Jasper Derksen is a sound engineer and an expert in (analogue) audio equipment. Growing up in the recording studios of his parents, his relationship with music goes way back. Besides playing the piano, he would always hang around and work in the studios. Since the family business has moved to refurbishing professional audio equipment, Jasper has worked on projects for some of the biggest studios in Europe, mainly deconstructing, refurbishing and installing consoles.

Following which, Jasper went on to work at Galaxy Studios for numerous years as dub-stage supervisor and became the technical go-to person in the studios. In 2016, Jasper co-founded the Amsterdam location of Abbey Road Institute. He is currently one of the Directors of the Amsterdam campus. Jasper is also the head of tech within the studios and teaches various classes in the curriculum as well.

Meet our Student Advisor, Petra Jordan.

Petra Jordan, a singer-songwriter, pianist, and songwriting coach from Košice, Slovakia, is a classically trained pianist who discovered her passion for jazz, funk, and soul at a young age. Beginning songwriting at 15, she recorded her first demo in 2001 and became a finalist in the U.S. Steel Talent Night in her home country. Petra’s musical journey has taken her to various countries, including Germany, Kuwait, Greece, Belgium, and the Netherlands, where she honed her skills by attending jazz courses and private lessons. With a unique style combining soulful melodies and philosophical lyrics, she has recorded multiple albums and performed extensively across Europe and the USA.

Additionally, she shares her songwriting expertise as a coach and has conducted workshops at renowned institutions like Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam, SAE Institute, Haarlem Conservatory, and United Pop.

Anthony Maes is a Belgian sound engineer and part of the core lecturing team at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam. The analog bug bit him when he picked up an electric guitar and started to toy around with amps. With his quirky analogue collection growing, such as the 70’s Fender PA system, his fascination with vintage gear took root. While music occupies most of his time, he enjoys the pleasures of surfing and a Duvel from time to time.

Having started his career in 2011, he already had a number of years experience in audio education. Anthony has recorded and produced at the likes of Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten, to training audio personnel and technical support at the Eye Film Museum and being the audio support at the Dutch National Opera and Ballet. He is currently part of the team at Mark 1 Pro Audio which specialises in professional audio equipment refurbishment and maintenance.

At the Amsterdam institute, Anthony teaches ProTools and covers a great deal in the audio engineering module.

Nick Ribbens started out as a drummer when he was 13. He studied drums at the Herman Brood Academy and graduated in 2013. After a short-lived career studying Composition & Music Production at the HKU, Nick moved on to working full-time as a co-/ghost producer & songwriter. Since then Nick has been steadily building his resume, working as a sound designer for VR-experiences and games. He also partnered up with EDM.com for his own projects INSTATIC & Giraff, and works on productions for Sony, Universal, and Cloud9. Besides being locked up in studios, Nick has embarked on multi-city tours as a DJ throughout China in 2016.

Nick is currently one of the core staff members at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam.

Dennis Beentjes is a versatile professional skilled as a career coach and branding consultant. With a diverse educational background in electronics, audio engineering, psychology, marketing, and coaching, Dennis brings a unique blend of expertise to his clients. He has over 18 years of experience in the creative media education industry, holding various teaching and management positions. As a co-founder of Mindbrouwerij in Amsterdam, Dennis specializes in career coaching, personal development training, and assisting creatives and young professionals with their personal branding and social media presence.

Drawing upon his extensive background in education, marketing, and audio, Dennis collaborates with several Abbey Road Institute campuses, creating content and enhancing their social media presence. Additionally, he serves as a lecturer at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam, teaching classes on business modelling, personal branding, and career path development. Dennis also holds a key role as a business and communication manager in the management team.

Marieke McKenna (London, 1994) is the founder of independent record label Mink Records, artist manager, creative director and A&R scout. Even though Mink Records is a relatively young record label, they are making waves. They have proven to be the supporting force behind the (inter)national success of some of The Netherlands’ most exciting upcoming alternative artists like Pitou, The Visual, Torii and The Mighty Breaks. The label is known to help push artists with a predominantly non-mainstream sound and gather them attention through careful business acumen. More importantly, they do so without making creative concessions.

In 2019, Marieke founded a joint venture ‘Mink Music Publishing’, together with Cloud 9 Publishing. They create opportunities in publishing and sync for upcoming artists. She’s a regular guest lecturer & speaker at educational institutions such as Abbey Road Institute, Codarts and the ArtEZ. Marieke regularly appears on panels at conferences such as Eurosonic, The Great Escape and VNPF as well. She is also a keen music collector and researcher, holds a MA degree in philosophy, and regularly DJs at events.

