Chris Henderson Masterclass at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam

Our programme is designed by the industry for the industry, founded upon nearly 90 years of experience at the legendary Abbey Road Studio. As part of our 1 and 2-year courses at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam, and besides our amazing team of lecturers, we also invite national and international acclaimed guest speakers for extracurricular masterclasses and workshops. In general, these events are exclusive to our students. But occasionally we open them up to people on our mailing list or in our network.

For the past years, we’ve welcomed various guest speakers and music professionals at our location. People like Al Schmitt, Sylvia Massy, Focus, Darcy Proper, Ronald Prent, Andrew Scheps and many many more have inspired our students in person or online. (Check our staff section for more info).

And you can imagine how thrilled we and the students were to host a masterclass at our Amsterdam facilities again, with a live audience, after 2 years of pandemic restrictions.

Chris Henderson at Abbey Road Institute

With the support of our friends at New Skool Rules & Epitome Entertainment, we had Grammy Award-winning songwriter, composer and producer Chris Henderson over for a masterclass. In a career spanning 17 years, Henderson has worked on several gold, platinum & multi-platinum projects for the likes of R. Kelly, Trey Songz, G. Unit (50 Cent), Mya, and many more, and was listed among Billboard Magazine’s Top 5 Hot Hiphop/R&B Producers of 2009. He is a Grammy award-winner in the category of best R&B song for “Blame It”, by Jamie Foxx and rapper T. Pain.

Henderson spoke about his career, and his work and shared his insights and vision of the music industry. Jorge and Ben, both students at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam attended Chris Henderson’s masterclass and shared their experiences with us.

Jorge Antequera:

“As a music production student at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam, having Chris over for this masterclass was a huge opportunity for me to connect directly with a professional award-winning music producer from the US. What surprised me the most was the approach that Chris had with the students. He understood exactly how we as artists and songwriters feel, showing us how he shared similar experiences when he started and still does, today.”

“We had the chance to ask a bunch of questions about how he started in the industry and how it was to produce “Blame It”. It was really interesting to hear some of the experiences he had in the studio, collaborating on sessions with other professionals from the industry. He explained to us how the studio can sometimes be an environment of conflict if you are working with other artists and how he dealt with and learned from these experiences in the past. Overall, the studio should be a space for people to connect and collaborate, but at the same time, it can feel like a psychological experiment. As key learning from this masterclass, I took away that knowing how to deal with people is as important as being a great producer or songwriter. Without people skills and good communication, writing a record can be a challenging task!” – Jorge Antequera

Ben Schomaker:

“It’s not every day that one gets to meet a Grammy award-winning songwriter and producer and has the opportunity to ask them anything. Chris Henderson filled the room with great energy and enthusiasm. After short introductions from each participant, we learned about Chris’s background and his experience in the music industry. You could tell from the number of questions being asked by the students that his experience was highly relevant to all of us.”

“Next to sharing his insights into how it was to record Jamie Foxx’s “Blame It”, which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100s and won a Grammy in the same year, we learned about his songwriting process, the difference between being the songwriter and the producer in the room, and how the music industry changed over the path of his career. What inspired me the most was Chris’ proactivity throughout his career, which allowed him to have the successes he had. Specifically approaching artist managers and publishers directly rather than labels with songs, was something that I took as a key takeaway.

I can say with certainty that this masterclass motivated me significantly to put myself more out there and get in contact with more people from the industry. A big thank you also to Henca and her team at New Skool Rules for organizing this masterclass. I’m looking forward to more events like this!” – Ben Schomaker

Thank you Jorge and Ben for sharing your experiences and insights. And special thanks to Chris Henderson and the New Skool Rules team for organizing this event with us!

We have some interesting masterclasses coming up for this year. Stay tuned through our Social Media channels or sign up for our newsletter to stay informed.

About NEW SKOOL RULES

New Skool Rules: A three-day international conference, with seminars, exchange programmes, concerts, after parties, fashion shows and speed-date sessions. All these aspects contribute to creating new business opportunities for delegates of New Skool Rules and giving an overview of the New Skool Culture worldwide.

More info about New Skool Rules | Epitome Entertainment

Learn more about Ben’s work at benschomaker.com