Last Updated on November, 2024
Timbaland has revolutionized music for 25 years. His creativity has influenced most famous musicians.
Like you, I’m a big fan of his music, and being a newcomer to producing and beat-making, when I heard Timbaland had come up with his own MasterClass, I did not think twice.
After two weeks of thoroughly watching the videos, I decided to put together this review on Timbaland’s MasterClass.
Everything there is to learn will be covered, including the quality of the classes, student reviews, and customer testimonials are all here. All you need to do is read through and see if it’s something that’ll suit your style.
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Contents
- Quick Summary
- About Timbaland
- Who is This Timbaland MasterClass for?
- What Does the Timbaland MasterClass Promise?
- Structure of the MasterClass
- Inside Timbaland’s MasterClass
- How Much Does Timbaland’s MasterClass Cost?
- Things I Learned From His MasterClass
- My Experience With Timbaland’s MasterClass
- What I Liked About the MasterClass?
- What I Didn’t Like About the MasterClass?
- Customer Testimonials on Timbaland’s MasterClass
- Alternatives for Timbaland’s MasterClass
- Pros and Cons of Timbaland MasterClass
- Timbaland MasterClass Review: Final Verdict
- FAQs
Quick Summary
Basic goals:
- Timbaland’s techniques for making a beat
- Enhancing music with plug-ins
- Timbaland’s biggest hit song origins
- The value of teamwork and the best methods for achieving it
Duration: 15 videos, 3 hours and 2 minutes.
Best For: Timbaland created the MasterClass to help producers improve their knowledge. If you’re a music producer and you want to learn from professionals in the field, this is for you.
About Timbaland
Timbaland, aka Timothy Zachary Mosley, is a musician who works in the music industry as a producer, rapper, DJ, and executive. In 1996, he got his start in the music business when he was credited as a producer on Ginuwine…the Bachelor.
Since then, Timbaland’s resume boasts dozens of A-list collaborations, including those with Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliott, Rhianna, Drake, Jay-Z, and Madonna. Timbaland has won four Emmys and written 99 number-one hits in the United States.
Who is This Timbaland MasterClass for?
This class is suitable for music producers and beatmakers of all skill levels. I wouldn’t recommend taking this course if you have no prior experience generating beats or producing.
It may be as easy as downloading and playing around with a free DAW. There is a lot of jargon, and if you need to know what a stem is or how to record a track, you can find it overwhelming no matter how well it’s presented.
However, Timbaland and his crew are masters of their craft; no matter how knowledgeable you are, you can always pick up new tricks from them.
Tim’s approach to creating and beat-making is interactive and collaborative, which you don’t usually get from a MasterClass.
What Does the Timbaland MasterClass Promise?
Timbaland explains his work with artists from the pop, rap, and hip-hop genres, and he explains the steps required to create viral hit songs.
In his three-hour MasterClass, he covers everything from making a beat through album production. In addition to the course materials, you can access a downloadable PDF workbook.
It includes helpful extras, including a glossary, in-depth lesson explanations, engaging activities, and homework assignments.
Structure of the MasterClass
- Introduction
- Studio Session: Making a Beatbox Beat
- Building Beats: Tim’s Process
- Making a Beat: Getting Warmed Up
- Song Origins: “Dirt Off Your Shoulder”
- Making a Beat: Starting With a Chord Progression
- Making a Beat: Tweaking and Layering Drums
- Song Origins: “Pony”
- Making a Beat: Manipulating Vocal Samples
- Making a Beat: Creating a Breakdown
- Song Origins: “Gossip Folks”
- Making a Beat: Adding a Topline
- Song Origins: “Are You That Somebody?”
- Tim’s Influences
- How to Persevere
Inside Timbaland’s MasterClass
Introduction of Timbaland and His Team
His entire staff will teach you in this MasterClass. Instructors include Fede Vindever, Angel Lopez, and his audio engineer Chris Godbey. All of them collaboratively create something that refreshes and prepares you for how to make creative music.
Timbaland begins the class by showing how anyone can become a musician using a microphone and voice. Awesomely, he uses his voice to make music.
He briefly covers music production basics with advanced tools. Recording rhythms with only your voice, claps, and snaps is fascinating.
Beats
The Basics of Making a Beat: The next step is to make a loop of the vocal rhythms you’ve just created. Try out different speeds and overlays now. As you’ll discover, improvising is the key to music-making. In this video, Timbaland builds a song’s harmony, melody, and texture in front of your very eyes.
Transforming a beat: Once a beat has been created, it isn’t used again in the same song. Timbaland and his crew examine the process of making a beat and trace its development from concept to final execution in a song. You’ll learn how to improve your music by adding a top line and layering drums. The music composition section also teaches you the art of manipulating vocal samples.