MarcoAntonio Spaventi is a musician, producer and audio engineer from Rome, Italy. After graduating in electronic engineering in Rome, he moved to Amsterdam. He has spent the following years teaching and growing his technical skills in the studio and on stage.

Nowadays Marco is a full time producer and audio engineer in mixing, mastering, post production and sound design for picture. He works for several clients worldwide and regularly plays live gigs as MaSpaventi. He also gives lectures on Ableton, Synthesis and Sampling at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam.

Given his background as a musician, Marco collects the best in vintage and modern synthesisers and drum machines, such as a the Fender Rhodes and several modules in the eurorack format. His studio is located at the music centre Q-Factory in Amsterdam, working everyday with top gear, with the best in both the analogue and digital world.

Maria Triana worked as a Mastering Engineer for the past 16 years at Sony Music Entertainment in New York City. At Battery Studios, she had the honour and opportunity to contribute her skills and expertise on many award winning recordings. She has worked with artists ranging from Aretha Franklin to Wayne Shorter, and Britney Spears to Bob Dylan.

Before leaving Sony, she contributed to the development of Sony’s new immersive 360RA technology. Besides this, she created content by mixing and remixing released and unreleased material as well. Equally versatile in the analog domain as well in the digital realm, Maria has worked as a restoration and archival engineer for music collections of the Metropolitan Opera of NY, Jazz at Lincoln Center and Sony Music’s Catalogue.

Currently, Maria teaches mastering at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam

Rob Mostert, a musician and a composer, is one of The Netherlands’ top Hammond players. Moreover, he is a true purist and one of the few to play the footbass with his (bare) feet. Rob was introduced to the soul jazz of Jimmy Smith at an early age. It was then that he fell in love with the sound of the Hammond. A music career was inevitable and after graduating Hammond organ at the Conservatory, Rob played in different bands, meanwhile continuing to develop himself as a passionate Hammond performer.

Bindu De Knock specialises in music and entertainment law, intellectual property and commercial contracts. She represents clients in the music and entertainment industry, the art world, creative industries and consumer products (fashion & design). She is a seasoned adviser/negotiator of contracts for DJ’s, music producers, songwriters vocalists, artists, labels, publishers and other entertainment professionals.

Bindu is the founder of her company “CrossLink Legal“, wrote the book Noot voor Noot: an introduction to music law, and is a writer for several music magazines. She understands the music industry from both sides, as she has a diploma in audio engineering and produces music herself.

Here at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam, Bindu teaches part of the music business classes.

either Mark Derksen is a producer, sound engineer and expert in analog audio equipment. He is the founder of Markant Studios, Mark1 Pro Audio and co-founder of Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam. With more than 30 years of experience, Mark upholds the highest standard in the maintenance, repair and (de-)commissioning of large studio consoles. In particular of SSL, Neve and Studer recorders.

Over the years, Mark has acquired quite a clientele, both as a producer/engineer and an expert in professional audio equipment. Artists with the likes of Bob Weston, Eddie Floyd, Coldplay, Simply Red, The White Stripes, Volumia!, Krezip, and Stevie Ann; and music studios including Miloco, Red Bull Studios, British Grove, Metropolis, Wisseloord Studios, Jim Abbis’s studio, Jett Rebel’s studio, our own studios here at the Amsterdam institute & many more.

Here at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam, Mark teaches Tape Machines and Recording to Tape.

“When I started, there weren’t many studios, analog technology was in full development. I had built a control room myself. Due to a lack of funds it was either too expensive to have someone come or the knowledge was not there at all. So I eventually started repairing it myself.

Frederic Stader is a German audio mastering and vinyl cutting engineer with 20+ years of experience. He trained under Moritz von Oswald at Dubplates & Mastering, a top 10 vinyl cutting studio in the world. After 10 years at D&M, he started Music Matters Mastering in London. He then joined Emil Berliner Studios in Berlin as senior engineer, working on Deutsche Grammophon and Berliner Philharmoniker releases. He later joined Riverside Studios Cologne, working on mastering, reamping, and restorations with Grammy Producer Ralf Kemper. Frederic has worked with artists such as Rammstein and Bernstein and has cut over 5000 records.

Huub Reijnders is an award-winning producer and mix engineer, who has worked with artists like Bløf, Acda & De Munnik, Jett Rebel, 3 Doors Down, Damian Marley, 50 Cent, U2, The Scorpions and The Kaiser Chiefs to name a few.

