BYU Student Chance Anderson Wins Gold at the Audio Engineer Society Awards

BYU commercial music student Chance Anderson won gold in the Audio Engineer Society’s (AES) Student Recording Competition for Sound for Visual Media. He accepted the award in New York for his work as re-recording mixer and post-sound supervisor on the student film Student Accomplice.

The film, which has gained awards and nominations during its festival run, also earned BYU animation students a bronze medal in the Student Academy Awards. Students from both programs expressed gratitude for the recognition and opportunities that came from working on the project.

Anderson also attended the Hollywood Music in Media Awards with composer Kevin West. “We looked at the nomination list and our names were on there, but then we looked at the other categories and saw names like Hans Zimmmer and realized the award is for professionals," Anderson said. "There are these huge names on the same ballot as us. It's crazy. It feels great.”

Commercial music director Ron Saltmarsh praised the students’ efforts. “This is the most intensive, in-depth and large-scale music and sound production we’ve attempted to date," he said. “It is so gratifying to see the amazing work done by these talented students being recognized by the industry as equal to their professional idols.”

The film was a collaborative project across departments. Animation faculty worked closely with commercial music faculty to select student composers and producers and encouraged students to enter competitions during post-production.

Anderson said the commercial music program’s emphasis on collaboration and experiential learning prepared them well. "the program really encourages collaboration with animation, work with the AdLab on campus and work with the media arts department,” he said.

The experience changed several students’ career paths. West shifted from sound production to film scoring. Michelle Howard moved from song production to sound design. Anderson now hopes to intern in post-audio.

Howard said there was a class unit on sound design (sound effects) but working on the film taught her a lot she had not anticipated. She said she particularly gained an appreciation of how layers are needed to convey an intended effect of sound.

Anderson expressed gratitude for the interdisciplinary nature of the project. “It wasn’t just one person or one program that helped. The number of people involved with the film is incredible,” he said. "I’m really thankful.”

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