Recording Schools and Courses

PaulBrewer

ogy wrote: »

Music and Media Technology. topics covered include: audio production/DSP/Max/Midi/Music and Image/Video Production/Composition for Mixed Media/Music Theory...

i sound like a prospectus!

What's MAX?

ogy

Max is a visual programming language geared towards music and video processing. takes a little while to get in to but really good!

cornbb

Max is awesome, I wish it wasn't so feckin expensive.

PaulBrewer

Every day's a school day!

iquinn

...did someone say there were jobs in studios?

jtsuited

Max ruined my life for about three months (in a good way).

I did an MA in Computer Music in NUIM. Was great for learning about the real stuff of digital audio ie. what actually is happening inside your computer. Enjoyed the acoustics and psychoacoustics modules too.

Overall I liked the highly Academic/Scientific nature of the course (I'm a little bit like that). Beats the hell out of a 'here's how to record a rock band' type courses which, let's be honest, anyone can learn by themselves.

ogy

the educational discount for max its great, anyone who's still a student can email there student ID to cycilng 74 and they can get Max 5 (the new version which includes msp and jitter) for less than 200 quid! then your on the ladder and you can get all the upgrades and stuff at reasonable prices even if your not a student anymore.

FlipperThePriest

cornbb wrote: »

Max is awesome, I wish it wasn't so feckin expensive.

Check out Pure Data: http://puredata.info/
It's excellent when you get to know it (and free), I'm using it in conjunction with my thesis (Im doing my masters in Music Tech).
I found the course really enjoyable. It helped make me aware of just how much I love music and what I want to do and also showed me my strengths.
The lecturers did have real world experience; i.e. our Music Production lecturer (a producer himself) has been there and done it: did he pass on his tricks...no! I found him of little help, however I learned a huge amount in my own time in the studio and was thrilled to get my hands on and working in a pro studio with top equipment.
Lecturers I found most helpful were those teaching computer programming: C, Csound, pure data etc. Elsewhere it was just about applying your own ideas and developing your own skills. We did Electronics which wasn't really worth it because lets face it, you can't do 10wk course (2/3 hrs a wk) in electronics and expect to come away with much; it's a degree in itself, good to let you know whats going on inside an EQ though. Other subjects we covered were electroacoustic composition - which I loved - opens up a whole new can of worms while teaching you some great tricks along the way as regards crazy editing and sculpting sounds you never knew exsisted using whatever means possible. It gives another perspective from which to approach music with.
We also covered midi, music & multimedia (websites, sound desgin/score for film) and acoustics and psychoacoustics which was also very interesting..oh and interactive systems, also very interesting - the practice of using music to interact with it's environment using electronics/programming, pretty cool, development of public art installations for example.

Overall, I enjoyed the course immensely and would highly recommend it.

PaulBrewer

zippy84 wrote: »

Check out Pure Data: http://puredata.info/
It's excellent when you get to know it (and free), I'm using it in conjunction with my thesis (Im doing my masters in Music Tech).
I found the course really enjoyable. It helped make me aware of just how much I love music and what I want to do and also showed me my strengths.
The lecturers did have real world experience; i.e. our Music Production lecturer (a producer himself) has been there and done it: did he pass on his tricks...no! I found him of little help, however I learned a huge amount in my own time in the studio and was thrilled to get my hands on and working in a pro studio with top equipment.
Lecturers I found most helpful were those teaching computer programming: C, Csound, pure data etc. Elsewhere it was just about applying your own ideas and developing your own skills. We did Electronics which wasn't really worth it because lets face it, you can't do 10wk course (2/3 hrs a wk) in electronics and expect to come away with much; it's a degree in itself, good to let you know whats going on inside an EQ though. Other subjects we covered were electroacoustic composition - which I loved - opens up a whole new can of worms while teaching you some great tricks along the way as regards crazy editing and sculpting sounds you never knew exsisted using whatever means possible. It gives another perspective from which to approach music with.
We also covered midi, music & multimedia (websites, sound desgin/score for film) and acoustics and psychoacoustics which was also very interesting..oh and interactive systems, also very interesting - the practice of using music to interact with it's environment using electronics/programming, pretty cool, development of public art installations for example.

Overall, I enjoyed the course immensely and would highly recommend it.

Good to hear Zip! Where are you studying?

FlipperThePriest

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Good to hear Zip! Where are you studying?

Studying in Dundalk. I'm doing my thesis on an interactive public installation inspired by our atrocious climate...musical components will be triggered by different weather elements, i.e. rain will stimulate one aspect; different variations of rainfall will cause variations in music, same with wind and sunlight...e.g. i can use LDRs to analyse sunlight, which can be interpreted by pure data. Hopefully all the music reacting to terrible weather will help ease the suicidal tendencies! It's pretty wacky but it's cool.:pac:

PaulBrewer

zippy84 wrote: »

Studying in Dundalk. I'm doing my thesis on an interactive public installation inspired by our atrocious climate...musical components will be triggered by different weather elements, i.e. rain will stimulate one aspect; different variations of rainfall will cause variations in music, same with wind and sunlight...e.g. i can use LDRs to analyse sunlight, which can be interpreted by pure data. Hopefully all the music reacting to terrible weather will help ease the suicidal tendencies! It's pretty wacky but it's cool.:pac:

Cool, see you on X-Factor then, yea?

