Looking for a Teacher

[sphilibin]

I dunno gjm, I've been on the Facebook page and I think he's on the level.

I know, I had to double check myself...

Hmmm. Using Ableton at 12 yrs of age. Not a single problem with set up and gear (must get a lot of pocket money). Seems to be making music with moderate success. Basically got his corner of the world sown up on the gigging scene (is it mum or dad or the chauffeur that drives him to all of those gigs) ... and decides only now to make his first post about the finer points of genre specific production?

Ok, so there is a FB page with basically one post about one gig... and one tune on soundcloud loaded 8 days ago

The way this one writes does not bring to mind the 14yr olds I see on a regular basis.

Maybe... but I am calling bullshit, on some level anyway.

Bullshit on what? I got a macbook for christmas when i was 12, i taught myself how to dj on Djay, mowed lawns and did yard work until i could afford the live suite education edition, and have been looking for help on the DJTT forums for about a year, and gotten squat. I mean, i only pput up my facebook page a month ago because everything i did was school stuff, and there wasn't any point in hyping it up. I'm already booked for 3 gigs in july, august, and september, which are basically club nights for highschool/college kids in a log cabin, and i'm booked for two homecomings as well in september. The reason i only have one soundcloud track is, well, the reason i'm here! Nothing i make ever seems to be good enough that i wanna put out there, that's why i'm looking for help with production, so i can bring it up to speed with my dj'ing stuff, and get signed... What's not legit about that?

[sphilibin]

I think skype sessions are your answer. You need one to one to fine tune things a bit that's all. Just book an hour with someone and see how it goes. I don't think you'll need much, though a year and a half on Live isn't a long time. You'll get tons of help on here with any specific queries.

And where would i go about finding someone like that? It does mean a lot to me that they produce progressive house though, or something similar, it just puts us on the same creative level i think

[beatmunga]

I think skype sessions are your answer. You need one to one to fine tune things a bit that's all. Just book an hour with someone and see how it goes. I don't think you'll need much, though a year and a half on Live isn't a long time. You'll get tons of help on here with any specific queries.

And where would i go about finding someone like that? It does mean a lot to me that they produce progressive house though, or something similar, it just puts us on the same creative level i think

With all due respect sphilibin, how would a 14 year old be able to afford to tempt someone away from their career as a successful progressive house producer to share all their mix down tricks in a 1:1 exchange? That's an awful lot of lawns to mow. And exactly how would that work over Skype anyway? The sound quality would be rubbish.

[sphilibin]

I think skype sessions are your answer. You need one to one to fine tune things a bit that's all. Just book an hour with someone and see how it goes. I don't think you'll need much, though a year and a half on Live isn't a long time. You'll get tons of help on here with any specific queries.

And where would i go about finding someone like that? It does mean a lot to me that they produce progressive house though, or something similar, it just puts us on the same creative level i think

With all due respect sphilibin, how would a 14 year old be able to afford to tempt someone away from their career as a successful progressive house producer to share all their mix down tricks in a 1:1 exchange? That's an awful lot of lawns to mow. And exactly how would that work over Skype anyway? The sound quality would be rubbish.

Something could easily be worked out sharing a set file in dropbox, and screen sharing, and i get paid $300 for a gig tomorrow, i'm pretty sure someone out there will take a few hundred for a few sessions of help. And i'm not saying they need to teach me every trick, i just want someone who can tell me what i need to work on, and what i'm doing wrong, and then help me improve in those areas...

[sphilibin]

like I say a pro gave me an hour and a half for £50, and he has lots of records on beatport. You dont make much off records so they have to earn money where they can, ie gigging etc

And some producers teach it for a living, so the availability of a trainer isn't a problem...

[beatmunga]

Just be careful out there sphilibin.

There are a lot of people around who would be more than glad to exploit a young ambitious guy with a few quid burning a hole in their back pocket. Advertising this on an international forum is perhaps inviting trouble.

But hey, at 14 and getting $300 dollars to DJ at school or a mate's house, I suppose the money is easy come, easy go.

Do your parents know about these posts? Much as I'm loathe to admit to it, there is potentially a massive safeguarding issue going on here.

My advice - spend that money on building your studio - you can never have enough money for acoustic treatment, studio monitors and mics for instance - and find someone to collaborate with, online or otherwise.

[sphilibin]

Just be careful out there sphilibin.

