Paul Epworth – A Man Of Many Talents
January 22, 2010
London’s award-winning music college Point Blank is due to host a guest lecture given by Paul Epworth, a British music producer, musician and songwriter who has worked with the likes of Bloc Party, Primal Scream, The Rapture, Friendly Fires, Jack Peñate, Florence and the Machine, Kate Nash and Maxïmo Park.
This multi-talented producer has also won a number of accolades for his work and can also be found producing remixes under the name ‘Phones’. With work under this moniker remixing various tunes for the like of Bloc Party, New Order, U2, P-Diddy, Goldfrapp, Simian Mobile Disco, The Streets, Tom Vek, Death from Above 1979, and Annie.
His debut of original material under the Phones name, “Sharpen The Knives/Worryin”, was released on French label Kitsuné in November 2006. In 2008 he announced he had killed off the Phones moniker but has said he continues to remix anonymously.
In early 2006 Paul Epworth began making music under another alias, Epic Man. His debut single, “More is Enough”, featured Plan B and was featured on the soundtrack for Need For Speed: Pro Street and was released on Epworth’s own Good & Evil Records, a subsidiary of 679 Recordings. He has since returned to his Phones name and there are no known plans to release under Epic Man again.
From this amazing rosta of work I’m sure you can understand the excitment we feel with the knowledge that Paul is making a visit to the Point Blank Studios on Monday to give a talk to the students studying on the school’s Music Production HNC Course. So our advice would be to make sure you keep checking the Point Blank website and the school’s YouTube Channel for the video’s of how it all went down.
Professional Course Programmes in Music Production
January 11, 2010
We’ve previously written posts on music production courses which enable you to gain a comprehensive knowledge of creating tracks, in a software specific way and in a genre specific way. On completing one of these courses it is often the case that people wish to move on to study further aspects of music in order to take their production skills to the next level. Having mastered the basics of production in a certain software platform, many people wish to move on to study an intermediate or advanced level course, or to study a genre specific course, or even a more advanced sound design/engineering based course. Of course this is a very sensible approach to attaining a comprehensive all-round knowledge of producing music, the only issue has been the fact that you have to sign up to three or more different courses individually with no reward for your dedication, or at least that was the case until now…
Point Blank Music College have now establish a range of Professional Course Programmes which enable you to combine a variety of individual course modules to form a longer 36 week programme. This new combination can be tailored to suit your indiviual needs, with the ability to pick from the college’s extensive variety of modules ranging from a beginner’s introduction to software right through to an advanced sound design module. Thus, these new Professional Course Programmes are comprehensive packages designed to take you from rookie to professional in a matter of months. By combining a series of courses, you can build specific programme that is focussed on the software and skills that fit your needs.
In addition to the great prospect of being able to customize a programme to provide you with exactly what you need Point Blank also reward you for your commitment to undertaking a multiple of courses by offering a saving of £500 when compared to booking such courses individually. All-in-all the new programmes are a fantastic way to gain a great deal of knowledge in a relatively short time scale, and as we’ve previously posted the college offers highly skilled and experienced professional producers to teach you all you need to know and to get you tracks reaching that high quality, professional standard.
So to get an all inclusive experience of making music check out the Point Blank Music College Website for a whole load more information on what course may be right for you and how to get enrolled. You can also check out the video below for a little taster of the what a music production course can offer you:
How To Make Electro House
December 2, 2009
Winner of the T-Scan award for ‘Best Music Production School’ 6 years running, Point Blank Music Production School have recently developed an onlinemusic production course which enables you to learn how to make an Electro House track with a pro producer! This four-week course will show you how to program killer synth riffs, twisted basslines and dirty house beats in Logic 8. Plus essential arrangement tricks and mixing tips to ensure maximum dancefloor devastation.
The course is taught by award-winning producer Rogue Element who reveals his secret tips and techniques and gives 1-2-1 video feedback on your tracks! To be honest, there can’t be much more invaluable than having a seasoned expert guide you with one-to-one advice on your work as the weeks progress. Having such help is going to save a whole lot of time and effort which you would have spent playing around with Logic to achieve that Electro House sound.
The course features include; Over 70 Quicktime video tutorials on Logic Pro 8, Extensive course notes, Exclusive Logic Projects for you to download, Personalised video feedback on your music, Weekly webchat with a pro producer and a Student forum so you can post your questions and discussion topics.
We’ve found this teaser video of what the course offers below, but you can also check out the course webpage here: how to make electro or have a look at the YouTube channel for more videos here.
Basement Jaxx on How To Get Your Music Released!
November 16, 2009
Award winning Music College Point Blank recently had the pleasure of recieving a visit from Felix of Basement Jaxx to talk about how you can get your music released. In a guest lecture to the students of the college and a question and answer session, Felix talks on how he went about getting his music released and the ways in which you can get your tracks out there. This is the first part in a series of videos featuring Basement Jaxx so keep locked on the website for future vids.
Check out part one here:
And if you want to see more of Point Blank’s Celebrity endorsements and VIP Guest lectures then click here.
Get your music on Swatch’s latest advert
October 7, 2009
Here’s a great opportunity for all budding sound designers out there: Music production school Point Blank have been handed a brief from watch manufacturers Swatch to produce the soundtrack to their latest advert. The winning proposal will have their music aired on television channels across Europe, in the process gaining payment, invaluable experience and a potential springboard to a successful career in sound design.
THE BRIEF:
- 30 seconds of music/sound to accompany the amazing visuals for Swatch Winter 2009 International Campaign.
- The music needs to be surprising and evocative. They will consider ANY genre of music from classical to Drum and Bass, from Rock to Jazz… ANYTHING! You choose.
- Make it MAGICAL and give it a shape; a definite beginning a middle and building to a fantastic final conclusion.
- I say music OR sound as it could include laughter or some sort of surreal sound. Do not be guided by the sound on the test film, do what YOU think is right.
- Check out the storyboard and a test film of the glitter effect via the FTP link below.
Test shoot: http://www.specialeffects.co.uk:8080
Username: machineshop_client1
Password: adam
You must submit your MP3’s to david@pointblanklondon.com no later than Friday 9th October at 10am.
For some ideas of the standard you should be striving for check out last year’s Swatch winner from Point Blank’s music production courses by clicking here.
Point Blank have been voted Best ‘DJ and Music Production School’ for 6 years running by readers of DJ Mag and they are constantly providing career opportunities such as these to help students get a foot in the music industry. Their music production courses and sound design courses are developed and taught by experienced industry professionals and there are few other places in the world that rival it as a place to learn your trade.
