June was especially busy at pointblank, with us hosting masterclasses at Sonar +D in Barcelona, Spain and Seazone Music & Conference in Sopot, Poland as well as gearing up to head out to Malta for IMS college – all whilst still curating the huge range of tutorials, events and opportunities you’ve come to expect from us. We had former PB student Sandunes come to our London facility for a live performance masterclass, announced an L.A masterclass with SampleMagic CEO Sharooz Raoofi, created a new sound design tutorial series and have a whole batch of new student successes and opportunities to showcase. Read below to see our monthly round-up from June and stay tuned for plenty more in July!
To see each post in detail, click the corresponding title to be taken through to the page. And for those not already in the know, make sure you’re subscribed to our YouTube channel and following us on Facebook and Twitter so you never miss out on our cutting edge content. Now, roll June’s highlights reel:
Sandunes Live Performance Masterclass
Former pointblank student Sanaya Ardeshir, a.k.a Sandunes, returned to London for the first time since studying on our Interntional Music Production & Sound Engineering Diploma back in 2011, as part of a string of dates across the UK including a gig supporting the mighty Bonobo. As a part of her UK trip, Sanaya joined us at pointblank to host a live performance masterclass exclusively for our students and graduates at our Orsman Road studio facility.
Fred P Interview & Track Breakdown w/ Exclusive Remix Competition
We were joined by NYC native Fred P for an interview and breakdown of his track ‘The pointblank Project’, which we’ve lined up an exclusive remix competition for you all. In the above session, pointblank’s Carly Hordern spoke to Fred P about his background in music, discussing his love for the London scene and the connection he feels to it as well as talking about his new label, Private Society. He also lets us in on his creative process, breaking down a track for us and sharing his essential tips for up-and-coming producers. We hear about his move from a mainly analog to digital/analog set-up and learn what his favourite bits of hardware and plugins are and how they fit into his workflow. Watch the video above and check out the full details for the competition here.
pointblank & Beatport Present: Beats in School Competition w/ Circus Recordings
We’ve partnered with Beatport to bring you a brand new producer competition. The lucky winner of the ‘Beats in School’ competition will land a one-year mentorship from top industry organisations, an official release with a label that best fits their sound and hardware mentoring from a list of product leaders including ADAM Audio, Roland, Korg and more. As an official partner, pointblank will be providing the winner with a comprehensive production course to assist in establishing the Beats in School winner within the industry. Learn more about the competition at www.beatport.com/beatsinschool. In the above video, pointblank expert instructor John Watson shows you how to make a track in Ableton for the Circus Recordings competition using sounds & loops from Engineering Samples RED sound pack ‘Analog Tech House Vol. 1’.
Kells – Face Ventura: Out Now on PB Music! (Stream & Download)
We’re back with a fresh cut! ‘Face Ventura’ is an ethereal electronic banger from our latest PB Music signing, Kells. Kells is a producer, musician and composer based in East London with productions rooted in house, techno and broken beat. Mixing organic and club elements, keys and guitar noodling can be found weaving through the electronics and ambience of his tracks. You can purchase ‘Face Ventura’ on iTunes and stream it on Spotify>
pointblank x Pirate Studios Live Sessions: Imogen
pointblank have teamed up with Pirate Studios to bring you the next instalment of Pirate Live, an initiative to promote up-and-coming musicians across the UK. Having begun the initiative at the beginning of 2017, Pirate Studios have already amassed 2.3 million views on Pirate Live streams, giving you an indication of the calibre of breakthrough talent that features. For the latest stream, pointblank student Imogen performed alongside Kincaid and Sinàl on 28th June in what proved to be an excellent showcase of underground dance music talent.
Friday Forum Live (FFL!): Arturia Oberheim SEM V
For this edition of Friday Forum Live (FFL!), regular plugin test-dummy Carly Hordern was joined by Sound Design instructor Paul Ressel to pick apart Arturia’s Oberheim SEM V. Paul teaches Sound Design as a part of our BA (Hons) Music Production & Sound Engineering Degree.
The SEM was Oberheim’s first analogue synth, a keyboardless module with two oscillators, a filter, ADR envelopes and an LFO. Over the years, Oberheim introduced a keyboard and an analogue sequencer into the SEM, leading to two, four and eight voice models. The filter was a key feature on the SEM, it’s 12dB/oct design was switchable between low-pass, high-pass and band-pass modes and its state-variable design meant it could blend through every possible shape of filter. Arturia has added a load of new features to put a fresh spin on the classic, although purists can still get that classic SEM sound. Another LFO has been added, a sub-oscillator, portamento and arpeggiator allow even greater flexibility and performance options. Watch the video for the full breakdown.
If you’d like to study at pointblank, we offer courses for those at any level. Our BA (Hons) Music Production & Sound Engineering Degree in London is one of the most comprehensive courses out there, with modules covering mixing, sound design, production and much more. We also offer an online alternative, in the form of our new online BA (Hons) Music Production & Sound Engineering Degree. We are currently offering a huge 35% off online courses and a free copy of Logic Pro X/Ableton Suite until July 17th, so make sure you enrol soon! For more information, contact our course advisors on +44 20 7729 4884. If you are a resident of the USA, you can reach us on 323 282 7660.
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