Gideon gives back: Producer offers free sound-engineering classes

WITH almost two decades of experience in the music industry, local musician and producer Gideon Bishop has opted to give back to his community by offering free sound engineering classes.

Bishop, 37, has worked with various local acts, including Ian “Bunji Garlin” Alvarez, Kees Dieffenthaller, David Rudder, MX Prime, Nadia Batson, Marge Blackman, Kerwin Du Bois, among others.

He was one of the main composers of the 2017 Folklore Riddim featuring Hello by Kes, Holding On by Turner, and Aye Yo by Sekon Sta (Nesta Boxill).

Passionate about his craft, Bishop regularly posts social media content of himself playing the bass guitar or in the studio recording with an artiste. It was that passion which gave him the idea to try passing on some of his knowledge to others who may be curious.

So he issued an official proposal to the Office of the Prime Minister’s Sport and Culture Fund for a youth music education programme. In his proposal, he wrote, “The primary goal of this project is to teach music production, sound engineering, music theory, and songwriting to the youth, offering them a viable path to a career in the music industry.

“By providing a constructive and creative outlet, we aim to steer them away from crime, fostering personal growth and contributing to local employment opportunities.”

Approved for funding, the classes ran from August 3-September 7 in Cunupia. Classes were held on Saturdays from 10 am and were about two hours long.

Topics covered included signal flow, microphones, EQ (equalisation), compressors, songwriting and music theory.

Speaking to Newsday in a phone interview, Bishop said the response to his initiative was overwhelming, which confirmed to him that people “really want to learn more about this.

“A lot of people came out and plenty people called. I even had to turn some people away because of space.”

He said about 30 people came to the first session, with some even offering to stand near the doorway because they really wanted to be part of it.

“The youngest person there was about 15 and the oldest was, like, 48. It was a mixture of people who had some exposure to sound engineering and others who had none at all.”

He said the youngest students had no prior experience, so when the first class was over, he asked them to explain what they were taught and they did so perfectly.

“I asked, ‘Did you understand everything?’ and they said, 'Yes.' So if you can ask a person who has never been in that environment if they are following and they tell you, 'Yes,' that means something was done properly.”

People came to the classes for different reasons.

“Some people host karaoke and they wanted to know how to set up better, how to get some annoying frequencies out and get better at their craft; some were engineers from churches who had no official training and they wanted to better the sound there; others wanted to get into music professionally…”

In addition to teaching them, he said he also pointed them in the direction of the programme he studied at the University of TT (UTT). Bishop has a bachelor’s degree in digital media arts, specialising in music technology. He began studies in 2018 and graduated in 2022.

He was also the class representative at the Academy for the Performing Arts (APA) for music technology.

“Being qualified is something that I think everyone should be, especially if they want to enter this field. When you do that, you can then enter certain rooms, spaces and conversations you could not have before.

“It’s like going on a plane and you find out the pilot learned to fly from on YouTube.”

On how he felt about giving back through his free classes, he said it was awesome and reminded him of when he was also a newbie.

He credited his interest in sound engineering and production to a cousin, Trinidad and Tobago-born international sound engineer Dexter Simmons.

Simmons, a Grammy Award winner, has worked with top international acts such as the late Michael Jackson, Beyonce, OutKast, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys, Nas, Brandy and others.

“Giving back is always great,” said Bishop, himself a member of the Recording Academy (Grammys).

“And a course like this is normally $250,000. So to be able to cut down costs and offer it to people for free was a great experience.

“Through this, I discovered I love teaching…I was told that I break down complicated things and make them simple.”

Although he has no immediate plans for more classes, he said he hopes it is something he can do again soon.