Danny Rampling Masterclass – To be Streamed Live Online!

The time is drawing closer to the legend that is Danny Rampling coming into Point Blank to deliver not one but TWO FREE masterclasses!

He will be talking about how to succeed in the music industry to celebrate the launch of his great new book titled ‘Everything you Need to Know About DJing and Success’. On top of this we will be streaming the lectures through our Livestream channel so everyone can also watch live online even if you cannot make it to the studios.

*Please note the masterclass times have changed since our initial announcement*

Both masterclasses will be on 16th March, the first will now be at 11.15am (GMT) and is open to Point Blank students only. The second is at 12.30pm (GMT) and is open to everyone, a great way to pick up some tips from an artist who has seen it all whilst checking out the Point Blank studios if you haven’t yet been. Both will last roughly an hour and there will be a chance to ask him questions at the end.

This will be the first masterclass we have ever streamed through our Livestream channel. We are very excited about this new method of sharing knowledge to the furthest flung corners of the globe! Head to livestream.com/pointblankonline on 16th March to catch the action.

There are only a few places remaining for the masterclasses, so please get in touch with davidm@pointblanklondon.com ASAP to book yours.

Point Blank Seminars at MusicConnex Conference 2011

Whether you’re a DIY bedroom producer or an industry veteran, MusicConnex will encourage and inspire you to develop your skills and broaden your business awareness.

The conference – April 19th-21st - will showcase over 40 session and seminars exploring every aspect of the modern music industry and boasts some of the leading figures in the business, as well as a host of the newest, most exciting, emerging talent. Some of the companies getting involved with the event include EMI, Youtube, Spotify, MTV, and Soundcloud.

And we are excited to announce two seminars that Point Blank will be directly participating in.

- A live online music production masterclass with head of course development at Point Blank, Danny J Lewis (Defected, Enzyme Black)

- Also Managing Director Jules Brookes will join a panel to discuss the role of music education establishments in the music industry

With other seminar titles including; How to get signed, How to maximise Social Networks, Digital Retail, Production, and New Platforms, this is an event not to be missed if you are serious about a career in the music industry!

And not only this, Point Blank students (and all readers of this blog) can get themselves to the event for a special price of £49!

To get this special discount simply visit musicconnex.co.uk and enter the following code when purchasing: PBLANKDEAL1

Follow MusicConnex on Twitter
visit the MusicConnex Facebook page

Great Opportunity to Gain Experience in the Music Industry

An exciting opportunity has arisen for you to gain some experience at a growing record label, Needwant.

They release the excellent Future Disco compilation series and are home to artists such as Kaine, The Revenge, Kathy Diamond, Sean Brosnan, Massimiliano Pagliaria, The Project Club and Mario Basanov. They approached us see if there are any Point Blank students out there who would be up for the challenge.

Head to our Music Industry Jobs page to find out more about the job and how to apply.

Danny Rampling Online Masterclass in 2011

Danny Rampling has been a stalwart of the UK dance music scene pretty much from day dot. Along with the likes of Paul Oakenfold and Nicky Holloway, he is credited as one of the group of DJs who brought the Balearic rave scene back to these shores from Ibiza in 1987. Since then his production and DJ career has gone from strength to strength having promoted his own seminal night ‘Shoom’ before going on to hold down long-running prime time slots on Kiss FM and BBC Radio 1, as well as remix many UK and international artists.

So we were absolutely delighted to hear that Danny has endorsed Point Blank in his book, ‘Everything you Need to Know About DJing and Success’. He said “Point Blank is one of the best-known and authoritative DJ and music production audio schools in the UK”.

The book is not only a comprehensive guide to the technical aspects of DJing but also how to achieve success from a business and psychological perspective, whatever your chosen life path may be. It is an inspiring read and will undoubtedly give you the confidence and know-how to make that progression from bedroom DJ to professional. We highly recommend you pick up a copy available at almost half price here. Watch Danny talking about his book in the video below:

We are also very excited to announce that Danny will be giving an live online music industry masterclass through our Livestream channel in early 2011 so keep your eyes peeled for more news on that.

Guest Masterclass from Beatles' Former Sound Engineer

Big news just in! Our final guest masterclass of the year will feature Richard Digby Smith, chief sound engineer for Island Records during the record industry’s 1970’s heyday. Since then he has had a prolific career as a musician and recording engineer for an incredibly diverse range of artists before going on to design, construct and manage his own seven studio complex in West London. Although the list of artists he has worked with is far too long to go through in its entirety, some notable names include The Beatles, Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Cliff, Grace Jones, Phil Spector and Aswad!

The Beatles - Amongst the many famous artists Richard has worked with

Having recorded at Abbey Road, Olympic Studios Real World and Sunset Sound, he has a serious amount of knowledge and experience to share about the music industry. The lecture will take place at 1 pm on Friday 10^th December and is free for all Point Blank students. Places are limited and allocated on a first come first serve basis so email us now to reserve your place. Make sure you don’t miss this great opportunity to learn about working at the very highest level as a professional sound engineer!

