New England School of Communications educator shares skills in Amsterdam

BANGOR, ME (04/12/2013)(readMedia)-- Students are always told, 'You never know where your education will take you,' but that saying couldn't be more true for New England School of Communications instructor Walter Clissen. The audio professor recently returned from the Netherlands where he conducted a four day workshop teaching students at the Amsterdam School of the Arts everything he knows about sound recording, mixing and production.

"Basically it was getting a bunch of equipment - computers, speakers, mixers set up like a control room or studio. I gave a couple lectures on the topic and then gave them projects to work on," explained Clissen.

On any given day, four to eleven students from the school's theater, film or production program would participate in Clissen's workshop designed to teach them about multichannel surround sound for installation in theater performances, sound amplification for live events and manipulation of audio signal flow.

"It was complicated," said Clissen, who is originally from Belgium. "I had to teach in my own language [Dutch] which you thought would be easy but it wasn't. I would switch back and forth between Dutch and English."

While back in his home country, Clissen also had the opportunity to return to his roots at Galaxy Studios in Belgium.

"I worked at that studio many years ago and recorded a mix single for this guy's wife which went onto be a gold record. We lost track of each other but somehow reconnected," explained Clissen.

That long lost friend now owns Galaxy Studios and is looking to work with Clissen to offer internships to NESCom students.

"He was very excited about it," said Clissen. "He was very impressed that we're training people on the same console he has in his studio. And as I talked to him more about NESCom, he said he very much likes the idea of getting American people in for internships."

Proving one's education can not only lead them home but towards the future as well.

"I think it was a great experience, a big success," glowed Clissen. "There is definitely an invite to come back next year."

For more information on the New England School of Communications, visit www.nescom.edu