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SZA's "Saturn": Chart-Topping Success and Insight into Her Songwriting Process

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The Rap Challenge of Drill Beats: Why Cardi B Didn't Release Ice Spice 'Munch' Remix

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Drill beats, with their gritty textures and relentless rhythms, represent one of these challenging frontiers. Cardi B's recent experience with recording a verse for a remix of Ice Spice's "Munch"...

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Ariana Grande's Lyrical Odyssey: Love and Loss in 'Eternal Sunshine'

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Ludwig Göransson’s Oscar Triumph: Crafting Oppenheimer's “Unplayable” Score

March 14, 2024

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The TikTok-UMG Standoff: A Battle Over Music Rights and Its Ripple Effects

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Jimin's Historic Billboard Hot 100 Triumph: Elevating K-Pop to New Heights on the Global Stage

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The Mick Gordon Controversy: A Symptom of Deeper Issues in the Video Game Industry

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"Laufey: Bridging Generations with Jazz's New Groove"

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In an era where pop and electronic music dominate the charts, Icelandic singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Laufey has emerged as an unexpected champion of jazz for Gen Z listeners...

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The K-Pop Wave Continues: March 2024's Exciting Comebacks and Anticipated Debuts

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March 2024 is set to be an exhilarating month for K-Pop fans around the globe, with a lineup that promises both the return of beloved artists and the introduction of fresh faces to the music scene....

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Beyoncé Embarks on a New Journey with "Renaissance" Act II

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This time, the buzz is all about her latest musical venture—a dive into country music with her new album "Renaissance" Act II. Announced during a Super Bowl for Verizon, the album marks a ....

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The Weight Behind the Power of Aretha Franklin's "Respect"

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Timbaland’s Beatmaking Masterclass Review: A Class on Feeling the Flow

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Photo: Class Trailer, Masterclass

Many artists are using their personal brand and influence to educate artists, from beginners to fellow professionals. Timbaland has partnered with Masterclass to teach musicians how to make unique beats while showing his personal style of making music. Timbaland’s course is a pre-recorded set of 15 videos that run just over 3 hours and promises to teach about beat making, working with vocal recording, collaboration in the studio, and the layering musical sections. He demonstrates his creative process and teaches the students with some of his hits, like “Dirt Off My Shoulder”.

Many people have taken this course because of Timbaland’s extensive library of hits.

Photo: Crypto Times

Positive aspects:

This course offers an in-depth review of how Timbaland creates music and taps into the feeling of creating a song from beatboxed vocals to a track. His presence in the videos is quite infectious and demonstrates how going with what feels good can make a great track. The course is fantastic for beginners because it lets the student watch a musician create and learn alongside their creative process. In the course, Timbaland goes over many of his hits, which allows for the student to connect and follow along intently with him much easier than making a new track. Timbaland’s course also shows the process of beat making in a way that even non-beatmakers find inviting and enticing.

Like many of the Masterclass courses there is also the community section, which many of the reviewers said was very helpful in creating connections with fellow artists they can create with and get feedback from.

Negative aspects:

This course is not for someone who is looking for technical instruction in DAWs and other musical equipment. As Timbaland improvised beats at the mic, his co-producers were busy inputting drum sounds and structuring them to keep the flow going. If someone would like an in-depth review into the process of working in a DAW and the technical process of arranging music, this course may not be a good fit.

Throughout the improvisational and creative portions there isn’t much verbal instruction from Timbaland since his co-producers and himself are in the creative zone. Timbaland is focused primarily on showing over telling, so during the creation of a track they show his dynamic creation process, but the verbal description of why the beats and sounds work together is a bit lacking.

Timbaland’s creative process is quite particular to how he makes a track— from beatboxing, to the addition of drums, to vocals, to completion. This course is focused on Timbaland’s specific way of creating, so for someone who may want to try multiple different ways, this may not be the best fit.

Masterclass does not let you pay for an individual class, so at $240 annually, the course may not be worth the student’s time if they don’t intend on taking any other courses.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, this course is best for a student who knows what they will be learning from it. They won’t be learning the specifics of DAWs or technical precision, but they will learn to lean into the feeling and process of making a beat from scratch, and collaborating to make a full track from a leading industry professional. The course is primarily for beginners but more knowledgeable musicians can also learn and be inspired by the alluring process that Timbaland uses in this course.