The snag with anything that goes further than an intermediate level is that remote doesn’t work. Those Alan Parsons courses are a good example. You benefit from his words of wisdom, up to the point when he has to assume you understand what he hears, and comments on. From that point, you need to hear what he hears. The point where he stops a fader mover or knob turn has to match what you hear, or you fall into the trap of setting the magic 6.5 on the knob, because at that point it’s perfect …… on his system. If he were sitting next to you it might be 5, or 9! Some subjects can be studied remotely up to Doctorate level. Other subjects are reactive, like ours. Today’s Mastering is a very different thing to years ago. The test will always be when it says adjust to taste. Online is great for training you on where features are, or revealing ones you don’t know well enough. They’re great to deliver tip, tricks and procedures. I think it’s like a cooking course. A friend of mine does online courses for already good chefs. The one thing he has no idea about is what each chefs final product tastes like, only what it looks like.
In my view, once you are comfy with the software, the only thing left to generate is experience. If you cannot hear what a process does, you cannot use it properly. For years I could not hear compression. What I was listening for was totally wrong. One day a friend sitting with me used it on my system in context, and the lights suddenly went on. I grabbed the knob and got it! You cannot get it remotely. Even with one to one on line, your mentor cannot hear what you hear so learning breaks down.
