Berklee College Cubase 7 Course - Any grads here?

Cubase
1

Hi.

As much as I appreciate the YouTube videos that Steinberg and others have donated to the web (thanks Mr. Honeycutt - you got me going, at least), and the 1000 pages of Cubase manuals to grind through, I’m starting to feel the need for some professional guidance. I don’t think I can stand another YouTube hour of someone randomly clicking all over a very complex mix console without explaining exactly what they’re doing. I’m new to both Cubase and to using a DAW. (The last time I edited music, it was with tape and a razor blade on a TASCAM multitrack. I’ve been out of the game for a while while working on a business degree and making a living. Time flies and things went digital while I was busy elsewhere. )

The Cubase course on the Berkleemusic.com website is well over $1000. My question to anyone who took and passed that course is - do you get great value from that kind of investment? Does it save you time and agony and give you real world help? Has anybody here taken “Producing Music With Cubase” from Berklee? If so, what’s your opinion of the instructor, the curriculum, and the usefulness of the course?

Thanks from Kelowna, BC, Canada.

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Aloha O, IMHO,

At $1000 ask yourself how serious are you about doing this?

Are you hoping one day to compete with the ‘Big Boys’ or is
this just a hobby for you?

Maybe even a serious hobby.

Now that you have watched all the free vids (utube/Cubase etc)
and before spending $1000, perhaps try out one or two paid tutorials.

There are several good ones out there and they may give you all the info you need.

Modern DAWS do it all. And many users will never need all the features available.

Folks doing ‘beats’ may never need the score/notation feature.

And those doing only MIDI may never need to learn how to ‘comp audio’
or xfade tracks.

Perhaps a paid tut might help sort out your direction and they
don’t cost ton’s o’ bucks.

HTH (hope this helps)
{‘-’}

BTW
from Toronto here. lived in Vancouver for four years
and and I loved my time visiting Kelowna.
Of course it was because of a girl. :slight_smile:

3

Oh my…gotta give you my 2 cents. Sorry

Your “story” reflects my situation almost to the letter but to provide a view of one possibility if you flounder around as I do. I too had a house, 2 college educations to support , a wife and kids plus a host of things that go along with that regarding family duties. When I picked up my guitar again it was 25 years later. So many of the plans I had fell to the wayside.

While I absolutely love sitting and playing ,recording and jamming with local musicians, there is no way I can begin to learn all of the complexities of this software. I still have a few 10" reel to reel decks and allied equipment sitting in a corner (big corner).

For me it has been a 7-8 year experience to get some nice stuff on track as a solo guitarist with an occasional few invited player. I bought my first Cubase around 2004. I looked into the Berklee program about 2 yrs. ago but I felt I could not commit the time and energies to make it worth while for me…at my stage of the game. My interests are diverse, I still have too many other things on my schedule that prevent the dedication I felt would be required for a successful attempt in the program. Failing that it becomes another pricey un-used toy .

Curteye lays it out in a practical way…I know most of his ideas apply to me. Like some of those questionnaires that say …" If you answered yes to any of these questions". His suggestion to try out a paid tutorial is a good one and that I have done.

Today I have a huge log splitter under construction in the barn, hurricane sandy did a major tree number here. an old motorcycle restoration going on in the garage, three acoustic guitar bodies in molds and a bunch of tops and backs to carve, laminated maple necks hanging from everywhere and still have my regular job and this crazy vision of recording some music. All of that plus my aging parents and my regularly scheduled life…

This forum has provided me with some very excellent aids and a few really nice people i have come to know. Steinberg has always responded to computer issues if I had them. I do have an observation though that will not be popular . As a support forum, there are so many out there that happily offer ideas and suggestions but some elite users seem to think that you have the manual…use it. Like you mention, sometimes you just want to do some small thing and the 1000 page book does not seem like something you have the head for. Should you ask a question you run the risk of having a great answer or a unfavorable comment dumber than your question. Not too encouraging as I see it but then, I drive in New Jersey so nothing bothers me :laughing:

I have recently added Cubasis to an iPad trying to create a mode of portability for recording a few sessions outside of my own basement studio setup. That adds a tad more to my confusion but I am quite surprised at the really good outcomes so far and the ease of use from my Cubase experiences. Something to be said for congruity.

