---

(Click to download full press release in Microsoft Word DOC format)

• Return to SAE Institute INDEX

---

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Neilson/Clyne
Tel: (615) 662-1616
Fax: (615) 662-1636

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SAE MIAMI GETS ITS FIRST GOLD RECORD

— SAE graduate Vince di Pasquale and partner Ean Sugarman celebrate
their RIAA-certified gold remix of Kevin Lyttle’s smash hit Turn Me On, giving credit —
and a gold record award — to SAE, where it all came together —

MIAMI, FL, December 13, 2004 — SAE Miami has been honored with its first gold record, courtesy the skyrocketing success of a former student. The RIAA-certified Gold Record Award for sales of 500,000 units was awarded to Vince di Pasquale, SAE Class of 2002, for his work on the hit remix of Kevin Lyttle’s Turn Me On. Vince and remix partner Ean Sugarman specifically requested a duplicate of their award to present to the school, acknowledging the help of Chris Davie, Director of SAE Miami, and Brandy Castle, SAE Miami Placement Coordinator.

Since opening in January 2002, SAE Miami has enrolled and graduated hundreds of students. The school has also provided the kind of personal network that is tremendously useful to those entering the pro audio job market for the first time. SAE acts as a nexus for its students, graduates, instructors and visiting professionals — which is one of the big advantages that an SAE education confers on its graduates — and this ongoing interface is a testament to the school’s ability to keep people connected.

Vince di Pasquale graduated SAE in September 2002, with a diploma from the school’s Audio Technology Program. Brandy Castle had received a request from R&B luminary Lauryn Hill for graduate engineers to assist on several projects she was working on in her SSL console-equipped personal studio. Castle recommended di Pasquale for the job. Within months, he was collaborating regularly with Hill and had also taken on an assistant engineering position with The Hit Factory/Criteria, one of the Miami area’s most acclaimed studio facilities, where he worked for the next two years.

In 2004, award-winning Australian DJ and remixer Ean Sugarman, who had done several sessions in the school’s studios, was a guest lecturer at SAE Miami. Chris Davie introduced di Pasquale to Sugarman and the two hit it off immediately. In less than a year, their newly formed production company, SugarDip, had garnered significant attention with remixes for prominent artists including Britney Spears, Brandy, Janet Jackson and Destiny’s Child. They received their first Gold Record Award in October, for their remix of Kevin Lyttle’s Turn Me On. It was followed a month later by a second Gold Record Award for their remix work on Brandy’s Who Is She To You? Barely two years after graduating from SAE, Vince di Pasquale already has the makings of a long and successful career.

“Vince came in with Ean and presented the Gold Record Award to the school, and Brandy and I accepted it on SAE’s behalf,” says Davie. “It’s the first Gold Record that we’ve ever received, and it was a very cool gesture. A number of our graduates have gone on to work with award-winning artists, producers and engineers, and it was good to see Vince receive recognition for his talent. It was gratifying to see that the kind of support we try to give all of our students and graduates worked out in such a great manner.”

"SAE Miami was instrumental in placing me with many major opportunities I’ve had in the past couple of years,” notes di Pasquale, “from working with Lauryn Hill, to the world's premier studio, The Hit Factory/Criteria, and ultimately in teaming up with Ean Sugarman to form SugarDip Productions, remixing some of the biggest names in music. For all that — and a great education — I am very grateful to SAE Miami."

Adds Ean Sugarman, “Having the SAE school in Miami is like having a high-tech Starbucks. They’re there to fulfill a mission, of course, of educating students, and they do that quite well, based on my experience as a guest lecturer there. But the school also has a very cordial atmosphere. There’s always something going on, always interesting people to bounce ideas off of. That kind of atmosphere has become more and more rare as music recording heads deeper into people’s homes.”

Photo File:
MIAMI_GROUP.JPG

Photo Caption:
Pictured Left to Right: Artist/Remixer Ean Sugarman; SAE Miami Graduate Vincent di Pasquale, SAE Miami’s Chris Davie, Brandy Castle, and Gordon McMillan.

...ends 635 words

Headquartered in Byron Bay, Australia, SAE Institute is the world’s first and largest network of audio and multimedia education and training centers. SAE is affiliated with Middlesex University in England. The Institute operates 42 campuses in 22 countries on four continents. It offers diploma and full degree programs in audio technology, recording arts, multimedia production, and multimedia arts. SAE is part of the SAE Technology Group, which also owns and operates Studio 301 recording facilities. With locations in Sydney and Byron Bay, Australia, Cologne, Germany, and Stockholm, Sweden, Studio 301 is a collective group of state-of-the-art recording and mastering facilities.

Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

— For more information, contact Mark Martin, SAE Institute, 7 Music Circle North, Nashville, TN 37203. Tel: (615) 244-5848; Fax: (615) 244-3192; Web: www.sae.edu

 

Copyright ©2004, Neilson/Clyne, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Contact: info@neilsonclyne.com