forum views on production courses

[louissmusic]

i swear whenever anyone says there gonna study like audio engenring or production at college everyone gets up in arms nds like just watch sub focus's computer music video? whatrts up with that?

 

[Sweaty Teddy]

I studied music technology at college and it did teach me quite a bit alot about production but if you're only doing it to get better at producing drum and bass it isn't that useful because they make you record loads of bands rather then teach you loads about synthesis. Guess it depends on the college though.

 

[Lucidproduction]

i think the truth is that if you really want to progress your production you take it into your own time, your never gonna have a chance to progress your drum and bass while your at college. But if you want music to be your life, then its definatly the right thing to do, because your gonna learn how a whole load of stuff works and not just producing.

Progressing your own productions is something you do at home i believe. Or wherever you have free time to produce dnb.

 

[Subsonicdeejay1]

College will teach you how to use the software in a textbook fashion which doesn't strictly apply to DnB.

I good friend who releases tunes on one of the biggest labels in the scene played one of his tunes to a music college tutor... The tutor was impressed by what he heard - but on opening up the arrange he criticized the methods in which he made it by saying that some of the methods he used were not the way he should be doing things!

That's bollocks. DnB has it's own set of rules over and above standard production which they don't teach in college.

Having said that it's not s bad thing learning your sequencer inside out if you have the time to go to college.

 

[TongueFlap]

College will teach you how to use the software in a textbook fashion which doesn't strictly apply to DnB.

I good friend who releases tunes on one of the biggest labels in the scene played one of his tunes to a music college tutor... The tutor was impressed by what he heard - but on opening up the arrange he criticized the methods in which he made it by saying that some of the methods he used were not the way he should be doing things!

That's bollocks. DnB has it's own set of rules over and above standard production which they don't teach in college.

Having said that it's not s bad thing learning your sequencer inside out if you have the time to go to college.

most of the peeps at the college i went to were into dnb, most of the lectures produced it as well. It dusnt rele have its own set of rules as such, in the long run its still using synthesis and normal methods of making music. but yeh, tbh i thought my course was a waste of time. i did learn alot, but youtube helped me more

 

[richie_stix]

it has it's own rules when it comes to where to place sounds in the mix to a certain degree... ie in most dance musics the kick is the lowest instrument and bass sits above it, where as in dnb it sits below the kick!

also, the drums in general have far much more going on that other musics, but the skill is making it sound like that is not the case (ie getting 10 layers of percussion to sound more like 3 or 4?) if ya get my drift

 

[Subsonicdeejay1]

most of the peeps at the college i went to were into dnb, most of the lectures produced it as well. It dusnt rele have its own set of rules as such, in the long run its still using synthesis and normal methods of making music. but yeh, tbh i thought my course was a waste of time. i did learn alot, but youtube helped me more

I didn't mean literally mean it has another set of rules written fella...

1 example - pushing sounds in the red would never be allowed at college. Its not a rule of thumb but a lot of DnB producers allow their signals in the red to achieve their sound. Distorted Minds & Break are two that do this.

Thats just one example of me saying it has its own set of rules that run

 

[motion audio]

Depends on the college/course, how you learn best, how much you already know, what sort of thing you want to do etc etc. I chose not to go and do Music Tech when I left school, because I didnt want to be spending all my time going over stuff I'd already done/could learn on my own (plus at the time more education didnt sound nice!)

When I left school I was already doing bits with music (putting on my own nights, sound engineering, bit of recording etc) so I decided to get straight into work and earn money to put towards what I want to do instead.

Some courses are well worth it, but like other have said, if your purely wanting to produce DnB, then doing 2 years of live recording techniques won't be a huge help, its good, but if its not what you want to do then you might be better off just learning yourself.

Ive decided now that I'm going to start working through the Digidesign training courses when I get a chance, theyre day/week type courses so I can still carry on what I'm doing but work towards being a certified Pro Tools operator in my spare time, but thats because my main interest is recording and mixing down for live music (although I'm getting more and more into the dnb aswel!)

So yea it all depends on what you want to do, to many people pick a course without looking into what it involves.

 

[MrWoggles]

I'd say it is useful but not neccessary depending on how far along you are.

I was given deferred entry to do Sound Production but I couldn't be bothered waiting a year and honestly, now i'm glad I didn't get in the first year. If you look at like Myspace profiles and the curriculum of a lot of these courses you will see that it really isn't what you want to do. Also some of the productions of people who have been studying it for 4 years in Uni are cringe-worthy.

Anyway. I'm with everyone else, if you just want to produce EDM then I wouldn't really bother unless you feel you really want to do it. It's not a bad decision but there are simple courses you can turn to.

Look towards your local community centres and such, they can provide free courses and such on production and DJing etc, very well worth looking into and will help you infinitely more.

Good luck.

 

[msmith222]

i agree with most everything said, as i took a few recording classes and learned basically nothing to help me with dnb.

however, i am surprised no one has suggested this: get some video tutorials on your specific software. for example, if you use logic, i can be a big help to know it in and out. you will probably learn a bunch of small shortcuts to things you already know, etc...

this would be more focused toward your specific situation, and wayyyyy cheaper than school.

 

[Neural Tech]

it has it's own rules when it comes to where to place sounds in the mix to a certain degree... A. ie in most dance musics the kick is the lowest instrument and bass sits above it, where as in dnb it sits below the kick!

