I just wanted to start the story off with a disclaimer. This isn’t an advertorial. No money was paid for this article.
At the start of the year, I was feeling optimistic about life and keen to get active after the pandemic societal pause. To kick me into gear I started to binge read a bunch of self-help books with the view of answering a question, I didn’t know yet.
Across all the books I read, the most poignant line I couldn’t get out of my head was “Be a student for life. Keep learning until you die”. Too many moments had been filled with the endless scroll of social media. It was time to suppress the technological battle and answer the newfound question of, ‘What will I learn now?’.
I’ve always had a strong desire to dive deeper into music production, however have been scarred from a past experience at a large international audio school. Things might be different now, but the course back then was out of date and uninspiring to the point it put me off music production altogether.
Now, ten years on and many conversations later, I was ready to have another crack. I’d heard a lot about Liveschool. It’s a small internationally accessible music production school based in Sydney that specialises in teaching Ableton (For those playing at home, Ableton is a digital audio workstation software that most music producers use).
After completing the 8-week Remix & Create course, I’ve learnt an endless amount about sound design (making my own sounds), remixing (techniques to recreate and edit songs), music theory (chords and keys), mixing (how to make all the sounds fit into a song), rhythm and groove (making drum patterns and tricks of the trade), automation (the movement of an effect across the timeline of a song) and how to do it in an efficient manner on Ableton. The way the information is taught to you over the weeks is fantastic. It’s like a cumulative effect, where you will learn one thing and be able to apply it to the next thing you learn.
Here’s the thing, you won’t get a ‘Certificate IV’ or a ‘Bachelor’s Degree’ or something that will tick a box for the government or mum and dad. But what you will get is, proven and innovative production techniques taught by artists and teachers who are living and breathing in the world of music and actually give a fuck.
So if you’ve been thinking about learning music production, I’m about to make your life a lot easier… Don’t bother with the big educational institutions who have an obligation to tick boxes to ensure you get a certificate on the wall (did I mention my big HECs debt from this?). Seriously. just go to Liveschool and thank me later.