Sorry to write a long winded post …I read these forums almost every night and it shows me even how much more I don’t have a clue about. Its also a deep passion…It’s a muddy steep upward climb to gain that kind of high end skill set for a professional use. But that is why I’m here still chipping away at it. Additionally one option is to attend a Club Cubase presentation. The guitar center in north NJ has one in my area but I never get to make it due to obligations. The topics are listed on the Steinberg site and they always look appetizing. I really want to get there sometime. Best of luck to you. If you do get involved through Berklee …post an update. Al

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Thanks for the thoughts and encouragement, gents. You obviously know the feeling of looking up at the Cubase mountain and thinking “what’s the smartest way to climb this thing?”

I started by going through all the introductory videos and making notes, then trying things out, with limited success. An example: in the introductory YouTube vids, there’s a spot where Walt Honeycutt opens an instrument (Groove Agent One, I think) loads it with a sound, and then closes the instrument. If I close a window in any other piece of software, it’s content is closed and gone. Yet it was still in the track. Then he threw Beat Designer into it. And then closed it, too. Logically, how can a closed instrument still be available for use? Don’t answer that question. I get it now, I think. Once it’s in the rack and loaded, it’s in the rack available to bang and crash along with “My Love’s Gonna Get You” as appropriate, even if it’s no longer visible.

But at first it was baffling.

The “try a tutor first” idea is a good one. The trick is finding someone really familiar with Cubase, local, who can teach. I looked into the local studios around town but they are all ProTools based, so I may have to widen my search and make it a “study vacation” in Vancouver or Calgary. There is a Club Cubase chapter in both cities, so maybe that’s the place to start.

As you both suggest, our most precious resource is time, and as much as I enjoy exploring and learning music, Cubase is only one piece of my pie of music interests. The Berklee course caught my eye for two reasons. First, the school itself has a solid reputation. If I was young and single, me and my guitar would be there soaking it in. But I’m old, so that’s not gonna happen! And second, and more to the point, for that price, can their experts teach me enough of value in 12 weeks online to save me thousands of hours of asking and going down blind alleys and wasting time? I’ve learned that many things we get for free are usually worth that price, but investing in expertise - even expensive expertise - can be worthwhile simply for the time it saves you.

My goal is to be able to record acoustic and electric guitars over composed beds of piano, drum, and synth parts. I’d like to be able to input those parts via some keyboard playing (I’m primarily a guitar player, but also write on keyboard), and by handwritten scores in either the MIDI and/or Score editor. A Cubase course that could show me how to quickly create bed tracks of ii-V-I chord changes using some decent piano and string sounds would be a decent start for me.

So I guess my question can expand a bit to “If you have taken Cubase training, what did you take and did it help? And would you recommend it?” Which paid tutorials on the web have people found to be of value? Are there any decent Cubase 7 method books available yet?

Thanks again for the welcome and the supportive comments, and thanks-in-advance for your expertise and advice. Much appreciated!

Cheers!

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I think any investment in courses or tutorials in relation to Cubase 7 is a mistake. Cubase 7 is still under construction, and things are changing. Any teaching material could be quickly outdated - even the operating manual is out of date - never was completely up to date in regard to Cubase 7 (take MemZap for instance featured prominently in one of the Steinberg tutorials - not even mentioned in the Operating Manual!). The manual will however take you a long way, and the free online tutorials - even those for V5 and V6 may still apply, all of these will help you get to grips with C7, but I wouldn’t make any large outlay in cash for this information at the moment.
Also, you might check this out (with a grain of salt of course):
“Are Audio/Music Schools Worth It?”

