From meeting a guest lecturer to joining his team: Jasmine's career-ready story

After exploring her options, Solent stood out for both its course content and practical approach to learning.

"I chose Solent because it was an easy commute from where I live. The course was exactly what I was looking for when reading about the modules within Popular Music Production, allowing me to expand my knowledge within a studio environment as well as having opportunities to work within a live sound environment too and explore new areas of the music industry that are new or have been of interest to me."

Even before starting her studies, Jasmine felt supported by the people around her.

"When I applied for Solent, my course leader emailed me saying he 'enjoyed reading my personal statement and looked forward to exploring the areas I've studied thus far.' Seeing this made me feel quite encouraged to join Solent as having tutors and lecturers that are interested in my aspirations feels especially important to me as I know that I will be fully supported with my work and that they care about my future."

Today, Jasmine has clear ambitions for her future career, with a particular interest in both live sound and studio production.

"I would like to be a live sound engineer, for any type of event that may need people to set up microphones, PA systems, anything sound related.

Alongside this I would also like to gain some work within a music studio environment, helping to set up and run recording sessions, work with other musicians and bands to record music with them and hopefully be a mixing engineer so that I can also mix the songs I help record too."

Learning through real-world experience

A key part of Solent's Career-Ready Revolution is ensuring students learn through practical experiences that reflect the realities of their chosen industry. Through industry-standard facilities, hands-on projects and professional environments, Jasmine has been able to develop skills across multiple areas of the music sector.

"Each module shows me various parts of the music industry, how working in a live sound environment is different from studio work, how and what skills are transferable within the two."

One of Jasmine's standout experiences came during her second year, when she and a fellow student were responsible for planning and delivering a live music event at Southampton's iconic venue, The Joiners.

"One of my modules in second year entailed me to work in a small group to plan and execute a live music gig at The Joiners. It was my job to liaise with the venue, job hires and bands I found for the gig as well as making stage plans, risk assessments, and any planning that needed to be done before the gig.

On the night of the gig, I helped set up the stage and I was the lead sound engineer for the night doing a sound check for a total of three bands and engineering for them throughout the night.

This was a little glimpse of what the live sound environment is like. As a group of two it was quite a lot as I ended up taking on a lot of jobs, but overall, it was a great experience, and I would do this again."

Experiences like these have allowed Jasmine to build confidence while developing the technical, organisational and communication skills needed within the industry.

Building confidence through industry opportunities

Throughout her studies, Jasmine has taken every opportunity to gain additional experience, supported by lecturers who recognised her enthusiasm and potential.

"My lecturers have been incredibly supportive with my studies and are very willing to help me improve with my work for me to reach my highest potential, especially when completing my assignments, giving me tips and pointers on how I can improve and helping me if I am stuck."

That support has led to opportunities both in the studio and in live production environments.

"Because of my shown interest in recording and live sound engineering my lecturers have been very positive in having me involved in anything where my skills could be useful. This year I helped a third year with setting up drums and recording them in one of the university's studios to help them with their final major project. This was a wonderful experience getting to work with other musicians and demonstrate my knowledge in the studio."

Jasmine was also trusted to take on a major live production role, engineering the musical We Will Rock You.

"This was my first time engineering a musical by myself as well as having a live band to engineer alongside the actors. This was a big job, but my lecturers were confident that I could do this, which made me feel comfort in this position.

Overall, this was an amazing experience where I did something more out of my comfort zone, learning about a different part of the live sound environment and overcoming new technical problems."

The experience has already opened further doors.

"Because of how well I worked during the 'We Will Rock You' musical I have been asked to do some sound engineering at the MAST, which I am extremely excited to do and hopefully will open up even more opportunities for the future."

From guest lecturer to colleague

One of the defining features of Solent's Career-Ready Revolution is the University's strong industry links, giving students opportunities to learn directly from professionals and build valuable connections.

For Jasmine, one guest lecture became something much more.

"During the first semester of second year while working on my music portfolio career, we had a guest lecturer, Alex Western-King, come in to speak about his career and how he's gotten to where he is now and his advice to us on how to build our own music portfolio career.

He mentioned that he was also a DJ and possibly needed an engineer to help him out on a couple of his upcoming gigs."

Recognising an opportunity that aligned perfectly with her career goals, Jasmine took the initiative.

"As one of my ambitions is to be a live sound engineer, I asked my module leader for his contact and offered to engineer for him. After having a trial run where I helped him set up his DJ set with his PA system and engineered a gig for Alex, I did so well, he gave me the job. I am now one of his engineers and will be doing more gigs with him over the summer."

It's a powerful example of how professional industry links can help students turn classroom conversations into real employment opportunities.

Advice for future students

Reflecting on her journey so far, Jasmine's advice is simple: say yes to opportunities and gain as much experience as possible.

"Gain as much experience as you can, whether it is helping other students or with events within Solent, anything that might help connect with other people and help with plans and ambitions for the future.

Even if it's something new, try it out. A lot of things I've done this year have had a lot more than just sound engineering to it, which has helped me to acquire new skills and has helped me feel more confident in working with other people and in different environments."

Through live events, studio projects, industry collaborations and professional networking, Jasmine is already building the experience and connections that will support her future career. Her story demonstrates exactly what the Career-Ready Revolution is designed to achieve: helping students graduate with not only a degree, but the confidence, skills and industry experience to take their next step.

Find out more about our Music and Performing Arts courses.