Pro Tools Certification courses

[bigtoe]

hey heroics-

i've done the business sequence there...great stuff. the electrical engineering program at west was a little less than stellar - i took three classes. i found the drafting course undertaught and my technical math class's teacher didn't know what an ohm was. i got my money back for the latter. dc electronics was pretty good. our teacher was a guy from nasa. cool guy! the program on the whole though was no soldering...all books...which is not what i was looking for.

the recording program itself seems ok but nothing i'd spend money on. i know a couple smaller studio owners who were in it and liked it alright...i think it's good there's an option here in cleveland...when i wanted more hands on stuff i had to drive down to chiliocothe.

i work out of a lot of places in town here. the lava room is actually a pretty cool place and that billy guy is like a nice guy. he's been around forever. my clients are not of the 45-60 an hour type though...if i were 19 in cleveland i'd get an internship and a set up of my own.

MessianicDreams - thanks for the words! The digidealing seems kinda shady. I mean profit is good but yeah what the hell. It seems way out of line with the market. Education on other platforms is not that much.

Thanks again...
Mike

 

[heroics321]

i work out of a lot of places in town here. the lava room is actually a pretty cool place and that billy guy is like a nice guy. he's been around forever. my clients are not of the 45-60 an hour type though...if i were 19 in cleveland i'd get an internship and a set up of my own.

I've always liked Billy, and it certainly is a very nice facility, but for the money everything I've heard out of there left something to be desired. I've got a pretty decent client list and reputation going around here, I'm just looking for a simple space to move into. I've considered interning, it's hard to find time to do it with work and a touring band though. I'm considering getting into contact with Don at Anteup, he's a great guy and has done amazing work. I'm most likely just going to go for the business program, find a job, and maybe when I'm 25 I'll have a contact list and the financial backing to get a dinky apartment and a small project setup somewhere in the area. Ahhh, I'm such a dreamer.

edit: Recording Workshop I'm guessing? My guitarist opted for that, he liked it a lot.

 

[bigtoe]

i don't listen to the type of music that records at lava room so i dunno. i recorded a band who's bass player did record there and they brought me their cd. it sounded good to me. it's like 92.3 music. not my gig. i'm into punk rock, jazz and indie stuff. i give big hats off to anyone who opens a studio of that caliber in town. it's not easy to pay for an SSL on cleveland money.

don's not at ante up any more for the most part. he's out of metrosync which is a place you may want to send a resume to for assisting... weird you bring his name up...i just saw him last night at dr. z! don's the best in town in my opinion. the best. i worked out at 609 for a good stretch of time close to 10 years ago... did a workshop with don last year where he set up some basics tracks...he's a major talent in my book and a really nice guy. i interviewed him for tape op a long time ago too. it's in the book.

there are a few places i have worked out of for basics in town...strangelove and subtracked. both super nice people. look em up on myspace. i think the market is flooded with low cost recording places...i use them instead of compete with em!

drop a line if you ever wanna grab brew and spew recording...i'm in berea.
Later! Mike
PS - get a 4 year degree, sonny! do it now and get a job to fall back on once the career in the NBA is over...

 

[Blue Groove]

...

I am PT certified through Berklee CoM, be on the certified list can get you WORK. You can't meet everyone, but if someone looks up people to teach a protools class at a college they could find you. I have been contacted about twenty or more times in the past two years to be brought on as a teacher or hired as an engineer (like digidesign championed me)

At the same time it is expensive. If you can afford it, cool, if not buy the PT 101 book on amazon and go from there. Good luck!

 

[bigtoe]

I am PT certified through Berklee CoM, be on the certified list can get you WORK. You can't meet everyone, but if someone looks up people to teach a protools class at a college they could find you. I have been contacted about twenty or more times in the past two years to be brought on as a teacher or hired as an engineer (like digidesign championed me)

At the same time it is expensive. If you can afford it, cool, if not buy the PT 101 book on amazon and go from there. Good luck!

Thanks Blue Groove.

According to Tri-C the program is two 8 hour days. Not a semester long. They say this is market price, though couldn't point to a program that charges as much. I'm looking and see one for 1095 in Madison Wisconsin for three 8 hour days. Still pricey but 33% more time than what is offered at Tri-C. I guess they could be out there...i can't locate em from the protools links they have at Digi.com

Thanks again - if anyone has any more info, keep it coming for me. I spoke with the program department and the guy I spoke with wasn't too helpful, i guess he had one too many bad guitar session in his day. The dean should be a calling me back this afternoon.

Mike

 

[bennychico11]

According to Tri-C the program is two 8 hour days. Not a semester long. They say this is market price, though couldn't point to a program that charges as much.

That's BS. Way too much money for only two days. Think about sitting in one of your science classes for only two days and think about how much you might learn. Hardly anything. Hell, sit down with PT by yourself for 16 hours and you may go through a lot of stuff, but you won't become extremely proficient and will probably forget a lot of it after a few days because you haven't had the repetition.
Again, I'd be surprised how many people actually pass the tests after such little time. I thought Digi was a lot stricter than that and required a lot more hours of class and lab time. Sounds like someone is shaving the course time and keeping the extra money to me I guess it's always about the money instead of how much they teach you.

