Garnish Music Production School, Worldwide

Quick Interview

Brief History

I started out in my apartment in North London doing masterclasses in advanced Logic as I used to beta test for them so was known as a bit of a Logic ninja amongst my record producer friends. One day the penny dropped and I decided to make it into a proper school, rented some space in my friends ramshackle warehouse and hired some teachers. From that day (apart from one special project) I’ve never opened a Logic project file. Some say it’s a shame but I love doing this more than anything I’ve done in the past. I love to see the next gen. blossom more than the kick I used to get from hearing my own chorus. I guess it’s an age thing!

A few year later, I decided to set up in Los Angeles. I love the sunshine, lifestyle and have friends there. The hardest thing business-wise was learning a new tax and legal system. And the stressful thing was getting the E2 visa, so setting up in New York seemed like a no-brainer as I had already done the hard work.

Now we’re a world-class music production school, with Grammy-winning instructors. We boast an eclectic mix of success stories, way too many to list here and the list keeps on growing now we’re open in New York. We are the first to offer Ableton-based, UK-accredited, further education, year-long electronic music production courses carrying UCAS points in the US. We also run short, 36-hour music production beginners courses in Ableton, Logic Pro, Songwriting and Pro Tools, and intermediate courses which we call Producer Courses, and they are in Sound Design and Mixing & Mastering. We also run a comprehensive electronic music production course in Ableton that takes learners from beginner to advanced in 120 hours.

What would you say to someone who thinks they’re not capable of learning this?

I don’t think there is anyone not capable of learning music production to a level where they are enjoying it. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea in the first place and that would be the biggest hurdle! You’ve got me thinking now about how patient school teachers who have to teach kids who are not interested in learning English or Math etc. They deserve medals, or at least a pay rise!

How are you different from others who are doing something similar?

Our worldwide superior roster of instructors who choose to work with us and no one else like our Grammy-winning mix engineer in each location leading our Mixing & Mastering courses, world-class touring DJs taking our DJ classes. But there is a reason they choose to work with us and no one else. We’re honest about what learners should expect to get out of doing a music production course with us. They say to master anything alone takes 10,000 hours of practice. What we do is cut down that hour count. By how much depends on a number of contributing factors, like how hard the learner works during and outside of the course hours, and how naturally gifted they are in the first place. On our longer diploma programs, we estimate that with our help, learners can cut that 10,000-hour figure down to anything between 1000 and 9000 hours.  So the question of how we are different is that we tell it like it is and not promise the earth; we don’t have a magic wand and nor does anyone else. We don’t waffle on about industry connections, we just say check out what our past and present learners are up to here.

Who are your classes NOT for?

Well I can’t honestly think of any type of person who wouldn’t enjoy at least one of our classes. In terms of ability, we have classes for complete beginners taking digital DJ courses to absolute ninjas taking the most advanced classes in the world. If anyone is worried they are too much of a noob for our classes, I tell them the story that I once said to the manager of a very famous DJ student before she took DJ classes with us “if she can count to eight, I can teach her to DJ”. And she did very well indeed!