mnml
I’m all for keeping the mystique, but I’m also a keen advocate of selective knowledge sharing so it comes as no surprise that a handful of members of the community might have some resistance to someone like myself developing a course in ‘their’ genre. Home to some of the most closely guarded technical secrets, this pure and stripped down style has been one of the more successful underground club music genres in recent years. It has endured and grown, representing in its most credible state one of the more ‘intelligent’ forms of contemporary music. Many are fanatical, passionate, obsessive, pedantic et al – and rightly so… If someone from the country and western scene set out to make an online course in Broken Beat I’d be the first to question it.
Not everybody has the experience to forge their own sound; if people were able to do so they would – plain and simple. Innovators exist because they have it within them and they’ve reached the right point in their educational journey (whether self taught or not) to be able to express their creative thoughts through the machine/s. Some people hate ‘secrets’ being given away – it scares them. I’m often asked by other producers not to let out some of the information I know/have worked out/discovered/reverse engineered and it surprises me, surely the spreading of knowledge can only serve to create new innovators? Fresh blood?
A course such as the four week Minimal/Tech course I have developed at Point Blank is designed to start relatively easy and grow in complexity each week. There is something in there for everyone and the fact that I had two students on the first run through who are already established artists, releasing material on Beatport etc who enjoyed the course proves that. The bottom line? you never stop learning.
Shared experience can help increase the learning. I create video feedback of each student’s assignment – a screen recording with mouse movements, parameter changes etc all visible as well as informal vocal feedback recorded in via a microphone. I ask all students to be open to the idea of letting others watch their video too – then the experience is shared.
The old saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ seems very apt here so I’ll leave you with some links to students who have taken the course – enjoy the music.
Here’s an example video from one of the lessons:
Well said Danny. if a scene becomes too protective and insular then it risks stagnation as outside influences which may not fit in with the current trends are ignored rather than embraced.