# Symphonic Virtual Orchestration Course - Legit?



## nsmadsen

I've been getting spammed with this link for several days and, honestly, it comes off super "market-idity." _Is that even a word?_ Normally I wouldn't even bother but when I saw the price, my jaw dropped. Is this legit? Has anyone here actually taken this course and if so, what were your thoughts? 

https://symphonicvirtualorchestration.com/webinar/

I've seen a lot of courses online but this is one of the more expensive ones and it's not with names I necessarily recognize. Even the Hans Zimmer class was only $90. (Granted it was more of an overview and didn't go super in depth but I digress...)

No offense meant to the creator(s) of this course and I sincerely would like to hear feedback on if it was a worthwhile endeavour or not. 

Thanks!

Nate


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## nulautre

I signed up for the free email course... there were a couple of good tips in there... but never pulled the trigger on the whole thing... the price was way too high in my opinion for an online course.

The thing i had to laugh at though is the "PRIVATE ONLINE MUSICIAN COMMUNITY GROUP (a $997/year value)" I did the math on that and it comes out to $83 a month FOR A FACEBOOK GROUP!


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## nsmadsen

Yeah, the overall pitch was VERY spammy. To the point that it made me question the actual worth of the info provided. I think for now, I'll stick to the podcasts and the Mixing with the Masters stuff.


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## Leon Willett

is this course written by an author who's mockups blow your mind? That would be a good criteria to help you chose!


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## jononotbono

After watching the student testimony video and looking general at the Website design I felt like my computer was getting a virus.

Then I watched the intro video on what the course covers and he is constantly looking up at what I assume to be a Whiteboard. Doesn't even know what he is selling/teaching. "we will learn two important concepts - Keyswitches and EQ". For me, this sounds all over the place. Not to sound too negative about it but I'll respectfully pass.


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## MarcusMaximus

I'm glad some others are voicing their reservations. I have also been getting multiple emails since I signed up for the mini course a few weeks ago. Also the whole website is so transparently sales-pitched with the guarantee, the popup as soon as you go to leave etc. I'm sure there is some great info there and that the creator knows what he is talking about but I have found it all a bit off-putting. Not to mention the price.

To be more specific (and I'm not trying to be negative or critical here, these are just the thoughts that I've been having), my reservations are mostly based on the following points. If it wasn't for those I might be willing to look beyond the sales pitch:

I listened to most of the demos. Although they do sound clear and punchy, they also sound quite clinical and over- produced, to my ears anyway. So no, those particular mockups didn't 'blow my mind' though I can see how they might appeal to some people. I prefer a little more subtlety and dynamic range. Also I don't favour an approach that encourages composing and orchestrating with little or no theoretical knowledge. It's all too easy to end up with music that sounds generic and 'samey' that way. There are no short cuts to proper orchestration IMO, even if working solely with samples. Of course I'm basing this on the few preview videos I watched as well as the course description so there might be a lot more under the hood than is immediately apparent.

The author seems to be very keen on using a lot of processing, doing EQ cuts across the board and using a lot of other plugins in the mixing and mastering chains. Now that can be ok in the hands of a master and perhaps the author is that skilled but it does ring alarm bells for me. Should all that processing really be necessary?

Again, I don't mean to be overly negative and if it is what it claims to be then it's an excellent resource, even at those steep prices. So I'm happy to be proven wrong if I'm way off in my impressions!


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## LeonardoM

Hi there,
First time posting here but I really felt I should do that! 
I've taken this course, as many many many others. From Berklee to other seminaries and stuff.
It may feels a bit high the price but I really would like to share my personal experience. In any case, I'm not associated in any way with that course or the composer which has created it, I'm just a student who had some real benefits taking that course. 

I've to say that I learned some crucial key points during the lessons, my production quality definitely had an improvement. And also My efficiency and workflow has improved a lot thanks to it. So at the end, I felt definitely worth the money, even if they where a lot. 
There were a lot of useful information and meetings that was easy and really straight forward mainly dictated by the creator personal working experience!

