Back in March this year, Sonic Academy launched a competition in conjunction with Agnelli & Nelson, giving you lot the chance to remix their single, Gravity.

The eventual winner was Stuart Braybrooke and so, like every good reality show, we give you the Winner's Story (feel free to insert your own Snow Patrol track in the background)...

Stuart began DJing in the early 90s. Starting out with one belt drive turntable, he would scratch any record he could get his hands on, while learning to mix on a set of CD decks with a basic mixer. His first gigs were in 1997 and since then, he has gone on to DJ at Ministry, Pacha and with Fatboy Slim. Pretty impressive, right?

About five years ago, he turned his attention to production and now spends his time entering (and obviously winning!) competition in order to expand his knowledge.

His winning track was chosen because of its unique focus on the vocals.

Chris Agnelli said 'We chose Stuart's entry as it had an interesting take on the vocals. He kept the essence of the song but gave it a new House twist.'

Stuart commented on his track, saying 'My approach was to listen to the vocal on its own to see what the lyrics were about - what did they mean to me and what do I think the artist was trying to achieve?'

As his prize, Stuart got to spend the day in the Sonic Academy studios working one-to-one with Chris on his winning track.

'It was my choice to revisit my Gravity mix, I wanted to mix it down properly and get it sounding club-ready. Chris helped me take it from a decent little track into a really solid sounding production. He was offering me advice and asking my opinion the whole time, while I was soaking up information.'

'We also talked about music generally - hearing stories of dance production back in the day was really interesting. If like me you have only been into production for the last five years, you don't know how easy we have it now!'

'Chris is a firm believer that if it sounds right then it probably is right. Spending a day with someone who thinks this way really removed the restrictions that I had put on myself through reading books and forums.'

So, after getting the chance to get some advice from a seasoned pro, what is the next step for Stuart?

'Well, I decided that this year I would actively look for remix competitions, as I like having something to keep my focus. Also, in a remix contest, labels and producers have to listen to your work!'

'I'd like to say a big thanks to everyone at Sonic Academy. It was great to meet the faces behind the voices of the tutorials.'

'The time I was there was so valuable to me. The people that work there don't just make tutorials and such, they live what they do and I feel honoured to have been part of that - even just for a day.'

You can listen to Stuart's winning remix of 'Gravity.' the before and the after versions here :

The winning track

The post-Sonic winning track