Amersham & Wycombe College Music lecturer Chris Bunce has been working with BTEC music technology students and industry experts over the past two months to produce a CD of student work that will be sold under the College’s Sham Records label.

As part of a process to showcase musical talent at the College, high profile names from the music industry were invited in to College to critique music created by students and to whittle down dozens of tracks to fit a single CD. Pete Wheeler, BBC Radio Berkshire music reviewer, DJ, and presenter said: “I’ve been working for local radio and listening to music sent in by bands for over 18 months. I have just heard six bands from the College and two are better than anything I’ve heard over that 18 month period – and we’re not even half way through the sampling list yet!” In the end, nine tracks from six artists were selected to take to CD.

The next stage saw students visit top London recording studio Wired Masters – an audio post production facility specialising in CD mastering, mix compilations and audio editing. Here, students could listen to their tracks being mastered to the highest possible standards.

Wired Masters Kevin Grainger said: “I am very impressed with the standard and quality of music the students are turning out.” Student Harry Price added: “It’s always good to get praise for your work from tutors, but going to Wired Masters and finding others equally enthusiastic about your music is a great confidence booster.” Fellow student Marco Picciano added, “it made it all worthwhile going to a place like that. It was a massive up and the music sounded fantastic.”

“At the end of May, the CD showcasing students’ music will go on sale through Sham Records,” says Chris Bunce. It will be featured on the College’s web site at www.amersham.ac.uk and tracks can also be heard on the Sham Records social networking site at: www.myspace.com/shamrecords.