who's all had training??

Art Institute in Denver.

I would have been better off sinking all that money into my own recording gear and learn on my own equipment.
 
Lets see...

I've had BASIC Training in the Army...

I went to the Art Institute of Houston and dropped out.

Now I'm at Houston Community College training.
 
Richard Monroe said:
20 years of martial arts. I may not be able to record for shit, but if you don't like it...Richie
Click to expand...
Priceless! No training as far as recording goes but my day job for the last 25 years has been handling audio and base band video so I know a thing or two.
 
Last (and only) "formal" music class was non-AP (hehe) Music Theory in HS. I did take piano lessons growing up though. Since HS, I've earned a BS degree in Computer Science (Cum Laude with Honors and a Minor in Mathematics) and a MS degree in Software Engineering. But my only recording "training" has been here :)
 
the community college where i live offers classes in cakewalk...

do i really need to say i passed on that "training"
 
Heheh...

18 years of crossing wires the "WRONG" way - Blowing amps, making mistakes / THEN listening to people who've done it longer, changing my own style into something usefull, and practicing ceaslessly...

(oh, and two months of piano lessons when I was 16... The teacher kicked me out because I kept playing by ear - (She went and picked contemporary stuff I could remember off the radio!) - Bless her soul!)
 
Mostly training in music theory. As far as recording its been the school of hard knocks, this board and some online recording theory courses.
So far I've learned that I'm a broke ass punk and smoke way too much pot.
 
Obviously the guy wants to know about classes for MIDI or app specific like Cakewalk etc. I'd like to know myself. This stuff has the steepest learning curve of anything that I've ever tried, and I am certified and/or licensed in three entirely different professions that all required much learning and test taking. And I am skilled at both computers and guitar.

I am generally a self-starter and fast learner but computer based recording and music creation is taking me forever to get a handle on, I have yet to record anything at all and feel lucky when I actually get sound to come out. I need to work harder but every time that I sit down to learn something it just seems to go nowhere, I read a bunch of endless words and open stuff in the programs and press buttons and then just end up looking at the pretty lights on my plugins and go to sleep. I am not a lesson or classroom oriented type person, but I wouldn't mind taking some inexpensive continuing ed type classes, I've looked around but haven't found any yet.
 
Springo said:
This stuff has the steepest learning curve of anything that I've ever tried, and I am certified and/or licensed in three entirely different professions that all required much learning and test taking. And I am skilled at both computers and guitar.
Click to expand...


All by the age of 6? :rolleyes:


You're a GENIOUS! :D
 
bigwillz24 said:
All by the age of 6? :rolleyes:


You're a GENIOUS! :D
Click to expand...

Yeah! And I can spell GENIUS too! LOL!

Actually, I finally "broke through" tonight! After that post I got so fed up at looking at programs and accomplishing nothing that I finally did it. I created and recorded a whole song on Acid, and it sounds great. Actually it was easy. But it took me a couple of months to get to this point.

Being the self starter and learner that I am, things can only go on one pace for me and I can't seem to accelerate them unless I take a class. In this case, it took me quite a while just to learn what MIDI was, to distinguish between music creation programs and music recording programs (as far as I knew, Acid was Cakewalk was Reason was Protools etc. if you get my point), learn what plugins are, learn to open the programs and play with them, and see how the plugins, well, plug in - I did that sort of stuff for at least two months (and spent a lot of money) but it is finally starting to pay off. I have a LONG way to go - but the song that I wrote and recorded, I actually like it - it's catchy! And it's not too long and I didn't just pile on everything including the kitchen sink like many newbs do and make an unlistenable mess. Actually, I didn't do anything but assemble, create, and record the song dry. No effects or anything fancy - YET.

Now I wanna sit here and write songs all night. Woohoo! This is fun! And I've just scratched the surface. But I finally "broke through" and once the "breakthrough" is accomplished the learning curve gets a lot less steep and progress comes in leaps and bounds for a while
 
Springo said:
Obviously the guy wants to know about classes for MIDI or app specific like Cakewalk etc. I'd like to know myself. This stuff has the steepest learning curve of anything that I've ever tried, and I am certified and/or licensed in three entirely different professions that all required much learning and test taking. And I am skilled at both computers and guitar.

I am generally a self-starter and fast learner but computer based recording and music creation is taking me forever to get a handle on, I have yet to record anything at all and feel lucky when I actually get sound to come out. I need to work harder but every time that I sit down to learn something it just seems to go nowhere, I read a bunch of endless words and open stuff in the programs and press buttons and then just end up looking at the pretty lights on my plugins and go to sleep. I am not a lesson or classroom oriented type person, but I wouldn't mind taking some inexpensive continuing ed type classes, I've looked around but haven't found any yet.
Click to expand...

Recording does have a pretty high learning curve. Especially with so many poorly written product manuals. Do any of these manual writers speak English? Here are some things that that I try to do to bring down the learning curve:

Try to keep writing music and recording music seperate until you get the hang of your gear. If you go off trying to write every part to a song and at the same time are trying to learn how to record it all as you go, you probably won't accomplish much. You'll get too frustrated. Practice recording some pre-written material until you get comfortable with your gear.

Start simple and know what you want to accomplish before you start trying to record. Write down the basic questions that you need answers to in order to start recording some tracks. For example: How do I route my mic to my computer? How do I arm a track for recording? Where do I place my mic for the best vocal sound? What frequencies do I eq to get rid of sibilance?

Take notes on the new and useful things that you learn by combing your product manuals, websites, and books. You pretty much need to be writing your own instruction manual as you go. Keep your notes well organized so that when you need to know how to do a certain thing again, it will be easy to find in your notes. This is my biggest time saver. It seems like a hassle at first to take notes but it pays off.

Don't just read about how to do something, thinking that you will remember how when it comes time. Put it to use right away. Reading about how to use a compressor is easy enough, but actually using a compressor will scare up all kinds of questions. Don't read about things that you have no immediate use for. This whole recording thing is complicated enough so try to only address your immediate needs.

In short, figure out exactly what you want to do, find out how to do it, start doing it, and take good organized notes along the way.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top