Pro Tools courses

[poppy]

Posted this one on the employment site also.

Hi,
Just wondering what the uptake on the Digi training courses has been like so far especially in Europe.
Any comments welcome

[chagos]

I 'm not sure exactly what you mean?

I took the courses . . . can you be more specific?

[poppy]

Basically, Are colleges and schools getting a high quota of students for the courses?

[dubaifox]

Spend the money you would spend on a course and buy a Pro Tools System (Mbox or 002r), a microphone, a decent set of monitors, Reason 2.5, and a Midi Keyboard.

Buy some books, record some music, read the DUC every day and in one years time you will be MILES ahead of where you would be if you took a course.

[Bender]

dubaifox said it all.
Thats what I did now I have a real nice home studio and work at a studio part time.
I find the students that learn from the schools know the tech side of things well (fletcher Munson curve, bit rate theory, etc...) but have to spend hands on time sooner or later anyway.
Both ways work, it just depends on how you learn.
All the schools in the USA graduate about 10 times+ than there will be jobs so if you learn on your own you can always sell your studio if you change your mind.
You can't get a refund from the school you went to.

[chagos]

i'll have to disagree on a few things pointed out by the others:
1. pro tools courses are not a complete waste of time. if you become certified you get 25% off of stuff from the digistore!
2.you get a chance to work on all Pro Tools platforms( mbox to full blown pro control). At least I did.
3. you get some great textbooks that are supa-filled with amazing info, and believe me they are better than the other books out there. I started on buying books for pro tools from amazon, and the actual textbooks from digidesign are much, much better.
4. you get a t-shirt. lol

now the downsides:
1. the tests and courses are expensive. you could easily go buy gear with the cash.
2. not all the instructors are good. just because you are an audiophile does not mean you know how to teach. annoying as hell.
3. the tests are quite absurd. you can take them over again and again(if you have the cash) and they are not "hands on" REALLY dumb. they are all multiple choice questions. I mean come on! a test over pro tools without using pro tools?!?!??

so all in all, it is a can of "mixed" worms. i would give them an overall rating of 75 outta 100(because the textbooks are so good). you do learn some things, but to be honest, its a bit expensive and in the end you will still have to sit down at a computer, with a pro tools unit, and work it out.

I hope this helps.
maybe in the future digidesign will re-evaluate the classes/tests. that would be great.