I have had the tools for producing for around 2 years now though have never really got into it. Heart just hasn’t been in it in the past year for example. However past week or so i’ve decided i really want to do something now all my uni work is done for the summer and i have nothing to do. I have:
Macbook Pro 15" - 8gb ram, intel 2.53ghz intel core i5
Logic Pro 9
M Audio Axiom Pro 49
Genelec 8020 monitors
My favourite bands in music atm are the likes of Orbital, Leftfield, Underworld. Basically a lot of 90s electronica. Todays electronica based around tech house, minimal, dubstep (the scuba, burial, joy orbison, darkstar, joker end, not the doctor p style which are basically awful producers). Besides all that, i do listen to a lot else like 60s/70s rock and good 00s indie. My taste can even get quite poppy at times in that i like Robyn and despite Fresh’s latest tune being away from his usual jungle/dnb in the poppy Louder, i do still like it, and despite being quite underground mainly in my taste i don’t mind a slightly commercialised sound and tend to edge towards something easier to listen to when i have come up with production ideas before. So that’s that, i guess i’m pretty open minded to doing a lot.
But i wanted to know is it worth it? I already subscribe to Future Music and have done for about 2 years now, so i have a lot of stuff to look up on. But what i’m mostly struggling on is the getting started and getting an actual song and arranging it. I struggle to expand on ideas which can come quite easily sometimes. I am a Grade 8 pianist, though i suck at improvisation and that doesn’t really play much of a part but theory wise i know that side quite well as a result. I mean, what do the videos hold? Do they hold much different to basic tutorial vids in FM or vids i find on the internet anyway? I am quite skint, hence the questions. And also should something like Gold be considered? What else does that give, as it is quite a bit extra. It seems a bit vague with that it says it gives discounts etc. Also is there any discount codes as there are for both plans around the internet?
Cheers for the help guys, much appreciated 
Anyone?
I’m unsure about the lack of Logic tutorials. I mean, i do have a copy of Ableton 7, but i’ve never really used it. I guess learning to use other software from scratch isn’t a bad thing though, but i’ve found it looks really hard to use when i’ve tried it in the past? Another thing is the songs posted up by SA aren’t that great it seems. Any comment on this? I guess for me mostly it’s learning the different parts of production and arrangement, and the whole producing part. But still unsure haha!
I’m also confused at the pricing. Some courses are priced at £29.99. Surely you may as well pay the extra £5 and get loads more? Or am i missing something? Also, what is the real big different between the £34.99 option and the £99.99 option. I can’t really see what sells the expensive one as so good? Cheers
I think it is worth it. Reading FM is fine but it doesn’t actually teach you how to produce. The courses here do, but you will have to put the work in yourself for it to be worth it.
You are right, buying one course isn’t really worth it, a sub is much better. As for the Logic thing I can’t help, I use Ableton and there are a lot of Ableton courses here.
My advise is subscribe, if you aren’t sure then just go for 3 months silver option, then start with the simple courses and work up. Then make finished tracks, even if they are not good enough to do anything with you learn a huge amount by finishing.
[quote]benharris92 (05/07/2011)[hr]Anyone? Also, what is the real big different between the £34.99 option and the £99.99 option. I can’t really see what sells the expensive one as so good? Cheers :)[/quote]
It isn’t clear on the compare screen anymore, but the silver £34.99 is per quarter and the gold £99.99 is for a year!
Thank you. I guess £35 isn’t much, and even if i didn’t find it helped much it’s going to be better than nothing. It’s not like dishing out £700 with point blank online school and then realising you get bored of it 
So i will go for the 3 month option, work at the logic tutorials. And then once i have done that start on Ableton. The DJing part of it has always interested me on that, so yes i’m looking forward to this. What i’ve read is what i expected on SonicAcademy. It’s not terribly advanced, but teaches the basics well and is basically what i’m after. I’m good with the theory part and the ideas. It’s just the producing part which discourages me. Hopefully paying for something will keep me at it for a few hours a day too, so hopefully by mid september when i go back to Uni i should be a lot better than now. 
OK I am probably going to get shot down for this but my advise would be start with Ableton not Logic. Ableton makes it very easy to get your ideas down quickly and there are a lot of tutorials on here for it. Don’t get me wrong, Logic is brilliant but if you have 3 months to learn in I think you are going to get further with Ableton.
Start with the basic tutorials and put aside a large amount of time to work on music. Getting good takes time.
I will definitely be utilising every Logic and Ableton video. I was thinking of starting with Logic as i know it pretty well, and then move on to Ableton once i’ve exhausted the few Logic videos there are. Getting to know two pieces of software should only be good for me i guess
The subscription here is Definatley worth it 
[quote]Mussi81 (05/07/2011)[hr]The subscription here is Definatley worth it [/quote]
Yeah, that is what I was trying to say!
yah already spent the money on production stuff. gotta spend on how 2 learn as well…
sure as hell beats paying thousands of dollars to an online school or college…
Aye definitely. I’ve looked over a couple of the beginner Logic courses so far and it just showed me a lot. Whilst i learned a bit by just going on my own there was a lot of stuff i missed or wasn’t aware of. So basically 2 vids through and it’s worth the money for me as it’s shown me a few of the basics which is what i needed to know. Looking forward to checking the dnb video next as that is more advanced and so advance quite a bit Then after i’ve exhaused my logic stuff i will try again on Logic and try some stuff, and then head on to Ableton and try the many courses on there