While enrolled in the music production program at Rotterdam Conservatory, Huub took an internship position at Wisseloord. There, he worked his way up the ladder to assistant/ in-house engineer. Huub’s big break came in 2005 as the engineer on Krezip’s hit-packed album “What Are You Waiting For.” From then on, his career as a free-lance engineer took off, and he worked in several studios in Belgium and Holland. He then settled into a studio of his own, at first in a postproduction facility, and later in Studio Zeezicht. In 2014, Huub had the opportunity to take on a room in the production wing at Wisseloord. Nowadays, Huub works most of the time in his own studio in Haarlem. At Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam, Huub teaches production, mixing and recording classes.

Mirek Stiles started working at Abbey Road Studios as a recording engineer in 1998. He worked on a diverse range of projects. Some of which include The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Beatles Anthology, Muse, Kanye West, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Paul McCartney.

Today, Mirek runs the studio’s Audio Products department leading the development of a range of software and hardware releases based on Abbey Road’s historic recording IP with partners Waves Audio and Chandler Limited. Additionally, Mirek is on the board and acts as an advisor on the Abbey Road Red incubation programme and is currently exploring and experimenting with Spatial Audio over headphones, ambisonics, spatial microphone arrays and game engine workflow. His recent projects include collaborations with film and video game composer Stephen Barton. He is also in joint research with the University of York and the University of Huddersfield. Mirek is also chairing the Abbey Road Spatial Audio Forum. This is where he brings together members from gaming, broadcast, VR, music production and film.

Andrew Scheps is a Grammy-award winning mix engineer whose credits read like a who’s who of popular music. He mixed four tracks on Adele’s Grammy-winning album, 21. Andrew also engineered and mixed songs on Red Hot Chili Peppers albums I’m with You and Stadium Arcadium. He has collaborated frequently with producer Rick Rubin. Scheps has worked with Jay-Z, U2, Justin Timberlake, Green Day, Metallica, and many others.

Andrew has developed two acclaimed signature plugins, the Scheps 73 and Scheps’ Omni Channel Strip for Waves.  He is also the owner of Tonequake Records.

During his masterclass with our students at Abbey Road Amsterdam, Andrew walks our students through one of his masterful mixes revealing his techniques and workflow. His classes include an extensive Q&A which give the students the opportunity to dig into his wealth of experience and knowledge.

Matt Butler is a producer, writer, arranger and engineer. He was the first in the U.K. to have a 24-bit Pro Tools rig and have a band on the studio floor with it! Matt, a legend himself, has worked with countless artists such as Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood, Mick Jagger, Dire Straits, and many more. He has also been the in-house engineer at AIR’s famous studio facility on Montserrat, running recording sessions by a who’s who of rock and pop.

We are very lucky and grateful to see Matt every year at Rockfield Studios, where he gives our students a full weekend recording masterclass. He makes sure a great band comes in for the sessions so he can discuss techniques, organization, set up and workflow. He wants to open students minds to what it takes to master the art of recording.

Erik “Rook” Ortiz is an American producer from Florida. In 2005 he formed the group of producers “J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League”. They produced with artists like Mary J. Blige, Young Jeezy, Drake, 2 Pistols, The Game, Chris Brown, Rick Ross, Gucci Mane, Maino, Ghostface Killah, Rocko, Blood Raw and Young Buck to name a few. Within only ten years of forming his production team, he obtained several awards including a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album for his work on Mary J. Blige’s The Breakthrough (2006).

From time to time, he guest lectures at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam.

Luca Pretolesi has logged over 20,000 hours in the studio honing his skills. He treats engineering, mixing, and mastering as an art form at his leading Las Vegas studio, Studio DMI. With each practice, he makes sure to carefully execute it to preserve the power of the artist’s original vision. Therefore, he stands out among a sea of electronic engineers with his unique hybrid set-up, mixing old and new technology.

More importantly, in place of a traditional mixing studio, Luca has created a combination of equipment. Some of which includes computer plugins, custom-made hardware, EQ’s and compressors, and high end mastering gear. As an engineer Luca has worked with Diplo, Major Lazer, Steve Aoki, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, DVBBS, Snoop Lion, Gareth Emery, Dada Life, Lil Jon, MakJ, E.A.S.Y., Morgan Page, Dillon Francis, KSHMR, and TJR to name a few.

We are very happy to be Luca’s go-to studio in Amsterdam: He regularly gives masterclasses to our students and they can join his mixing sessions.

Sylvia Massy has been Producing, Engineering and Mixing popular music for decades. She is known for her work with Tool, System of a Down, Johnny Cash, Prince and many others. Over the years, Sylvia has been awarded 25 gold and platinum records, including awards for her work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sevendust and Tom Petty.

