Beat Lab Academy School of Electronic Music Production School Opens In LA

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Beat Lab Academy, a new school of modern music production in LA, has announced that it is accepting new students for their Ableton Live Certification Program starting April 28, 2015.

yeudaThe Academy was founded by Ableton Certified Trainer Yeuda Ben-Atar, right. After working as an Ableton instructor at many of LA’s music production schools, Ben-Atar decided taht something was missing in the model that schools were using to teach music production.

He explains, “Computer music should be taught like a traditional instrument. All these schools were teaching electronic music in a lecture format, the way you’d teach history or literature. The students were missing out on the benefits of hands-on learning through practice and playing music together. Electronic music education needed a transformation, this was not the way.”

“I thought, what if the entire classroom could plug in and jam together in class? So I began researching manufacturers who could provide this technology, and we came up with ClassJam.”

ClassJam is a circular formation of music stations connected together and synchronized through MIDI interfaces. “The students experience music using the computer as if it was any conventional instrument like a guitar or piano,” explains Ben-Atar. ClassJam allows the class to play together in a live setting during class.”

The Beat Lab certification program, starting this spring, is a 16-week, 3-level training in Ableton Live. Classes meet twice a week, with additional online curriculum and 1-on-1 mentorship sessions with Beat Lab’s teachers. Students get their choice of MIDI controllers, guidance developing individual artist sound, and learn to utilize instruments, plugins, effects, sound design and mixing strategies to hone their craft.

You can find out more about Beat Lab Academy and upcoming workshops and classes via their site.

13 thoughts on “Beat Lab Academy School of Electronic Music Production School Opens In LA

    1. Is that deductible?

      Also what’s that green thing? I’ve seen something like it before but I can’t remember the maker’s name and pic search is bringing up nothing.

        1. Thanks. Yes, I assumed it was a MIDI controller like the rest. I was just interested in particulars. It looks as if the builder is either color blind or is compensating for a strict Calvinist upbringing.

  1. I don’t know what’s more sad- The fact that you need a class to learn a loop based DAW, or the fact that they’ll most likely fill the class with young “Producers” who wouldn’t know the circle of fifths if it bit them in the ass.

  2.   Does synthtopia start placing google ads in the center of the page? or is it a sponsored article? What are ”all these schools”? One may argue that lecture is wrong method for teaching anything – nowadays everything is taught in interactive and engaging way, the only prerequisite is enough small group of students. I looked up their ( ekhm, *his* – it seems yet another One Person Great University of Ableton Live) site looking for a teaching programme, kind of sylabus… None found, only some general themes (ableton, synthesis, mixing, arrangement, music theory, “Analyzing sound” – btw by ear? By some sofisticated contraptions? Or just throwing “spectrum” on the track?), everything to be done in 6 weeks, 7 hours a week (1st course). Next, maybe I’m getting old, but jamming wasn’t  main method of learning playing traditional instrument. It was the way we spent our spare time after school (I have MA in playing one of “traditional instruments”). I could continue to express this pain in the ***, but this is not the point. 
    I started coming here to synthopia b/c of fair and solid articles on gear and music. This entry could be informative if it had included any critical comment (not even criticizing), not just merely the reprint of marketing materials of this self-styled revolution in music teaching.

    1. Snp

      Synthtopia has never published any ‘sponsored articles’. You may note that any hyperbole in the post is a direct quote from Ben-Atar.

      I, like you, have a traditional music degree. I hope you’d agree that Ableton Live Certification is a very different thing.

    2. One of the most powerful tools for learning a traditional instrument is one-on-one mentoring; if you can swallow your ego, a few hours spent with a master will teach you more than years of practice and study — assuming you’re at the right level.

      The same goes for nontraditional electronic tools. You really have to *see* how someone performs live with a step sequencer, 909 or 303 to understand the nuances of a genre. Same goes for software tools like Live and NI’s toolset. It all takes a lot of work, and having someone skilled show you the tricks of the trade is invaluable. That’s usually done in an informal way, but I can’t help but think that putting a bunch of eager young musicians (for that’s what they are, even without an advanced degree in cello caressing) in a room together for very long hours will be an interesting learning experience.

      That said, you can rent awesome meeting rooms at our local library with good internet, smartboard and even a semi-decent sound system for $100 a day (or evening, if that works better). Get five or six people together and you’re looking at $100 each for an entire week.

      1. Hey frodo,
        I assume you are referring to my entry. At no point I devalued individual meetings/lessons/mentoring; I think it’s essential for any artist’s development. But to reach “the right level” there is no other way then “years of practice and study”. And you don’t have to swallow anything to get advantage of meeting experienced people, call them masters, couches, or fellow performers.

        I saw people performing with step sequencers and and Ableton Live. But I also saw Krystian Zimerman or Daniel Barenboim performing. Comparing them is a joke. Or rather there are no consistent criteria for doing so. There is a great discussion what ever “virtuosity in electronic music” means. And hence – whether is there any focused aim (like in piano mastery) or just showing a broad spectrum of possibilities.

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