Check out all of our Sound Engineering Courses.

Make Your Career in Music a Reality

If you regularly read this blog, we can safely assume that you love music, it is your passion and it would be a dream to make a living out of it somehow. But the reality is that it is not easy to make ends meet as an up and coming musician simply by selling music and playing gigs. Being a talented musician is rarely enough these days, you need entrepreneurial skills and a business minded outlook if you are going to maximise your earning power.

At Point Blank we recognise the importance of this for those who are aiming for a career in the music industry, which is why we have developed the Music Business Course as a core module of the 2 year Diploma. To supplement the concepts and theories taught on this module, we want to lend a further helping hand by inviting you to join our affiliate program, one of the many alternative revenue streams out there to be exploited.

Affiliate programs are common throughout the Internet and offer website owners an additional way to profit from their websites. Affiliates generate traffic and sales for commercial websites and in return receive a commission payment.

So if you run a website or blog you could be earning up to £70+ for every person that clicks through from your site and ends up booking a Point Blank course! The program is open to anyone, whether you have studied at Point Blank or not and the commission is applicable up to 90 days after the person’s first visit via your link.

How Does It Work?
When you join our affiliate program, you will be supplied with a range of banners and textual links that you place within your site. When a user clicks on one of your links, they will be brought to our website and their activity will be tracked by our affiliate software. You will earn a commission based on your commission type.

You will then be able to login 24 hours a day to check your sales, traffic, account balance and see how your banners are performing.

So if you do own a website or blog there is really nothing to lose!

Head over to www.pointblankonline.net/affiliate to sign up and start earning now!

Ben Westbeech to Give Music Industry Masterclass at Point Blank

The latest in our series of VIP Masterclasses comes from man of the moment Ben Westbeech. Ben will be joining us here at the college on Tuesday 17th August at 5pm to answer your questions.

Ben is a DJ, musician, producer, and vocalist whose musical output spans hip-hop, house, drum'n'bass and everything in between. His track 'So Good Today' was the first single on Gilles Peterson's Brownswood Recordings. He’s currently recording an album for Strictly Rhythm and has collaborated with a host of artists including Rusko, Professor Green, Jazzanova, DJ Marky, Henrick Schwarz, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Pezzner and more.

His exciting live sets, showcase his impressive array of talents and are definitely not to be missed! You can check him out performing on "Later with Jools Holland' in the video below.



The masterclasses are open to all current and past students. Places are strictly limited and on a first come first serve basis so don't delay. Email us at luke@pointblanklondon.com now to book!

Point Blank is Looking for Talented Singer/Songwriters

Point Blank management and Jonny Rockstar (who has written and produced for the likes of Sugababes and Amy Winehouse) are looking for talented singer/songwriters to sign up to their artist mentoring initiative.

If you think you have got what it takes to be considered, please send your demo CDs to Candace McArthur, Point Blank, 23-28 Penn Street, London, N1 5DL or a link to your myspace or soundcloud to candace@pointblanklondon.com

Please follow the links to find out more about our singing courses and songwriting courses.

We look forward to hearing what you've got in store for us!

Introducing the Intensive 1 Year Music Production Diploma

For many of us, music is an important part of our lives. The idea of making a living through it though is something not too many people are prepared to take a chance on as it is so competitive - what are the chances of getting through and succeeding? Which is where Point Blank's new Intensive Music Production and Sound Engineering Diploma comes in.

Previously available as a 2-year part-time qualification, the 1 Year Diploma is full-time and comes with as much practice time as you can handle in Point Blank's state of the art studios. To enrol, students will need to demonstrate their suitability to this type of intensive course of study.

Along the way there will be plenty of industry connections being brought in to advise the students on how to achieve their potential. Recent visitors to the studios include Mark Ronson, Louie Vega, Felix from Basement Jaxx, Kylie producer Tommy D and Robbie Williams' songwriting partner Guy Chambers.



Former Point Blank students include Leona Lewis, BBC 1Xtra/Channel 4 presenter Gemma Cairney, Armand Van Helden remixer DJ Jahawi, Universal Records A&R man Ben Scarr who signed Tynchy Stryder and Beyonce remixer Gareth Wynn.

Gareth says:

"This was the course that brought everything together for me and gave me the kick start I needed".

Gareth has remixed Beyonce's last two singles and Leona Lewis' recent comeback single 'Happy' for Sony and his own tracks have been released on Maelstrom, CR2 and Ministry of Sound, winning acclaim from the likes of Paul van Dyk, Pete Tong and BT.

The 1 Year Intensive Music Production and Sound Engineering Diploma is enrolling now for September 2010. Please call for details or to check out Point Blank's facilities on the studio tour which takes place every Wednesday at 3pm. Call first to book a place on 0207 729 4884. Places are strictly limited so don't sleep!