Becoming a music producer is not extremely difficult these days. With so many music lessons spread across the internet, you can easily pick up the skill.
However, there’s a difference between being good and being great. While free tutorials do guide you immensely, they won’t offer you the secret sauce.
If you’re serious about making it to the top. You ought to learn from the best.
And who better than the most popular progressive trance artist? Armin Van Buuren.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of the Armin Van Buuren Masterclass. Let’s understand the platform itself.
What is Masterclass? Is it worth it?
Masterclass is an online educational platform that has pre-recorded lectures of some of the most prominent people in the world. These people are pioneers and domain leaders that help aspiring learners gain knowledge and skills through their video lectures.
These lectures recorded by the celebs are not just tutorials restricted to technical information. Masterclass is more like an expert guide to help you learn about the art and the inner workings of the industry.
The Armin Van Buuren Masterclass is created with the same idea of providing wholesome education to the learners.
Armin Van Buuren Masterclass
It is a comprehensive course that comes with an intro, outro, and 31 lessons. These footages combined amount up to 6 hours 30 mins worth of video content. Through this course, you will learn how to use the plugins that are used by Armin while composing. Additionally, you’ll get some freebies that can help you practice along the way.
Through these videos, Armin explains the purpose of every element that he uses in his production process. The course also takes you behind the scenes of some of the biggest hits created by him.
By the end of the course, you will have mastered the following things:
- Making your mix sound balanced
- Create transitions that make your song sections impactful
- Make synth patches that add power to your song
While these are just some of the important ones, there’s a lot more than you can learn.
What it includes
To help you learn better in a systematic manner, the entire course is structured as follows.
- Philosophy & Career (5 lessons)
- Engineering & Technical Aspects (10 Lessons)
- Melodic Elements (4 Lessons)
- Rhythmic Elements (3 Lessons)
- Vocals (4 Lessons)
- DJing (5 Lessons)
You will also learn some things about Armin, how he started his career, and what he does to get inspired and create masterpieces.
The Masterclass also introduces you to Armin’s co-producer and vocalist which makes the course more insightful. The program teaches you how to collaborate and communicate with other creators, and how to make the most out of such collaborations.
Among the many things, the course also offers inspiring moments that you would love to try almost instantly.
What will you learn?
While there’s no doubt about the fact that Armin is one of the most successful DJs, music producers, label manager, radio host, and touring artist, being a good teacher is different. In this Masterclass, he proves that he is pretty good at teaching too.
Armin has a simplistic and down-to-earth approach while teaching and explaining things throughout the course. His ability to formulate ideas and intentions and explain them is really impressive.
His unique teaching methods keep you focused and engaged. The explanations used in the videos are humble and easy to understand.
Armin gives a very important piece of advice in his Masterclass, how much effort should be put into the way you shape the dynamics. This is one of the common mistakes made by beginners. They focus on making the buildup sound dominant and end up ignoring the climax.
He suggests a simple hack, keeping the automation up by -3dB on the master before the drop. This will add an impact to the final climax.
It was great to see how Armin keeps his personal and professional life different to maintain a good balance. There are many things that aspiring DJs can learn from this segment itself.
Armin also shares how to send out demos without being too humble or abrasive. This can save you from a lot of problems, especially when you come against cheeky people.
Armin Van Buuren vs Deadmau5 Masterclass
Armin Van Buuren and Deadmau5 are among the top names in the world of dance music. Both have their Masterclass courses that can teach you a lot of things.
Choosing between Armin and Deadmau5 can be tough, but the below-mentioned parameters will make it easier for you to decide.
Approach
The approach makes a major difference when it comes to teaching. Both DJs have completely different approaches in their Masterclass. This difference can be attributed to their music and personalities.
Deadmau5 has an underground approach that involves a more technological production process. He is known for creating music in various genres but he is mostly famous for progressive house. Deadmau5 uses the approach of creating something different.
Armin comes as a purist creating every bit by himself. His dominant space in the world of music is in the genre of trance. Armin adopts the approach of creating catchy melodies and making the audience feel euphoric.
For other dj courses, our list of the best DJ courses.
Content Quantity
When Masterclass ventured into the world of digital education, Deadmau5 was the first music producer to have a Masterclass on dance music. However, his class consisted of 23 lessons which the people felt was not enough.
On the other hand, Armin’s class was much longer and had 33 lessons that covered almost everything that an aspiring DJ should know. In these lessons, Armin creates an entire track from the scratch helping you understand better.
Use of Technology
The two DJs use very different technology to create music which brings about a lot of difference in the teaching process.
Deadmau5 uses analog synths to create sounds for his tracks. In one of his Masterclass sessions, he shows how to analog synth and why he does not choose to go with the digital one.
Using analog control gives Deadmau5 more control over the sounds created for the track. This enables him to give the tracks a more personal touch, making them sound unique.
For mixing, editing, and track development Deadmau5 prefers using Ableton.
Armin has an entirely different production process. He prefers using digital synthesizers to create the different sounds that are used in his tracks. Armin prefers to use Logic Pro and Ableton to create and modify his tracks.
Ethics
Naturally, a teacher’s ethics are passed on to the students. However, no two tutors are the same. For instance, DeadMau5’s masterclass is quite different as compared to Armin’s. Both DeadMau5 and Armin have different viewpoints when it comes to production.
Armin is very serious about samples. He believes samples should be created by the producers using the various tools. Besides, Armin advises people not to use samples made by other musicians.
Deadmau5 is on the opposite part of the scale. He loves to get inspiration from the different kinds of music he hears around him.
Performance
Both DJs have different ways of performing which makes them unique. It’s not just what they play on the stage that makes them different but also how they play it.
In his Masterclass, Deadmau5 shows you how to make a performance grand like a concert. Since Deadmau5 looks into the stage production and event organization of his shows, you get a look into the world of a top performer.
He once designed a giant cube that was placed on the stage that he used to stand on during his performance.
Armin’s Masterclass focuses on how to perform when on the stage. He teaches how to DJ well by explaining every aspect of the onstage performance in detail. Armin shows how 4 CDJs are used during a performance, which is quite important as you’re going to be where he is too.
Is Armin Van Buuren Masterclass Worth It?
Masterclass is different from the tutorials and streaming videos that you find online. Armin Van Burren’s Masterclass is a learning program that also combines other value propositions that can make you a better musician.
Armin’s career in the music industry that spans 20+ years adds great value to the program. As he explains different things about the music industry and the important aspects you need to know, you will learn to create music and also how to collaborate well with others.
If you are in the initial phase of DJing or learning music production, this Masterclass will benefit you immensely. The Masterclass will educate, motivate, and train you to pursue the art further.
The best part is, if you rewatch the Masterclass a year or more later it will seem a lot more sensible. You will be able to identify and understand what Armin is doing. There’s a chance that you might have missed a basic or important technique due to a lack of experience.