If you only had 16 hours of training on Pro Tools, I'd never hire you to run my system.
But then again, I'm looking at ProToolsTraining.com and they offer roughly the same thing (although don't mention their prices).
MAYBE, I could see the more advanced classes only lasting a week...but if you're just starting out with no prior knowledge to how PT works...

 

[bigtoe]

yeah bennie. i agree with everything you said.

if you want to make it a weekend class from brushing up or intro - cool. i could see paying 2-300 bucks for 2 8 hour days to kinda show me the ropes.

but calling this actual training?

i'm surprised Tri-C is even letting it fly academically. I think they may have been suckered into thinking this is how it is...because someone said..."this is how it is."

Thanks again for all yout input.

Mike

 

[bigtoe]

"But then again, I'm looking at ProToolsTraining.com and they offer roughly the same thing (although don't mention their prices)."

They are 1200 for 25 hours and they offer a lot of options and packages. Like, you can get the entire program for 5G. and you can get the 100/110 for 1599 which is 50 hours.

i spoke with a sales guy Michael Wynne. He was super cool. I'd actually look into doing that if i ever needed to. 5G for an entire program is reasonable.

Mike

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I can only relate this to what happens in other technical disciplines, especially those related somehow to computer engineering. There, it is not uncommon - in fact it is downright rampant - to find one-day or two-day courses for $700-$800 that really teach very little, if anything, in the way of any real in-depth or otherwise useful information. Most of them teach about as much as one can learn in as many days of on-the-job experience. What one is really paying for is a piece of paper they can add to their resume.

I'm not saying that is the case here with these specific PT courses; I don't know them. But I would not be suprised if such kind of "resume padding disguised as training courses" were not just as rampant for a product as hot and buzz-worded as Pro Tools.

G.

 

[Mindset]

my guess would be what whyjr said. two classes a week for 8 hours each...for an entire semester. When I took the classes I think they were 4 hour lecture classes 3 days a week, and then an extra 4 hour lab class 3 days a week. So that was about 24 hours a week for 4 weeks...that would be just one of the classes (101). Then of course I took the 110, 201 and 210M/P. But like I said these were lumped into the rest of my classes so I'd be learning PT and how to do post production audio at the same time. I can't think that a school would gouge the price too much...but tuition does seem to be getting steeper and steeper.



Exactly, this I think is the key reason. Some people come to the school just to take these classes and nothing else.



No, I am not. Just an avid PT user.
I think it's just like anything. Since Digi doesn't directly offer the courses at their headquarters, they probably charge the schools a certain fee and then the schools tack on a little percentage to help pay for the teacher, the lights, the equipment, etc.Also note that as student and one who is taking certification at the same time, you are eligible for discounts through Digi...so be sure to check into that if you take the classes. I got about 25% off Digi gear and still did for awhile after I graduated. Just a side note.

To be able to be a certified Pro Tools school, they gotta purchase 25 HD systems, and of course, the teachers have to be certified.... but the main thing I saw was that you gotta purchase 25 HD systems... that's rediculous... That's for DIGI to reconize the school. So DIGI doesn't pay for anything, they just get money, and it's up to the school to pull in enough money for the teachers, and every other bill

 

[bennychico11]

but the main thing I saw was that you gotta purchase 25 HD systems... that's rediculous... That's for DIGI to reconize the school.

not really that ridiculous...that just guarantees that the students are each going to get their own workstation.
Could you imagine 25 students trying to train on 1 HD station? No one would learn anything. Not to mention a lot of the classes (particularly the 101) can be taught on LE...and some schools buy a few of those instead/also.

But you have to agree that the schools are going to get some sort of discount purchasing from Digi. Even still, say the school spends $250,000 on 25 HD systems. They only need about 250 students to pay all that off at a grand a piece. So if Digi's not getting any money off the training besides equipment and testing costs, then tuition goes to the school.

Who knows, though.

What one is really paying for is a piece of paper they can add to their resume.

I'm not saying that is the case here with these specific PT courses; I don't know them. But I would not be suprised if such kind of "resume padding disguised as training courses" were not just as rampant for a product as hot and buzz-worded as Pro Tools.

oh, I'm almost positive that is the case. and some people are just fine walking in, paying the money and getting the added "resume padding." But some courses at other schools offer a much more in depth course.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

oh, I'm almost positive that is the case. and some people are just fine walking in, paying the money and getting the added "resume padding." But some courses at other schools offer a much more in depth course.

Agreed. I did not mean to imply that ALL classes were that way; there are some excellent classes as well. Just something to watch out for.

G.

