Braintree teen Ben Wood wins global remix contest

Ben Wood entered a worldwide remix contest after two of his tracks were picked up by a Dutch record label – Soave Records.

His remix made it through to the final four and it was down to a public vote to decide the winner.

After the votes were counted and 18-year-old Ben was declared the winner, the former Colchester student said: “I’m over the moon to have won.

"There’s always a bit of doubt with things like this, and the people I was up against were quite well established.”

Talented - Ben Wood, 18, who is a music producer and DJ from Braintree (Image: Ben Wood)

He extended a massive thank you to everyone who voted for him, adding: “They’ve all helped make my dreams come true.”

The remix will now be signed by one of Soave Records’ sub-labels.

The Braintree teenager has had a busy summer after finishing a music production course at Colchester Institute.

He decided against going to university after finishing the course while he focuses on his music career.

But it’s not been a case of all work and no play, as Ben recently returned from Creamfields Festival where he got to see his idol Martin Garrix play a DJ set for the first time.

“It was insane and definitely the best gig I’ve ever been to,” he said.

He hopes to continue his partnership with the record label with more releases in the pipeline.

The ambitious DJ’s interest in music was sparked as a youngster after seeing Dutch producer Martin Garrix performing on MTV.

He began teaching himself soon after but suffered a setback in secondary school after being told he couldn’t study music at GCSE level because not enough of his peers wanted to take up the subject.

Ben previously said: “My dream is to be able to travel the world, playing music, and doing what I love on all the major stages.

“I’d love to play Ibiza, Creamfields, Tomorrowland in Belgium, Miami – all those big places and just be able to do what I love doing.”