Being a beginner, I am looking for good ways to learn the DJ profession and I know going to school, seminars, etc. or even getting a mentor is the fastest way to learn. My problem, I live in the boonies in Germany and finding such things is well, near impossible.
Dubspot has online courses that look interesting, but you don’t get any feel for what they are really offering on their web site and if they really can help for the price. (they aren’t cheap).
Has anyone of you taken one of their online courses, whether it be for DJing or production? How was it? How was the experience?
Most djs don’t go to a school, they either pick it up from other djs, or they buy their own gear and learn from youtube tutorials. If your out in the boonies, I would highly suggest the latter if you are that serious about it.
the production courses look cool. expensive but cool.
from what i read it not only shows you the ropes of the software, music theory and production techniques but it’s setup in such a way that by the end of it you’ll have a releasable EP created under the guidance of the instructors.
if it is as good as it sounds, could be worth it if you have the time and money to invest in it. look into the instructors and see what kind of work they’ve put out to get a feel for what you’ll be able to learn from them.
For the full Ableton course you better be able to do all of that since you’re dropping $10,000 on the course and getting Ableton certified. However, from what i’ve heard and read and gathered from the interwebs is the that you don’t really need a school like this with all the tutorials available for free (or for much much much much cheaper than from Dubspot). And it’s not where or whom you’re learning from - it’s the amount of hard work and time you put in.
I personally - even if I could afford it - would not pay for Dubspots training. I’d stick with what the others suggested. Honestly the DJTT forum is also a great place to come to when you get stuck if you’re learning by yourself simply via YouTube. We have a wealth of knowledge on the forums and if you poke and prod at the right people they will have a plethora of wealth (knowledge wise) to throw your way. You just have to do your own research, and ask the right questions.
No question at all you will learn a ton from these courses, and the organization and overall sense of purpose will beat what you can find for free on youtube. But the price is insane for online instruction basically through videos. It’s only a minor savings over the in-person sessions, which will offer you far more opportunity to interact with instructors. (It’s not even clear to me whether you can interact with the instructors at all or not in the online version; if you can’t, it’s definitely not worth it, I’m guessing you get at least limited email contact). The Dubspot people really know their shit, esp as regards Ableton (I’ve been to a couple of their sessions in LA), but if I’m going to pay that much for instruction I’m going to want something of a live instructor experience, even if it’s online.
So I agree with others here - check out what you can on youtube, and use forums like this one to ask your questions and move forward. If you find you want a much more structured experience, and you can afford it, then maybe think about spending money on classes like these. I’m a huge advocate of structured educational experiences in general but I think the price on this one (at least for the online courses) is a bit high.
i’ve been into producing for a long time, longer than online tutorials have been available - investing time and money into a program like dubspot’s isn’t for me either.
but that’s me - some people are better than others at teaching themselves skills, not everyone can get a proper education from just trial and error, checking out online tutorials and lurking on forums.
but i think a program like dubspot’s could be very beneficial for the right student depending on what experience they have and how they learn.
I haven’t been impressed with what I’ve seen of dubspot’s free stuff. If their paid stuff is the same level of instructors and knowledge, it’s a complete rip off.
Most of that, though, is based on DJ Endo, who seems like a complete hack. Though if what you want is to learn the most technically efficient way of clipping your sound card outputs with Traktor or Ableton while being told Mixed in Key’s marketing copy as a class in harmonic mixing…he’s the freaking man.
IHNFC how their production tutorials are because everything I’ve seen of theirs is worthless, especially compared to DJTT and the Traktor Bible for Traktor or from a few specific people here and on the aldj forums for Live.
EDM has always been a “figure it out yourself” kind of thing beyond the most basic ideas of “kicks go here; snares tend go here, here, or sometimes here; phrases are 8 bars; and, the amen break is kinda cool” and that sort of stuff. The idea of paying that much for a worse version of reading the software manuals seems pointless if not counterproductive. Though, I admit that especially in production just having structure to work within could be a benefit to a lot of people.
their free articles are hit and miss. i’ve seen a few really great ones and a few really well, not so great ones haha.
the last one i saw was about using vocal samples to create melodies and well, that was pretty much a waste of time.
there’s a local guy, vespers who puts out really amazing tutorials on producing for free that anyone who’s interested should definitely checkout. just youtube search “vespers”.
Interesting. Thanks for the tips. Doesn’t look like anyone has actually taken a course. Hmm…
I’ve already viewed a lot of ellaskinz vids. I like how he makes his videos anywhere and everywhere (in his house?). Lickable clinks anyone?
I’d like to see some more of him actually DJing. I haven’t seemed to find any.