B. also, the drums in general have far much more going on that other musics, but the skill is making it sound like that is not the case (ie getting 10 layers of percussion to sound more like 3 or 4?) if ya get my drift

A. I'm sorry... what? There are zero rules in music... period.
B. Again.. what? One could say the same for any genre of Dance Music.


I still to this day haven't heard 'ANY'one in "dnb or jungle" go into the same amount of depth when it comes to layering sounds in general as SOTEG has in Nuskool Breakbeat... doesn't mean I think that kind of layering is "limited to a specific genre".


Music is about thinking outside of the box... and considering that taking a "proper course" is part of the journey, I think it's obvious to assume that education in the right setting is helpful for any style of music. Is it going to help someone make top notch Dance tunes...?... perhaps... perhaps not... but it sure can't hurt.

 

[MrWoggles]

A. I'm sorry... what? There are zero rules in music... period.
B. Again.. what? One could say the same for any genre of Dance Music.


I still to this day haven't heard 'ANY'one in "dnb or jungle" go into the same amount of depth when it comes to layering sounds in general as SOTEG has in Nuskool Breakbeat... doesn't mean I think that kind of layering is "limited to a specific genre".


Music is about thinking outside of the box... and considering that taking a "proper course" is part of the journey, I think it's obvious to assume that education in the right setting is helpful for any style of music. Is it going to help someone make top notch Dance tunes...?... perhaps... perhaps not... but it sure can't hurt.

I'm sorry but what is an incredibly douchey post.

Richie is just pointing out general concepts and you lay that on him?

Also how do other genres of music have more drums than dnb with possibly the exception of breakcore?

 

[richie_stix]

I'm sorry but what is an incredibly douchey post.

Richie is just pointing out general concepts and you lay that on him?

Also how do other genres of music have more drums than dnb with possibly the exception of breakcore?

i nearly came back in full keyboard commando mode after reading that pointless post bought thought better of it!

i know what i meant, as i'm sure most producers on here would, and i'm just goin to leave it at that!

 

[Neural Tech]

Richie is just pointing out general concepts and you lay that on him?

Also how do other genres of music have more drums than dnb with possibly the exception of breakcore?

Really?

ie in most dance musics the kick is the lowest instrument and bass sits above it, where as in dnb it sits below the kick!

also, the drums in general have far much more going on that other musics

Those seem pretty specific to me ^.

Lol, you're telling me my post was "douchey" yet you're making an elitest comment about dnb having "more drums" than other genres of music.


I simply responded to the mans comments and gave my opinion (which happened to be different)... you two don't have to necessarily like it, but with the same token, you don't have to take it like I assualted y'all.



I thought it was interesting and comical to hear someone say that they thought DnB in general has more going on when it comes to drums compared to other music. My opinion is different and I shared that.

If you've a different opinion and feel my opinion is laughable, by all means state it as such, but don't come in here and cry, "awwww, you don't agree with me, what a cunt"... because that's just plain immature.

 

[Zeal]

doing course helps a lot of course it does

Anything new you can learn is a step in the right direction

I done an a level music tech and learned alot about sound, how to layer thigns up, eq, compression etc

was handy

 

[TongueFlap]

I didn't mean literally mean it has another set of rules written fella...

1 example - pushing sounds in the red would never be allowed at college. Its not a rule of thumb but a lot of DnB producers allow their signals in the red to achieve their sound. Distorted Minds & Break are two that do this.

Thats just one example of me saying it has its own set of rules that run

yeh man, i read & replied to ur comment when i wasnt very awake! my bad!

 

[Dj Methodist]

I havent myself done a course but have thought about it plenty of times.

Instead i trained to be an electrician and squeezed in learning about production, and still do more and more by reading computer music,music tech etc and coming places like this and youtube.

It definitely would be beneficial doing a course i reckon but dont have the time,money etc to do so. My knowledge admittedly is prob isnt as vast as many people on here that have done courses, but think it wise to share views,thoughts and advice as, i might know something they dont from reading up form different sources.

In conclusion, it be a course would be very helpful to do a course for sure, but there is other ways around it..

 

[muzzadj]

Been doing one for 2 weeks now.. Helping a shit load! Basically just get on with it myself but when i get stuck or find something i want to know i will just ask.

 

[BassLion]

im doing a cubase production course, every wednesday from 6pm to 9pm. and it dont even interfere with my electrical course =D. cant fucking wait. starts today.

 

[dj_bmc]

Well, this recession hit, i was labouring but the work was so on off i basically was working part time. I thought fuck it i can work part time and study for a qualification at the same time. So that's what i decided, tomorrow is my first day on the HND in music tech, god willing i'll finish it and be qualified enough to take the one year degree top up course.

Now i don't give a fuck if ppl think i can learn more from a mag or youtube, it's more than that, i'm learning the ins and outs of REAL recording studios, i'm learning the maths behind acoustics, music theory and most importantly i'm networking, i've already met two other djs, and one of the first things we discussed was playing out together somewhere. On top of that the govt. have given a fairly large lump of money that i'm gonna spend on vastly improving my set up.

And whoever it was that had their use of their sequencer criticised, maybe if you listened to the criticism instead of dismissing it your arrangements might have improved. Music is music, it's not like DNB operates above the rules of production.