in. As well as this, Louis and Dave regularly write and compose together with artists that visit the studio.

Louis says some of the biggest highlights of his career so far have been seeing the first singles recorded at Rosslyn Hill Studio be released and met with great feedback. A recent release that he is especially proud of is ‘Pastéis de Nata’ by Saachisen. Another highlight has been releasing the track ‘Falling Asleep on Her Dreams’ with his band, Phantom Booth, in 2022. The track was recorded between our own Custom 75 studio at Abbey Road and Rosslyn Hill Studio. This track includes string arrangements from fellow alumna, Abigail Adams, which Louis says ‘transported the song into a new dimension and added so much character to an already emotional track’.

For the future, Louis wants to continue helping Dave develop his business at Rosslyn Hill Studios. Whether that means bringing in more clients or developing his ability as a songwriter/producer. He also plans to continue his work as a session musician playing for groups such as Francis La Lune and Air Circus.

He also aims to take his band Phantom Booth to the next level of their career. With an impressive roster of  historic venues such as the ‘Hope and Anchor’ and ‘The Lexington’ already under their belt, they now have a plethora of recorded material ready to be released and gigged that they hope will attract new listeners.

Paolo Violi completed our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering in May 2021. He joined us from Rome, where he studied classical piano and undertook a Master’s Degree in Architecture. This was alongside playing in several bands, writing and arranging music.

After his previous work at the Institute as a technician, and at Angel One as a runner, Paolo is now aiming at establishing himself as a Music Producer and Songwriter. He wants to bring a special touch to the kinds of music that are played live in a room, helping artists in making impactful records and crafting tracks people can relate to.

His goals for the future include working on the release of Italian indie-rock band Panta’s upcoming album, of which Paolo produced half. It was recorded between the Institute’s Custom 75 studio at Abbey Road and Battery II Studio. Paolo also performs live regularly as a piano accompanist for singers in London.

Since graduating Abbey Road Institute in 2021, William Watson now works as a full time artist and producer under the alias ‘Humble the Great’ and is signed to Universal Music Publishing.

This entails full-time, back-to-back sessions and songwriting for William. Whether it’s working with producers for his own artist project or producing for different artists, the work is around the clock.

Some of Will’s biggest achievements so far have been playing at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, supporting pop-star ‘Dylan’ over 2 nights. He says that ‘it was the best thing ever to perform to crowds like that!’

He also says that recently being recently signed to a publishing company has been amazing and having a team has only helped him further fulfil his ambitions.

Will’s ambitions now are to keep trying to build his following and keep growing as a creative the best he can.

With an impressive plethora of collaborators such as Pip Millett, Dreya Mac, Kamal, Col3trane, Debbie, Ari PenSmith, Amie Blu and many more, he feels he has learnt so much from working on other peoples projects, which in turn only inspires him more with his own artist project.

We should expect to see a lot more of Will’s solo artist project in the future. From new music, to concept films alongside those releases, it sure sounds like a very exciting time for him.

Miles Wheway completed our Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering in 2021, after which he joined our team as a technician. Before starting the course with us, he had previously studied Maths and Music at Royal Holloway, focussing particularly on composition but decided to shift focus towards production and recording.

Some highlights during his time on the course include playing piano and bass in Abbey Road’s Studio Two during a recording workshop with Haydn Bendall, collaborating with fellow students to record the live set of an alumnus group from the Institute, and recording a live string quartet as part of his final submission. Miles also began working closely with the Latin-funk band Naia. He engineered the recording and mixing of multiple tracks with the group in our Custom 75 studio, making ample use of the skills he had learnt on the course, and he continues to work with them since graduating.

Miles aims to develop himself further as both an engineer and producer, expanding the portfolio of artists and musicians he works with. His long-term goal is to join a recording studio. Find out more about Miles on his website.

Anouska Wolstenholme is an independent artist, songwriter, and performer. At the moment she is in the midst of recording an EP and constantly gigging as well as promoting herself and her music. She has already amassed an impressive body of work and wows audiences around England with her live performances.

Anouska funds all her own projects by performing at functions and weddings on a regular basis. Day to day she is writing, collaborating and focusing on working towards her long term goal of being an established artist.

Anouska says that playing her headline gig at Camden Chapel in London has been one of the greatest highlights of her career so far.

For the future, Anouska plans on releasing her EP and to keep building her fanbase organically over the next year. After that, she would like to be in a secure enough position to hopefully release a debut album, which we hope to see too.

After relocating to Toronto in the summer of 2021, Zine Yaala joined Sony Music Canada as an Artist Marketing Professional. There, he contributed his expertise for nine months before embarking on a new role with North Strategic, a prominent PR firm. As a freelancer, Zine continues to offer consulting and related services in the music industry, leveraging his experience and insights to deliver tailored solutions for clients seeking to optimise their presence in the market.

His main responsibilities include collaborating with senior management to strategise and implement successful activations across Canada, designing and executing comprehensive social media strategies, identifying and seizing opportunities on emerging social media platforms to deliver cutting-edge video content that drives engagement and expands reach, applying a nuanced understanding of pop culture, technology, and online behavior to drive traffic, expand the fan base, and raise brand awareness for artists, maintaining key administrative duties such as; calendar management, tour dates, certifications, and chart reports to ensure smooth operations, and developing digital and social media strategies that align with business objectives to meet key performance indicators across major acquisition platforms.

Some of the most notable highlights of his career would be working on marketing campaigns and activations in Canada for: Beyonce – Renaissance, Harry Styles – Harry’s House and Calvin Harris – Funk Wav Bounces Vol.2. He also played a key role in organising a Christmas Music Festival in Toronto, where he worked alongside the following artists and their team to book and deliver an unforgettable experience for fans and music lovers alike: Johnny Orlando, Chantal Kreviazuk, Raine Maida, Kardinal Offishall, Tim & The Glory Boys, Tyler Shaw.

As an aspiring artist, Zine is actively working to establish his name within the music industry, with his latest single having amassed over 150,000 streams to date.