Industry news & advice blog

Last week I ventured over to Birmingham for the Access To Music Armstrong Learning Awards, a special event recognising the Access To Music students that have excelled in the past year. One such student that I was lucky enough to meet for a quick chat was 19 year old Pascal who is currently in his final year of the 2 year Digital Musician course.

It seems Pascal has definitely used the Access To Music course as a valuable stepping stone so far; not only was he been awarded with the Best Business accolade at the awards, he has also been selected as an ambassador for Hercules, a pioneer in digital DJ consoles.

Starting out producing in his bedroom and DJing at House and Garage nights in and around Birmingham, Pascal said he was attracted to the Access To Music course as it was creative and hands on, and truly dedicated to music specialists. So far the course has seen Pascal balancing music tech production workshops alongside business planning and other fundamental skills to gain a fully rounded experience of the music world.

Pascal has also benefited from working together on projects with fellow students, and the course does actively encourage collaboration and creativity. However, the highlight for Pascal was being awarded £2,041 of funding for his studies through the UnLtd Sport Relief programme. So an award-winning student all round, you can see why his tutor recommended him to act as the Hercules ambassador.

Earlier this year Hercules linked up with Access To Music to supply DJ equipment for use across their rapidly growing digital music syllabus. So far Hercules have provided Access To Music with its most popular decks being used by DJs performing at every level, including the recently launched DJ Controller Mk4 and the brand new four deck DJ Console 4-MX.

So what future plans does Pascal have in the pipeline? His passion for DJing is still strong and this is an field he hopes to continue in, as well as setting up his own studio and eventually undergoing the transformation into an artist in his own right. Seems to me like he’s definitely on the right track!

Check out more here:
Access To Music website 
Hercules website
Pascal Wray MySpace