Ableton Forum

Can anyone recomend the Berkley Course: "Advanced music production with ableton live"?!
It cost quite alot, so it would be nice to know if it is worth it...

Thanks

/lawaetz

I am sure if you picked up two tutorial DVDs, you'd learn much more. I took a few Berklee courses and they are ridiculously overpriced. They don't teach you anything you can't find for free on YouTube, and/or in a tutorial.

Save your money.

I'm sure the points from the previous post are valid, he obviously knows from experience and it is quite expensive. However, I took the advanced Ableton course a while back from Berklee and it was excellent. I wouldn't endorse their production classes in general though. For instance, I would think the intro to Ableton class would be useless for anyone who has gone thru the built in lessons etc. The two courses probably get lumped together in people's minds. IMO any class is only as good as the professor and the advanced course was excellent. I learned a lot about Live and music in general, info. and perspective not available from lessons and youtube (I've watched them all). I had checked out samples of tutorial DVD's for sale online and the advanced Berklee stuff was beyond that, and obviously a lot more interactive. My guess is that Berklee would be especially good for ear training and music theory more than production, but the advanced course was great. I can definitely see why some people slam it, it's too expensive and the intro classes have to be pretty pointless except for beginners. Either way, good luck with everything.

Hi there,

I have just finished doing the course and I can only highly recommend it, Why? I have checked all the points of view from other providers through videos in youtube and they don't really take you through the process of mentally been able to understand the capability of the software itself, those videos only show you bits and pieces. The course is intense and it took my whole concentration to achieve that understanding, but is highly enjoyable
Good luck.

I was very seriously considering taking this course, until reading this thread (and a few other, elsewhere - in a similar vein). After looking into it, it really is a hell of a lot of cash Berklee are asking for the course - £640 all in, inc enrollment fee and course material!

After looking about at a few alternative options, I came across this - http://www.abletoncourses.com/ableton-live-course-2.asp (£149). Seems to cover a lot of the same aspects, with the same idea of practical application - and taught by a certified Abelton Trainer. Plus, at less than a quarter the price Berklee are asking, it seems like the much more accessible option.

Has anyone here been on this course through abletoncourses.com? If so, what were your opinions?

Also, a couple of people mentioned books and DVDs as guides to learning Live. Any recommendations?


I'm sure that between abletoncourses.com's advanced course, the numerous websites/blogs/youtube videos and a reference book/DVD - the same, if not more, could be learned than Berklee's course

Bump!

youtube + these forums = free + better

I've been using Live since version 2.1 and the things I've learned from the manuals,these forums (yes, the ALDJ,too),the covert ops,youtube and my own experiencies were for free. I teach how to use Live here in this city, and from time to time I play with guys who also are teachers here and they spent lots of money in SAE,Berkley,etc.. and I tell you... I beat them all...!!!

Give yourself a little time and read,read,experiment,ask.

my experiences with berklee online were terrible. i didn't take the advanced class though, just the basic one and it was a horrible waste of money in every way.

way more info floating around. i think the only advantage to berklee online is if you have trouble diving into stuff, which is why i thought it would help. but i learned way more just entering a free little online music competition and forcing myself to finish the project in time.

berklee is mailing me to death with their online course commercial offer spam mails.
stay away from the mailing list!

ive hered it wasnt that great, but it depends on the person, some people of course will find some classes to be a waste of time as for others they might find it helpful. Dont they have some example online course to show you what its like? id say look for those and see if its anything you'd be interested in doing.