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Adventures In Software Training:

Logic Pro At The London School Of Sound

by Silvia Hartmann

Can you imagine a piece of software so complicated that an old hand at computer related doings would finally throw in the towel and go to a three day training just so they stop being completely terrified of it?

Well, the old hand is me and ... the piece of software (well, gigantic collection of various bits of software more like) is Logic Pro.

Let me show you something, for a picture tells you more than a thousand words:

Logic Pro 7 Screenshot Screen Image

What the hell is this, some of you may ask; some of you may already know, but what it is, is a professional music production & editing studio, complete with multitrack recording and synths and mixers and all that stuff that used to be done with knobs and valves in the times back then.

As I'm planning to add music publishing to the DragonRising publishing family (codename DragonTracks for now), and as I'm also planning to run a radio station and produce finally my old folk album as well, I was highly motivated and invested quite a bit in the software and the hardware, and the little house to put it all in - but was completely stymied by this programme.

So I looked around and booked me and Steve Collins, who is also planning on becoming a producer into The London School Of Music for a basic training in Logic Pro.

The reason I did this was because time is NOT money - there is no time lottery and I'm getting on in years. Spend the money on this course, save REAL TIME - months spent pissing around aimlessly, years of endless frustration as well, most likely.

  • A Random Moral: You need hardware, software, AND to know how to use it ...

Now I could write REAMS about the ins and outs of the three days at the training, and not to mention the 4 evenings, mornings and what happened there and all over the place, but I shan't.

I would suffice to say that I easily got my money's worth from the course; that I am extremely glad I did this, because it is as simple as saying that I'm a professional and I have professional objectives, for which I need not just the tools but also the knowledge how to use them.

I'm past messing around now, it's that age thing I guess, and there's work to be done.

I would recommend to anyone who also plans to do something PROFESSIONAL with the Apple Family of music software in the end and who hasn't spent the last 15 years growing up with this software to take the leap of faith and find themselves a professional instructor somewhere, pay them, and get the show on the road.

On this training, which is limited to four participants, we had someone who wanted to become a sound engineer and studio technician as a career; a DJ who wanted to produce his own albums, a composer who also wants to take charge of production, and a music publisher/singer songwriter.

The software and hardware will do all these things - if you can get it going!

The most important thing I personally got out of it was first of all, confidence with the software.

I understand what it is now, how it hangs together and I also know enough now to ask the right questions of the help files, endless manuals and support documentation.

I'm not afraid of it anymore and I'm now instead of crying in a corner in a position to start the real learning by trying to get this stuff to do what I want it to do.

That's a massive improvement and in fact, a paradigm shift, if you want to look at it that way.

  • A Random Moral: If you're serious about what you are doing, then stop messing around, lay out exactly the steps you need to take to move you towards your goal, and then TAKE THEM.

One thing I would say, however.

The course I attended was Apple's own "Apple Technician Logic" certification course.

The object of the exercise in this course is to learn enough about the software to pass an extremely difficult and tedious multiple choice exam. If you don't want or need this exam, I would say that you're better off negotiating private instruction with the resident instructor. That way, you get your needs met in a more personalised way and there is more time to get questions answered and specific concerns addressed.

Here are some pics from the event.

Collins & Hartmann studying logic pro at the London School of Sound

Steve Collins & Silvia Hartmann caught in the act of learning ...

Federico, Proprietor, London School of Sound

Federico of the London School of Sound, hard at work

Students studying Logic Pro at the London School of Sound

Different students, one Logic Pro challenge ...

Hartmann past caring in islington

Logic Pro - Successful Students  and their instructor - Clyde, John, Steve at the London School of Sound

Links:

*Give Federico a ring and talk to him. He's very helpful and will be able to advise you on the best choice of program.

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