So in conclusion, I really enjoyed that course and most of all I can definitely say that it has worth it, it was really effective for me and I would it again! That's just my personal point of view! 

Agin, I'm not defending or sponsoring or anything else, I just felt it useful!!


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## Matthew Fisher

Hey guys, I can honestly testify that this is not a spammy thing at all! I'm almost all the way through the course now and have learned more now than I have in the last 3 years about mixing and mastering orchestral film music. Also Marc explains step by step how to build your orchestral templates and maximize workflow. The teacher (Marc Jovani) is one of the nicest and most genuine people I know. Also we do video chats each week and ask whatever questions we want and also network with loads of composers. Every question I have ever had about film scoring has been answered! Trust me guys. It's awesome!


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## MarcJovani

Hi everyone, this is Marc, instructor at Symphonic Virtual Orchestration.

I appreciate your words, both the positive and especially the more critical ones. Those help us to improve.

You see, Symphonic Virtual Orchestration didn't start as a commercial course. It actually started as me helping some friends with their mixes, and them referring me to others. That brought me to teach some private lessons and later some group classes... Back then I'd post the videos and materials in a Dropbox folder. At some point, a group of composer friends encouraged me to build a platform around the materials and lessons that I was teaching. So I asked for help to create a site to host all the videos and a sales page with a payment gateway, etc.

But we are musicians... not web developers, or marketing experts. We're not even good at public speaking. I apologize if the sales page is too sales-pitched, or if I look around in my first 12 minutes intro video to see the notes that I wrote on the whiteboard that's behind the camera. This is being an incredible journey where we had to learn about cameras, lenses, lighting, speaking in front of the camera, etc. You'd laugh if I'd tell you how many takes in every video I make! my wife goes: "another one!? isn't it good enough!?" We had to learn about web developing and creating a sales page. Maybe we messed up with the copy, with the sales message. I guess we should tone it down quite a bit. I wish we could've hired professionals that would've advised us on those topics. We just didn't have the funds... AND maybe we put too much attention into making sure that the materials were the absolute best that we could get.

When we were creating the course, and when I was showing it to the private students that I had in the past, the advice that they'd give was to make sure to keep that live teacher-student interaction that they had with me during the private classes. "Don't just make a Wordpress site and through some videos in there", they would say. That is why this course includes a one-hour live video-chat. And that has happened to become one of the most successful parts of the course. Can you imagine 20-30 people live, sharing knowledge, questions, issues about samples, libraries, plugins, etc? Complete madness!  It is supposed to be a 1-hour session, but as you can imagine, composers talking about composing and mockup production... usually goes way longer!

Another thing that I was advised was to keep the 1-to-1 feedback. The best way that we've found to achieve this so far has been to create a Facebook group where the students would post their weekly assignments and I would give them feedback there because that allows me to insert video comments and also for other students to comment in everyone's assignment. Obviously, this has grown to a very active group where students will also post related questions, technical issues, thoughts about new sample libraries and plugins, etc.

The pricing may seem expensive. I can't argue that. I guess it depends on everyone's point of view. What I can say is that this course is not comparable to a not as pricey self-contained video-based online course. This one includes the live interaction, plus the 1-to-1 feedback. This course contains materials that will take for a student 8 to 12 weeks to complete. There are assignments that get reviewed weekly. On top of that, there are two live sessions with Bobby Fernandez about orchestral mixing and Christopher Young about how to get you started in the film industry.

I guess this is the beginning of a very long journey at symphonicvirtualorchestration.com. So far the next step is going to offer more courses, starting with orchestration and composing. We'll be creating a new platform called cinematiccomposing.com where we'll be offering the SVO course plus some more. As some of you have mentioned, and the students have asked about it, mockup production requires a good deal of experience about composing and orchestrating. The SVO covers synthestration, mixing and mastering, but a foundation of composing and orchestrating is needed. We're working hard improving SVO and offering new course with what the students are demanding.