Expanding a beat: Tim then explains how to build upon the framework by adding new elements to the beat. These talks focus on Timbaland’s team projects, which he directs. Here, the team’s personalities shine through as they work together to build effects, write toplines, and realize the project’s vision.
The skills we learn include:
- Start with the chords and build from there.
- Modify and stack drums to add depth to the rhythm.
- You can make the vocal samples sound however you want by editing and manipulating them.
- Do a breakdown
- Put a melody on top of what we’ve created; a topline.
These sessions logically come after those dedicated to generating only beats. Tim instructs us well on how to use these elements to add life to a song’s framework.
How to create an organizational flow that works for you: To be a productive creator, you need to keep the ideas coming. It’s easy to lose energy if you have to stop in the middle of a project. How you go about this is up to you, but you must settle on a system that works for you and continually fine-tune it.
Inspiring through beats: Timbaland then takes a backseat to discuss the people who inspired him and their roles in his success after detailing the many aspects of music production and composition. He stresses the importance of being influenced by others but not simply copying their work. Along with that, he offers some musical guidance that I found to be inspiring. Once again, he reminds his students of the need to “be a creator, not an imitator.”
The Chord Progression Art
By far, this was my favorite music theory lesson video. Charming music may be made with so few notes and chords—specifically, a chord progression with four bars.
By carefully manipulating chord progression, even the most basic musical ideas can be developed into complex masterpieces. If you want to stand out from the crowd and make audio tracks with a lot of depth, you must learn this skill.
I recommend watching the video with the vocal samples at the moment. It’s an extension of the chord progression part, showcasing the same abilities in greater depth. However, remember to go back and edit and add more drum layers.
Drum Layering and Modification
Tim plays fantastic drums. Since drums create beats, learning from a master is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. This introduction studio session emphasizes audio engineering skills.
How to Manipulate Vocal Samples
Tim’s innovative use of his voice as an instrument was a revelation to me. Many of the tools I recognized in the tunes he made turned out to be synthesizers or other electronic devices—something I had overlooked to some extent before taking this class.
Making a Beat Breakdown and a Topline
This is the most risky time in the creative process. It’s time to add some flourishes, as everything else has been completed. The key is to find an appropriate balance.
You must be careful not to disrupt the harmony. All you need to do is add another rhythm within an existing one. Timbaland demonstrates this in his video lesson.
Once again, you understand the significance of using music to evoke emotion and convey meaning at this point. If you’re having fun when writing music, chances are your listeners will, too.
The vibe you exude will be felt by others who take in your music. Therefore, you must immerse yourself and give it your all.
But you need a catchy hook to write a hit song. A fairly pleasant voice tune. Tim outlines the importance of adaptability while working with singers.
Once again, success depends on mutual respect and teamwork. having the ability to understand and add to the work of the other creative person.
The Timbaland MasterClass Workbook
It is highly recommended that you first download Timbaland’s workbook before beginning the overall MasterClass. Doing so will help in your course engagement and overall learning experience. Each chapter’s jargon is defined in detail, which is a great feature.
A Unique Way of Doing His MasterClass Assignments
Timbaland has made two separate collections of stems, samples, and songs available for download that can be utilized as practice tools.
This is quite thoughtful of him, and it will save a lot of time compared to starting from scratch. Some, but not all, of the homework Timbaland gives his pupils, can be done with these.
History of Song Origins
Timbaland breaks down some of his most prominent collaborations and explains his approach to producing his own beats.
These song origins classes reveal the behind-the-scenes processes that went into making specific tunes. These “song backgrounds” consist of the following:
- Dirt Off Your Shoulder (Jay-Z)
- Pony (Ginuwine)
- Gossip Folks (Missy Elliott)
- Are you that Somebody? (Aaliyah)
It was great to have such well-known songs included in the MasterClass; after all, how often do you hear the backstories of songs directly from the famous people who wrote them?
In this case, Tim drove home the significance of collaborations rather than trying to take credit for his work by including footage of various artists in his presentation.
Tim’s Experiences
Tim gives us a glimpse into his creative process by sharing influences and explaining where he draws his motivation from. Timbaland shows us where to look for ideas and advises us to take inspiration from others but not imitate them.
Timbaland has faced hardship before. The course concludes with “How to Persevere,” an essential life skill in the competitive music world.
When you feel like giving up, he tells you to keep working hard, to improve upon yesterday, and to keep going even if nobody else is cheering you on.
How Much Does Timbaland’s MasterClass Cost?
MasterClass as you may already know is subscription-based, and has just one plan, the yearly plan, there is no monthly plan.
$180 is what you’ll need for a year of MasterClass access. By access, I mean, you will get access to over 180 classes all put together by the best in the business.
Along with Timbaland’s MasterClass, you’ll be able to check out a whole load of alternatives present on the platform.
