Sound and light Dylan's ticket to career on stage

MIXING IT WITH BEST: Kuranui Year 11 Student Dylan Taylor mixing it up during a stage production at the school. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Kuranui College student Dylan Taylor may be only in Year 11, but his track record with sound and lights has already taken him centre stage in several high-profile Wairarapa events.

"I didn't think I'd get the opportunity to do this kind of stuff at my age, I thought I'd have to leave school first to be able to actually do live concerts," he said.

He began doing sound and lights at the college in Year 9, but had already done quite a lot outside of school, like Martinborough's Carols in the Park, the Martinborough Jazz Festival and the Kokomai Creative Festival, helping with the Renee Lyon play Nick: An Accidental Hero.

"Kokomai technical manager Simon Raynor taught me quite a bit about theatre lighting," he said.

"When I started at Kuranui I was a bit average, because I was used to LED lights and not using lights to make people's skin look good. With school concerts it's pretty basic, so I've really learnt about how to use subtle lighting."

Kokomai aside, over the last month, he had also managed the sound and lights for An Evening of Extreme Adventure with Jamie Fitzgerald, Tangle Community Dance Company's When a Poet Dreamed An Angel, and annual events such as Kuranui's Sports Awards, Cultural awards and the college's Music, Drama and Dance Showcase.

He was now looking forward to setting the scene for senior prize giving, he said.

"My ultimate dream is to be on tour with a band and be their producer or work in a music studio. I am planning to go to the Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand (Mainz) to study music production.

He is well on his way to realising that ambition and this month will be taking Level 2 music exams at NCEA, after earlier this year taking part in a course at Wellington's TSB Arena, as well as completing a standard on the Live Sound and Event Production course at Whiteria Community Polytechnic.

"My guitar teacher, Shane Cater, got me started in music production. He had a small mixing desk and I got interested from there. I also play the drums, piano, banjo, mandolin and bass and I'm in a couple of bands: a school band called Not If We Can Help It and a church band called Cold Steel Rail. Starting young really pay off."