AFTER the success of past projects including Sounds of Tom Price, Wiluna, Shark Bay, the Pilbara and the South West, WAM's Sounds of project is now seeing 10 acts record their songs for Sounds of the Wheatbelt, delivered in conjunction with partners Celebrate WA, Brookfield Rail and the Avon Community Development Foundation through the Wheatbelt Development Commission.
The latest addition to the Sounds of program will see recording begin in a farmhouse between Dowerin and Wongan Hills, running from this week until April 11.
Ten acts were chosen from an impressive pool of 46 applications.
Two artists have been selected from each of the five sub-regions to represent the talent in the Wheatbelt. As an outcome of these recordings, a limited edition 10-track CD will be released at the 2014 GWN 7 Dowerin Field Days event.
The Sounds of projects aim to provide an avenue of recording skills development to remote and regional areas.
Each artist will be mentored through the song production of the track they bring to the project, while expert audio engineers will mentor those interested and working in the sound engineering field.
Each professionally recorded single will be included on a compilation CD for local release and promoted nationally through WAM's networks.
This particular opportunity is even more remarkable given WAM Ambassador Joel Quartermain of Eskimo Joe/ Wastelands Studios will join the Sounds of team to offer a guest-producing session for local engineers.
Along with the other Eskimo Joe members, Quartermain is WA's only winner of the ARIA Producer Of The Year award, among a host of other accolades for the local legends.
The Sounds of The Wheatbelt CD will feature Hayden Sprigg (Mukinbudin), The Pipeline Band (Northam), Georgie Sadler (Wongan Hills), Tom O'Brien and Russel Gooley (Narrogin), John Read (Kondinin), Pete Byfield (Northam), Billy Narrier (Mogumber), Ryan Flannigan (Merredin), and Gloria Franke and 83-year-old legend Brian 'Buzzer' Bitter, both from Jurien Bay.
