Looking back

How did Abbey Road Institute student Leif Rehtanz successfully juggle his studies with us and pursuing his career as a singer/songwriter?

Hi Leif, Thank you for meeting me today. You’ve just finished your exams. Looking back at the last 48 weeks: How did you find your year at Abbey Road Institute? Was it like you expected it would be?

It was a great year! Not only at Abbey Road, but the whole year being in London and exploring the music scene. The year here wasn’t exactly like I expected it to be, but not in a bad way. Looking back, even though it doesn’t feel like it, we really did a lot!
The course was very interesting, as it had a broad spectrum of all these different people, that all want to do the same thing which is music. But everyone is specialised in different areas like film music, production, writing or engineering. That is the great thing about this course, you will be influenced by so many different sides of music, that can all add to developing your own sound and style.

Can you name a few highlights over the last year?

A highlight of the year was definitely the Studio Two Session with Haydn Bendall, which was amazing to see how he works as a producer, then, of course, the music business lectures with Ian (Ramage), that were really helpful and crucial for surviving in the music business, and last but not least the lectures and sessions with Carlos in the Custom 75.

You have an established YOUTUBE Channel which you started before studying with us. How do you see this evolving after the course?

Well, I started the YouTube Channel a couple of years ago to actually put out what I was doing. I got into videography for shooting the videos to go along with my music. From recording covers in different versions and arrangements to a couple of originals, the channel is always growing alongside what I am doing. I started 2-3 months ago to be more active with creating videos for it, to have a platform of active fans to release my next EP. YouTube is one of the best tools for fan engagement and to actually connect with the people that follow you I think!
I am definitely going to keep being active on it, especially with original music as the stuff, that’s on there at the moment, is quite old now.

What are your ambitions for your career?

I am moving to Mannheim in Germany, which has a very cool growing music scene and I am gonna have my own studio to work on projects there with me as the artist and of course as a producer and writer for other people.
The next steps now after finishing the course, are finishing my EP, releasing and then promoting it. Through this, I hope to make some contacts to collaborate with in Mannheim and work with other artists.

How do you feel now after this intense last year to leave Abbey Road Institute and London?

I think knowledge wise I know now, what education can bring me, having a solid ground to grow upon. The rest is just doing it, working and learning through that. I feel very positive about the future. I am able to do what I love and as scary as the music business is sometimes if you put the work in, you will get something out of it in one way or another. It’s all people, that at the end of the day, share the same passion! I’ll give my best to make it work and see what happens.

Thanks, Leif. We wish you all the best for your next steps in your career and look forward to seeing what get up to.