Short Courses

Producing With Ableton Live 8

Produce

4 x 4 hr sessions, $770.00 (plus eligibility for a MASSIVE discount on Ableton Live)
Next Course: 4 x Mondays, starting on 1st March

Over the last 10 years Ableton Live has grown from a loop-playing app to a fully-fledged Digital Audio Workstation, becoming the weapon of choice for a diverse range of artists from DJ Jazzy Jeff to Swayzak, from Hot Chip To Sasha. The versatility of Live has lent itself to all genres of Electronic Music and is just at home in the studio as it is on stage.
This course covers:

• Producing & remixing
• Mash-ups & re-edits
• Sound design
• Working with Digital Audio
• Recording & sampling
• DJ Techniques
• The perfect Mix CD
• Midi Control
• Basic Audio Mixing Techniques

Course notes and a take-home content DVD are provided for all participants.

Damien Goundrie
Damien is an experienced DJ and Producer, having been involved in the Electronic Music Scene his entire adult life. His productions have appeared along side local artists as diverse as Josh Abrahams, Rephrase and Random Soul and internationally Joey Negro, The Freemasons and DJ Spen.

Pro Tools 8

4 x 4 hr sessions, $770.00
Next course 4 x Mondays, starts 12th of October, 6:00pm -10:00pm

Being one of the leading Digital Audio Workstations in the professional audio and broadcast industry today, this course will give you the opportunity to learn how to operate Digidesign’s latest incarnation, ProTools 8. This course covers:

• Discover Pro Tools 8 new layout
• Recording audio and MIDI
• Editing and creative manipulation including Elastic Audio
• Learn to use the new Air Plugins and Instruments
• Mixing and automation
• Compression and EQ
• Routing and ReWire

Dean Belcastro
Pro-tools tech head Dean Belcastro is the original musician turned engineer-producer, buying one of the first Pro Tools systems and being infatuated with it ever since. Working at numerous Sydney studios, he has been recording, mixing, playing drums and producing on hundreds of tracks for the likes of BMG, Warner Bros, Warner Chappell, Quicksilver & Roxy video's, Rob Hirst (Midnight Oil), Richard Clapton, Andy Gill (UK's Gang of Four), and even Beau Young (World Champion longboarder!), to name a few. Dean is also part of Sydney electro/gothic outfit Hyske, who he tours with regularly.

Music Theory 1 for Electronic Musicians

4 x 4 hr sessions, $770.00
Next course 4 x Mondays, starts 9th November, 6:00pm -10:00pm

What does it take to create a great track? Software is an obvious must, some great synths help too, even some good loops are important. However MUSIC is the most important part of an electronic music track. In this course you will learn the basics of music theory as it applies to modern artists. Rather than Beethoven, we will use Daft Punk, rather than Charlie Parker, we will use Eric Prydz.

We cover the basics of harmony, melody, bass, chords & scales, and how they work together. We look at different genres of 'electronic music' and analyze them. In depth ear training. The classes are divided into Lecture and Lab. Focus is on the practical application of music theory; we use what we learn.

If you're interested in creating your own music, or refining that which you already make, this course is for you. Ableton Live is used in your labs. A working knowledge of Ableton is helpful, but not essential.

Dan Biederman
Pianist, Composer, DJ and Producer. He graduated from Arizona State University's Herberger School of Music where he earned his B.A. in Fine Arts, Music; a master's degree is in the works. But most importantly, he has been refining this course for years, creating a one-of-a-kind Music Theory course for the modern musician.