Today we’d like to introduce you to Dave Garnish.
Dave, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started out in my apartment in London holding masterclasses in advanced music production techniques for my producer friends, as I used to beta test for Logic when they were owned by a small German firm called Emagic. I was tired of all the technical support phone calls, so thought I’d teach them all for free. The sessions were really popular, and I was asked to do it for people I didn’t know, so I charged them. One thing led to another, and I decided to make a business out of it. I rented some space in my friend’s gritty warehouse in the east end of London (which the younger learners loved), and immediately hired some teachers, as, although I knew some deep stuff in Logic, I am a terrible teacher!
Not long later, I decided to set up here in Los Angeles, as I have friends here I have worked with over the years, and fancied some time in the sun!
Now we have a location in New York, Grammy-winning instructors in all locations, and boast an eclectic mix of success stories. Way too many to list here, and the list keeps on growing. We are the first, and still the only music production school to offer UK-accredited music production courses in America. We run shorter, 36-hour production courses for beginners in Ableton, Logic Pro, and Pro Tools, alongside intermediate courses in Sound Design, Songwriting, and Mixing & Mastering. We also run a more comprehensive DAW-specific, non-accredited music production courses in Ableton for electronic music producers, and one in Logic for more singer/songwriter/composer-types, that take learners from beginner to expert in 120 hours spread over many different schedule options. We have club nights, a bookings agency, and commercial mixing & mastering facilities across the world.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
You’re expecting me to say no, but I would say yes. I put in the hours because I enjoy it. With the people around me, it feels more like a hobby than a job, and everything has organically fallen into place without a real business strategy. I just tinker away, try things out, and a bigger picture has formed organically.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
They say to master anything alone takes 10,000 hours. We cut that number down. By how much depends on a number of contributing factors, like how hard the learner works during and outside of the course hours. On our longer Comprehensive Academy Programs, we estimate that learners can cut that 10,000-hour figure down to as low as 1000 hours. We can get learners to their full potential in months, rather than years or decades trying to figure it out on their own with online videos. The smart crowd come to us because they are not fooled by the over-the-top marketing of some of the other schools. Our students have their heads screwed on, and genuinely want to learn, so it feels more like a family, as everyone is on the same page. One of the main reasons we get such great results is the quality and attitude of the learners who sign up with us in the first place, and for that we are very grateful!
What were you like growing up?
I went to an inner-city south London state school called Elliott, which despite being located on a large project where I lived, had an amazing record of churning out musical students that went on to have success in the industry. I learned to play the guitar. My guitar teacher was amazing, and I put the hours in. Luckily those practice hours came in handy as they got me through the audition to get into the BRIT School, which was, and still is the only state-funded Performing Arts School in London. It’s an amazing place, and not doubt I wouldn’t be speaking to you now if it wasn’t for the BRITS. A friend of mine there got some belt-driven turntables for his birthday, so I learned to DJ on them, and got into pirate radio with Don FM, which was a lot of fun, and back to my routes, so I fitted in. My first time ever on Technics direct drive turntables was my first ever live radio show at age 17. I cringe now at the state of the mixing when I hear recordings people have now uploaded to Mixcloud, so I am not going to tell you the key words to search for to find them! After that, and with the help of an ex-girlfriend with a famous father, I got into the prestigious Air Studios in Hampstead as a runner. The pay may only have been £2.50 an hour, but my first album, and first time ever in a commercial recording studio was working on an album called The Glory of Gershwin, with George Martin producing artists including Larry Adler, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Elton John, Kate Bush, Robert Palmer, Bon Jovi, and Cortney Pine, amongst others. Over the next 20 years, I worked my way up to producer/songwriter and signed a publishing deal with Universal Music, UK, alongside founding and running the London club night ‘Blah’, which saw us in London venues including The Key, The Cross and Fabric.
Pricing:
- 36-hour courses – from $999
- 120-hour courses from $3499
- 400-hour UK-accredited diplomas – $7999
Contact Info:
- Address: Garnish Music Production Studios,
7600 Melrose Avenue,
West Hollywood, Los Angeles
CA 90046 - Website: https://la.garnishmusicproduction.com
- Phone: Fully Comprehensive Diplomas: (424) 281 7142; All Other Courses: (424) 653 6481
- Email: la@garnishmusicproduction.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garnishmusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garnishmusicproduction/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/garnishmusic
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/garnish-music-production-school-west-hollywood
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
