Over To You: What Are The Best Music Production Schools?

Reader Sheldon Shaw writes: “I have been reading comments on this blog and doing my research, and I agree that being a DJ and a producer at the same time can be a plus in trying to stand out in the ‘DJ world’ by doing remixes and mashups and so on. So I have been looking at a few schools that offer online and in class courses, by prices, software courses offered, length in the courses and overall quality. I’ve looked at Point Blank Online, ProducerTech, Dubspot, Berklee, SAE and Fullsail and would love to get some opinions on them. Also more generally, what you think is the best way to go from DJ to producer?”

Digital DJ Tips says:

Good, practical question. I have no experience of the training at any of those schools, although having written for Dubspot’s blog and got to know those guys a little in the process, I can confirm that they’re a professional outfit. Hopefully readers with experience of online producer tuition can give you their wisdom here.

As far as the general question of producing goes, my best advice having worked with hundreds of DJs and producers is: Get going with what you’ve got! Make mashups on your current DJ software. When you get an idea, just have a go. Don’t think there’s a “right” piece of software, or convince yourself that every other producer knows something you don’t – get stuff done, out there, try it out in your DJ sets, and move on to the next thing.

And call yourself a producer as soon as you’ve done that first mashup or remix – believing in yourself first is paramount, because nobody is going to come up to you, pat you on the back and say “well done, you’re a producer now!” – you need to find the confidence and drive from within, just like with DJing.

Over to you: Have you got experience of following an online music production course? Can you offer advice about starting to produce to Sheldon? Please share your wisdom in the comments.