FlipperThePriest

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Cool, see you on X-Factor then, yea?

Absolutely...but not before I do my Doctorate in Ninja!!!:D

cornbb

zippy84 wrote: »

Check out Pure Data: http://puredata.info/
It's excellent when you get to know it (and free), I'm using it in conjunction with my thesis (Im doing my masters in Music Tech)..

I've used Pd a lot too. Its a bit of a pain in the arse compared to Max though!

FlipperThePriest

cornbb wrote: »

I've used Pd a lot too. Its a bit of a pain in the arse compared to Max though!

I hear ya, it's not without bugs but it is free, and they're constantly releasing newer versions - the latest version is pretty good I have to say! Hasn't failed me yet. All it takes is a bit of logical thinking and it can do anything you want!
Also it has a really good mailing list and some decent helpfile examples.

cornbb

zippy84 wrote: »

I hear ya, it's not without bugs but it is free, and they're constantly releasing newer versions - the latest version is pretty good I have to say! Hasn't failed me yet. All it takes is a bit of logical thinking and it can do anything you want!
Also it has a really good mailing list and some decent helpfile examples.

I must take a look again I wrote some Pd externals back in the day but its been a while! Hope the documentation has improved.

studiorat

I started Pd a while back, good to know there's a few here who use it.

You tube was good to pick it up at first.

Actually, anybody know where I can pick up those sensor to midi convertors?

studiorat

cornbb wrote: »

! Hope the documentation has improved.

+1

FlipperThePriest

studiorat wrote: »

Actually, anybody know where I can pick up those sensor to midi convertors?

http://www.arduino.cc/....This is a really good microcontroller - 8x digital 6x analog inputs, it's open source hardware! Runs on usb and it only cost 20eu. not sure if it will convert midi data, but you can use it to accept digital/electronic data and convert it to midi.

Edit: You should youtube Arduino, it's applications are vast, anything from light secquencing, to robotics!!

PaulBrewer

ah lads... you're doin savage hijackin me thread?

FlipperThePriest

PaulBrewer wrote: »

ah lads... you're doin savage hijackin me thread?

Hey it's all academic, I thought you were interested in academia and what's involved? With this input you might not need to do a course...just research whats been discussed and your away in a hack!

PaulBrewer

I see ....:rolleyes:

TowlieMcD

which is better a private college eg. pulse recording college or an IT like the courses in tralee and maynooth

jtsuited

TowlieMcD wrote: »

which is better a private college eg. pulse recording college or an IT like the courses in tralee and maynooth

depends on what you want to do/ how educated you are thus far/ area of interest.

If you wanna be a big shot producer and work your way up from the bottom as tea boy (which nowadays you'd be hugely lucky to even get the tea boy job), then one of the practical ones in those recording colleges would be a good start.

If you're an uber-geek who wants to be able to design plugins, and have a more forward thinking approach to music-technology, then the university undergraduate and postgraduate courses in places like Maynooth are the way to go.

Considering to get a job in TV/Radio in this country nowadays, you almost need an MA etc., I think maybe the academic approach is far better for most people.

Also, I really enjoyed my MA as there was just so much to learn about the maths/science side of music technology.

I know so many people with city&guilds qualifications that wouldn't know their studio arse from their studio elbow. I also know plenty that did MA's in music technology who while being just as unknowledgeable, would be able to design a fairly useful sampler using C++.

studiorat

Thread officially hi-jacked!
Here's Johnny Greenwood (the radiohead) using Max on stage...

PaulBrewer

studiorat wrote: »

Thread officially hi-jacked!
Here's Johnny Greenwood (the radiohead) using Max on stage...

Where?

ogy

if this is the clip you meant:

then its just one of those ugly internet rumours. hes doing that with a boss dd-6, the hold function!

i don't think they use max live, they use it on the records loads, but live, if they do use it, i think its just to trigger samples and control lighting sequences and stuff.

cornbb

ogy wrote: »

if this is the clip you meant:


then its just one of those ugly internet rumours. hes doing that with a boss dd-6, the hold function!

i don't think they use max live, they use it on the records loads, but live, if they do use it, i think its just to trigger samples and control lighting sequences and stuff.

I think he uses it a fair bit. I read an interview with him in the Computer Music Journal where he talked about it at length. The guy is a bit of a ledge - Ondes Martenots, giant modular synths and a sweet job as resident composer at the bbc...

jtsuited

cornbb wrote: »

I think he uses it a fair bit. I read an interview with him in the Computer Music Journal where he talked about it at length. The guy is a bit of a ledge - Ondes Martenots, giant modular synths and a sweet job as resident composer at the bbc...

He uses Max mainly as a midi environment i think. With all those modular bits and pieces in his rig he'd need some way of conveniently controlling them without growing 3 extra arms.

jtsuited

By the way if you want to hear Max MSP in action, listen to Autechre's Confield, Grantz Graf, or Untilted albums.

There was a a guy in the Max community who reverse engineered a Confield patch (get a girlfriend/dog/xbox man!).

PaulBrewer

http://recordproduction.com/mike-fraser-video.html