Point Blank Student Wins 'Best DJ' Award

We are very proud to report that one of our students, Bassem Ayoub has recently won an award for his excellent Hip-Hop Radio show on Free Radio 95.7fm. Bassem, better known as Mr. B presents the three hour long Hip-Hop show on the number one radio station broadcasting in Sierra Leone, and for that, he has been rewarded by Lake Heroes as ‘The Best Hip-Hop DJ of 2011’ at a ceremony hosted at the National Stadium in Freetown. On accepting his award, Bessem had this to say;

“I am honoured to achieve this award in recognition of the major part I played to bring hip-hop to Sierra Leone. I want to dedicate this award to my fans, my family, for been there for me and also my friends”.

Mr. B is currently undertaking a year long course with us here at Point Blank London, and we expect him to go on to achieve a lot more success with his show and retain his coveted title at next years awards.

Congratulations Mr. B from everyone here at Point Blank!

If you want to learn how to be a top radio DJ, then check out our Radio Production course, or alternatively you can also find out more about our hip-hop course here.

Funk D'Void Remix Competition

Point Blank have teamed up once again with our good friends at Find Remix, as well as a host of other companies, including Soundcloud and Crysonic to bring you a new and exciting remix contest. This time, Find Remix are challenging you to rework Funk D'Void's, 'Italoca'! All the stems are available via the Find Remix competition page and by entering you have the chance to win a vast array of fantastic and exclusive prizes including:
1st place:

1. Your remix included on a future Outpost release
2. Entire Outpost catalogue on vinyl and an exclusive t-shirt
3. Crysonic everything bundle plugins (worth 706$)
4. Point Blank Online Remixing course or another Pro Producer course of his choice (worth $530)
5. Premium SoundCloud Pro yearly account (worth €250). Pro users access benefits such as advanced stats, unlimited downloads and 36 hours of audio in the cloud
6. FXPansion Geist next generator sampler instrument (worth $249)
7. PSP Audioware MixPack2
8. Interview on Findremix.com

2nd place:

1. PSP Audioware Oldtimer
2. Premium SoundCloud Lite yearly accounts (worth €29). Lite users access benefits such as increased download limit, more stats and 240 minutes of audio in the cloud
3. Crysonic single license of his choice

3rd place:

1. PSP Audioware StereoPack
2. Crysonic single license of his choice
3. Premium SoundCloud Lite yearly accounts (worth €29). Lite users access benefits such as increased download limit, more stats and 240 minutes of audio in the cloud

4th place:

1. Crysonic single license of his choice
2. Premium SoundCloud Lite yearly accounts (worth €29). Lite users access benefits such as increased download limit, more stats and 240 minutes of audio in the cloud

To be eligible to win, you must become of fan of Funk D'Void's Facebook page and submit your peice before midnight (GMT+1) 31/05/2011. Go to Find Remix to get more details about the rules and requirements

Point Blank Student DJ's Space with Carl Cox

As always, here at Point Blank we are always more than happy to boast about our former students and their current musical exploits to no end. This time we have really got something to rave on at you about. Former student Nicole Moudaber has been hitting the Ibiza circuit playing with the none other than Carl Cox in the multi-award winning club that is Space. She has also gained residency on the island at Church On Sundays.

Moudaber, with her rich cultural mix, broke onto the Ibiza scene with her roots cast back via Nigeria, Lebanon, New York and London, and has been mesmerizing the huge crowds at the biggest and best clubs out there with her electronic beats for a number of years.

Carl Cox called her ‘the Most Underrated DJ of 2009’ and said: “I've been following her career for the last three years – her productions and DJing [are] amazing.”

While distinctly dark and driving, her sets blend deep techno with groovier rhythms perfect for main room dance floor action. You can check out her sets, DJing alongside Mr. Cox in the video below:

Take a look at our selection of DJ courses for the chance to learn how to spin like Nicole or just brush up on the latest ticks and technology.

http://www.pointblankonline.net/courses

Ashley Beedle Masterclass - Hosted By Danny Lewis

We are hugely excited to announce that world famous DJ and producer; Ashley Beedle will be presenting an exclusive masterclass for Point Blank students on Friday 8^th April. The session will be hosted by our very own Danny Lewis at 1pm (GMT), and will focus on exploring Beedle’s extraordinary career in the music business, and will no doubt shine light upon the plethora of influential projects he has been involved in over the last three decades.

The masterclass will also be broadcast live, via our stream channel and will be available for anybody who wants to watch it. This means that those of you who currently do not study at Point Blank School, or those students who cannot make it to the London college, won’t miss what promises to be one of the best sessions Point Blank has to offer this year.

The masterclass is taking place on Friday 8^th April 2011 at 1pm.

Students should get in touch via email or telephone to confirm their attendance.

Dance Midi Samples Competition - WIN Pro Production Course

Together with our friends at DanceMidiSamples, Point Blank is proud to present this original composition contest, using a DMS midi sample pack and some Point Blank vocal samples.

One extremely lucky winner from DMS will get the chance to win one of our Pro Producer Courses courses worth £-355 GBP completely free! To find out what you could win click here.

To enter all you need to do is download the free sample and MIDI pack and make your own track using material from the package. Your track can be any musical genre you desire, and entries will be judged jointly by Point Blank & DMS staff.

The RULES are: Entries must be a complete track of any musical genre and must include at least one MIDI file and one vocal sample from the media pack and be no longer than 8 minutes long, that's it!

All entries must be received by 31st May 2011, tracks received after this date will not be considered for the competition.

To enter the competition visit Dance Midi Samples by clicking here.

Former Student Gareth Wyn Releases Radio 1 Essesntial Mix

Gareth Wyn is among the hottest remixers around right now, and coincidentally; he's also a former Point Blank Music Production and Sound Engineer student.

He’s remixed two Beyonce singles ‘Broken Hearted Girl’ and ‘Video Phone’ for Sony, as well as remixing Leona Lewis’ single for Simon Cowell’s Syco label. Add to that his huge remix of BT’s ‘Flaming June’ (signed to Tiesto’s Blackhole label for a 2010 release) and previous remixes for The Gossip, Junkie XL and Duffy and we are talking about a serious new talent.

To add to all of this, Gareth was recently invited to release an Essential Mix which was broadcast on BBC Radio 1. The mix included some true bangers including; Afrojack v Tocadisco - Tequila Sunrise, Chris Schweizer - Vitality (Sergio Maldonado Remix), and Boys Don't Dance - Monsetta and can be heard below:

Gareth Wyn Radio 1 Essential Mix 15/01/11 by Gareth Wyn

We're all proud of what Gareth has gone on to achieve so far, and know that there is a lot more to come from this exciting new remixer. The man himself also had some words to share about his experience here at Point Blank, completing both Production and Engineering diplomas. He said of the Music Production Diploma that;

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

You can find more about the courses that Gareth took by clicking here to see our full range of online courses, or to read about our London based college courses click here.

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.