Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

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jordanneke
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Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by jordanneke »

Here is a particularly cringeworthy example.

Apart from the tech-house, what are people's thoughts?

Are they just utter shite, or do they offer skills to newbies? I mean in the old days, people learned skills by sitting in with engineers or sitting in studios. Is this similar?


youtu.be/i4S7SXGv80A

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Hexonics
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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by Hexonics »

I did the Rick Snowman one on Dance Music Production, and found it really good. It's aimed towards Drum Code style Techno which i'm a bit meh about, but a lot of the theory stuff and how it applies to Techno overall i found really useful, and the technique side of things was pretty deep (from a newbie perspective anyway).

Like you said it was kind of like sitting in with an engineer explaining everything to you in detail, but with the added benefit of being able re watch it as many times as i like. It would never be as good as going and sitting in with an engineer in a proper studio, but i'm unlikely to have that kind of opportunity, so this was the next best thing.

Edit - That Tech House tutorial looks awful though :lol:

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by Planar »

No harm as long as you're watching it for the broad stroke techniques and not just to copy it. It's no different to any other youtube video, but I guess you can trust the source (assuming this guy is a reputable producer, I have no idea who he is) instead f it being some random kid in his bedroom advising to stick the sausage fattener over everything.

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by Will Frances »

I think they really help people as everyone now has access to the net, where as before it was difficult to find out any info unless you knew someone andor has deep pockets. I think of them as entry lever or slight-insight tutorials as you can't beat true experience and experimentation, helping you get proficient and skilled. However they are everywhere now and all mostly similar, maybe people are doing them more and more just to generate an additional quick income stream and creating yet another saturated market place

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by Den Bosch »

Watched half of the Rick Snowman course after reading his book. The videos about percussion are pretty good, he talks about polyrhythms, syncopation etc. which I had no idea about at the time. It's the only decent course I've come across though. Most of it's just brits making tech house with their own sample packs and creating standard stabs/pads in sylenth/massive. Seriously though, what is it with British people and techno production courses... Snoman, Producertech, Point Blank, Sonic Academy, Spektre, Born to Produce, ADSR...

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by collide »

The Rick Snowman course is really good for what it does. I've seen it too.

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by Revaron »

I watched some of a preview for the Mark EG one that was being advertised recently. It looked quite good. His delivery was decent and he was getting straight to the point - fucking pounders! What he was doing in the demo bit wasn't hugely interesting to me, but the vibes were good, seemed to me like there would be lots of useful stuff. I didn't go for it, but might be tempted at some later point, it definitely got my attention. I can understand why these things are done on the internet, but I'd be far more interested in actually being in the studio, able to ask questions and stuff. Only thing I've ever seen like this was a weeklong workshop Mike Huckaby was doing in Spain, it was something like £700-£800, but all week in a studio and limited to 10 spots or something like that. I didn't have the money but if I did I probably would have gone for it.

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by Dattington »

The Dance Music Production courses are amazing; i've learned so much from the ones that i've got which has included the techno and tech house ones (also reverb and a number of others).

Without doubt the best investment I've made music wise - 100000% recommend.
Previews and clips are in the playlist below:

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by Hexonics »

Dattington wrote:The Dance Music Production courses are amazing; i've learned so much from the ones that i've got which has included the techno and tech house ones (also reverb and a number of others).

Without doubt the best investment I've made music wise - 100000% recommend.
Yeah i'm really happy with the Snoman ones; for the money they cost there's really alot of content and knowledge. He does empashise a lot the importance of building on the skills in the tutorials with practical experimentation, and the importance of finding your own sound and pushing things forward rather than just copying the techniques.

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by rktic »

I find the idea of taking a course for underground music production as weird as watching Bob Ross for learning to paint. Especially with all the knowledge available on the internet.

What was your motivation and intention to hop on these? Which exclusive value did they present those of you who took some that you weren't able to get your hands on with a bit of searching?

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by Hexonics »

rktic wrote:I find the idea of taking a course for underground music production as weird as watching Bob Ross for learning to paint. Especially with all the knowledge available on the internet.