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HI,

I have also just purchased an upgrade to Cubase 7 and while looking for professional training came up with this option which is very reasonable.

http://www.macprovideo.com/ has online courses for most every pro music software DAW including Cubase 7

It priced as either an HD downlaod of the Cubase 7 course for about 20 dollars or a $25 a month subscription for unlimited courses, or $199.00 for a full year of unlimited training on hundreds of programs.

There are a few free Cubase 7 videos for you to sample on their website.

Here is link to the article on the Steinberg trainer that led me to this site.

The Berklee courses may be good, but $1,000 is lot to spend on something you will have to take time learning at each step to master each feature and concept. Probably better at your own pace with these professional videos. I am planning to join in few weeks as my schedule clears.

I agree that the program is undergoing changes and any info could be outdated, that’s why this subscription based model appeals to me as new content is always being created and uploaded. (no, I don’t work there)

I would like to know if there any other good options out there.

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Another possibility:

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$1000!!! Thats just ridiculous! I’ve read the syllabus on Berklee.com and all that stuff AND MORE is being taught by the macprovideo and groove3 videos. Trust me you cant go wrong with those tutorials, and they cost almost nothing.

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Practice, practice, practice. Tutorials are helpful but they never cover the particular situations you find yourself tackling, because we all work differently and we all have different needs and requirements.

Don’t let your DAW bottle your creativity, bend it to accommodate your musical ideas. Do not limit your inspiration because you wouldn’t know how to do something with Cubase. You’ll eventually find out how. And if you get stuck, that’s what forums are for…

$1,000 for a Cubase course is ridiculous.

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Hey Orion, greetings from Van.

For learning Cubase specifically could save yourself a thousand bucks by treating the Cubase manual as a course textbook, going through it from cover to cover, taking notes with Cubase running to try out examples. You’ll find lots of features you wouldn’t otherwise and really get a handle on its’s capabilities.

For engineering in general, there are great tutorials at RSO that go step by step into great detail on the use of tools. Having graduated with a 2 year certificate in engineering from CDIS in Burnaby, with a student loan that took a few years to pay off, I can say with some confidence that RSO’s videos can help you understand the use of tools better than a classroom with really great teachers because their time is so divided among many students, and courses must be generalized. You won’t get a couple of weeks on the specific application of compressors or reverbs, for instance.

Those tutorials (some are better than others, some are very basic) are very affordable compared to school tuitions. You can use the money you save to buy tools which you will need if you are to practice methods, where the real understanding occurs.

I’ve checked out a few different online courses and really think RSO gave the best bang for my buck. Watch too for sales. It’s all using Cubase.
http://recordingschool.biz/homerecording/

Hope that helps.

P.S. Don’t let the ‘homerecording’ url turn you off before you check it out. There are free samples. This teacher is a pro, giving pro techniques and trade secrets.

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Thanks folks.

If I may summarize what I’ve read in your responses so far:

The short answer to my original post is:
“No. No one here has taken the Berklee College Cubase training.”

Very few respondents have invested college-level tuition fees and time to take DAW-specific training, as a course on its own, or as part of a music production degree. With a few exceptions, most here are self-taught. (Some even think paying for training at all is a waste of time.)

Others feel that $1000+ for a single course is high. I suppose that depends on what your goals are. Check any North American College or University music production school’s fees, let alone one in the top 10 like Berklee or Full Sail. Look at the “Per Credit Hour” cost of the music production course here: http://www.fullsail.edu/admissions/online-tuition as just one example. Cost and value are not the same thing. Those schools better be providing pretty awesome courses at those prices.

Even those who have been professionally trained at a digital arts college (like ulesto) recommend using online training resources first.

So thanks again to everyone for your feedback. I will look into the web-based training you’ve all suggested.

Cheers to all, and thanks again for the advice.

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Point blank have some really good instructional videos, and I believe they do courses too, 8 weeks if I’m not mistaken.
No experience with those though.