Not just that, there are various other topics are available on MasterClass all of which are excellent in their own way.
Also, MasterClass is a completely risk-free investment mainly because it has a 30-day money back guarantee. If you’re not happy with every you’ve seen, you can simple get your money-back.
Things I Learned From His MasterClass
To my surprise, Timbaland has revealed that his lips are his go-to instrument during songwriting. His innovative method lets you play around with rhythms and beats wherever you are.
Learning this takes time, but it’s the best alternative for someone like myself who isn’t very good at playing an instrument.
It allows me to experiment with various rhythms and beats to generate ideas rapidly. In the future, when I have access to synth sounds, I can spice things up a bit.
Other MasterClass reviews:
My Experience With Timbaland’s MasterClass
Having experience with a digital audio workstation and experimenting with home recording, I may know more than the typical individual. The question is, how do you get it to sound good when layered? At best, I’m a beginner.
Timbaland’s course on producing and composing beats would give me the tools I needed to realize my musical vision fully.
I took my time with every lesson and tried some of the things I learned as an experiment. Because of this, I was able to study and practice together.
What I Liked About the MasterClass?
Discusses everything in detail: Instead of just throwing out a bunch of technical terms and expecting us to understand them, Tim jumps right in and shows us how he lays down a beat.
As a result, we can observe the methods in action, which is very helpful when teaching a practical subject, and learning how to make a rhythm from someone sitting there and listing various drums and plug-ins without explaining why or providing examples would be far more challenging.
Easy to follow: Singing lessons benefit from a live demonstration. Whereas beat-making? That’s a very other situation. Because of the intricate nature of making a beat and records, it’s only sometimes possible to hear or see exactly what’s happening.
To counteract this, helpful pop-ups emerge to clarify technical vocabulary, the roles of other team Timbo members, and whose screen is now being seen. It was much simpler to follow along and get a sense of how various interesting music production approaches.
Learn From The MasterClass Team: MasterClasses provide one-person perspectives. Learning to cook or write is fine, but musicians rarely work alone. Timbaland’s group is necessary to recognize. He always asks for their feedback, and they all teach.
This prevents prejudice from affecting the course, which is excellent. The team uses different equipment and techniques on the same track. It’s like a music industry MasterClass from a panel, and we receive more for our money.
It’s a great way to put what you’ve learned in the MasterClass into practice and see what results you get. If you don’t have any music you want to play around with and seek a place to begin honing your talents, this is a huge benefit.
What I Didn’t Like About the MasterClass?
Probably Not Within Everyone’s Price Range. Most of the plug-ins I use are free, but I can only imagine the cost of the ones used by Tim’s crew. It’s probably wishful thinking, but I’d love to have someone with that level of knowledge show us how to get good results without all the pricey extras that many of us can’t afford.
Despite Timbaland’s fantastic skills in demonstrating, some people may not be able to learn effectively from him. Watching Timbaland repeatedly perform without any explanation could become repetetive and unproductive for certain individuals.
Want to learn more about MasterClass? Read my hands-on MasterClass review.
Customer Testimonials on Timbaland’s MasterClass
Timbaland’s MasterClass is excellent, but you don’t have to take my word for it. During my research, I came across a lot of comments from individuals who’ve completed Timbaland’s MasterClass. Below you can take a look at some of them.
Comment from Reddit
Not just beginners, even if you’re experienced, there is still something new you can come across in Timbaland MasterClass.
Comment from Reddit
Looking at the negative side of things, the majority of the criticism is based on Timbo’s lack of explanation, some were concerned with the way he puts out the info.
Apart from that, there’s nothing much to report in this department. Many who’ve completed Timbo’s MasterClass are satisfied.
Alternatives for Timbaland’s MasterClass
- Hans Zimmer
- deadmau5
- Itzhak Perlman
- Alicia Keys
- Sheila E
- Mariah Carey
- Nas
- Tom Morello
- Herbie Hancock
- Yo-Yo Ma
- Christina Aguilera
- St Vincent
- Usher
- Sheila E
- Jake Shimabukuro
- Carlos Santana
Pros and Cons of Timbaland MasterClass
Pros
Cons
Timbaland MasterClass Review: Final Verdict
Timbaland’s MasterClass taught me a lot about song beats. From making a beatbox beat to expanding it, Timbaland as expected, was a pro.
But people in my situation, who aren’t complete beginners but could use some motivation and direction, would benefit much from this training.
The course’s benefits surpassed its downsides. Timbaland’s MasterClass improved my music-producing skills. The lessons taught by Timbaland are definitely worthwhile.
Spending time on the workbook and the exercises will pay off in spades, as this is where true progress will be made.
That said, Is Timbaland MasterClass Worth It?
My answer would be yes, I definitely recommend Timbaland’s MasterClass if you want to learn better and see how professional production teams operate from the inside.
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