 

[bigtoe]

Hey Glenn,

Can you point me to computer classes of that nature that run that much money? Even in a PM, i'd be greatfeul.I'm unfamiliar with that field but that's what the Program Administrative Assistant was alluding too: Computer Certification. I checked with my IT guy and he said he wouldn't be surprised but in general he quoted the same amount as you...6-800. Thanks for your comments.

Yeah I've had great experiences with afternoon and day long workshops - BTW. I like the fact you can pay a bit of bread and learn something without sweating it out for 16 weeks.

Mike

 

[Mindset]

not really that ridiculous...that just guarantees that the students are each going to get their own workstation.
Could you imagine 25 students trying to train on 1 HD station? No one would learn anything. Not to mention a lot of the classes (particularly the 101) can be taught on LE...and some schools buy a few of those instead/also.

But you have to agree that the schools are going to get some sort of discount purchasing from Digi. Even still, say the school spends $250,000 on 25 HD systems. They only need about 250 students to pay all that off at a grand a piece. So if Digi's not getting any money off the training besides equipment and testing costs, then tuition goes to the school.

Who knows, though.


oh, I'm almost positive that is the case. and some people are just fine walking in, paying the money and getting the added "resume padding." But some courses at other schools offer a much more in depth course.

True true. But to get that kind of numbers in students that would be interested in 2 days of class

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Can you point me to computer classes of that nature that run that much money?

I'm not current on that as I've been out on my own with the media production gig for a few years now. But back when I was working as a manager at other companies, I'd get flyers in the mail on an almost daily basis for that kind of thing. Anything from (of the ones I can remember) PC Troubleshooting and Repair to OS Workstation System Administration to individual classes on specific software packages. Lots of Novell Networks stuff in the 80s and 90s too. And also lots of general business management seminars that one would have to have no place being in business management to get anything out of. Almost to the class, they were $795 a class, per person, as if that were the implied collusion rate by all these different training companies.

The better ones turned out to be a week to two weeks long, and were usually certified by the manufacturer of the hardware/software/OS company. We even had some traning schools come in-house and take some of us though month-long courses. Those were ususally the best (but also the most expensive.)

But most of the day-long or even two-day long $795 ones by some uncertified place were highly profitable certification mills and little more.

G.

 

[giraffe]

i took this course like 6 years ago and a lot has changed.
there are many more options now, but the old classes were way more comprehensive (like, the one i did included smpte, some limited post for film, and a super basic foley class. along with workflow, editing and a slew of the other basic shit)

but we had like 15 "teaching" computers (which were very slow, and could only really do what was required for the course) and one worth-while rig that we could sign out to do larger projects on.
that seems good enough to me.
25 hd rigs is just digi being super dickheads. again.

p.s. i went to a puppy mill, um......... i mean audio engineering school.

 

[bennychico11]

True true. But to get that kind of numbers in students that would be interested in 2 days of class

it can happen. I think there were about 60 people in my class when I did it. Of course, like I said, it was more in depth then. At most, maybe only half of those were actually interested in the certification tests.

If your number of a minimum of 25 stations is correct, I don't think the school would offer the certification courses if it didn't think it had the interest. Otherwise they'd be out the money. They must have enough students to warrant the class.

25 hd rigs is just digi being super dickheads. again.

again, I think this is just Digi being reasonable. This way schools can't purchase just one HD unit (or even an Mbox), say they offer a Digi certified course and bring in 25 students a week to all learn on one computer.

 

[bigtoe]

glen - thank you as usual! much appreciated.

giraffe - when i went to the recordingworkshop the big thing was that protools could do 8 or 16 tracks at once...i forget which one...of course it rarely did so without crshing back then but it was rad...we used it to sync to film as well as the other stuff...they used to have aweek long program called the new tech program or something. it was really great. i've often thought of taking a week of and just doing that again for fun. it was like 795 i think it's 100 more now.

Mike

 

[bigtoe]

it can happen. I think there were about 60 people in my class when I did it. Of course, like I said, it was more in depth then. At most, maybe only half of those were actually interested in the certification tests.

If your number of a minimum of 25 stations is correct, I don't think the school would offer the certification courses if it didn't think it had the interest. Otherwise they'd be out the money. They must have enough students to warrant the class.



again, I think this is just Digi being reasonable. This way schools can't purchase just one HD unit (or even an Mbox), say they offer a Digi certified course and bring in 25 students a week to all learn on one computer.

people wanting to learn their program should be incentive enough for digidesign...i would think it would ensure market share. i mean think apple, they gave shit to the schools.

...but in this day and age of people patenting dna strands...you can't blame them. wheneveryone is a dickhead...no one is.

Mike

 

[bennychico11]

people wanting to learn their program should be incentive enough for digidesign...i would think it would ensure market share. i mean think apple, they gave shit to the schools.

well, it could be just as well that Digi hands out their equipment or gives a considerable discount (Digidesign equipment is a *little* more expensive than a Mac computer). We're only a bunch of forum members on homerecording.com talking about how they force schools to buy 25 HD units...none of us actually works for Digi or a school that has a certification program