Over the years, I’ve learned though, if you learn the basics wrong, you’ll probably end up with (bad) habits, that will hamper more than help your success. I am pretty sure that also goes for digital DJing and mixing music. It is just one of those facts of life. But if you learn from the best or the with best possible oppotunities, you’ll have a better chance of learning the right ways. That is what I am interested in.
I will take you guys up on your advice to come here with specific questions. I like the community here already. Thanks!
scamo
edit/ p.s. ehem…maybe a business idea for Ean? Ean Goldens online DJ seminars? Where the seminars are a bit more in depth and more structured and have more material to learn and practise with??? For instance, I’d like to see videos like this
but also be able to get the music and clips try to do accomplish the same as what the video tries to teach. (with what ever tools I may have at my disposal)
“I’d like to see some more of him actually DJing. I haven’t seemed to find any.”
lately he’s been going on ustream once or twice a month. sub to his youtube to catch the temporary videos he puts up as a reminder. also, watch his gig logs. not a lot of mixing but meh
But, dance music has always been a seat-of-the-pants DIY kind of thing. What happened with its evolution is a great part of the reason some people think controllerism is the future. I think they’re full of crap, because I haven’t heard a controllerist routine that didn’t sound like a pregnant whale being put through a blender. But…my asinine musical predilections aside, I still think the best thing to do is learn yourself.
Yeah…you need to learn basics first…how music is structured, how it fits together, how to structure a set, what a key clash sounds like, how snares and hats from different tracks interact to define or screw up a groove, how bass lines play over each other, etc.. One of the best ways to do that is to learn to beat match manually, even if you don’t keep doing it…just something about the way it teaches you to listen to music.
And listen to a lot of music…think about how they’d fit with the rest of your music. My music shopping binges involve around 1000 tracks a day…and they happen more often than a lot of people would think. Effing beatport releasing so much music…it cuts into the rest of my life…or it would if I had one (I’m actually about 60 songs in to today’s shopping…thankfully, I don’t do things at work).
Apart from that…watch videos if you get stuck. The videos in the beginner’s section at Discord are good if you’re at a really early level or feel like you need to go back to the basics.
Also…if you’re talking about learning fundamentals the right way…regardless of whether you like it or not…now is not the time to be learning turntablism or controllerism. You’re not going to do anything but screw yourself over and destroy your ability to let music speak for itself.
If you’re learning fundamentals, you’re not a performer…you’re learning to be a conductor. If that’s where you want to go, you can be a performer later. But if you don’t learn how to structure a set now, you never will. That’s why the vast majority of people who call themselves controllerists bore people to death after 5 minutes. Frankly, I think the same goes for turntablists, though it seems that more of them might know how to DJ instead of just wank all over their tables, though if that’s the case I’m sure it’s just because turntablism is more mature and controllerism is in its infancy. I’m convinced it’s also the core of the reason people are still seeing resistance getting controllers into a lot of clubs.
Controllerist: “I can do so much more.”
Promoter: “Yeah…but can you do the same thing? Show me that you don’t suck at DJing, then I’ll let you show me how good you are at controllerist-ing.”
(that sentence kinda got away from me…I hope it’s clear)
Im currently doing a course with dubspot online and i have done one with point blank i went to london school of sound and have viseted several SAE’s No comparison Dubspot is the best thing i have ever done . Point Blank was boring the tutors were average. Dubspot has cool artist im doing traktor course at the moment and my tutors are Shiftee and Endo and endo comes on 3 days a week for an hour to ask anything its insane im learning more in my own home than EVER before the videos are fun not booring and more importantly all the tutors at dubspot make really good music and have releases. DUBSPOT ALL DAY LONG!! most fun i have had learning the support is there for you and you not only learn from tutors but also classmates. Im doing Maschine Course Logic and Essential Music foundation. they have literally changed everything for me , Also SAE is more for sound engineers
I went to school for “studio recording”, it was at my community college about 6 or 7 years ago. I don’t really remember any of it but i know the class i took the most from was the Music Theory class. Once you learn the keys you can pick on the rest of your own.
My kiss of death was the internship i had. I was there for 6 months before i left, i that 6 month span i never touch a piece of gear…
I can see the point in online courses but I’m never about them, (esp when there is SOOO much free info out there on youtube like from ellaskinz that other people have mentioned and from other sites)
I just mix at home and then listen back, if theres something I get stuck on, I come here or google it.
If I had the money though, I’d head over and do a course in their school, you know, just to meet like minded people and network and whatever
lol if i was a dubspot employee my grammer would be much better!! nah im just hyped honestly found out about this site because of the midi fighter ( how cool) and i live in the uk. I was just amazed at how good the content is i did a course with point blank and it was all written stuff these are all videos and fun to watch and its all original nothing from the youtube channels. Im actually having alot of fun
