Tech News: Academy of Sound Engineering Attracts Record Sponsor

“The 2010 students were a very special group, and we were all thrilled by the level of support we received from our generous sponsors…”

At a glittering graduation ceremony held in April at the Linder Auditorium in Johannesburg, 77 students were conferred with their Sound Engineering diploma’s by academic board head and Council for Higher Education member, Professor Zak Nel. The class of 2010, specialising in such disciplines as Live Sound, Music Production, Broadcasting and Audio Post Production for picture, was special in two ways. First, the group included the highest number of graduates focusing on multiple electives: 20 specialised in two, and a record 3 specialised in three elective areas. Secondly, the outstanding students in the class of 2010 attracted almost R 200,000 in prizes and bursaries from the Academy of Sound Engineering and its corporate sponsors.

The sponsors, representing many of South Africa’s leading audio retailers and distributors, included Wild & Marr, Pro Sound, Audiosure, Tadco, Segma, AVL Distribution, TOMS, Spescom and Music Connection. Several of these organisations have enjoyed a long-term relationship with South Africa’s premier audio training institution. Spokesperson from Audiosure, Mr Chris Andrews stated, ” Having our brands and products exposed to and used by the students at the ASE, as well as forging a solid, long-term relationship with the institution, is very important to us. As a private institution, they routinely produce the best educated sound professionals for our growing market, and we are happy to be able to support them in their endeavours in any and every way we can.”

The prizes sponsored by all of the various Retailers and Distributors included some of the world’s best microphones, audio interfaces, workstation and plug-in software, mixers and instruments. Keynote speaker at the graduation Ivor Haarburger, inspired the students with a lengthy litany of South Africa’s most famous audio success stories. Speaking on behalf of ASE, head of marketing George Hattingh declared, “The evening was a great success! The 2010 students were a very special group, and we were all thrilled by the level of support we received from our generous sponsors to help make the event so exciting and rewarding for our top performers.”