Again, we apologize for the mistakes we could've made. I guess that's part of a long learning journey. We appreciate you're sharing your thoughts here and being straightforward about it. There's not a better chance for us to listen and improve from this great community of composers and musicians here at VI-Control who are opened to speak up and share their thoughts.


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## Tonysound

Hey y'all,
I must agree with all the positive things said about this course, it's really well thought out and put together. I signed up for it early on and am very happy with the results thus far. It's also a great community w/ a bunch of talented people all learning in the process. Very good indeed!


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## MarcusMaximus

Thanks for responding here Marc and glad to hear that your students are finding the course so valuable. I have no doubt that you are excellent at what you do and that the course contains a lot of great info and training resources. I would consider doing it if it was not so expensive but I do feel that it is too pricey, for me anyway. The reservations I mentioned above still stand but you have addressed some of them and I am sure that if I did the course I would understand and appreciate your approach more fully.

If I may say, I do suggest that you consider toning down the sales pitch and perhaps review the tone of the automatic emails as they do come across as a little insistent. I find personally that I respond more to promotion that describes what's on offer with perhaps a little push but less of a hard-sell attitude. Your potential customers will see the quality of what you do without all that if they are serious and will more likely sign up if they feel less pressure to do so. Anyway, that's just my perspective and I offer it with all due respect. As I say, no doubt you are a skilled and professional composer who has a lot to offer people in terms of their learning. Also I fully understand that it can be hard for musicians to find the best way to promote their products.

I wish you the best with this course and with the other developments you mention.

Mark


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## G.R. Baumann

Marcjovani,

a few thoughts, first I would suggest to re-think, especially at this price tag, your 60 days money back policy.

Why?

You write:


> I’m giving you a full 60 DAYS to go through the training, to do the assignments, to implement what you learn, and watch your production skills to grow.
> If you reach out within 60 days to show me that you’ve kept up with all the work (you have to show me proof!), and for some crazy reason STILL haven’t seen any progress, then I’ll be happy to return the investment. But, you DO have to do the work!



This opens the door for eternal conflict, because this alledged "progress", or the absence of it, can not be measured by YOU.

It is a very different story in real life, very much so. Spending 10 days, up to 10 hours a day, in a Masterclass course with Leonard Bernstein for example, he was able to evaluate and show me any progress I made, or might not have made. It is this intense encounter on a personal level, working together on aspects of performance and skills that enable a teacher to learn about his students skills and fields for improvements.

In your offering, one has to pay the expert course to have a 1 hour skype one-on one.

Bottom line, what you might declare as progress then, could easily be dismissed by your client, hence leading to conflict in that money back policy. Ultimately, with such policy, it would always be up to you to decide whether your client made progress, right? Or do I get that wrong? If your client did the assignements etc. and states that he feels no progress was made, do you return the funds no
questions asked? It sure doesn't read like that!

Second, I find this to be an impossible claim to make! Emphasis mine.



> You will receive 12 emails over the span of 2 weeks. They will be relatively short, easily digestible emails that can be read in one sitting. The emails introduce the basic concepts of Orchestral Mockup Production. At the end of the course, we will have covered the basic concepts that you need to know to be able to produce professional sounding orchestral and hybrid mockups.



In my opinion this is impossible, because you have to evaluate the level a client is at to begin with, exhaustingly. There is just no way to teach the production of professional sounding orchestral and hybrid mockups in 12 emails to Joe Soap. I stand to be corrected.

Also, I was wondering how Berklee, where you teach, views your offerings. If I'd be in Berklee's shoes I'd consider that to be a solid conflict of interest, but that's only me.

As for the marketing already adressed by others here, I too found this raised red flags to my personal impression. Last but not least, I find this to be interesting in that context as well. Emphasis mine.



