If you’re considering a career in the music industry, take the opportunity to explore SAE Perth when they host their Open Day in early August.
With world-class facilities and equipment, SAE has become a vibrant breeding ground for the future crop of emerging musicians and technical professionals. One such musician is recording artist and Bachelor Of Audio Engineering student, Chelsea Cullen.
Before enrolling with SAE, Chelsea had already been producing her own music and publishing via clips on YouTube, which led to her being noticed and picked up for a lucrative offer to record and produce an EP in Los Angeles.
“I’ve been very lucky to have done some of the stuff I’ve been able to do but a lot of it is credit to the internet, which is pretty common in this day and age,” Chelsea says. “In 2013 the highlight of my career was going over to LA to work with a couple of cool producers in Sound City [Studios], which was really fun.
“It was a huge learning curve… I was there for just over a month and every day I was in the studios and I learned that I love music so much, even though I was exhausted every day. To have an opportunity to go over to LA and work even harder than I’ve ever worked but feel more alive than I’ve ever felt was so beautiful.”
Chelsea enrolled with SAE to gain the knowledge, the experience and a qualification to help further her career as a professional musician and producer.
“It’s been good being able to put into practice what I’ve been learning there and as a producer it’s really valuable to have those skills; not just songwriting and singing, but being able to make your own everything, it’s great.”
As part of her degree, Chelsea has access to state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, as well as lecturers and technical support staff who are real-world, working industry professionals. “As soon as I started studying there they’d just changed to a new campus, which is really beautiful and is filled with everything,” Chelsea says.
“It has all the studios and classrooms and all the equipment that you need, like digital audio workstations, as well as lecturers that have experience and work in the industry. Also the added bonus of being able to do a degree in two years was a real selling point for me.”
Currently signed to EGM Records, which is a secondary arm of SAE’s media partner Energy Groove Media, Chelsea is working on her second EP with husband and fellow producer Sam Wylde and will release it later this year. “It could possibly be up to seven tracks on the EP,” she says.
“We’ve actually written all the songs and to be honest probably most of the work that needs to be done is on my part with all the vocals to be recorded.
“Everything’s sounding really good with the production… it’s very vocally-driven so we’re going through and making it sound how I want it vocally, adding harmonies and layers. It will be very surreal to have everything done and out.”
SAE have national Open Days at its Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Byron Bay and Perth campuses 5 August, and an Open Night for its Adelaide campus 9 August.
