Introducing Beats_Per_Minute: Two countries, one goal

16 June, 2020

Here at BIMM, our unique, creative community brings people together through a passion for music and often crosses borders, oceans and different nationalities. Our range of international connections often means that we’re able to provide our students with global opportunities that they’d be hard-pushed to find elsewhere. And our new electronic music project partnership is no different.

We’re proud to support DPJW (Deutsch-Polnisches Jugendwerk) and their Beats_Per_Minute project, which invites young musicians from Poland and Germany to collaborate and explore their creativity. Taking place completely online due to the recent COVID-19 restrictions, Beats_Per_Minute will see vocalists and producers from Germany form duets with Polish vocalists and producers and receive exclusive mentoring and real-world industry experience.

Together, 16 students will form Polish-German pairings to create new and exciting electronic tracks. The event is organised by DPJW (Deutsch-Polnisches Jugendwerk) in collaboration with the Akademia Dźwięku – the only Ableton Certified Training Centre in Poland.

“Thanks to our project, we want to enable young Polish and German people to cooperate with people from a neighbouring country based on their shared passion and interest in music.”

– DPJW

We’re excited to announce that the following BIMM students will be taking part:

  • Producer Martyna Staszczyk (BIMM Berlin)
  • Producer Villem Vatter (BIMM Berlin)
  • Vocalist Nick Heymann (BIMM Hamburg)
  • Producer Mikołaj Urbaniak (BIMM London)

B_P_M Sessions

beats per minute bimm

In order to create something, you have to get to know each other first, right? That’s where the B_P_M Sessions come into place. On Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th June, our students started their course by getting to know each other, forming duets and taking part in the following online workshops via Zoom:

  • Vocals workshop with musician and lecturer Natascha Roth
  • Arrangement workshops for vocalists and producers with the Akademia Dźwięku from Warsaw (Ableton Certified Training Centre)
  • Professional support for musicians

They also got to know one another by drawing each other, playing games and talking about current issues and events taking place around the world. BIMM Hamburg student Nick Heymann says the two days were a fantastic networking opportunity:

“I met some nice people and connected with two Polish producers. I will work with one during this project and with the other outside of this project… [The two days also provide you with the] possibility to send promotion questions around marketing, publishing, release strategy, etc, and establish label connections.”

The weekend workshops set the participants up with best practices and tips for collaborating online. Going forward, they’ve learned to establish who’s in charge of what, how to record a demo, work ethics and online collaboration platforms.

beats per minute bimm

Each pair will have four weeks to develop their compositions and work together on their tracks. The deadline for completing their duet is 12th July 2020. After the deadline, they will have their track mixed, mastered and played on Evosonic radio. BIMM students Nick Heymann and Mikołaj Urbaniak were interviewed for Evosonic during the two-day B_P_M Sessions. Each participant will also receive a vinyl record containing each track created and recorded throughout the project.

We wish our BIMM students best of luck in this exciting project and can’t wait to listen to their new tracks.


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