Hi. I'm looking to do Pointblank London's MIXING & MASTERING AWARD Course, costing £3,495 - Yes I Know!

Has anyone done this course or going to do it?

What are the job prospect in this field?

I mostly produce, but looking to expand my skills and looking to get a foot in by doing a credible course. What are your thoughts and answers?

Thanks

 

I think you can get all of what you need to know about engineering music through the internet. but maybe i'm wrong. I do think having a one on one connection with an avid musician, engineer, or producer, ect. can be a great way to help you learn the ropes of music. I.e someone who has succeeded in music/ audio business.

 

Seems to me u pretty much have to be exceptional in your field to even think about making any money in the biz these days..

everyones a producer, mixer, engineer

If its me.. I go to school for Air Conditioning in Florida.. or Heating tech in Canada.

 

I can almost guarantee this will not meet your expectations based on your question.

 

Not worth it in my opinion.

All the information you need is readily available online for free or relatively cheap. If you've got the time and money, go for. A structured course will save you time as opposed to browsing the internet for the same information.

The biggest advantage to any of these courses is that it provides an opportunity to network with musicians and engineers which can potentially lead to a job. Nowadays, with so many people producing, mixing, and mastering, you either need to be exceptional as @One Reason said or you can be lucky, meet the right people to give you a job. The demand producers and engineers is almost nonexistent and no degree / award course will change that.

Let us know what you decide to do. Good luck.

 

My point of view about almost all "pro" giving courses and advices :
Picks and shovels

 

in my day when i was starting out computers and music was in its infantry.
so you really needed to get hands on with hardware and that cost.
so the ideal solution was to go on a course and abuse the use of there equipment to learn on.

but in this day and age if you got a computer and a daw your set to go and there is little to be gained in advantages in using hardware to learn.
plus most of these academic courses have you learning on software and competing for studio time is a nightmare.

point blank is a good place and if your really set to go then its not a bad pick.

but you can learn your self

the main disadvantage that most people learning have is that they don't have good monitor speakers or a properly set up room to use them in.
acoustic treatment done properly is costly to do and if you don't have your own place may be impossible to do.

so if i was starting out in this day and age and had that budget id go with teaching myself and buy
Audeze LCD-3 £1,599.00
SubPac S2 £298.98
then a good headphone amp and a good audio interface.

then you have a solid reference to work on without the hassle of acoustic treatment and you don't have to annoy anyone while working.
along with some change left

just make sure you don't spend your whole time in your room and get out and about and meet people.

 

AudioPiggy... good advice... but it's infancy not infantry..

Sorry, had to.

 

Maybe hes talking about when computers joined the infantry in the wars between humans and machines.

 

no probs im dyslexic so if it has no red line under it i think its right

 

If you have this amount of money to spare, I'd say the money and buy a very expensive Mac/PC with a UAD card and a bunch of UAD plugins.

You can find all you need online + books

 

i only just got skynet recently for music production :-P

 

Spend it on drugs and hookers...

you will have more fun and will have just as much as a chance of working in the music industry as you would by blowing 4 grand on a course...

yep

 

£3.500 jesuschrist on a bicycle

you said you mainly produce ? you are not mixing on the way? mastering WAS a secret art. not anymore with the tools today and help online.

i did a very boring 6 month digital-audio course few years ago. waste of time and money. i knew much more than the tutor BEFORE we even started.

-----

you will learn about : microphone placements . that protools is the industry standard(bollox) . fancy preamps and mikes. file formats. compression/eq tricks. tape and analog consoles/emus. mixing 100% in the box.
the business side of self-promotion. communication/cv techniques. you will meet rich students there with zero knowledge.
-----
so yeah, if you have £3.500 to spare, do it, you will gain heaps of knowledge. personally i'd spend it ona smashing PC, maybe presonus studiolive mixer and a korg krome

 

Thanks for your contributions all. Not like I have tons of money. My last shitty job paid me £450 and It was a case of go hard or go broke. Did a quick business on ebay, never did business in my life, except few scams (joke ), within 6 weeks I had just over £6K. Anyway, regarding the course, I think i'll go with buying a better PC instead, maybe one of inta-audio's PC (http://www.inta-audio.com/computer-music-c36/music-pcs-c37/i7-evo-ultimate-music-pc-p6520). What do you think of this system?

 

Best free online education starts right here:
http://audiosex.pro/index.php?/forum/64-audiosex-academy/

 

funny that you refer to HVAC school, because I work in that trade and the guys who come out our local $2k dollar school don't know which end of the screw driver to hold. I have yet to see one who learned something relevant.
that being said.. many employers today want to see job experience or school accreditation


@Beatologist, I wish I had a referral for pointblank school, I don't. but our local media arts school specs howard is top rate. I would spend my money there instead of the HVAC school lol

good luck