She is also an accomplished fine artist, a published columnist, an in-demand educator and a relentless entrepreneur. But to her many friends, she is just Sylvia, the Radiant Being. Furthermore, Sylvia has delivered one of our most avant-garde workshops to date, including experimentation with raw techniques, making a sub-kick microphone from the woofer of a retired monitor, a telephone rewired into a microphone for drums and vocals. You can find out more about Sylvia’s creative studio techniques on our blog.

Focus… is an American producer from New York City. He is the son of Bernard Edwards who was one of the co-founders of “Chic”. Focus… gained recognition after his collaboration with Dr. Dre in 2002 on the Aftermath label. Since then he has produced numerous artists such as Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Chris Alain, Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, John Legend, The Game, Ice Cube, Busta Rhymes, Fabolous, 50 Cent, Schoolboy Q, Joe, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé, Lil Wayne, Ameriie, Christina Millian, Mac Dre and Marsha Ambrosius among others. He is now the CEO and owner of his entertainment company N|VZXN Entertainment alongside his music.

Focus… guest lectures at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam from time to time.

Tobias Hess is a musician, music producer and audio engineer from Germany. After initiating his universal education as a classical guitar soloist in Berlin, he moved to Detmold to continue his guitar studies. Furthermore, Tobias studied at the Erich-Thienhaus-Institute as a “Tonmeister”, which marked the start of his career as a music producer. Throughout his studies, he achieved multiple first prizes at international student competitions (such as AES and VdT) for his works as a sound engineer and producer.

During his freelance activities and 1-year employment at the renowned Galaxy Studios in Belgium, Tobias deepened his interests. He started blending classical orchestral instruments into modern music styles such as pop and film music. And since 2012 he has worked on over 60 scores for film, television and games as a music editor and engineer.

Currently, Tobias is mostly freelancing as a music producer and is focusing on his own musical projects. He lives in West-Germany at an international renowned concert venue (www.redhorndistrict.de). He is partly running the venue and working there as a in-house sound engineer. Besides all of that, he also teaches music theory at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam.

Ronald Prent started out at Wisseloord in 1980 as an inexperienced assistant and has since established himself as one of the most accomplished and innovative recording & mix engineers in the world. At Abbey Road Institute, Ronald teaches mixing and advanced recording techniques.

He specialises in surround sound, pioneering in mixing and playing a key role in the development of new technology used in progressive high-resolution formats. In the early years of surround audio development, Ronald was a “test pilot” for Sony and Philips’ DSD/SACD format. Many of the projects that he mixed back then are still considered benchmark examples of creative surround mixing. API’s flagship ‘Vision’ console which features simultaneous stereo and surround mixing capability and SPL’s benchmark MMC1 multi-channel mastering console are two examples of technological excellence stemming from Ronald’s original and practical ideas.

Ronald’s long list of clients includes notable artists such as Simple Minds, Rammstein, The Scorpions, Mink DeVille, Richie Hawtin, Udo Lindenberg, Gotthard, Tina Turner, Ilse DeLange, Live, Within Temptation, Herbert Grönemeyer, Clouseau, Lori Lieberman, Manowar, Alain Clark, and Peter Maffay.

Emiliano Caballero started out his engineering career at Galaxy Studios in Belgium, where he worked with artists like George McCrae, Clint Mansell and David Miles Huber. Shortly after, he moved to NYC to work as an assistant engineer at Electric Lady Studios. During his time there, he worked with artists such as Bon Jovi, Foy Vance, Elle King and Michael Kiwanuka.

Emiliano is currently a freelance producer & engineer, working between New York City, Los Angeles and Amsterdam. He guest lectures at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam from time to time. 

In memoriam (1930 – 2021)

Al Schmitt for most needs no introduction. An accomplished and legendary engineer and producer, he has spent his life working closely with the “Greats” for over five decades.

During his career, Schmitt has recorded and mixed more than 150 gold and platinum albums. With 22 Grammy’s, he has won more than any other engineer or mixer. In 2014, the Hollywood Walk of Fame awarded Schmitt a star recognising his contribution to the music industry.

Scanning Al Schmitt’s discography-which takes a long time, by the way-it’s tough to settle on a singular high point. That’s because Schmitt’s decades of award-winning work read like a trip through musical history. Up one aisle you’ll find Frank Sinatra, Henry Mancini, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and Miles Davis; up another you’ll bump into Jefferson Airplane, Jackson Browne, Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers and Steely Dan. Round a corner and you’ll encounter Barbra Streisand, Natalie Cole, Madonna, and Quincy Jones mingling with Michael Jackson, Diana Krall, Celine Dion, Paul McCartney, and Michael Buble.

