Virtual Decadence « Good value for money »
Published on 12/06/10 at 03:37
Best value:
Poor
Like many here, it's been a while I use tools for home studio (DAW, equipment) and I try to record and mix my music always with the "home-studio touch" which sounds very amateur. My passion required to go a little further (especially considering the money that I burnt in gear and software).
Having neither the time nor necessarily the budget for training, I made the rounds of online training. All are worth a lot. Audio Masterclass is that of the least expensive and may indeed seem cheap at first glance. Although director David Mellor is someone well known for his teaching in England (through his articles in Sound On Sound).
I did not want a fake CD-ROM full of videos, audio examples and text but a real training with a check on my progress. So I thanks to a promo, took the option "with assessment (evaluation) at the price of one without the option (229 €).
The principle is a series of 12 modules of one week each at the end with practical work submitted online for evaluation by the teaching team.
In practice, I never managed to make a module in a week and some practical work asked me to come back several times. But access to the course is valid for two years so I'm going at my own pace and do not in fact done everything in order (some require equipment that is not necessarily on hand as two microphones to record paired stereo).
Scores are sent quickly but are nevertheless very accurate and really help to advance. It is also possible to send a copy if you are not satisfied. I do not recommend to experiment with the online course without this. It serves no purpose, there are too many things which are matters of subjective and where you have an outside opinion.
Resources texts, audio and videos are of course very useful but that's all, see as a hobby is not as effective as putting them into practice. It gives very good basic (and especially in other resources by understanding where you want to go).
Topics covered range from mastering the placement of microphones through the use of processing tools (preamp, EQ, compressor, effects) and even synthesis and sampling. Of course one can certainly not compare to a long cycle in a reputable school (and pricey) and you can feel when you know a bit about the (theoretically) nothing is treated in depth. But it gives a basis which significantly improve the life of the average amateur home studio. After we all know that nothing replaces the experience and that nothing can replace someone whose job it is. But the effort is worth it (cost!) And uncompromising evaluations with an opportunity to correct the shot is making rapid progress.
Especially since it has notes on the assessments with examples of what is good and what to avoid. This is the first time I see a teaching material which is so insistent on errors.
And there are a multitude of additional videos to learn how to listen (to distinguish microphones, preamps, compressors, EQ, mixs on the same audio). After all the listening is the sinews of war.
Besides, the course does not offer a "magic method" but rather to explore the tracks and examples but do not impose it as the ultimate result to be copied. They are biased to the artistic dimension and therefore subjective.
It even seems that we may send their own mixes ... I have not tested yet.
I have not yet completed the cycle but I'm already much more demanding with my work on my models and I already understand much better the impact of my choices.
WARNING: Everything is in English ... and everything is very "British"
I put 8 because I have not finished but I am completely satisfied with the progress made so far (I'm half).
Having neither the time nor necessarily the budget for training, I made the rounds of online training. All are worth a lot. Audio Masterclass is that of the least expensive and may indeed seem cheap at first glance. Although director David Mellor is someone well known for his teaching in England (through his articles in Sound On Sound).
I did not want a fake CD-ROM full of videos, audio examples and text but a real training with a check on my progress. So I thanks to a promo, took the option "with assessment (evaluation) at the price of one without the option (229 €).
The principle is a series of 12 modules of one week each at the end with practical work submitted online for evaluation by the teaching team.
In practice, I never managed to make a module in a week and some practical work asked me to come back several times. But access to the course is valid for two years so I'm going at my own pace and do not in fact done everything in order (some require equipment that is not necessarily on hand as two microphones to record paired stereo).
Scores are sent quickly but are nevertheless very accurate and really help to advance. It is also possible to send a copy if you are not satisfied. I do not recommend to experiment with the online course without this. It serves no purpose, there are too many things which are matters of subjective and where you have an outside opinion.
Resources texts, audio and videos are of course very useful but that's all, see as a hobby is not as effective as putting them into practice. It gives very good basic (and especially in other resources by understanding where you want to go).
Topics covered range from mastering the placement of microphones through the use of processing tools (preamp, EQ, compressor, effects) and even synthesis and sampling. Of course one can certainly not compare to a long cycle in a reputable school (and pricey) and you can feel when you know a bit about the (theoretically) nothing is treated in depth. But it gives a basis which significantly improve the life of the average amateur home studio. After we all know that nothing replaces the experience and that nothing can replace someone whose job it is. But the effort is worth it (cost!) And uncompromising evaluations with an opportunity to correct the shot is making rapid progress.
Especially since it has notes on the assessments with examples of what is good and what to avoid. This is the first time I see a teaching material which is so insistent on errors.
And there are a multitude of additional videos to learn how to listen (to distinguish microphones, preamps, compressors, EQ, mixs on the same audio). After all the listening is the sinews of war.
Besides, the course does not offer a "magic method" but rather to explore the tracks and examples but do not impose it as the ultimate result to be copied. They are biased to the artistic dimension and therefore subjective.
It even seems that we may send their own mixes ... I have not tested yet.
I have not yet completed the cycle but I'm already much more demanding with my work on my models and I already understand much better the impact of my choices.
WARNING: Everything is in English ... and everything is very "British"
I put 8 because I have not finished but I am completely satisfied with the progress made so far (I'm half).