Another month, another batch of former PB students making some serious waves out there in the real world. This is where we show off – like proud parents – recent success stories to give you insight into how music industry careers are established and nurtured right here at pointblank. This month we get the lowdown on what’s popping in the world of tipped Berlin-based producer Apollo X, hit up Sergio T in Greece where he’s blowing up and get to know rising house star Furtherance. Want to be pointblank’s next big success story? Check out our London, Los Angeles and Online course pages to begin your own journey to the very top.
Apollo X (KRANK, Kaiser Wilhelm Records – Music Production Ableton Live Certificate, part of the Music Production Master Diploma)
Chris Lynn was living in Austin, TX and doing his best to teach himself how to make electronic music in a city that’s known for its indie credentials. Tired of watching free tutorials and going down rabbit holes on music forums, he decided to take the plunge and sign up to pointblank for the Music Production Ableton Live Certificate. “From the minute I started the course, I felt like this was what I was meant to do. The lessons were really easy to digest and I couldn’t wait to do the homework when I got home from my day job,” he says. “The way they block the courses together really helps build on the knowledge as you go. From advanced Ableton skills and plugins to composition, musical theory, arranging, and mixing down, pointblank taught me everything I needed to start making my own tracks. Plus, the mentors are actually producers whose tracks I play out in my own sets. It was like working with some of my idols.”
Excitingly, having graduating from PB a little over a year ago, Chris has not only found the confidence to refresh his career opportunities, but his life too. “I felt so inspired that I left Austin and moved to Berlin. I’m now in the heart of the beast doing what I love to do.” His strain of primitivist, jacking house has landed him a montly residency at a party called KRANK with Larry Tee alongside gigs all over Germany, sharing bills with his favourite artists. What’s more, he has set up his own label Kaiser Wilhelm Records and begun recording an album. “It’s like a dream. Yes, it’s a hustle, but pointblank gave me the foundation and the confidence I needed to build my career. If I hadn’t signed up for that first pointblank course, I’d probably still be in Austin dreaming about the life that I’m living today.”
Furtherance (Machine Made Records – pointblank x Defected DJ & Producer Course)
UK-based producer Edward Shepherd first began producing at age 16. The early start has paid off; he’s DJ’d at Ministry of Sound, Pacha, Electric Brixton and Electronic Session Boat parties alongside Man Without a Clue and Tim Cullen. However, he recently took part in our first ever pointblank x Defected DJ & Producer course last month as a means to further build and refine his skill set and get insight into the music industry: “pointblank gave such a great experience in learning something completely new,” he explains. “I was able to competently walk away understanding it fully to an industry standard.”
Now he’s dialling back the gigs to concentrate on production. Under his Furtherance guise, he creates the kind of chunky, bass-heavy house music that’s destined for main rooms the world over. He’s already had released on US label Sector 7, Sammy Porter’s label Machine Made Records and Soundcloud label Empire and is looking forward to further building his profile and putting what he’s learnt at PB into practice. “The pointblank tutors are amazing,” he says. “The masterclasses gave such a huge insight into what the industry has to give us.”
Sergio T (My Group, Planetworks – Electronic Music Composition, part of the Music Production Master Diploma)
Born and raised in Katerini Pierias, Sergio Tanidis began composing his own songs on guitar as a teenager and landed a contract with one of the biggest record labels in Greece just a couple of years later. He broke through in 2014 with his radio hit ‘Don’t Go’ – the same year he began studying online at pointblank on the Electronic Music Composition course. His 2015 tracks ‘Fighting for Love’ and ‘Secret’ repeated the huge success of ‘Don’t Go’, with the latter storming the Shazam charts in Greece and Turkey. Alongside his production, he is also in demand as a DJ, with a handful of residencies at clubs and bars in Thessaloniki and other cities across Greece.
“My experience at pointblank was amazing,” says Sergio of his time studying with pointblank. “So direct and to the point in all the information they can provide. It feels like you are considered as a person who has potential in the business.”
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