Is production school REALLY neccessary?

[Barbie Beats]

Myself and the few BIG mainstream producers know are all self taught. Then I see friends ripping their hair out for degrees in the field...are all those hrs and all that tuition $ money REALLY make a difference. I had a friend who is a student ask me what a node was. I almost died. Wtf r they teaching ppl?? Smh what do u think?

 

[thedreampolice]

and a bunch of mainstream producers have music degrees. IDK its tuff. I studied at Berklee college of music and it made a huge difference. Even though I had YEARS of studio and touring experience going in, it really took me to the next level. I think both are valid. But WTF is a node? Are you talking about a Logic Node?? Not sure.

 

[Cleverwon]

I think she meant note.

 

[Barbie Beats]

No I meant nodes for automation...and yes I think it's a Logic thing.

P.S. I went to school for music theory but never finished.... I also dropped outta fashion design school. Heehee

 

[Formant024]

For production, not since the existence of daw's/computers but it could help some speed up the process

For mixing, recording yes, most people dont have acces to a complete studio like educations have which is a big deal.

Nodes in automation are the points in the graphical line where you make changes in the automation channel.

"Logic node" is also a piece of software you could install on another mac in your network to run native logic plugins from so you could free up cpu on the machine that runs logic itself

 

[thedreampolice]

yea, I see. I was thinking Logic nodes ETC. I think most people call them automation points. See vector mixing.

 

[Formant024]

vector mixing ? i only know that as a function controller for modulars similar to xy pads but with with several crosspoints or the way yamaha implemented it in the sy-35 etc or korg wavestation also uses vector synthesis.

but yeah, obviously you could call those cross points nodes too

 

[Greg Savage]

Myself and the few BIG mainstream producers know are all self taught. Then I see friends ripping their hair out for degrees in the field...are all those hrs and all that tuition $ money REALLY make a difference. I had a friend who is a student ask me what a node was. I almost died. Wtf r they teaching ppl?? Smh what do u think?

It's such a subjective topic because everyone learns differently. I have friends that have gone to huge prestigious schools and their production skills aren't great nor is their mixing.

Whether you go to school for this or not it really comes down the individual because at the end of the day you still have to get your skills up to par and continuously improve. The school can't give you drive or responsibility

Some instructors at these schools don't teach every application nor to they teach everything in the application. I make a great living from this shit and I didn't know what a 'Node' was.

Some people benefit from schooling (the traditional way) and others don't.

 

[God]

No. For production it comes down to talent and spending enough time to learn your particular production tool (the DAW) and other related technology inside and out.

There are so many unemployed people that graduated from music production/engineering schools. I don't think it's worth the money. Intern at a studio and try to work your way up.

I would say yes to mixing and mastering, though. You really have to know the technical aspects inside and out. But again, with enough studio time and the right mentor, you could learn this without having to pay for college.

Time and talent. How much time are you willing to put in and how much talent do you have? You can't teach a producer who has the right ear for melody or has the right feeling in their mind to make your arrangement sound good. Rick Rubin, Dr. Dre, Kanye West, Skrillex, Mutt Lange, Bob Rock, Butch Vig... the list goes ON and ON about folks who never went to school for production.

Too many people try to "break down" and make this stuff scientific. It is if you're messing with mastering and mixing to an extent, but talent is not a mathematical formula.

I think finding the right mentor is more important than going to music production/engineering school.