> By enrolling today, you automatically get up to 50% OFF in Cinesamples, Spitfire, 8Dio, Orchestral Tools, etc



Up to 50%? At the very least, you could be more specific here.

Just my thoughts.
Best
G


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## MarcJovani

@G.R. Baumann,

Thanks for your thoughtful and detailed post. Such invaluable and in-depth analysis helps us improving.

About the 60 money back guaranty. This is a great point that you brought up. 
We do not evaluate progress. We just require for the students to provide the completed assignments. That's it. If the student says there's been no progress, we will not argue. If they say there's been no progress, we cannot say the opposite. The only condition is for them to provide the completed assignments. 

This is a way for us to try avoiding people that just want to “check them out”, or “take a look under the hood”. We have put an extraordinary amount of time, money and effort into SVO, and we will hold you to the same standard.

About the 12 emails mini course. This a free mini course that we're offering to those that are not interested in the bigger SVO course. But I appreciate you're commenting that. Maybe, we should rethink the copy in that paragraph, so it is not confusing... still, we're NOT saying that we'll TEACH you how to produce professional sounding mockups. What the paragraph says is that we'll be covering some basic concepts that you need to know to produce professional mockups. Those are important and useful concepts that you should be aware of. Now, applying those is another thing and it takes a different level of training.

Berklee. Yes, I teach at Berklee. I feel that I shouldn't have to discuss anything about that here... besides, there's not much to address about this one. Berklee has known about SVO from its early stages. I maintain regular conversations with them. If they wouldn't want me teaching at Berklee anymore I wouldn't be teaching.

Finally. Yes, the discounts. Again, great advice. There's nothing special about them. Just the same discounts that any school or college would get for their students. These are the ones that we can offer, upon agreement with the different sample library companies.
Orchestral Tools: 25% OFF
Spitfire: 30% OFF
Cinesamples: 50% OFF
Heavyocity: 20% OFF
Soundiron: 30% OFF

Thanks for your thoughts, G.


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## MarcelM

well... i have to drop my 2 cents on this.

if only basic concepts are teached, then the price is way too high. i wouldnt even subscribe if john powell was the instructor i guess.
and about the discounts? if those are education versions then some license might say that you cannot use the library in a commercial track or doesnt that apply in your case?

and one last thing. i find it a little strange that only new members here at vi have taken the course so far and are talking very good about it. sorry, but thats my opinion.


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## etpaladin

Hey guys (and gals). 

Here is my honest feedback for @nsmadesen, who started this conversation thread. 

Let me just state that I also am a student who is currently subscribed to this course and I also happened to be a student of Marc when I was studying at Berklee Online. I decided to take the course because a common discussion we encountered among the students at Berklee was how to better our mixes using sample libraries and general frustration that it was not being offered. We had specific questions like " how to blend libraries together, how to make that flute sound a bit more expressive, how to do xyz with sample libraries abc" I had personally reached out to their academic advisors on if they would ever offer a course on virtual orchestration and they said that it wouldn't happen so I was happy that Marc was addressing these questions we had and can fill in some gaps of knowledge. 

I will state the obvious that measuring value is entirely subjective based on our level of understanding and our willingness to be open. If I was a senior audio engineer working at RCP and regularly work on large studio productions, will this course by for me? Probably not. But if I was just starting out in my interest or passion in learning about virtual orchestration, than yes, it is beneficial. But these are the two extremes which are easy to identify. I think we are debating on the middle ground "If I'm already comfortable using my DAW, know how to mix and master properly, will it be beneficial?" Well, that depends on the specifics of what you know and what you think you can get out of this class. 


So what does this class offer? It provides an overview of fundamental concepts such as (but not limited to) proper routing, gain staging, how to use templates, mixing techniques for general delivery of stems, mastering techniques, blending instruments, how to manipulate sample libraries for realistic performances, etc. 

