Student Testimonials

Student Testimonial - Peter Fokkema

Country: The Netherlands
Campus: Rotterdam
Course: Audio Engineering
Graduation Year: 2008

For over 30 years, Peter has been involved with music. Besides playing several instruments, being in a band, having studied Audio Engineering, he also has a successful career as a freelance engineer.

Peter has a unique approach when it comes to mixing music for his clients: he thinks along with the artists so it becomes a synergic cooperation of the team in order to get the best results.

Every artist and every genre needs a specific approach, guidance, and technique of recording. I implement my background as a musician as well as the theoretical and practical knowledge I was taught at SAE Institute. Every time I record, I try to educate my clients and share my knowledge with them.

Peter is currently working as a freelancer in several Dutch studio’s, mixing music for several bands, websites and art projects as well as teaching students from the ‘Sound Education’ school in Utrecht. At the same time, he organizes parties where children can record their own CD’s with on Peter’s mobile set.

His ultimate dream is now coming true: Peter is building his own recording studio in order to continue to pass his knowledge and experience to promising artists.

www.peterenzout.nl
www.myspace.com/peterenzout

Student Testimonial - Jelle de Boer

Country: The Netherlands
Campus: Amsterdam
Course: Audio Engineering
Graduation Year: 2006

Jelle received his audio engineering diploma after two years and got a job offer almost immediately after his graduation.

Everyday throughout the course the subjects get more and more practical and challenging. Besides the technical side, at SAE you also learn how to get along with musicians and how to represent yourself as a professional. Of course, a good pair of ears is a must, but at the same time these days the industry expects an audio-engineer to listen and adapt to the wishes of the customer and to create a positive atmosphere in the studio.

A famed Dutch post-production studio for radio and television programs and commercials has successfully been working with former SAE students for years now and was in need of new talent. After a long selection procedure Jelle started his new position in January 2007 at the studio as an audio-engineer. On the one hand he is in charge of mastering, mixing and cleaning diverse sounds and at the other hand he finds fitting sound for ‘raw’ material, either found in a big database or self produced.

The job is very satisfactory. Sometimes I work for 4,5 hours at the studio on a 40 minute show. Nevertheless, when I see my name on the credits, I remember why I chose this existence.

Student Testimonial - Frederik de Jongh

Country: The Netherlands
Campus: Rotterdam
Course: Audio Engineering
Graduation Year: 2000

In the year 1999 the Belgian Frederik started the full-time Audio Engineering course at SAE Rotterdam.

SAE Institute was the only school offering a significant audio education and when I went to an open day I got so enthusiastic about the school that I registered that same day.

Frederik is a well known multitalented SAE graduate in the music business. As ‘Jerboa’, he writes, composes, produces and releases his own music. His newest CD ‘Jerboa Rockit Fuel’ is now available and sounds very promising. Previous encounters and performances with Amon Tobin, DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, Prefuse 73 and Yonderboy have inspired Jerboa during the production of this well thought and balanced CD.

Besides, Frederik works as a producer and audio-engineer at ‘Midas Studio’, one of Belgium’s most famous music studios.

Student Testimonial - Donovan Kerssenberg

Country: The Netherlands
Campus: Amsterdam
Course: Digital Film Making
Graduation Year: 2007

Donovan currently works at Gamekings where he gets to combine two of his passions: Video-games and editing. He is responsible for the show appearing on TV (screened on MTV) as well as the daily uploads of footage on the show’s website. He participates in the filming, cutting, editing, conceptualization and game testing processes.

I get to apply all the knowledge I have acquired during my Digital Film Making course at SAE on a daily basis. Working with various software, cameras, filming, casting, editing are but a small sample of the variety of qualifications I have turned into specialties when studying at SAE.

Student Testimonial - Lukas Morawski

Country: The Netherlands
Campus: Rotterdam
Course: Audio Engineering
Graduation Year: 2008

Lukas currently works at the Rutger Hauer Film Factory as Head of the Sound Engineering department. Lukas also worked on Carmen van Het Noorden (2009) as a sound recordist and boom operator. Before venturing into the realms of sound for film and tv, Lukas completed an internship at famous belgian music studio Galaxy.

His credits include:
Scoring for Film: The Hessen Affair (2009)
Editing and ADR for Film: Amsterdam (2009)
ProTools Editing for TV productions: Ketnet POP
Assistant Engineering for: Within Temptation, Marco Borsato, Kane, Kate Ryan

Since I can remember sound was very intriguing subject to me. It started with physics at my secondary school. After few years of being involved in the society as an amateur I decided to make it as an proffesional. One day I stumbled on an advert about open day at SAE Rotterdam. I was amazed about the really practical way of teaching and a really good relationship between the student and the teacher. It was a pleasure to attend classes, to work on your own projects and to cooperate with other students. What I like the most about SAE Rotterdam is the great staff, outstanding studios and great atmosphere. During my stay at SAE Rottterdam I was able to take some time off for an internship at Galaxy Studios in Belgium. It was an opportunity I could not resist. Combining the knowledge and experience during my time at SAE and Galaxy Studios I was able to build a fair network of contacts and work possibilties. Since July 2009 I'm officially a freelancer and thanks to SAE I got already a good resume with different projects I worked on, as recording engineer, assistand sound engineer for film productions and so on.

Student Testimonial - Timon Grool

Country: The Netherlands
Campus: Amsterdam
Course: Audio Engineering
Graduation Year: 2005

Timon Grool graduated from SAE Amsterdam in October 2005. After graduation he started to build a career as an Audio Imager for radio. Currently, he works for Pure Jingles, a division of VHU Europe and makes jingles for 3fm, which is a national radio station in the Netherlands. Timon also worked with Kronehit in Austria and Virgin Radio in France.

His credits include:
Audio Imaging: 3fm KRO Rabradio (September 2007 till april 2009)
Editing live concerts: Legendarisch Live on Radio 2 KRO (2006 and 2007)
Audio Production: Bravo tent at Lowlands (2006 and 2007)

Ever since I was a child I always wanted to have a career in music. It is my greatest passion. I wanted to be a musician in the first place, but since I never really thought there would be a healthy career in it, I decided to become an Audio Engineer. My father told me about SAE, he saw an ad and I really loved the idea of studying there. We did go to SAE Amsterdam and got a tour and I was really enthusiastic about it. I had a lovely time at SAE. The practical approach on things is very good. You really have the time to sit in the studios, do your projects and discover. And that is what it’s all about. I took every bit of extra studio time I could get and even did 12 hour days at SAE, I loved it. Combined with all the theory lessons it really makes sense. The things you learn can immediately be put into practice. The atmosphere is really fine too with great teachers who have a lot of experience. I often think back at my SAE time, it all started right there at SAE Amsterdam. In my everyday work I feel that SAE gave me a really good solid base of knowledge and skills that I expanded during my career.