does anyone know anything about the course they run. i see the prices are dramitically reduced for unemployed and 16-18 year olds. does that mean the courses are full of teenagers with attitude(think thats the best way i can put it)......

has anyone been on a course from here ?

The website can be found
here (http://www.redtape.org.uk)

They do run some courses for 14-16 learners, that's the youngest clientele.

The courses attract all ages, but due to the nature of the subject it's mostly those in their late teens to late 20s who enrol. That doesn't mean it's restricted, but all are welcome.

I would say that the facilities are great and that the tutors know there stuff. However, the organisation of the place is (or was when I took some courses 6 years ago) somewhat shambolic.

Of course, things are bound to have changed since then. Can't say I have done much with my qualification in dance music production! Also, I think they expect you to be a fully fledged musician already and have some sort of home access to the hardware they use, unless you are unemployed and then you get priority access to there studios.

M

im neither unemployed or under 18 so guess id be paying full whack for the course so wouldnt want some little chav ruining it for me.

dance music production ! man that sounds interesting !

hmmm... sounds interesting! I may give this a look into as i am a fellow bum

I've done a few courses there. Music management and some computer music stuff ( logic audio ect)
The staff are great as are the courses but the council underfunds it. They are happy to spend god knows on 2nd rate slebs to come and turn on the xmas lights but something that is useful to Sheffield they are doing their best to run into the ground.

Originally posted by dinkdankdo10
does anyone know anything about the course they run. i see the prices are dramitically reduced for unemployed and 16-18 year olds. does that mean the courses are full of teenagers with attitude(think thats the best way i can put it)......

has anyone been on a course from here ?

full of teenagers with attitude... sorrie buts thats typical sterotyping teenagers.... typical !!!!

yes there is a bit of teenagers, but they are all willing to work hard! they are not shoved onto this course as they have noffin to do!

a lot of time a and work is done down there by teenagers. plus a lot of talent is cummin out of it!

I did Studio Engineering there about 5 years ago, I really enjoyed it and I was in my early thirties. Everyone was a bit younger than me but most were really serious about it. I see some around Sheffield working in studios and mixing at venues.

Going there got me in a gigging band and I really learned how to engineer a session. I was much more interesting than any college or uni course I've done.

I packed my job in that I had had for 15 years to do music management. Met loads of great people, learnt a load of stuff and had a right laugh.

Has anyone here completed the Red Tape band development course, and if so would you recommend it?

As anyone got a well paid and secure job (especially here in the north) after finishing one of these courses.

It's fine churning out all these qualified Audio media wiz kids year after year, but where are the jobs.

If you're lucky a single place may come up once every other year and you may have better luck down in London but it's still not recruiting on a big scale.

This country's going to be buggered in ten years, have you tried getting hold of a plumber or plasterer etc... lately.

I would just have a think before doing one of these courses about what exactly it is you want from it.

If you still want to fight it out in that industry then I would recomend the SAE course - http://www.saeuk.com/audio/
They have schools all over the world including Liverpool, Glasgow and London where it would be an advantage in getting a job.

Just my 2p's worth.

IVE INTERVEIWED SOME PEOPLE THAT ARE CURRENTLY DOING A COURSE THERE AND SAW LEE MCHOEN ALSO PLAY AT THE BOARD WALK HE WAS BRILLIANT AND APPARANTLY THE EQUIPMENT USED IS REALLY GOOD?

I make a living after doing one of these courses. I'm part of a club night that was rated as one of the top 10 club nights in the country by DJ magazine. One of my partners in the clubnight did the same course as me.

I've got my own PA system and built up a pretty good rep for myself over the last 18 months doing gigs at a varity of venues.
One of the sound engineers i use did the 2 year studio course at Red Tape. he has built his own studio since and is remixing tracks for quite a few of the Sheffield bands that are coming through at the moment. Harrissons, milburn ect.

Milburn did the band development course 2 years ago. they have just got signed in the last couple of months. Some people I know have gone on to uni to study events management or music.

Ralph who does Razor Stilletto did the same course and he is doing pretty well for himself.
Some other people i know work at studios like yellow arch or have there own at places like Stag Works.

champion Kickboxer are getting good reviews where ever that go and should get somewhere over the next few months.