The method in which Marc teaches is to use online pre-reocordered videos (basically a video lecture) supplemented by live chats via google hangout, skype, webex, etc. 

Does it work? Well, again that depends. First, if you already have a mastery of these concepts (again just some of the concepts, I don't feel like typing them all) , than this class may not necessarily be beneficial for you. However, if this is something that is unfamiliar with you, than it may be beneficial. I can say that it is personally beneficial for me because some of the concepts ARE new to me. Second, does online class work for you? I've taken online classes at Berklee as well as coursera and IMO I hated Coursera whereas I loved Berklee. Marc's class it modeled similarly to Berklee and his live chats are really useful and helpful. I also agree with Matt Fisher that Marc is genuine and really wants to teach these concepts and is not doing is just to make a fast buck. If students have some suggestions on how to improve something or if they have completely random questions like "how to use a fader" or what's a good company to buy products (amazon, sweetwater, guitar center) Marc will take the time and patience to answer these questions, no matter how insignificant they may seem. 

Does it cost money. Yes, but I believe that Marc choose to price this competitively relative to the cost of Berklee. If you take one class (say art of mixing) at Berklee online (which i've taken), it can cost up to 1200 dollars. Does Marc's class provide everything? No not at all, but neither does Berklee. So I believe in Marc's POV, $900 for a class that teaches mixing and mastering is a bargain. Is Berklee online worth the cost? Same subjectivity which I'm sure there is a thread somewhere out there for that. 

So again, the value you assign will be contingent on your understanding. 

I think we can all agree that making better music requires a multifaceted understanding that takes time and repetition. From the broad to the specific. Whether it's understanding tonal harmony and counterpoint, or knowing how to write expression or use modulation, it's all important. For me Marc's class is worth the time and money.


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## mc_deli

Your web page is very well made. You don't have to be so coy about it. There is an avalanche of benefits. The course content is compelling.
I think maybe it feels like you are trying too hard. 
I am also deeply unsettled by the number of first time posters on this thread.

You should also look again at "By enrolling today, you automatically get up to 50% OFF in Cinesamples, Spitfire, 8Dio, Orchestral Tools, etc." Are you a registered school, does your course really fulfil the criteria offered by these companies, are you saying you have made agreements with these companies when you say "These are the ones that we can offer, upon agreement with the different sample library companies."...? Your phrasing doesn't read well, so far.

I am not complaining or doubting your course. Just explaining how it looks to me.


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## MarcelM

etpaladin said:


