DANCE MUSIC PRODUCTION

Manchester MIDI School
Manchester, United States

Course Format: Classroom | E-learning | Virtual Class | Online | On-site | Blended | Self-paced

Course Description:

'' Dance music, as we know it today has its roots in Disco and the Hip Hop born out of a ghetto reaction to its mainstream direction in the late ’70s. DJ Kool Herc came from Jamaica to the South Bronx in ’76 and mixed a blend of disco and funk while toasting on the mic at street parties. By then mixing two copies of the same record Grandmaster Flash was able to loop the drum breaks indefinitely.... hip-hop was born.
At the same time something quite different was being developed on the other side of the Atlantic -Techno pioneers Kraftwerk began experimenting with drum machines and synthesisers and were later to have a massive influence back Stateside with the likes of Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson.

In England, US Techno and early House were molded into Acid House by DJs such as Danny Rampling and Mike Pickering at their pioneering club-nights in London and Manchester. From the late ’80s House and Techno boomed, spawning the array of specialist ’4-to-the-floor’ genres we know today. As the BPM of breakbeats used in tracks progressed, in hand with music technology, such styles as Hardcore, Jungle and Drum ’n’ Bass emerged from ongoing experimentation, again pushing MIDI-produced music into new realms.

DANCE MUSIC PRODUCTION COURSE »

Many top-flight underground producers were often DJs by trade in the 1980s and early ’90s, who through an understanding and a passion for the music they were exposed to, moved into creating tracks of their own. This path into the music industry remains apparent today - DJ to producer, to record label / A&R - only now, respected producers who have never previously DJ’ed are regularly booked to play big clubs just on the strength of a tune they have released.
With the rise of Dance Music and club culture during the past decade has come a generation of people who through their experience of new music have a desire to get involved in a particular scene - whether House, Garage, Trance, Techno, Hip Hop, Drum ’n’ Bass, or a style as yet unlabelled.

COURSE OUTLINE»

This short programme is an ideal option for home studio owners, DJs, or people just driven by music. It provides a concise and intensive overview of the dance music programming, writing and production process. Small groups of musically like-minded people work alongside the engineer in creating and mixing a track, each providing input in terms of ideas, samples and tracks that have inspired them to step into the studio arena. These are informal and relaxed working sessions where the engineer / lecturer takes time out at regular intervals to explain each stage in the construction of a track, demonstrating production techniques and tricks of the trade along the way.

COURSE STRUCTURE »

The four studio sessions are held over two consecutive weekends, enabling the elements of dance music production to be worked through to a finished track.

This course is for those wishing to gain an understanding of the range of skills and time scale required to produce dance music. People interested in producing / remixing tracks will gain an understanding of the programming process and a valuable insight into communicating with an engineer.

The sessions also summarise current studio equipment, the best computer setups for making music and what is available on the internet in terms of software demos, new operating systems and additional sounds / vocals available free to download for Mac / PC or synths.

In order to tailor this hands-on course for maximum benefit, we aim to place people with interests in similar music genres together. Each course contains a maximum of 4 people.

Session 1

Studio and group familiarisation

The tools typically used by today’s dance music producers

Pro vs. bedroom equipment - how software advances are closing the gap

Breaking down the elements and construction of dance music

Organising samples and selecting sounds from analogue, digital and soft-synths

Session 2

The programming and writing process - Cubase

Sequencing sounds and creating grooves

Editing break beats / loops - Akai sampling / MESA / soft-sampling / wave editing

Session 3

Arrangement - song structure and dynamics

Building the mix - balancing bass, mid-range & high frequencies

Use of effects, gates and compressors - hardware and software versions available

Session 4

Complete arrangement

Final effects and processors

Mixdown - digital, and / or analogue mixing console

Mastering to CD
...''

Phone:0161 9534072

School Address:

Ph. 0161 9534072
Fx. 0161 839 3030

Manchester MIDI School
23 New Mount Street
Manchester
M4 4DE
United States

Jobs & Resumes: Manchester
Houses & Roommates: Manchester

Music Construction and Production
Commercial Engineering
THE ORIGINAL DJ COURSE
Scratching / Digital Turntablism / Deck culture
Dance Music Business
Teacher Training Courses
MP3 MIXING USING DECKS!

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