Wednesday 6 April 2011

Point Blank Scholarship Awarded To New Songwriting Talent


As part of our on going inititive to give young and talented musicians the chance to develop their talents and gain entry into an industry that is notoriously difficult to break, Point Blank offers a range of scholarship programmes to help those students whose talents could otherwise go un-nutured and unnoticed.

Our newest student to deservedly be offered one of these scholarship opportunities is Denise McKenzie. A singer and songwriter from the age of 16, she has been writing and recording her songs for the past 6 years and has decided to take an important first step to developing her passion into something that she can grow a career out of.

Speaking about her reasons for decided to take her songwriting to the next level, Denise said:

"After a tough start to the year, I decided that instead of being negative, it was a chance to rebuild, finally do something that I’m passionate about and good at! When I write it feels natural, right and has become everything to me...My dream would be to turn songwriting into a job which I could earn a living from and if I dream bigger (which I often do!) then to write songs for major artists such as Robyn, Rihanna, Jessie J, Beyonce etc. I am keen to learn to write songs of different genres as I currently mainly write r'n'b/pop songs. I do love all types of music, I feel this course would expand my horizons and I have the drive and passion to make the most of it...I am dedicated and determined to finally prove to myself I can fulfill my dreams."


From everyone here at Point Blank, we wish Denise the best of luck with her course and hope she goes on to great things in the future!


To find out if you are elligible for one of our scholarships, please click here and find out more. When applying you must tell us:

- Why you would like to study at Point Blank

- Any relevant musical experience you may have

- Where you want to go with your music career

- Why it should be you who receives the award

- About your background, where you are from etc



Monday 4 April 2011

Former Tutor Hits The Studio With Ronnie Wood




Former Senior College Studio Assistant Ed de Lacy left the homely bussom of Point Blank almost a year ago now, and has gone on to be involved in a great deal of exciting projects in only a short space of time.

He is currently working for digital media production company Somethin' Else Sound Directions Ltd. and has gone from starting as a Junior Sound Engineer to become a fully-fledged Engineer in an ever-expanding Post Production department.

Ed and his colleagues oversee the studio facilities as well as all sorts of output in it's final stages across digital, radio and TV. Big clients include Channel 4, Nissan and Orange.

Sound design, sound recordist work and all other areas within post production; like dubbing mixing and video editing have given Ed an extensive portfolio already.

On the audio side of things Somethin' Else produces radio shows for every BBC station (the Rock Show, Jazz on 3, the Essential Mix, 6Mix, Crissy Criss - the list goes on), commercial shows like the recently double Sony award nominated Ronnie Wood Show on Absolute Classic Rock, as well as countless other external clients from all sectors of the industry.

Ed said that "having gained a superb foundation of knowledge and experience from colleagues and students alike at Point Blank, I could really build on my prior academic experience and become more than just a Sound Engineer - working across a vast variety of projects - from Gardener's Question Time to Giles Peterson - there is definitely never a dull day!"

Tuesday 29 March 2011

Ableton Mixing Dance Music Course Launching Next Week

Point Blank can’t stop the music! Due to massive demand and over-subscribed courses, the team at the world’s premier online school has put the finishing touches to a fastrack guide to mixing your tracks like a true pro. We have enjoyed sustained success with Mixing Dance Music on Logic and have been inundated with requests for an Ableton Live version virtually since the course was inaugurated last year. So, here it is....

Spaced evenly over 4 weeks, the course includes a minimum of 240 minutes video tutorials, 4 x DVR™ , the school’s bespoke 1-2-1 video feedback system and 4 hours of live online masterclasses by your expert pro producer tutor and with your classmates from around the world. While the course is running you gain 24/7 access to forum and the course materials which include over 80 pages of notes and exclusive audio resources to download. After the 4 weeks is up you still have a whole year’s access to this content, and get your track signed to Point Blank Music, who can get your music out on Beatport, Junodownload, iTunes and Amazon. Here is a sample video from the course:



To get your head around how this works and what you get out of it, here is an excerpt from a letter sent to Music Tech Magazine:

"I took Point Blank's Mixing Dance Music course and it was absolutely fantastic. Their methods of combining theory with real life video examples are outstanding. Every week they put up a lesson dealing with topics from the course. There are approximately 30 pages of (easy read) written explanations combined with on average 1 hour of tutorial videos per week backing up the theory (I received as much as 90 mins some weeks). You then have a chat session with your tutor & fellow classmates where you can ask questions. Using the methods & techniques covered in the lesson, you prepare a project (this can be your own or you can use the one provided) which you then upload for the tutor to review. The feedback comes back in the form of a DVR™ (Direct Video Response). This is a short video in which the tutor looks at your project, talks through the things you did well, makes adjustments and provides feedback on how to move forward and improve your project. This video usually lasts about 5 -10 mins (even though the last course I did the tutor gave about 15 - 20 mins feedback each week). You can also check your classmates DVRs and learn even more interesting things. If I had to give a vote out of 10 I would give Point Blank 10/10. I hope that this can help fellow readers to decide on which school would better suit their needs. Cheers, Alfie"

The course has been developed by producer and remixer Danny J Lewis who has releases on labels including Defected, Masters At Work, Ministry of Sound and XL Recordings. It also features contributions from other Point Blank tutors including electro breaks producer Rogue Element (aka Ben Medcalf) and Grammy nominee Mike Koglin (Noys Music). Thanks to this expert input, the course is suitable for producers of any style of dance music.