> Hey guys (and gals).
> 
> Here is my honest feedback for @nsmadesen, who started this conversation thread.
> 
> Let me just state that I also am a student who is currently subscribed to this course and I also happened to be a student of Marc when I was studying at Berklee Online. I decided to take the course because a common discussion we encountered among the students at Berklee was how to better our mixes using sample libraries and general frustration that it was not being offered. We had specific questions like " how to blend libraries together, how to make that flute sound a bit more expressive, how to do xyz with sample libraries abc" I had personally reached out to their academic advisors on if they would ever offer a course on virtual orchestration and they said that it wouldn't happen so I was happy that Marc was addressing these questions we had and can fill in some gaps of knowledge.
> 
> I will state the obvious that measuring value is entirely subjective based on our level of understanding and our willingness to be open. If I was a senior audio engineer working at RCP and regularly work on large studio productions, will this course by for me? Probably not. But if I was just starting out in my interest or passion in learning about virtual orchestration, than yes, it is beneficial. But these are the two extremes which are easy to identify. I think we are debating on the middle ground "If I'm already comfortable using my DAW, know how to mix and master properly, will it be beneficial?" Well, that depends on the specifics of what you know and what you think you can get out of this class.
> 
> 
> So what does this class offer? It provides an overview of fundamental concepts such as (but not limited to) proper routing, gain staging, how to use templates, mixing techniques for general delivery of stems, mastering techniques, blending instruments, how to manipulate sample libraries for realistic performances, etc.
> 
> The method in which Marc teaches is to use online pre-reocordered videos (basically a video lecture) supplemented by live chats via google hangout, skype, webex, etc.
> 
> Does it work? Well, again that depends. First, if you already have a mastery of these concepts (again just some of the concepts, I don't feel like typing them all) , than this class may not necessarily be beneficial for you. However, if this is something that is unfamiliar with you, than it may be beneficial. I can say that it is personally beneficial for me because some of the concepts ARE new to me. Second, does online class work for you? I've taken online classes at Berklee as well as coursera and IMO I hated Coursera whereas I loved Berklee. Marc's class it modeled similarly to Berklee and his live chats are really useful and helpful. I also agree with Matt Fisher that Marc is genuine and really wants to teach these concepts and is not doing is just to make a fast buck. If students have some suggestions on how to improve something or if they have completely random questions like "how to use a fader" or what's a good company to buy products (amazon, sweetwater, guitar center) Marc will take the time and patience to answer these questions, no matter how insignificant they may seem.
> 
> Does it cost money. Yes, but I believe that Marc choose to price this competitively relative to the cost of Berklee. If you take one class (say art of mixing) at Berklee online (which i've taken), it can cost up to 1200 dollars. Does Marc's class provide everything? No not at all, but neither does Berklee. So I believe in Marc's POV, $900 for a class that teaches mixing and mastering is a bargain. Is Berklee online worth the cost? Same subjectivity which I'm sure there is a thread somewhere out there for that.
> 
> So again, the value you assign will be contingent on your understanding.
> 
> I think we can all agree that making better music requires a multifaceted understanding that takes time and repetition. From the broad to the specific. Whether it's understanding tonal harmony and counterpoint, or knowing how to write expression or use modulation, it's all important. For me Marc's class is worth the time and money.



and you found vi-control and this thread by an accident or did someone invite you? sorry, quite strange since its your first post ever here.


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## Maestro1972

I am just seeing this post today so forgive me for not chiming in sooner. I am currently taking the course and for me as a "Senior Member" I would be more than happy to vouch for Marc and his teachings.

(about me)
I purchased a whole bunch of equipment back in 2013, not to be a professional composer, but simply for my love for music. I needed a way to hear audibly what I hear in my head. I had no idea what a "DAW" was or the difference between Play and Kontakt, or who East West and Orchestral Tools were...I was clueless.

So there I was with Pro-tools, loaded on my 27" i5 iMac with 32 Gigs, trying to write orchestral music using EW instruments (yes, my computer was on it's knees begging for mercy all the time!). So I composed and HATED everything I was hearing. My wonderful (at least to me) melody was transformed to a muddy, unbalanced mess. It was so bad that I honestly believe a 6th grade concert band would have sounded better.

Then I found VI-Control and started asking questions here. Some members were extremely helpful but for the most part I would get conflicting answers or incomplete answers that just keep me up all night trying to implement. "Compress this", "Parallel compression", "You should never use a compressor", "EQ", "Never EQ", "Spaces", "Altiverb", "2C-B2", "use two reverbs", "whoa that is WAY to much reverb", "Pan all your instruments", "the instruments were recorded with the players in their concert position,..never pan"...you get the point.

I would listen to the wonderful demos (I am certain a few of you contributed) that sounded so pristine and to my amateur ears, almost real and be convinced that if I had THOSE samples...I would get the sound I was searching for. I now own a lot of expensive libraries, including, as I mentioned before, The EW Hollywood series, diamond edition, back when you had to buy it...for a TON of money (at least to me it was). 

I would spend all my free time (as a contractor with my own business, 4 kids, of which 2 are in college, 1 is a "problem adult/child" and an 8 year old...there's not much) watching YouTube videos that looked so easy, and try to do what "he" did but still my music sounded horrible. 

