ZIXTEN WEIJSTERS – PRODUCER, SONGWRITER, MUSICIAN

Two years ago I was in a period  in life where I felt like I didn’t have any direction. Things I did didn’t give me much satisfaction. I felt like I wasn’t moving forward in life, or working towards anything until I found an Ableton starter course and thought why not. Through listening and making music, a whole new world opened up to me.

I looked for ways to develop and I met Malik and told him: I might not have the musical skills yet, but I have a strong drive and I want to work hard for it. He appreciated that and gave me a shot. I was admitted to the Academy and did a ‘full course’ in the first year.  It was the right decision as I learned something from everyone I met at Wisseloord – musicians, technicians, people from the industry and other students. What is so special in this place is that we all have the same passion for music.

The start of the Academy was quite tough, because although I was very curious, I also had to learn a lot of different things. In those early days it was like school to me. After sharing my struggles with the team a few times I realized that it was only the beginning of the rest of my life and future career. Now I know for sure: I want to do this for the rest of my life.

I come from a musical family where my father used to play in a band and I had piano lessons as a child. In my teen years I stopped playing and I did nothing with music for quite some time. Now I’m taking some piano lessons again – among other lessons at Wisseloord – and I start to appreciate playing piano again. Those lessons taught that I have stories to tell too, that I might want to share with the world. So I’m writing them down and creating everyday more and more work that sounds like me.

I hope that music will take me around the world as I love to meet new people and be influenced by all kinds of styles of music. At the moment I am creating an EP with Petra, who I met at the Academy. We came up with a cool concept where she is the artist and I’m producing her.

I am also getting more and more interested in making film and game music. I think that the Wisseloord Academy is a great way to find out what your path is. I learned that I can go into many directions, within the music industry. And I’m getting better at it everyday. Life is moving forward again.