Loop Academy and Dubspot are visiting South-East Asia throughout March to host a series of music production and DJing workshops in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan.
Loop Academy has partnered with Dubspot to bring a series of workshops dedicated to providing comprehensive education on music production and performance during a month long tour in South-East Asia throughout March 2017. The workshops are presented by established producers and educators, Max Wild, Josh Bess, and DJ Koflow. Each workshop is open to participants of all skill levels from professional musicians to those making music for the first time.
Juice Magazine caught up with Dubspot Alumni and Loop Academy Instructor Maestro Koflow to talk about the Loop Academy and Dubspot collaborative workshop series in South-East Asia.
Local turntablist Maestro Koflow is acutely aware that a life without music isn’t much of a life at all. Locking arms with an international crew of DJs and producers, including Max Wild and Josh Bess, he started Loop Academy, a series of workshops dedicated to providing a comprehensive education on music production. Last year, participant Syafiq Halid became the youngest Ableton Certified Trainer and first Certified Trainer in Singapore. Ahead of the next Loop Academy series next month, Koflow gives us the pulse behind its mission.
In 2015, I went to Dubspot New York for a couple of classes for three months. I met Dubspot Instructor, Max Wild, there. We decided to partner up and create Loop Academy, which is an international collective of music producers, DJs, and educators that offer music production and DJ workshops worldwide. The main reason for the collab was because I realized that while there was an increased interest in music production in our region, not everyone could afford that New York trip. By bringing my friends from Dubspot over, we could help reach out to these talented peeps in our community who need that little push.
The options to study music production and DJing at a high level in Singapore are still quite limited. New York-based Dubspot is considered the industry leader in this field, which is why this is a unique opportunity for aspiring Singaporean producers and DJs. Aside from that, the classroom setting with peers usually motivates better learning.
Ableton Live is considered one of the premier music production software programs out there. Certified Trainers are considered experts in the software, and can use their status to gain recognition as established instructors when teaching production. Syafiq was a student at Loop Academy in February 2016, and has worked very hard at mastering the software. At the moment, there are very few Certified Trainers in South-East Asia, and he passed a rigorous test hosted by Ableton in December 2016, that qualified him a Certified Trainer. He is the first Trainer in Singapore, and the youngest ever.
Dubspot covers everything that you’ll need to learn about the DJ game – from learning your desired software, sound design, mastering, constructing your first song, to performing your song live. To me, it’s a one-stop shop, with some of the industry’s best music-makers and DJs giving lessons and sharing their experiences.
I love to listen out for interesting sounds and textures that construct the songs. As for watching, I prefer watching DJs who are actually performing their sets like musicians.
Loop Academy plans to continue hosting workshops in Singapore and is seeking more opportunities to host workshops worldwide. This year, we are expanding to Hong Kong and Japan, and we hope to continue expanding in the future.
Loop Electronic Music Academy is an international collective of electronic music producers, DJs, performers, and educators that offer the highest level of music education world-wide. Loop Academy’s mission is to create partnerships between artists and education centers around the world and facilitate long-lasting knowledge exchanges. In February 2016 Loop Academy partnered with Dubspot, the New York-based leader of electronic music education, hosting its first series of production and performance workshops in Singapore.
In 2017, Loop Academy will be returning to Singapore, as well as partnering with schools in Hong Kong, and Tokyo to offer additional electronic music workshops. The workshops are presented by established producers and educators, Max Wild (New York), Josh Bess (New York/Tokyo), and DJ Koflow (Singapore), and are open to participants of all levels, for both the professional musician as well as those making music for the first time.
At Dubspot our world-class instructors provide the most complete and cutting-edge Ableton Live learning experience. The Ableton Live Producer Certificate Program is the flagship of our music training. After completing this program, you will leave with a portfolio of original tracks, a remix entered in an active contest, a scored commercial to widen your scope, and the Dubspot Producer’s Certificate in Ableton Live.
This program is about learning Ableton Live by going through the entire process of being an artist, by developing your own sound through a series of sketches and experimentation. You will also learn the ins and outs of this powerful software through a series of exercises designed to help you master the steps involved in producing your own music.
After a level of getting familiar with the tools that Ableton has to offer, you will then develop your sonic ideas into full-length tracks. You will be exposed to a variety of approaches to arrangement and composition, storytelling techniques, ways of creating tension and drama in your music. At the end of the day, it is the sum total of your choices as an artist that define your sound, and levels 2 – 6 will give you the experience of actually completing tracks to add to your portfolio.