We were truly honoured to have Al Schmitt over in April 2018 to record a jazz band and give mix critique to our students!

Darcy Proper is a successful sound engineer and a role model for many within the industry. Darcy graduated with honours from NYU’s Music Technology programme. After which, she began her career at Sony Classical Productions and Sony Music Studios in New York City. On completing twenty years in NYC, she made the jump to Europe, and accepted the position as Senior Mastering Engineer at Galaxy Studios. Furthermore, in 2010, Darcy became part of the team dedicated to the revival of Wisseloord Studios in the Netherlands. There, she based her work as a mastering engineer.

Over the years, Darcy has been honoured with 3 Grammy awards and 9 nominations and has won several other awards for her work. Alongside her mastering work, she has guest lectured at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam from time to time.

She has had the pleasure of mastering historical reissue projects for prestigious artists. Some of which include Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Dave Brubeck, and Johnny Cash. She has also worked on stereo and 5.1 front-line releases for many talented artists including The Eagles, Ilse DeLange, Donald Fagen, Anouk, Porcupine Tree, Clouseau, Peter Maffay, Patricia Barber, Alain Clark, Jane Ira Bloom, Marcus Miller, Jef Neve, Ozark Henry.

Bob Katz is an American audio mastering engineer who is known for his influential textbook Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science. Katz has mastered three GRAMMY® Award-winning albums and one nominated album. He is one of the most respected mastering engineers in the business.

Back then, Katz taught at the Institute of Audio Research in the late seventies. He joined Chesky Records in 1988 and began recording jazz and classical artists there, alongside producing oversampled commercial recordings. In the early nineties, he founded an audio mastering company called Digital Domain Mastering, where he continues to work. Since a few years Katz has a regular blog – Katz’s Corner – on the headphone enthusiast site InnerFidelity.

Through the years, Katz has received high critical acclaim from audiophiles and so did his book on mastering. Some reviewers consider it the definitive work on mastering. He has also invented a proprietary technology called K-Stereo and K-Surround. These processes recover lost or amplify hidden ambience, space and imaging, and generate stereo from mono signals without adding artificial reverberation.

Over the year, we select 10 student mixes that we send to Bob. Then Bob gives his feedback for each student in an interactive Skype session. We are immensely grateful to be able to learn from Bob’s amazing wealth of wisdom and for guest lecturing at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam.

Jef Martens – better known by his stage name Basto – is a Belgian record producer, musician and DJ. He is signed to the ARS label and primarily produces electro house music. Jef produced using various aliases such as Bitch Boys, Candyman, Felix Project, and Lazy Jay. He was also a member of the Belgian dance group Lasgo and co-produced with the band in 2009 and 2010 on a number of singles.

Jef is best known for producing the Azealia Banks’ hit debut single “212” under the alias of Lazy Jay. He also produced “Scream & Shout” for will.i.am and Britney Spears in 2012.

These days, he guest lectures at Abbey Road Institute Amsterdam from time to time.

David Miles Huber is a Grammy® nominated, American composer and producer. His work focuses on the downtempo, ambient and dance genres. He received his degree in music technology from Indiana University (I.M.P.). Here, he was the first American to be admitted into the Tonmeister program at the University of Surrey in Guildford, Surrey, England.

Huber is also the author of numerous books on recording and electronic music. His CD series Relaxation and Meditation with Music and Nature has sold over one million copies. His latest music and collaborations are available through the 51bpm independent record label. Huber’s most prominent book Modern Recording Techniques was sold over 250,000 copies and became a standard recording industry text.

From time to time, Huber pops in to guest lecture at Abbey Road Institute in Amsterdam.

Andrew Dudman works as a senior recording engineer for Abbey Road Studios. He joined the engineering department as part of The Tonmeister degree course at the University of Surrey. As a result, he returned to the studios full-time with a BMus (Hons) Music and Sound Recording degree.

As an Engineer, Andrew has worked on many musicals, production library music and a wide range of computer games. He also does pop projects (Professor Green, Robbie Williams, Underworld, Elbow) as well as classical recordings both in the Studios and on the road with Abbey Road’s Mobile Unit.

In 2014, Andrew has been awarded the Pro Sound News – Engineer of the Year. Notably, he worked as Score Editor on the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, winning an MPSE Award for Fellowship of the Ring. He then received nominations for the same award for the Two Towers and Return of the King.

Being part of the team of Abbey Road Studios, Andrew is one of the guest speakers at the Amsterdam Institute.