26 June 2026
From NMC to Abbey Road for sound engineer Avelyn Reynolds
Avelyn Renynolds, AYO Sound Production alumna discusses her adventures abroad: from NMC 2025 to studying sound production through a Dolby Atmos course, and how the experience has shaped her reflections on her classical music journey so far.
Avelyn Reynolds began playing the violin at just two and a half years old, training in the Suzuki method. Growing up with her mother, a professional pianist, and a career in music always felt inevitable. However, midway through her Bachelor of Music (Violin) at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Avelyn applied for the Australian Youth Orchestra (AYO) Sound Production course – an opportunity that would shift her trajectory in an exciting new direction.
Through the program, Avelyn developed new technical skills and discovered creative possibilities beyond performance. Over the two-week intensive, she learned from Jakub Gaudinski – audio engineer, producer, composer, and sound designer – whose mentorship challenged her to expand her musical thinking. Inspired by the experience, Avelyn applied for, and was accepted into, a 12-week Dolby Atmos Sound Production course at the Abbey Road Institute in London – a specialist music production school linked to the famous Abbey Road recording studios.
“I noticed that in sound production, I work a lot more efficiently and feel very purposeful,” she reflects.
During her time in London, Avelyn discovered how sound design and performance could intersect in meaningful ways. The course deepened her understanding of historically informed performance techniques and reshaped how she listens to and records orchestral music.
“You have all this incredible software and hardware,” she explains, “yet what we’re doing is placing the orchestra at the front and the reverb at the back – because that’s what it sounds like when you’re sitting in a concert hall. Now, when I listen to a professional orchestral recording, it feels like you’re in the room, rather than hearing an imagined version of it.”
AYO’s Sound Production course offered a uniquely supportive yet ambitious environment for growth. With two weeks of focused learning under a world-class mentor, Avelyn left with both confidence and curiosity about the broader field of sound production.
Her experience at National Music Camp provided invaluable, hands-on training. Working directly with the orchestra, she gained practical skills in backstage miking, mixing desk operation, and monitoring. These real-world scenarios presented challenges unique to each performance space.
“Elder Hall is obviously very old, so not having as many inputs meant we had to do things like dangle cables out of windows,” Avelyn laughs.
Reflecting on the experience, she emphasises the importance of programs like AYO in bridging gaps that formal education sometimes cannot fill. “On the whole, I think AYO is so important in providing pathways and opportunities. The chance to further your education across a variety of fields is vital – you don’t always find that in schools, or even at universities. Sometimes there are gaps that can only be filled by hands-on experience, and for that I’m really grateful to AYO.”
About AYO’s Sound Production program
The AYO Sound Production program, which runs during National Music Camp in Adelaide from 11 – 24 January 2027, equips participants with practical experience in capturing and producing live orchestral performances. Alumni leave with essential technical skills in sound production, mixing, recording, interview techniques, and editing.