Student Success: May 2016 – Sanaya Ardeshir (RBMA), Urmet K (Nervous Records) + More

Another month, another batch of former PB students who are making some serious waves out there in the real world. This is where we show off – like proud parents – recent success stories to give you insight into how music industry careers are established and nurtured right here at pointblank. In May 2016, we’re catching up with rising house superstar Urmet K, DJ and New Violence Records label head Chris Forshaw and Sanaya Ardeshir, whose experimental music projects and collaborations have quickly cast her as one of India’s most exciting artists. Want to join them? Check out our London and Los Angeles course pages to begin your own journey to the top.

Sanaya Ardeshir (RBMA – Music Production & Sound Engineering Diploma)

Sanaya Ardeshir, one of the most visible of India’s new generation of boundary-pushing musicians, studied our comprehensive Music Production & Sound Engineering Diploma. Best known for her Sandunes project, the Mumbai native was heavily influenced by her time in London as a PB student, with the capital’s underground garage flex feeding into her evolving, experimental sound. Never one to stand still, she teamed up with fellow genre agnostic Jivraj Singh for the collaborative project Perfectiming last year, hitting the road to play a number of high profile gigs including the RBMA showcase in Kuwait and Magnetic Fields Festival. Their RBMA-released debut EP is available via Bandcamp now.

Sanaya’s projects have clearly hit upon a receptive – and intriguingly broad – global audience; she’s been profiled everywhere from GQ India (thanks for the shout-out!) to Rolling Stone, and is part of NYC’s forward-thinking Discwoman roster. Looking back at her time at PB, she is quick to credit the role it had in shaping her, not just musically but through the unique industry insights it was able to offer: “Studying at pointblank was really enabling for me, it was a great experience. I met some great tutors and was able to get a feel of what the music industry was like, even before I actually got into it.”

Urmet K (Armada, Nervous Records – Music Production Certificate)

Born and raised in Estonia, Urmet Kermann has always been drawn to music with soul. As a youngster he would listen to Motown and Northern soul records before later discovering house music. It was a epiphany that would lead him to relocate to London to study Music Production at pointblank. “I had a fantastic time at pointblank, I met some great friends musicians and songwriters,” he says. But aside from the valuable connections, the course also changed his approach to music: “It definitely helped me a lot; composing and hearing sounds in a different way.”

Urmet K’s  first release, on Stockholm’s Oh! records was snapped up for Armada Deep House Compilation Vol. 1 and his deep, mellow house fingerprint has since found a home on Nervous Records (“one of my favourite labels!”), Spirit Soul and King Street Sounds. Currently a globetrotting DJ with gigs stretching from Bali to London, he also holds down a residency at the Groucho Club – nice work if you can get it, huh?

Chris Forshaw (New Violence Records – Music Production, Sound Engineering, Business & DJ Diploma)

Chris Forshaw studied the Music Production, Sound Engineering, Business & DJ Diploma in 2014 and has since gone on to find success as the mastermind behind New Violence Records. As founder, label manager and A&R he oversees a roster of big name and up-and-coming artists including Sascha Dive, Gavin Herlihy and Nikola Gala. The skills and knowledge that he developed at pointblank have proved invaluable for Chris, he says: “pointblank was a game changer for me. Having no previous music industry experience, I was able to start two labels upon completing my course armed with huge amount of knowledge and know-how. This was a great advantage in what is a extremely competitive area.”

With New Violence’s output in the hard drives and record bags of DJs as diverse as Marco Carola, Laurent Garnier, Guy Gerber, Sasha, John Digweed, Hot Since 82 and former PB student Nicole Moudaber, the label has built a rep as one of the most trusted – and prolific – new labels in tech house and techno. Again, Chris gives credit to the course and the part it played in setting the foundations. “It gave me great confidence when dealing with artists, agents, distributors and other figures within the industry. It also led to me setting up a publishing company as well which currently represents 12 artists.”

Want to get out there and start making a name for yourself? Make like these guys and book onto one of our courses. To find out which course is for you, visit our London and Los Angeles course pages to find out more. We’ve got everything from sound engineering and mixing courses to singing, songwriting and music business courses, so if you want to start your career in the music industry, pointblank is the place to be.

** Editors note: Things have moved on significantly since this article was published 🙂 Please head to our blog homepage for the very latest updates from pointblank.