When I was contemplating the cost of the course I had in mind all the courses I have already taken where I will get a user name and password, log in and watch a boring video, then try to apply what I have learned. So then what? Does it sound better? Maybe a little bit but it's still far from what I was wanting and all that I have for my $ is a bunch of videos and a slightly better (is it?) sounding mix. Am I missing something? Who do I contact? Who judges my improvements and critiques what I didn't understand? I know, post it in the VI-Control forum for their comments,...(see paragraph 4!). 

I reached out to Marc and talked with him about my concerns. He assured me that if I was unhappy with the course that he would reimburse my investment. He also explained that although the course is outlined for 8 weeks that I was welcome to go at my own pace. Concerns addressed I took the plunge! 

I watched the videos and at the end of the first module is,...homework? That I have to turn in? That's different. Throughout the week, I listened to the other student's "homework" as they posted them in the FB Group page. Shortly afterwards, Marc would post a video,..personally critiquing the homework! (That too is different!) Then there's the video chats,...usually about an hour where everyone gets together and talks about a plethora of topics. Samples, mixing, setting up templates, gear, routing, plug-ins, playing music into the DAW,...you name it...if someone has a problem, it gets brought up and Marc (and other students as well) specifically show you how to come to your solution. 

I was so lost and now I feel I have my own personal guide to help me navigate from where I am to where I want to go. I should say guides because most of the students, unlike myself, are already working as professionals and they are all willing to help out when needed. 

By far this course has been the single best investment that I have made in furthering my abilities and sound with virtual instrument music. And as far as it being legit? This is the only course I have taken where the instructor interacts with you (at a minimum once a week) on a regular basis...Yeah it's legit.


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## MarcusMaximus

Thanks Maestro for your excellent post. I'm sure many people can relate to a lot there. Very glad to hear you are getting so much out of the course. I hope it continues to help you to achieve your aims.


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## Fab

jononotbono said:


> After watching the student testimony video and looking general at the Website design I felt like my computer was getting a virus.
> 
> Then I watched the intro video on what the course covers and he is constantly looking up at what I assume to be a Whiteboard. Doesn't even know what he is selling/teaching. "we will learn two important concepts - Keyswitches and EQ". For me, this sounds all over the place. Not to sound too negative about it but I'll respectfully pass.




and Jono never passes on anything so, you know somethings wrong.


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## jononotbono

Fab said:


> and Jono never passes on anything so, you know somethings wrong.



Well, actually, I'm considering buying this now! I've had some time to think and there's even a Blake Neely Webinar included so... Has anyone bought the bundle yet?


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## JohnBMears

I have been doing the course. The tutorials are very good, along the lines of the EVENANT course that builds a track from step one. It is all that info, plus a great Facebook community, plus assignments, plus Marc doing a full review of your piece on video so you can go back and re-watch his comments on your 'module'. There is info on Mixing, Mastering which is valuable. I'd say I MAY have not jumped on this had there not been a low-low monthly payment option available (Why I still haven't done THINKSPACE stuff). But broken into 18 months of payments, Pretty easy, and Marc is good about answering questions and hosting weekly live chats.


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## jononotbono

Well, I'm studying an MA at Thinkspace so I find it hard to justify the spending on so many courses at the same time but I have just bought the Evenant Complete Bundle and will finish all of that (I know quite a bit of it already but some of it is a refresher, at lot of it is massively new - especially anything regarding Cinematic Orchestration because I haven't begun studying that stuff with TS yet) 



JohnBMears said:


> I'd say I MAY have not jumped on this had there not been a low-low monthly payment option available (Why I still haven't done THINKSPACE stuff)



Man, you can pay for your course over something like 10 years if you wanted! You just don't receive the qualification until the final payment.

Anyway, I have decided I am going buy this bundle once I have finished the Evenant Bundle. I just can't afford all these different payments at same time at the minute. I like the Blake Neely Webinar they have for the public to see although, the audio cuts out being Skype (I think it's Skype) and it's a little frustration. Still, it's wonderful to see this course having support from someone has big as Blake Neely. Legend.