As for the band development courses I would fully recommend it.
It's a great chance to learn how to become a professional musician and the more you put into the course the more you get out of it.
you can find out about the more technical side of the music industry like copyright law, MCPS, PRS, publishing, how to get a record deal, how to set up your own lablel, how to run a band as a business, the mistakes bands make and how to avoid them as well as getting a chance to record a decent ep in decent studios.
Well worth doing whilst it is still there as I bet the council are going to pull the plug on it sometime soon.

Hi Carcrash,

that's quite a great piece of Pr for Red Tape, if youre between 14 and 24.

Speaking as someone who as been in the industry since 1987 and doing a Red tape course in 91 I feel (for me) theirs nothing really substantial in it.

If you know security is not going to be a priority and sure you'r not going to have any commitments, then it is quite an interestng path to take.

I could write a Cv myself that would sound like it came straight out of the pages of the NME but I'm still not sure I'm where I want to be, approaching my 40's.

My point is, don't glamourise it and do be over sceptical because before you know it you've spent the last 20 years going sideways.

We also do need more kids out there taking more manual skills as an option.

I'm 35, I have nothing to do with Red Tape apart from the fact I did a course there a couple of years ago and enjoyed it and tried to make a living since then from the stuff I learnt.

So you did something 14 years ago at red tape and you are judging it from that experience. At that point 14 ( Fourteen ) years ago they were in the process of moving on from wax cylinder to wire recording and looking forward to the onset of magnetic tape.
I did a logic audio course when i could have done a pro tools course ( my mistake).

Don't knock red tape, Sheffield is much better off with it than without it. All the talk of chavs ect (I am a chav) on the courses is stupid. People use red tape to learn about music, wether you are a dj, band, sound engineer, producer, MC, manager,ect.

Originally posted by carcrash
and tried to make a living since

That's my exact point there, trying not makeing a living?

I'm not knocking Red Tape at all, I've actually worked for them in the past.

My point is makeing people think about what they really want when deciding to join one of these courses.
Because job satisfaction wise the "music biz" is not all it's cracked up to be.

Of course when completing your audio media course you could get a job teaching.
Like a lot do, traning more to do the same.
It's like a virus, untill the Uk is imobile full of audio, video, cgi, web designing wiz kids and no one to do things that matter.

Please don't think I'm having a crack at you personally.
I'm a grumpy so and so, I actually think we would make a great team going round schools with you being the positive perspective and me being the negative.
From there it's up to the kids to decide, talent or no talent.

P.s like the bit about wax cylinders but we did have Atari st's in them day's, they were the future.:hihi:

It's not all sweetness and light. It's poorly paid at times (30% of my gigs can be less than the minimum wage) bloody hard work and frustrating at times.

Hey i've recelntly completed a degree course in creative music tech and am now a freelance producer/composer, while the course was great fun and taught me a hell of a lot I appreciate that a full time degree course isn't an option for a lot of people espeicially when theirs more guarantee of a job if you did something like law or even philosophy. I've worked with people who have done courses at red tape and even used the facilities their myself. I've found the people from their to be both knowledgeble and fun to work with. It's a very good place for contacts and is perhaps more buiseness orientated than some other courses which is good.
What some people don't seem to realise is that not everyone who does a music or music tech related course are going to work exclusively in that area, not all will (just not enough jobs out there) and the clever one's will find way's to diversify. Theirs also the factor that due to lower cost equipment theirs a hell of lot poeple with bedroom studios who just want to do as a laugh with their mates rather than seriously persue a full time career, a short course can teach them the skills to get the most out of a rewarding hobby.
The bottom line is that even the really talented people don't make it because they don't put themselves out there or they just don't get lucky. As for their not being enough manual and professional labourers out there well their doesn't seem to be much call for them you look for jobs in sheffield your gonna get sales, admin or customer service offered to you hundreds more times than anything else.
So what I'm trying to say is if you're thinking of doing a course like this and you've got the time/money do it and have a laugh but don't get your hopes up it's cutthroat and short lived industry. Peace.

i did the course 14 years ago, it was a bit shambolic but the equipment was great.

the staff have all changed since then and are v. knowledgable, e.g. omith mukherjee, and adam the bloke who used to be mr. modo records (the orb etc).

My boyfriends brother has been going to this red tape on mondays i think, i thought it was for kids that have missed school/ dropped out?