There are still a few places remaining for the first course starting on 4th April so check out the full brochure at www.pointblankonline.net and get in touch to enrol!

Monday 28 March 2011

Rumer's Drummer at Sound Engineering Course

Recently, we managed to catch up with top session drummer Richard Mark Angelo, and heard what he had to say about Point Blank’s Sound Engineering course, and working with Brit Award nominated artist Rumer, on her debut album.


Richard, sang the praises of Rumer, and her producer; Steve Brown, who he was particularly impressed with. For Richard, Steve’s ability to combine cutting edge recording technology with an old school recording technique, came as a refreshing break from the clean cut, ultra polished feel of modern recording nowadays. What’s more surprising, as Richard highlights, is that Rumer’s was the first album Steve had ever made. This achievement was extra important, as it also went on to sell 500,000 copies and earned Rumer her Brit nomination. Not bad for a first attempt!


Richard also supports the fact that here at Point Blank, we try to give our students an education based in practical, authentic, industry focused experience and knowledge. This is something that is heavily endorsed in our Sound Engineering course, where students are invited to a real recording session at Miloco Studios and get the chance to take part in setting up microphones and being genuinely involved in the recording process overall. This kind of hands on learning is something we cannot emphasise enough as being key to an aspiring sound engineer’s career.


To find out more about our drum sessions at Miloco Studios, watch the video below:



You can also see Richard playing live in the Studio on Rumer's track 'Alfie' below:

To find out more about Point Blank’s Sound Engineering course click here



Friday 25 March 2011

Soundcloud Workshop - Optimizing Your Social Network Marketing Strategy

We recently held an in-depth workshop with Soundcloud’s David Adams, who shared his expertise and debated the best ways to optimize the marketing of your music and broaden your net appeal via the groundbreaking social media platform that has now engulfed previous sites such as Myspace.

In the video below, you can catch up on some of the points highlighted in the session and pick up just a few of the helpful techniques that David and the group discussed. Remember to keep checking the News section and Point Blank Blog to remain up-to-date with what sessions we have marked in the calendar and what special guests will be joining us at the college.




Join our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter to keep up-to-date with the latest masterclasses here at Point Blank.

New Student Releases

As ever here at Point Blank, we love boasting about the achievements that our students have gone on to do. This time, the good news comes from Eddie Averell, a young minimal tech producer from Glasgow who since Point Blank has gone on to have much success producing and releasing his unique brand of hypnotic, minimal house.

Recently his 3 track EP; Telescope No.16, was released by Muchiq Records and made available as a download from Beatport. The three tracks; ‘Monday’, ‘Boak’, and title track ‘Telescope No.16’, are an amazing endorsement of how to really produce Minimal Tech House properly, with their fullness of sound and throbbing beats Eddie has absolutely nailed it with his first release.

Listen to a track from Eddie’s Soundcloud and then be sure to head over to Beatport to buy the EP. At £3.90, quite frankly it would be rude not to.

Eddie is boshing out the tunes at such a lightening pace, that he has yet another EP coming out very soon as well! The release date for ‘Overlay’ is yet to be confirmed, but you can check out one of the tracks below.


Another of our protégées, Paul ‘Mojito’ Satchell, is bringing out his massive floor filler ‘Why Don’t You’ featuring vocals from Janine Johnson under the Daddy Funk label. The release features a host of remixes which give you plenty of choice; with Bassi serving a classic take featuring a grand piano, Doobie J going slightly more pumpin' on his summery version, Ray Paxon delivering the goods on his deep'n'sexy version, DJ Jogador relaxing the vibe on his deep soulful workout, Sole Essential going as deep as it gets on his hypnotic dub and finally Rob Hayes is blessing us with his sun drenched disco-funk dub. Check out the original below and buy it from Traxsource now.


Find out about all of Point Blank students' releases by joining our Facebook, Twitter and Soundcloud.

Wednesday 23 March 2011

Pioneer Equipment Discount for Point Blank

Info PR: 3 I: 4,410,000 L: 0 LD: 206,421,974 I: 450,000Rank: 7 Age: Oct 12, 1999 I: 0 whoissourceRobo: yesSitemap: no Rank: 1586 Price: 989030 Density




Have you just started a new course at Point Blank and need to invest in some new equipment or looking to upgrade your old gear?

As part of our ongoing partnership with Pioneer, the cutting edge music production and DJ equipment developer, we can announce that students, who purchase any Pioneer products from West End DJ, will qualify for a 5% discount!

Get in touch with Luke for more information about the offer: luke@pointblanklondon.com

Join our Facebook page or follow us on twitter to keep up to date with all of our special offers and discounts with big name brands.