Point Blank Launches Online Music School

Award-winning music college Point Blank has expanded its repertoire by launching a cutting-edge, online music school. Based upon their popular music production courses, the online classes are fully interactive and allow students from all over the world to study from the comfort of home.

The first twelve week course is enrolling now and classes commence on April 16th. Entitled "Basic Sequencing Skills (MIDI)" the course is aimed at novice Cubase users. Enrolment is now underway and students can reserve a place with a deposit of £100. The full course fee is £595.

As with all Point Blank courses, the classes are delivered in small groups by professional producers and studio engineers. Hosting weekly lectures and online discussion groups will be JC Concato whose production and remix credits include Bjork, Portishead and Renegade Soundwave. Drawing upon JC's extensive experience, the course is a guide to creative production techniques rather than a simple overview of software features.

Once enrolled, students receive a unique user ID which gives them access to extensive course materials including video demonstrations, flash animations, and multiple-choice questions plus a wealth of drum loops, samples, song templates and written notes. The course itself consists of a series of weekly online lessons delivered in an easy step-by-step style. Students gain access to a new lesson each week and will be able to work on course material anytime within that week. Weekly sessions will then allow tutor and students to log on and interact with one another - asking questions, discussing course topics, posting assignments and receiving tutor feedback. As the course progresses, students will also be encouraged to develop collaborations by posting projects and audio files on the secure messageboard.

Point Blank MD Jules Brookes said, "The challenge for us in teaching music production over the web was to maintain a high level of interactivity with the students, so that they feel as involved online as they would if they attended a class at our studios in London. We also wanted to avoid getting bogged down in technical issues so we've created a format that is both stimulating and simple to use."

Point Blank is an Approved Training Centre for Steinberg, Apple and Native Instruments. The first course will be taught on Cubase 4, but is compatible with earlier versions of the software. Additional courses in Logic, Reason and other leading packages will be launched in the coming months.

Course Title: Basic MIDI sequencing
Course starts: April 16th
Course Fee: £595

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System Requirements:

Software:

• PC web browser - Internet Explorer, Netscape or Firefox
• Macintosh web browser - Safari or Firefox
• Macromedia Flash Player
• Apple QuickTime - For Mac of for Windows (free download)
• Steinberg Cubase 4 or Cubase studio 4 (recommended), also compatible with Cubase SX, SL & SE 3 (not with Cubase LE)

Hardware: Minimum Requirements

Mac Users:

• Mac OS X v10.4 or later
• Power Mac G4 1 GHz Minimum (Cubase SX3 PowerPC only) or Core solo 1.5 GHz (Cubase 4 Power PC & Intel Mac)
• 512 MB RAM
• DVD drive required for installation
• Core Audio compatible audio hardware is required
• USB port required for Steinberg Key (copy protection device)
• A MIDI Controller keyboard

PC Users:

• Windows XP Home or XP Professional
• Intel / AMD / Athlon Processor 1.4 GHz minimum
• 512 MB RAM
• DVD drive required for installation
• Windows MME compatible audio hardware is required (ASIO compatible audio hardware required for low latency operation)
• USB port required for Steinberg Key (copy protection device)
• A MIDI Controller keyboard

For more information, visit their web site at www.pointblanklondon.com.