Truly and amazing and unique experience and by far the greatest of my entire life. Greatest value (cost and quality) around.
I have written reviews in the past for Garnish, but I have just completed both the Electronic Music Producer's Program and the Pop Songwriting Program for the year and thought it was time to not only update but give and entirely fresh review as this place has grown tremendously.
Let's face it, in today's age of everyone wanting to be a producer/DJ, school's have popped up all over the place and it's no longer as difficult to find the mentoring or support as it was in the 90s so long as you can can put a bit of money into it. LA is no different and there are some GREAT and some OK school's out here in LA. I have my opinions on all, but I would say by far Garnish is the best and quite possibly the best on the entire coast.
I started in April 2015 with a DJ 101 course, simply because I'm not great with electronics and hardware and I wanted someone to help me get to it faster. Knowing music, having an outstanding music library, beat matching etc, yeah...I got that. I was quite impressed to be taught by Josh Garcia, aka Modus, who is a huge up and coming producer/DJ in the techno world. Techno being one of my genres of choice, this was truly wonderful! He is serious too, my small class of 3 went straight into it, going back to back on the CDJs all night (we were given an option of CDJs or controller, unanimously we all wanted CDJs and I believe this is generally what is taught anyway but like most things at Garnish just tell Dave Garnish, the incredible owner, what you are looking to learn and he make sure you get what you need).
I had my surgery dealing with a cancer and other things towards the end of the course and I was even more shocked yet quite pleasantly that both Dave Garnish and Josh repeatedly checked on me in the weeks following the surgery. I mean really? That was amazing and I felt already more like I was forming friendships not just doing business.
After my recovery, I knew I needed to make Garnish my home for a while. Being in that environment with people who are truly motivated to get out there and make or spin good music and the energy of the studio, I just wanted it to be home. So in September 2015, I took the plunge and signed up for the Electronic Music Producer (aka EMP) program. It took me a while to decide if I wanted to do that or the Songwriter Program also offered there, but I figured, I'd start out with one and the sign up for the other later. This will be important later in the review.
The program was outstanding! I went from barely being able to use a Mac (and when I say barely, I could power on the computer and get to the internet and that's about it), to being able to easily navigate Ableton, Logic, sound design using various synths (including analogue, wavetable and digital synthesis), do some mixing and light mastering. Am I totally a pro yet, no...but I have ALL the tools I need now to be successful. I definitely know I got a head start on others that don't opt to take a program.
Dave Garnish goes out of his way to make sure the students are comfortable and getting their needs met. For instance, a lot of the other students were more into pop, future bass and hip hop than myself so classes were kind of geared towards that (I mean let's face it if you are intelligent you can take any tool and make what you want to convey out of it, so I was never worried). However Dave knowing that I was a darkwave, techno, tech-trance and trance type of producer made sure he brought mentors in that could direct me in my style of music (enter Josh Garcia again...yay). Also another student asked for a microwave in the lounge, Dave had one in the VERY next day. Just amazing.
Another amazing thing Dave also offered us and is doing this for ALL EMP and SMP (the Songwriting program) students for a while is to combine the programs. You don't have to take the combined version, but to do Songwriting, I just had to stay for class 1 more day a week, for 4 weeks each trimester. It was INCREDIBLE and I have written quite a bit of lyrics now to my own productions as well as singing on my own tracks now. It was a dream come true, all for the price of 1 so I didn't have to pay for or go through another full year program.
The staff is incredible. Thank you Matthew Engst, Jake Adriano, Darryl Swann, Nico Builderback, Mike of Penthouse Penthouse and Casey K amongst many other talented producers and songwriters who we were blessed to be mentored by all along. I am very close to having 2 EPs done and releasing a few singles this fall and I could not have done it so quickly without this program.
I have made friends for life, and will be back for other courses, simply to be around the place. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH GARNISH! Proud Garnish Alumni for life!!! If you are serious about your fast growth in your music, come here! read more