Point Blank At IMS Ibiza

Point Blank's very own Rob Cowan is currently sunnning himself on the beautiful island of Ibiza, but it's not simply a holiday, in fact Rob is visiting in order to take part in the annual International Music Summit hosted in Ibiza.

The IMS have pulled out all the stops, assembling an eclectic array of talent and bringing together a uniquely different festival line-up to Ibiza. Underlining the IMS mantra of being forward-thinking in everything they do. Artists in attendence this year include; Sasha, Buraka Som Sistema, Pete Tong, David Guetta, Annie Mac, Busy P and a whole lot more. The summit contains a mixture of panel talks with Q & A's and discussions, as well as live performances and DJ sets.

So with all this in mind, Point Blank's Rob Cowan has just been in a studio located within the IMS to see Hip Hop DJ extrodanire Mark Ronson and Dubstep pioneer Skream record a show for Ibizian station, Sonic Radio. It turns out that before the show kicked off there was some kind of technical difficulty which coulp have possibly meant the show wouldn't have gone ahead, however, luckily Rob was on hand to save the day! After some technical wizardry he managed to get the equipment working again and the radio show was back on track with just a minor delay.

We're all eagerly awaiting Rob's return with more stories of all the goings on at IMS Ibiza, in the meantime you can check out the photo above taken with Rob, Mark Ronson and Skream at the Sonic Radio Studios.

Techno, Techno, Techno...

Belgian music festival I Love Techno is looking for a young up coming producer to create a track to become the soundtrack to this years festival. So if you Love Techno and want to be a part of one of the best international electronic music festivals of the year then read on...

"Do you eat Fruity Loops for breakfast at your Cubase? Are you Ableton to make an awesome track? Does this sound Logic or make any Reason? But most of all... Do you LOVE Techno?

Then you are the one we are looking for!

Grab all the vocoders, grooveboxes, MIDI Keyboards, triggerfingers, distortion units & compressors you can find. Launch your favorite production software and start building the most awesome track you have ever built. Maybe your track will become an official track for this year's edition of ILOVETECHNO.

The selected track will be featured on our official ILT promotional cd and will be distributed digitally on iTunes & Beatport by the record company News.

And, as a bonus, you + 10 of your best friends will be invited as a VIP on the next ILT edition.

So what are you waiting for?

This song starts now!"

This is an amazing opportunity for you to get your music out there and heard by a whole host of people, not to mention the fact that you and 10 mates get VIP festival access! Entries for the comp must be in by 15th June, so don't delay...get involved now by following the link.

Hip Hop Course to Feature TK Wonder

We are excited to reveal that Point Blank's newest pro producer course, the Hip Hop Course, features New York vocalist TK Wonder! We’ve partnered up with TK, who has opened for artists such as Nas, Erykah Badu, Duffy and Talib Kweli, to offer students exclusive course materials including vocals, track parts and other resources for use on your tracks!

So when you enrol now on the Hip Hop Course you not only have access to 93 video tutorials totalling 8 hours of viewing, 1-2-1 tutorial videos from a pro producer, exclusive MIDI files for you to download and use in your own tracks, Beat Analysis tutorials with tracks from Dr Dre, Timbaland and more, but you also get access to the new amazing production tools from TK Wonder! With such a load of impressive resources it's clear that this course is definitely What You Want. To enrol now, read on.

I'm sure all the Hip Hop heads reading this will be just as excited as us about the prospect of fast tracking your music to the level of a professional producer. With such a high standard of tuition and a massive library of tools at your disposal, students will have their tracks sounding like industry standard Hip Hop tunes in just a matter of four weeks!

You can check out the full details for the course here, and you'll also want to check out the video below from course collaborator TK Wonder and get a taster of the superb vocal parts you can expect when you enrol on this premier Hip Hop Course.

Hip Hop Course with Pro Producer Paul Waller

Each and every tutor here at Point Blank is an experienced music industry professional. Among them are Grammy Award winning songwriters, platinum selling producers and sound engineers who have worked with some of the biggest names in the game. We pride ourselves on providing our students with expert tuition from people who understand what it takes to succeed in the music industry.

