workstation

If you’re a songwriter, or singer-songwriter, you might accompany yourself on a guitar or keyboard. That’s great! But if you want to take things one step further, you’d also want to learn some music production, so that you can produce some decent sounding demos all by yourself (and not necessarily have to pay a producer just to create a demo).

And the best thing is, if you’re Singaporean (like me), you can learn online music production for free. Absolutely free, with your SkillsFuture Credit. The good news is that since I last checked the list of SkillsFuture approved courses (back when the only music-related course was a DJ course), they have updated the list to include tons of online courses using Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) – Ableton, Logic Pro, Garageband, Cubase, Reason, etc. As of right now, they also offer offline courses in Lasalle, NAFA, and SIM, just to name a few. So you can basically claim for all of these courses using your SkillsFuture credits.

For myself, I’m currently using a trial version of Steinberg Cubase 8, which came with my audio interface. I really like Cubase and I find it easy to use, so I’m going to upgrade that to Cubase Elements 8. Luckily for me, there’s an approved course that teaches the fundamentals of Cubase 6.

Screengrab from SkillsFuture website.

But wait… it’s Cubase 6? But I’m using Cubase 8! And the interfaces are kind of different thanks to their upgrades. So how?!?! (As we say in Singlish)

Luckily (again!), the vendor that’s administering this course (Loop.sg) was kind enough to give me a special offer.

Exclusively for me AND readers of my blog (that’s you!), they are offering the Cubase 8 course for FREE with purchase of the Cubase 6 course (which is claimable under SkillsFuture Credit). That means we can have the updated course, Cubase 8, even though only Cubase 6 is offered on SkillsFuture! Are you as excited as I am??

In order to redeem this special offer, you just have to sign up for an account, and then follow these terms and conditions:

1) User purchases the Cubase 6 course from Loop.sg
2) User completes the Cubase 6 course, receiving their Loop.sg Certificate of Completion
3) User will email info@loop.sg with a notification of completion for the course (do mention you heard of this offer through my blog, and show your certificate as well!)
4) Loop.sg will automatically upgrade their current course to Cubase 8 upon confirmation in their system

Here are some points you may also wish to take note of:

1) All courses are online based training; all you need is your LOOP.sg account to get started.
2) No particular qualifications needed, just go right ahead!
3) Set your own schedule! Learn at your own time and pace from the comfort of home
4) You get a certificate of completion from us when you’re done!
5) 12 months of unlimited access to your course – lots of time to learn & hone your skills

You can also check out their FAQs for more information.

Here’s what the Cubase 8 course looks like once you’ve gotten it!

That’s it! Be sure to create an account (unless you have one already), and follow the terms above in order to get your free Cubase 8 lesson! After which, you can go ahead and claim for your Cubase 6 course under SkillsFuture Credit.

Happy making music! And do feel free to share your tracks with me too – I’d love to hear them!