First off, Sonic Academy is absolutely fantastic. This is such a great site, a great resource and has really taught me a lot. There is one thing which I feel, needs to be said and that is to truly get the most out of this site, you shouldn’t just follow step by step instructions, but you need to UNDERSTAND what is going on in all these tutorials.
Some people need to be able to copy a model and have step by step on how to build a track. This is especially true with synthesis where I feel folks can fall into the mode of “ok, I’m going to follow Phil here, I see he moved this knob to 0.6 etc”. This site provides an excellent synthesis tutorial as well as compression and reverb and some nice chord and basic music theory as well as other tech tips.
The key here is to have a solid fundamental understanding of the basics, of all the different FX, of synthesis, of drums and understand what each of them is. Once you get this, then the world really becomes wide open. And then, the examples of how to build tracks in a specific style, become eye opening because you see how they apply all the different “fundamental techniques” to create a track in a particular style.
This same method of learning applies to sports, to martial arts, to computer programming etc. Fundamentals, basics, how everything relates to each other. Then to see the applications of this knowledge into whole songs, into the whole, is really where this site shines, and is really the key to help you grow as a composer/producer.
When listening to all styles it is then very important to listen to the sounds and think of what oscillators are being used, lfo’s etc etc. When you hear a build regardless of the genre think what FX are going into it (filter delay+reverb for example).
Therefore, I think that the “fundamental” tutorials which many peeps will skip, are perhaps even more important than creating that one sound they love in a track or how to sound exactly like some other producer. The tutorial on synthesis 101 is top notch, I’d say the best on this site in terms of overall usefulness, compression is excellent, same with music theory/reverb and some of the tech tips on risers/sweeps/builds etc. These are things that are used in all genres.
Just like here at work (I work in databases) there are people who can execute the processes very well, if they have a set of instructions in front of them on how to perform the task. However, there are those that UNDERSTAND how everything relates to each other, and therefore are more flexible.
Well said Mate 
Tbh i think sonics style of teaching may cover any concern you have. The way Phil does the tutorials he usually explains what hes doing and why he is doing it. Im talking about the latest few tutorials from him anyways. Mabey the early tutorials are just step by step i cant remember and then you shouldn just blindly follow along and should do some research on different aspects covered to fully understand something. Also if you feel you are completely stuck then first search google for a day, search these forums, ask us idiots, ask in subscriber support. I feel if people followed that then there would be alot more knowledgable people and forums that dont have 100 topics asking the same thing. People are so after the instant easy fast reply answer but what they dont realise is that its hurting them more than its helping. Give a man a fish he will eat for a day, teach him to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. This is so true here because if you discover something by yourself and work to learn the processes its soooooo much more sticks in your mind as apposed to some forum whore just giving you an answer being aggrevated because hes answered the particular question 1000000 times.
+1 to this post… awesome insight…
I was one of those individuals you are referring to when you talk about following steps from the tutorial. although it’s helped me understand what is going on in the tutorial I’m working on at that particular moment, I found it difficult to apply the things I learned to anything else. Since then, I’ve taken a step back and have revisited the basics to continue to understand what each knob and parameter does so I can apply it more appropriately.