Continuing this trend, we are excited to announce the new Hip Hop Pro Producer Course which will be taught by producer/remixer/engineer, Paul Waller. Among the many acclaimed urban artists he has worked with are De La Soul, Gang Starr, Soul II Soul and All Saints as well as legends Gil Scott Heron and BB King. He has credits on several million selling records including Massive Attacks' "Unfinished Sympathy" and Bjork's "Debut" album. Here he is to tell you a bit about the course:



On the course you get to download the project file of a track produced exclusively by Paul for the course and find out exactly how it was created using only the instruments and plug-ins in Logic. You will also benefit from Direct Video Response (DVR) - weekly 1-2-1 video feedback on your own tracks from Paul himself.

Other new developments specifically for this course include our 'Beat Analysis' video tutorials in which we deconstruct classic Hip Hop beats by the likes of Dr. Dre, J Dilla, Timbaland, RZA and The Neptunes. You will then learn how to extract the groove templates and apply them to your own beats. You can see a sample of one of our Beat Analysis videos below where we look at ODB's 'Got Your Money' beat:



The Hip Hop music production course launches on Monday 3rd May and is enrolling now. Please click here for more information. Places are strictly limited and filling up fast so get in there quick!

Refer A Friend To Point Blank And Earn Cash Rewards

We’ve received so much positive feedback on our online music courses from students around the world. It's great to hear that so many of you have had such an enjoyable experience and inspiring to hear how much your music has improved as a result of taking a course with us.

We want to continue growing our thriving global community of music producers so we have put together an incentive scheme to encourage you to spread the word.

For every person that you refer to a course at Point Blank, you earn £25 (Around $40 US!)

It's simple. You can tell your friends in person or via any of the social media that you use. You can blog about us, write a post on Facebook, Tweet it...it's up to you. But to claim your referral fee you must ensure that your friend namechecks you when they book the course. For every single person that does so and completes their course, you earn £25 (check this amount in your currency).

The scheme is up and running right now, so spread the word and start earning today!

Terms & Conditions

• Point Blank agrees to pay £25 to any current or former student who successfully refers a friend to enrol on a course at Point Blank Online

• Payment will only be credited once the referred student has paid in full and completed their course

• At this time all payments due will be credited onto the referrers nominated debit or credit card

• Students can refer multiple friends and receive £25 per friend referred

• When completing the enrolment form, the referred student must select “Referred By A Friend” in the section titled “How Did You Hear About Us?” and insert the name of the friend in the text box provided

• If this information is not submitted at the time of enrolment, no payment will be made to the referrer

• Point Blank reserves the right to suspend or cancel this scheme at any time. Any referral payments due at this time will be honoured

Grab Yourself a Free Point Blank T-Shirt!

Yes one of these stylish and much in demand t-shirts could be yours. All we ask is that you place a link from your blog, website, Myspace or Facebook profile back to www.pointblanklondon.com.

Once the link is in place, email us the url/web address to view the link and the T-shirt will be sent to you absolutely nothing!

Please send your emails to nick@pointblanklondon.com

Mixing Tutorial with The Rogue Element

All the tutors here at Point Blank are experienced music industry professionals. They include Grammy Award winning songwriters, platinum selling producers and sound engineers who have worked with some of the biggest names in the game. If you choose to study here, you will be getting expert tuition from people who understand what it takes to succeed in the music industry.

The following video gives you a taster of life as a Point Blank student. Watch adward winning DJ/producer Ben Medcalf (aka The Rogue Element) guide students through the process of mixing down one of the tracks from his latest album, Lumina.

The video is taken from the Introduction to Logic Pro Course

In the final week of the music production course each student has the opportunity to bring in their own track for a 1-2-1 mixing session with the tutor. So on completion of your course, you will have a whole track that has been professionally mixed down.

Click here to meet more of the pro producers who teach here at Point Blank.