NCW recently welcomed former student and now proclaimed Musician, Composer and Music Technology Consultant, Andre Louis, to the talented Music Department.
As a self-taught Logic guru – a music technology programme, Andre spent the day working with ambitious Year 13 student Aaron to teach him more about using the software.
Logic is all about stripping back music tracks and studying the different components, such as the bass, drums and vocals, as well as using those components to create brand new music.
Aaron is studying a BTEC in Music Technology and would love to be a Musician, so this was a great opportunity for him to meet Andre, talk all things Music Tech and learn more about how he can be successful in composing his own songs.
During their session together, Andre and Aaron first listened to and separated popular music tracks such as ‘Shape of You’ by Ed Sheeran and ‘Diamonds’ by Rihanna. They then enjoyed creating new versions of the songs by speeding up vocals, the beat and adding in some of their own sounds. The brilliant qualities of the ‘mash up’ tracks created through Logic are exactly what you would hear on mainstream radio.
Aaron enthused: “I’d love to be able compose my own music like Andre. It’s really cool to be able to use Logic, it’s a very expansive piece of software and is fiddly to use, but it’s really fun learning.
When I hear what someone else has created, I get really inspired and it makes me want to keep creating. I would really like to gig like Andre does.”
Andre graduated from NCW in 2000, and went on to study at Themes Valley University. He has since gone on to be successful in the Music industry and work with various vocalists from his home in London. He recently gigged at the BBC Music Awards in 2019. Andre also has a YouTube channel which he regularly uploads his musical creations to.
Talking about Logic, he said: “It is like learning a new language. Logic is a programme that is widely used by so many Musicians and Composers in the industry. It’s really amazing that people with a vision impairment can access ‘off-the-shelf’ software such as this, and it still be accessible. It wouldn’t have been possible to do something like this 15 years ago, and that is what makes technology so incredible and invaluable to a person who is vision impaired.”
