New to Ableton? Try Point Blank online training (REVIEW)

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

New to Ableton? Try Point Blank online training (REVIEW)

If you have been trying to learn Live by watching YouTube videos and reading forum posts, you should really consider taking the Ableton Live - DJ/Performance course with Point Blank online. It helped me get over the frustration of trying to learn new software and performance techniques.

Let me explain.

I am a Traktor user that wants to use Live for making edits and remixes. But the learning curve is steep and it can be a real party-pooper when you can’t do simple things like warp a track. Making any real progress seemed almost impossible. So I decided it was time to take the plunge and get some training. I looked at most of the online courses and, quite honestly, chose Point Blank because they had an Ableton course with a solid curriculum, required the smallest investment in time (4 weeks), and was the least expensive.

My expectations were simple: learn to warp, midi map, and use effects while making DJ mixes. But the course went so much deeper. There is discussion on various controllers/hardware, perfecting your DJ mixes with automation/overdubbing, preparing your sets and setting up for a gig, integrating with other performers, and much more. It is allot of information, but it is structured very well. Plus you can access the content for one year.

I went from barely being able to warp a track to making a 20+ minute DJ mix that used loops and cue points, different warp modes and transient settings, follow actions, performance effects, and mixing beats, basses, and melodies from different songs. Don’t get me wrong - my performance is really rough and I need more practice. But at least I am making progress, and that is what makes it so much fun.

The best part is that you got a DVR every week. You upload your project and the instructor reviews your work and gives suggestions on how to improve - in a video. I learn by seeing and doing, so having a video critique is extremely beneficial to my learning process. The course instructor was so enthusiastic and talented, it really made me want to try harder. Plus he was very forgiving about late assignments and made time to give you a video review. Very cool.

In comparison, I am taking a Dubspot course for Traktor and it’s totally disappointing. The videos can be long and unfocused, you only get an audio review of your assignment, and they are very strict about late work. If your assignment is late, too bad, no review for you. And it’s moving so slow. After four weeks we have not really learned anything about the software or DJ performance. To be fair, the course is geared for people with zero DJ experience. My hope is that we will pick up momentum in the next phases, as my goal is to Jedi Master the Traktor program. I don’t hate on Dubspot, maybe their other courses are better?

I am not a Point Blank pimp. I just had a great experience taking their course and know what it is like to stare at the Live screen and think, “WTF???” So I hope this may help a few people.

Please feel free to comment/question/flame.

Thanks!

2

how much

3

It’s £355.00. Depending on your location and the exchange rate, that can mean a variety of prices. At this point, Google tells me it’s about $550 US dollars.

4

Product endorsements are only as believable as your post count is high.

5

bam what he said^

6

Ableton isn’t that complicated program to learn. While it does have a lot of depth to it, the learning curve is really gentle and you’ll grow with the software as you work with it. I believe that is one of the biggest benefits of using Ableton.

If you guys want an honest and unbiased review of Point Blank, check out this article on RA

While it’s not a review of Point Blank per se, she does mention things she though they could have done better and what would have just made it a more enjoyable experience.

7

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I know what worked for me. I also read the RA article and she is absolutely right. It is hard to learn from an online class when you are a total beginner. You have to work to achieve results. And only having direct contact with an instructor once or twice a week leaves room for improvement in the learning process. Unless you have a school local to you, there may not have any choice other than using YouTube and forums. Or if you are broke as a joke - then the Internet is your best friend.

As far as number of posts = credibility, I take that with a grain of salt. I see allot of “Me too” and “Cool” posts on the forums. In fact, there is one in this thread…

8

OP has also created an account on the Ableton forums to post this; interpret that how you will

9

Point is that its not like you’re a member of the forum and happen to be sharing your experience, you registered specifically to make a thread promoting a service and that’s all the posts you have here - pretty sketchy. PB does deliver good training, but some random account boasting about it (and bashing a competitor in the process) isn’t very inspiring.

I really hope you’re not affiliated with the company as I do respect PB and this kind of promotion is really disappointing, but I can’t imagine why you would be posting this if you weren’t.

10

i went to piratebay and downlaod a ableton mentor for dj’ing. I know it may be bad i did that but that’s all i needed to learn to use ableton for recording my mixes, to use ableton as a dj system, warp tracks, and use VSTs. Not hard in my opinion.

11

I do admit, I am not active on the forums. I usually just read the posts. I hardly ever have anything good to say that hasn’t already been said. I recently finished the training at Point Blank and felt I finally had something to talk about.

It’s unfortunate that world has made everybody so suspicious. I guess the Internet is pretty crazy. But it’s not like I am asking you cash a check from the Prince of Arabia. I am just telling you about my experience.

And my opinion of the Dubspot training is my perspective. I used to DJ with vinyl and have messed around with Traktor for awhile. The first four weeks of Dubspot training we covered the basics - beat gridding, dropping on the “one”, and working the faders. Not terribly difficult. Hopefully we will get to more performance related techniques in the later weeks.

By comparison, in the same four week period, the Point Blank training covered all the stuff I mentioned in my first post, plus other things I didn’t even mention. Like using soundflower to integrate Live and Traktor on the same computer. Very cool stuff I didn’t even know about. The course was very challenging - almost too much, too fast - and allot of fun.

So there is drastic difference in the training approach of both schools. That is all I am trying to point out. If my wording was too negative, it is not my intention to bash anybody. But in my experience and my perspective, the Dubspot curriculum has been disappointing.

I don’t feel bad for writing my review and I don’t feel defensive about the negative vibe. You have every right to say what you want, as much as the next person, or myself. Also, i am not affiliated with Point Blank. I think it would be a rookie move for any Internet marketing person to post to forums with absolutely zero - or I am up to three! - posts.

12

Now that’s what a review sounds like. Your first one sounded to robotic and no emotion. This seems like you mean it =). Did they cover traktor into Ableton using windows? LoL i had to make a work around myself. Cause no real way of doing that I could see.

13

To be honest, it tends to turn me off to the product. Reminds me of American political tactics.

14

Well personally I have the Point Blank Serato DJing course and the Ableton DJ/Performance course coming up, after winning them in a competition on RA. (In addition to a Rane TTM57SL, Dicers, and copies of the software)

So it’s nice to hear good things about the school, makes me look forward to the courses.

15

Nice haul!!

16

im pretty freeekin jelly over here.

17

Think it’s kind of sad that people need “courses” to learn this stuff. Just get in there and do it already!

18

yes, that is what she said.

19

Guess I walked right into that one >_<