Things like SAE, Point Blank etc

Are any of them actually any good based on experience / mates ?

Interested in doing an ableton course in a weekend.

nope

___________________
"This is why Superman works alone." GC
old stuff from days gone by (2001-2004)
Mad For Brad's gay little contest

There is very little they'll be able to teach you that youtube can't do for free and at your own pace.

If you get stuck you can ask a question on probably hundreds of message boards/forums and get replies/advice.

You'll lack that human interaction thing I guess, but then again based on what I've seen on other DJ type courses you sit through a tedious lecture whilst some clueless tosser poorly explains how to do the most basic of things. They'll be dozens of people there most of them no hopers and it would just be annoying.

Disclaimer:

I have never been on one of these courses so they may actually rock. But I have seen a few videos of them and they look like the suck hard ass.

___________________
Nothing lasts, nothing lasts, everything is changing into something else. Nothing is wrong, nothing is wrong, everything is on track...

You know, William Blake said... uh, nothing is lost. Nothing is lost and I... I really believe that, we only move on...

If you're going to study something make it audio engineering and learn the bread and butter basics. EQ, routing, recording, compression etc etc.

Everything else is garnish or creativity which really can't be taught imo.

___________________
Soundcloud

I've been using Sonic Academy online for a while. I'm in the US, but according to their site, they are a real school in Newtownards. I dunno how far that is from London. Sonic Academy is really good. They specialize in all formats of dance music and in Ableton & Logic.

Sonic Academy
1 Green Gables Manor
Newtownards
Co.Down
BT23 7NT

http://www.sonicacademy.com/Contact+Us/
http://www.sonicacademy.com/Blog//S..._Report.cid2809

That's about 500 miles and a plane/boat journey

___________________
Soundcloud

i would say actual recording and mic techniques would re the best use of those types of places. Still the only programs I would recommend are the tonemeister programs which usually are master degrees and require a music degree.

___________________
"This is why Superman works alone." GC
old stuff from days gone by (2001-2004)
Mad For Brad's gay little contest

quote:

Originally posted by Lunar Phase 7 There is very little they'll be able to teach you that youtube can't do for free and at your own pace. If you get stuck you can ask a question on probably hundreds of message boards/forums and get replies/advice.

This.

___________________
SoundCloud

I actually went to point blank many moons ago, and did the electronic Music production course (I'd finished audio engineering school in canada which was incredible but it was real old school in terms of engineering and felt the place that I lacked in knowledge was electronic production techniques).

Point blank was actually good, but a lot of it has to do with what teacher you have...we were pissed sometimes because our teacher, while knowledgeable used to spend of a lot of time regailing us with anecdotal stories of drug filled studio sessions, while funny they didn't really expand our knowledge. In fairness at other times he taught us some great stuff and I was happy but some people asked for a partial refund at the end of the course.

Personally, I would do one on one electronic music production training with my good friend Alex:

http://16steps.co.uk/maincontent.html

He's in Sarf Lahndon and had many major releases across a number of Genre's and as his full time job he's actually a music teacher at a good private school so he's got it all, not to mention a very nice studio to teach you in, unless you want to just do the online version.

Tell him Tom (in LA) sent you and he'll look after you

try to get into the red bull music academy.

I've done three of the PointBlank online courses and found them to be great. I've looked at several before that, and these were the only ones gearded toward EDM. It's true that the teacher playa a part in what you get from it, but the course material stays the same and therefore all the online tutorials are the same. The teacher only has one Q&A session a week where you can have a discussion, so it's not the be all and end all.

Have fun and good luck!

___________________
www.cammaxwell.com/ Facebook Group/ Fan Page

cheers guys