There are a lot of people around who would be more than glad to exploit a young ambitious guy with a few quid burning a hole in their back pocket. Advertising this on an international forum is perhaps inviting trouble.

But hey, at 14 and getting $300 dollars to DJ at school or a mate's house, I suppose the money is easy come, easy go.

Do your parents know about these posts? Much as I'm loathe to admit to it, there is potentially a massive safeguarding issue going on here.

My advice - spend that money on building your studio - you can never have enough money for acoustic treatment, studio monitors and mics for instance - and find someone to collaborate with, online or otherwise.

My parents have never given a damn what i do, my brother and i both are pretty responsible kids, he's one of the best web coders in the world, and he was president of a whole company when he was 15 (no joke.) But yeah, i've been waiting to drop my torrented version of massive for sylenth1 for a longggg time, so that might just be what i do after tomorrow. I've met one or two people via DJTT and here that have offered to just look over my ableton sets, and give me some advice, so i'll just work on building my sound library, like samples, and add a synth, and just keep watching tutorials and whatnot, and keep trying stuff until it starts to come together

[beatmunga]

I've met one or two people via DJTT and here that have offered to just look over my ableton sets, and give me some advice

It really does worry me that anybody on this forum may have PM'd you offering paid help to advise you on Progressive House production.

I have a fair bit of experience in both progressive house and teaching, and I would not go near such a commission.

That bit of experience I give to you for free. Take it or leave it.

Best of luck!

[S4racen]

Hey, been reading for a while, have a look at Keith at Quantizecourses.com i cant speak highly enough of him....


Cheers
D

[beatmunga]

I have a fair bit of experience in both progressive house and teaching, and I would not go near such a commission.

why not?

The guy is a minor and his parents are not involved (in fact he alludes to a bad relationship with them). I would not feel at all comfortable taking his money, however 'easily' he earned it.

Would you?

[beatmunga]

He can spend his money on all those things. He can spend his money on crack if he wants too. My issue is with the ethical choice of those that decide to sell it to him.

Personally, I wouldn't want to get rich making young people unhealthy on junk food either.

Are you CRB checked to work with young people, funken?

(And how exactly would you be able to help an already fairly accomplished music creator get that professional polish on Skype anyway?)

[beatmunga]

I'm not sure how tutorials work on skype.. You can share screens. People do it.

How will a 'pro' teacher be able to , say, tweak an e.q. remotely on a screen the other side of the world and reliably monitor a hi quality audio result in realtime? Even Apple screen sharing and remote monitor don't do audio, do they?

If he goes to one of the pros like Forge I can't see a problem

Does Forge have a proven track record with progressive house? Maybe he has, I don't know. I hope so, as this is what the OP wants.

All I can do is repeat my initial fears that something would not feel right about taking money from this guy, however much is on the table.

Each to their own, I guess.

Plus I am a parent, which may cloud my judgement. I wouldn't want my kid getting hustled because he posted to a forum.

[lunabass]

sigh this thread highlights all that is wrong in the world. dont get me wrong, the fears expressed here are real, just such a shame we even have to consider them.

i'll help you sphilibin, i'll do it for free.

i make various forms of house, drum & bass and tech under various alias's with a number of releases under my belt. i dont make prog but i believe i can help.

i also teach an electronic music production course and have done so since 2005. i teach minors, seniors and in-betweeners.

send me a project file and i'll have a look at it for you. at the very least i might be able to point you in the right direction, perhaps sort you out with some tutorials etc

if you're still after someone to teach you online then hit-up Forge, otherwise pm me and i'll send you my details

[lunabass]

this would be worth a look too:
http://www.dubspot.com/ableton3030/

[beatmunga]

sigh this thread highlights all that is wrong in the world. dont get me wrong, the fears expressed here are real, just such a shame we even have to consider them.

i'll help you sphilibin, i'll do it for free.

Good man Lunabass.

My concerns were only ever for paid work.

As regards the ethics of 14 year old schoolchildren entering into a correspondence with encouraging, cool and creative adult strangers online... watch Hard Candy.

If you're not petrified after watching that Lunabass, I'd love to hear one of Sphilibin's tunes before and after your 'online teaching', as I'm genuinely curious whether it works. No reflection on you, just the process.

(...and as a teacher, you're not allowed to just engineer it for him, right? He won't learn anything that way!)

Best of luck to both of you.