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## jonathanparham

jononotbono said:


> I like the Blake Neely Webinar they have for the public to see although, the audio cuts out being Skype (I think it's Skype) and it's a little frustration. Still, it's wonderful to see this course having support from someone has big as Blake Neely. Legend.


I love Blake Neely. Thanks for the tip


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## robgb

I would never in a million years pay the prices Mr. Jovani is asking, but I have to say that based on his demos, he really knows what he's doing:


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## 5Lives

Any more opinions on this? Seems expensive but how is the content? I took Cinematic Orchestration from Thinkspace a few years ago and it was not right for me (a very expensive lesson!). The Evenant course on the other hand looks to be absolutely perfect based on the previews I’ve watched - not too much theory or “this is a violin” and more step by step how to take a simple composition and methodically expand it across various instruments, add rhythm, etc. Is the SOV course more focused on mixing?


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## pfylim

The dude is clearly a greedy marketer. Sure he has some composing experience, though all he knows is synthetic orchestration, not sure if he has ever conducted an orchestra, he's clearly no Williams or Newman. Seriously, if you really want to learn orchestration dive into some good books and sweat it out at the keyboard. If in doubt just visit youtube, that's seriously all you need.


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## ALittleNightMusic

To offer a different opinion, Marc is quite a good and generous teacher. He offers a variety of courses through his platform and I've found them to be beneficial. I took one course and he gave us all free access to all of his other courses as part of that, which was quite nice. His marketing approach is over the top and can come across as spammy, but his heart is in the right place and he does provide a lot of useful material.


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## ChoPraTs

ALittleNightMusic said:


> To offer a different opinion, Marc is quite a good and generous teacher. He offers a variety of courses through his platform and I've found them to be beneficial. I took one course and he gave us all free access to all of his other courses as part of that, which was quite nice. His marketing approach is over the top and can come across as spammy, but his heart is in the right place and he does provide a lot of useful material.


Totally agree.

I studied composition and orchestration at the conservatory, I have a higher degree and even so I decided to sign up for some Cinematic Composing courses because I think you always have to keep learning. And although I already have knowledge in many areas, I feel that I was lacking technical and mixing knowledge that I am completing now with these courses.

Personally, I am very happy with Marc's courses and I have no regrets at all. It is true that their advertising is very aggressive, perhaps it is not the most appropriate and I understand that it causes a certain rejection of the first time, but taking advantage of some discounts that they do occasionally I think they are very worthwhile.

Certainly Marc is not Williams, nor Zimmer... but he has more knowledge than me, which is the first thing that I’m looking for when I want to learn, I want to be sure that my teacher can contribute something to me. And on the other hand, I think he teaches with great enthusiasm and passion, which is something fundamental for a teacher, sometimes even more important than his/her knowledge.

But according to my humble opinion, the smartest thing he does is surround himself with people who know even more than he does. Currently in Marc's courses he’s not the only one teaching, some days there are masterclasses by professionals such as the orchestrator Carl Rydlund or the engineer Dennis Sands (who also has a mixing course in the Cinematic Composing website) and I think that all of these add great value to the current course to keep in mind.

They also prepare some contests from time to time for the students with different prizes (I won Spitfire's BBC Symphonic Orchestra in a contest! I still can't believe it!) And as a student of Cinematic Composing it’s also possible to get discounts when buying plugins or libraries from practically all brands. Sometimes with the savings that the student discount supposes when buying a library, it is already worth having bought the course.

And in addition to this, there is a private community on Facebook where everyone can express their doubts, publish their works to obtain feedback from other composers, ask questions to the teachers… Well, for this we already have this forum too, right? Hehe.

Anyway, I can only have positive words for Marc and his courses, so I definitely recommend them to anyone who has doubts.


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