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Creating top talent: United Pop China Enrollment Begins!

This is a cruel industry, if you aren’t good enough, you’ll go hungry

“The recording industry’s too difficult! I can’t make any money! I regret that I didn’t find a “real” job!” These are complaints we hear all the time. In other industries as long as you can perform at a decent level, you can slide by, but in the recording industry, “decent” doesn’t cut it. The Pareto principle rules the day, with 80% of the work in the hands of 20% of the workers and it’s hard for a lot of people, the strong eat up the weak.

Believe in craftsmanship

There are a lot of factors that decide how much work you get. Resources, connections, craft, luck and many, many other factors play a role. We could talk about this forever, but what it comes down to is craft, even if you have all the resources and relationships, if your abilities fall short, you won’t keep clients.

Edge Industry vs Knowledge Complex

When talking about craft from a recording perspective, we’re talking about a number of things. Most importantly is having a solid foundation based in the elements of music: melody, harmony, and rhythm. A skilled recording engineer will fully grasp all three of these elements.

Further, it’s important to understand how different music genres work. For example, hip hop requires more attention to the “color” of the music, rock needs a quality recording of all the instruments, whereas electronic music requires more down mixing. Each style is its own art, requiring its own skills. Having those skills and, most of all, the right ear for the music is the key to the craft.

Understanding the craft isn’t easy. Recording and mixing engineers need to have a lot of knowledge developed over time and practice. While many institutions have majors for recording and production, mixing doesn’t get as much attention. Outside of just being in the studio, you’ll often come across a variety of subjects that will make someone panic like acoustics, electrical engineering, physics, math, and professional English. However, knowing these things will often help you in a professional setting, so only those who can integrate them into their work will really stand out as a qualified audio producer.

Lack of knowledge will eventually ruin you

A fox went to a tiger’s studio to check it out. Just as he arrived the tiger was focused on using a clipper limiter on the bus. He did a number of things and played it back for the producer who said it sounded “awesome”. The fox thought to himself, “that plugin is great, I need to remember it and check it out when I get back to my studio.” However when he got back to his studio and tried to use it, the results didn’t come out right and the work was returned to be adjusted, creating an awkward situation.

What went wrong for the fox? The tiger was only using the clipper when mixing electronic, R&B and specific types of music. The fox didn’t realize this and was using it on everything.

This kind of problem definitely exists in the recording industry in China. Some people who haven’t received a lot of training only know that doing A results in C, but they don’t understand why A gives you C, they just know to follow this form and it leads to problems. This is why only the best engineers get the work.

Everyone knows China’s recording industry started over 20 years later than the rest of the world. While the country has tried to catch up quickly, gaps remain. Only a few people have the opportunity to go abroad to study, while most will try to go over the great firewall to gain information

In 2019, United Pop, a highly respected leader in audio education overseas, will open its China campus. While the name may look strange to some in China, it’s already well known in Europe as one of the largest private education institutions with over 20 campuses worldwide.

Of course, the quality of a school depends on its teacher. Turn on your VPN and learn about these top teachers.

Success Stories

Our First Trainers at United POP

Hans-Martin Buff is a famous European mixer, music producer, and educator.

Buff has nearly 30 years of experience in production, handling mixing, production, and sound design and has worked with world famous artists like Scorpions, Prince, Maxi Priest, Die Prinzen, Mousse T, Doreen, Superstrings, Eric Burdon, Boney M, James Kakande, Marianne Rosenberg, No Doubt and Larry Graham to name a few.

As an educator, he’s taught and handled trainings at a number of top companies and studios including Avid, Waves, UAD, SAE, Abbey Road Institute, and United Pop.

He is regularly interviewed by the music media and shares his experience on social media including YouTube, where his videos gain millions of views.

Buff has a deep understanding of all aspects of music production and has developed presentations that can convey his knowledge to the students, leading to many of his students having achieved great success themselves.

Hans-Martin Buff and Gary Marlowe

Hans-Martin Buff and Scorpions

Hans-MartinBuff

Hans-Martin Buff and Prince

Teaching Environment

All the recording & mixing equipment used in training will be provided by Beijing Pacific Budee and is top-of-the-line. You will experience a professional teaching environment, use the highest-end equipment, and have the opportunity to practice during the course period.

United Pop Workshop Recording/Mixing Training Program

After the course is over, we’ll arrange a visit to one of China’s top recording studios to share valuable learning opportunities and interactions with renowned sound engineers.