Teaching Method

Its from our extensive production history that Pyramind Training has created its two main programs, the 12-month Digital Sound Producer (DSP), and the 8-month Core.

These are structured curriculum’s based on an educational philosophy that we’ve spent 10 years refining. And at the foundation are four educational concepts that we use to cover a wide range of topics, in great depth, and in a relatively short time. We call it “The Pyramind Method”

1. Cross-Referential Learning

Our classes are structured to reinforce similar material weekly, and sometimes even daily, within the same subjects. This “cross-referencing” gives students different perspectives, from different instructors, using different tools and techniques, on different days, and greatly accelerates the learning process.

2. Personal Workflow Development

“When it comes to producing there’s the right way, the wrong way, the Pyramind Way, and your way,” says Matt Donner, Pyramind Training’s Chief Academic Officer.

Most producers starting out on their own read books and watch videos that promise to teach you how to do things the ‘right’ way. But these often unreliable sources can contribute to the development of bad habits (the wrong way) and don’t always yield great results.

Our training programs based on Pyramind’s extensive production experience and best-practices (The Pyramind Way) help guide you in developing your own unique workflow, aka Your Way. The one you wanted in the first place.

Or, if like many of our students your abilities are already fairly advanced, taking classes from instructors who are performing professional-grade production work everyday will take your hard-won abilities to a whole new level.

3. Tools, Skills, Chops

You can’t build a house without the right tools, and sound is no different. That’s why we learn Tools first – tools like audio fundamentals, music theory, entrepreneurship and the latest in digital audio workstations (DAWs). But tools alone don’t build “houses”, so we use a hands-on approach to develop your production techniques, or “Chops”, which are what separate the great producers from the good ones.

4. Teacher / Student Role Reversal

At the beginning of our training, the relationship between teacher and student is a traditional one. The student learns through lectures and homework. As the student advances through the curriculum, the relationship becomes more collaborative. The teacher presents material and the student “answers” through projects and production work.

In the DSP, the student-teacher relationship flips completely. The student demonstrates their working knowledge through projects coached to professional-grade completion by the teacher. This is similar to the Producer-Client relationship a graduate will find in the real world, ensuring that our graduates have the experience to compete in today’s competitive market.