What was your motivation and intention to hop on these? Which exclusive value did they present those of you who took some that you weren't able to get your hands on with a bit of searching?
Certainly with the Snoman ones, things like : Subliminal modulation, Multi measure patterning, Rythmical cells, micro-tuning, syntatic ambiguity; were all concepts i'd not come across before. I definitely took more from these kind of thoeretical ideas, than here's how to create this kind of bass noise you've heard on other records

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by gedda »

ADSR has an Echoplex tutorial I think is pretty good. You get a 14 day free trial so it might be worth it.

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by Dattington »

rktic wrote:I find the idea of taking a course for underground music production as weird as watching Bob Ross for learning to paint. Especially with all the knowledge available on the internet.

What was your motivation and intention to hop on these? Which exclusive value did they present those of you who took some that you weren't able to get your hands on with a bit of searching?
In terms of value, it's the amount of time saved and knowledge gained by a guy at the top of his game.

It's increased the production level of my tracks a lot faster than aimlessly twiddling/watching other tutorials, and also increased my theoretical knowledge of how and when to apply certain techniques, again reducing the time to get (closer to...) the results and level i want.
Previews and clips are in the playlist below:

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by Plyphon »

If i'm honest, I wish these were around when I started to noodle around. It took me far to long to work out a lot of the basics (if you don't know what something is called, you can't google for it!) and by the time I did a number of years later my knowledge had surpassed what 75% of these courses were offering so I didn't see the value in taking any.

But if you're doing that from the start, it's a great headstart into how to use a DAW, and how to bend tools creatively to make an aesthetic.

Though I guess on the flipside everything I have learnt is "self taught" in that I had to dig deep on various forums to find a two sentence post from 13 years ago that explains the concept enough to be able to Google it further. Which, jokes aside, is a great skill to have on it's own.

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by rktic »

So what those cover is actually the social aspect of learning? Haven't thought about it this way yet.

Hm.

Twitch. Hmhmhmhm.

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by Dattington »

Plyphon wrote:If i'm honest, I wish these were around when I started to noodle around. It took me far to long to work out a lot of the basics (if you don't know what something is called, you can't google for it!) and by the time I did a number of years later my knowledge had surpassed what 75% of these courses were offering so I didn't see the value in taking any.
Yeah, part of the value anyone gets form these comes down to current skill level. I'm by no means pro at all but I learned a shit load from the reverb ones, dimensional mixing one etc. Some stuff I knew, some stuff I thought I know and clearly didn't, other stuff I was fundamentally wrong about, and then some some stuff I just didn't know at all.
Previews and clips are in the playlist below:

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by Stace »

gedda wrote:ADSR has an Echoplex tutorial I think is pretty good. You get a 14 day free trial so it might be worth it.
Holy Shiz *gets all over that*

I get what Ronnie is saying but I also get not everyone has someone or a group of people who are awesome enough to offer their opinion and advice.
I mean, I owe a lot to the people who just kept on telling to me to make music when I first started and who were really positive and kind about the abominations I made :lol:

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by Hexonics »

StacieAnne wrote:I mean, I owe a lot to the people who just kept on telling to me to make music when I first started and who were really positive and kind about the abominations I made :lol:
Yeah i've got some great friends who've said really encouraging things about the absolute dirges i've been subjecting them to recently

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by Stace »

Hexonics wrote:
StacieAnne wrote:I mean, I owe a lot to the people who just kept on telling to me to make music when I first started and who were really positive and kind about the abominations I made :lol:
Yeah i've got some great friends who've said really encouraging things about the absolute dirges i've been subjecting them to recently
I mean, I think it is fair to say that every single one of us on this forum has been there.
None of us were born with the ability to just create music. Some people have been doing it longer than others and some are better than others.

I think every single struggle I have faced, at one point or anther the guys on here will have done and my favourite producers will have done. All part of the process and journey (and the fun!)

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Re: Thoughts on 'Techno' courses?

Post by Hexonics »

Oh yeah, i'm more than happy to keep on persevering, and enjoy the learning process.

I am amazed by some of the diplomatic encouragment my friends can come up with though :lol: bless 'em


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