Liam Johnson

Introductie

Mijn naam is Liam Johnson, ik ben een techno DJ en muziekproducer uit Rotterdam, en ik ga jou leren hoe je de vetste tracks kunt maken en mixen! 

Elektronische dancemuziek (of Techno in het bijzonder) is mijn grootste passie in het leven. Tijdens het verder uitbouwen en professionaliseren van mijn passie ontdekte ik dat ik ook veel plezier en energie haal uit het helpen en anderen leren om dit te doen.

Bio

Ik begon in 2016 met DJ'en in Stockholm (my hometown) als parttime DJ in een aantal lokale clubs en loungebars in het weekend. Sinds ik in 2019 naar Rotterdam ben verhuisd, besteed ik meer tijd en energie aan zowel DJ'en als het produceren van technomuziek. Subgenres binnen techno zoals raw/deep, hypnotic, peaktime, industrial, hardtechno en harddance zijn mijn specialiteiten binnen het hoofdgenre techno. Onlangs ontdekte ik ook grote interesse voor hardtrance en begon ik het ook te produceren. Momenteel draai ik in wat clubs in Rotterdam en soms in Amsterdam. Ik produceer meestal techno muziek die worden uitgebracht op record labels zoals: Arnaca Records, ITU en United Trance Nation.

Ik spreek overigens redelijk Nederland maar mijn hoofd taal is Engels. Soms spreek ik Dunglish (i.e. mix van Dutch + English) so you know ;-) 

This course is aimed at beginner DJs or slightly intermediate but not for advanced ones. We will learn and work on industry standard DJ gears with their latest new editions such as: Pioneer CDJs and Allen & Heath Xone:96 4-channels mixer. Each single private session is 1 hour long. 

These are the key main topics that are covered in this course over 6 sessions:

• Finding, organising music & creating set lists in Rekordbox (1 session)
• Learning all essential features on CDJ players and how to mix with them (2 sessions)
• Beatmatching (without using SYNC button), EQs and filters (1 session)
• Different mixing style based on different tempos and BPMs (1 session)
• Full process of creating your first 30 minutes mixtape (1 session)

Once we've covered all the above material and make sure you understand everything, we'll record a 30-minute Mixtape and then analyse it together and give your constructive feedback. The final mixtape version you can then upload to your Soundcloud account, send it to clubs, promoters or event organisers. A real kickstart to your DJ career!

THIS COURSE IS FOR AGE 18 AND ABOVE ONLY.

• We provide all the necessary equipment for this course! Bringing your own laptop is therefore optional. Bringing a notebook to take some notes is advisable but not mandatory. 
• We will provide you with a glossary list for beginner DJs to make sure that you are familiar with some of the terminologies we will use during our sessions. It’s just to make sure that you are familiar with everything and understand what they mean so we don’t waste too much time explaining what a cue or BPM means for example. 

Music production is a very massive and wide process. From creating your own ideas and turning them into final tracks, sound designing your own leads to mixing and finally mastering. It can be daunting and very time-consuming to figure everything out on your own or getting lost in watching too many online tutorials that confuses your learning curve, but it doesn’t have to be too hard like that!

This course’s goal is to streamline this seemingly daunting process by creating a logical structure that builds on top of the newly acquired knowledge after each session. It is mainly focused on Ableton Live, however all the concepts that you will learn in this course are universal, meaning they are applicable to all different DAWs. We will do everything together, and at the pace that works just for you. 

This course is focused on the beginner/intermediate level producers only. Ideally you are already familiar with your own preferred DAW that you have on your laptop and know how its basic functions and interface work. In case you are a complete beginner with zero knowledge on what is the meaning of DAW and how it works, please first do your own small research on it and get familiar with your own DAW’s basic functions so we can kickstart your learning process much faster and don’t waste much time learning about basic DAW stuff. These are the key main topics that are covered in this course over 8 sessions:

• Finding, organising your own sample library and folder structure (1 session)
• Creating your core ideas and turning them into final full tracks (2 sessions)
• Making your own sounds in stock plugins such Wavetable/Operator/Analog and powerful external synth: Serum (1 session)
• In-depth knowledge about compressors, EQs, distortion and other essential audio effects, how they work and when to use them in your production (2 sessions)
• Mixing and mastering your own tracks (2 sessions)

THIS COURSE IS FOR AGE 18 AND ABOVE ONLY.

Bring your own laptop and production headphone with you every time so we can listen to your creations and analyse them together.

Important information before booking any lessons with me (please read carefully!)

• I offer private 1 on 1 lessons at my studio in Rotterdam for only students who are minimum 18 years old or older (so not for children or minor age students under 18)
• I recommend having a few days between each session so you have time to fully absorb the new knowledge, practise it and do your home assignments before the next session. 

>>>  DJ Lesson 

• You don't need to bring anything with you except for your own USB stick with your own tracks uploaded via Rekordbox software (official software from Pioneer DJ). It's a free software where you can download it directly from Pioneer's website (or 'Alpha' Pioneer as they recently rebranded themselves).

>>>  Techno Music Production 

• I teach mainly how to produce Techno as the main genre with the following subgenres within Techno: Raw / Hypnotic / Hard / Peak-time, Acid & Trance and Hardgroove.
• I expect you to already have your own DAW (Digital Audio Interface) software installed on your own laptop + your own production headphones so you can work on the assignments i will give you after each session.

In case you have any questions or in doubt about any particular topic, feel free to contact me. Cheers! 

- Je leert de basis van het DJ-en

- Je begrijpt de theorie erachter

- Je krijgt wekelijkse opdrachten

- Je krijgt feedback op opgenomen sets en verbeterpunten

• Je leert de basis van elektronische muziek
• Je leert de muziektheorie
• Je krijgt wekelijkse opdrachten je krijgt feedback op tracks
• Je krijgt les op Ableton Live Suite (DAW), andere DAW's zijn mogelijk om je opdrachten mee te doen, de lessen worden alleen gemaakt met Ableton Live.