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By now I am two full weeks into the Abelton Production Course offered through Point Blank Online. The first week touched on all of the core functions of Abelton, while this week focused more on the key features behind these functions. At the end of the week I had complete my first assignment and submitted it to my tutor. Two days later, much to my delight, I had a 16-minute personal video response along with an edited version of my Abelton project (check out the video below).
Read last week’s post here, and see a full break down of week #2 lesson (Percussion, Groove, Warping, and Clip Envelopes) after the jump!
The second week’s lesson was a pleasant surprise to me as much of the information built upon and expanded my previous knowledge of the unique functions in Abelton Live. An interesting pattern I am beginning to notice is how the content of the course is delivered. Throughout the lessons 2/3 of the material explain the functions of the software while the remaining 1/3 focuses music production itself. In almost every video tutorial we observe our teacher making some form of music (House, Hip Hop, Drum & Bass, or Dubstep), but they use these genres as a way of demonstrating the multi-faceted functions in Abelton.
From my standpoint this is a huge strength in the course. Personal experimentation is extremely important in music production, but having a limited knowledge of the software used will certainly damper creativity. My main reason for taking this course was because I felt like I had hit a wall with my understanding of Abelton. In these past few weeks I have already seen an improved workflow and ability to experiment with Abelton Live.
As I mentioned above, last week I also got the first video (DVR) feedback on my first assignment. I didn’t know what to expect but was overall extremely pleased with the revisions my instructor made. The first assignment was to create a drum patter with 4-8 variations. There were strong points in my drum programming, but I overlook some very simple tools in Abelton that allow for cleaner sounds and drum patterns. The video feedback really solidified my first two weeks of lessons and brought a few more tips and tricks into my knowledge of production. Check it out above!
Be on the lookout for next week’s post on Music, Bass, and Midi Effects!
This post A Music Production Journal: Week #2 appeared first on Gotta Dance Dirty.
