There is an extraordinary range of affordable tools that make it possible for most musicians to produce their own music at home. The goal of this course is to familiarize you with the basic tools and techniques used in electronic music production.
We're assuming that students taking this course have no previous experience in music technology, so we'll cover everything you need to know to get started.
From you, we are only expecting that you have some basic musicianship skills and a desire to produce your own music. Producing music is not a spectator sport, and for each lesson we'll have projects for you to complete that will get you working with the topics presented.
In this course, you'll explore topics that will get you started with setting up your production system and on your way to completing some basic production tasks. Each week, you'll be actively engaged in activities and discussions that will take you through the process of producing music on your computer.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- plan an electronic music production project
- identify common types of music production tools and their capabilities
- design and configure a personal studio that includes a variety of hardware and software tools
- create interesting musical sounds using software-based synthesizers and samplers
- record and edit MIDI sequences
- record and edit audio
- use a variety of digital audio production and editing techniques
- create a basic mix using the capabilities of a typical digital audio workstation (DAW)
- use a variety of effects to enhance a basic mix, including compression, EQ, chorus, delay, and reverb
- prepare a finished work for distribution in a variety of audio formats
Syllabus
Lesson 1: Setting Up an Electronic Music Studio
- So What’s a Producer?
- The Music Production Process
- Developing Musical Ideas
- Practice Exercise: Example of Producing a Musical Idea
- Audio Recording
- Digital Audio Workstations
- Sample Loops
- Editing
- Mixing
- Mastering
- Music Production Tools
- Audio Interfaces: USB and Thunderbolt
- Monitor Speakers and Microphones
- MIDI Performance Controllers
- Control Surfaces and Grid Controllers
- Connections and Connectors
- Specific Connectors Used with Analog Audio
- Computer Connections in the Home Studio
- Studio Configuration Example
- Practice Exercise: Getting Set Up to Produce Music
- The Ableton Live Workspace
- Software Instruments and Effects in Live
- Synthesizers
- Software Synthesizers and Samplers
- Operator and Wavetable Synthesizers
- Effect Processing Tools and Processors
- Mixing in Ableton Live
- Assignment 1.1: Desktop Production Project Plan and Toolset
- Assignment 1.2: Designing Your Studio
Lesson 2: Sound and Signals
- Sound Basics
- Properties of Sound
- Pitch
- Musical Notes
- Timbre
- Loudness
- Analog Audio
- Practice Exercise: Standard Operating Levels and Reference Levels
- Analog Audio Connections
- Audio Specifications and Fidelity
- The Noise Floor and Signal to Noise Ratio
- Frequency Bandwidth and Response
- Distortion, Headroom, and Dynamic Range
- Measuring Dynamic Range
- Practice Exercise: Reading Audio Specification
- Assignment 2: Sound and Signals
Lesson 3: MIDI Sequencing
- MIDI and MIDI Commands
- MIDI Message Types: Channel
- MIDI Message Types: System
- Commonly Used MIDI Messages
- MIDI Monitor
- MIDI Sequencing in Ableton Live
- The Control Bar
- Practice Exercise: The Control Bar
- Practice Exercise: Transport Functions and Location
- Practice Exercise: Song Position Display
- Practice Exercise: Arrangement View
- Getting Ready to Record
- Practice Exercise: Tracks and Instruments
- Setting Up for Real-Time Recording
- Practice Exercise: Metronome Settings
- Practice Exercise: Count-in Options
- Practice Exercise: Recording
- Practice Exercise: Viewing MIDI Recordings
- Record Modes in Ableton Live
- Practice Exercise: Overdub Recording
- Practice Exercise: Overdub Mode
- Practice Exercise: Loop Recording
- Practice Exercise: Quantization and Q-Record
- Step Recording
- Practice Exercise: Step Recording
- Assignment 2: MIDI Sequencing, Part 1
Lesson 4: MIDI Editing
- Editing MIDI Sequences
- Practice Exercise: Editing MIDI Sequences
- Practice Exercise: Transposition
- Practice Exercise: Changing a Time Signature
- Practice Exercise: Setting the Clip Length
- MIDI Editing
- Practice Exercise: Editing Individual Notes
- Bars, Beats, and Subdivisions
- Practice Exercise: Editing Note Length (Part 1)
- Practice Exercise: Editing Note Length (Part 2)
- Practice Exercise: Event-Level Editing
- Practice Exercise: Fixing Mistakes
- Practice Exercise: Correcting Timing
- Quantization
- Practice Exercise: Using Quantization
- Practice Exercise: Correcting Durations
- Practice Exercise: Correcting Dynamics
- Practice Exercise: Editing Pitch
- Practice Exercise: Editing Song Form: Cut/Copy/Paste Operations
- Practice Exercise: Using Ableton Live Editing Commands
- Assignment 4: MIDI Editing, Part 2
Lesson 5: Working with Synthesizers
- What's a Synthesizer?
- Synthesizer Overview
- Hardware: Integrated Instruments
- Sound Modules
- Subtractive Synthesizers
- Samplers
- Physical Modeling
- FM Synthesis
- Synthesizer Architecture: Generators and Processors
- Properties of Sound: Pitch, Timbre, and Loudness
- Practice Exercise: The Oscillator–Signal Generation and Pitch
- Practice Exercise: Controlling Timbre
- Practice Exercise: Envelope Generators
- Software Instruments: Standalone, Plug-In, or DAW-Specific
- Practice Exercise: Loading an Ableton Live Instrument
- Going Deeper: Digital Samplers and Software Samplers
- Practice Exercise: Loading Sampler Patches in Ableton Live’s Sampler Instrument
- Assignment 5: Electronic Orchestration
Lesson 6: Working with Time, Tempo, and Rhythm: Drum Programming, Pattern Devices, and Arpeggiators
- Patterns in Music
- Pattern Sequencing
- The Grid
- Duple Time in Step Sequencing
- Triple Time in Step Sequencing
- Orchestrating a Rhythm
- Defining a Rhythmic Feel
- Session View in Ableton Live
- Practice Exercise: Session View
- Practice Exercise: Entering a Basic Pattern
- Practice Exercise: Adding Accents
- Creating Variations
- Practice Exercise: Changing Accents
- Practice Exercise: Adding or Removing Instruments
- Practice Exercise: Adding Fills
- Building an Arrangement from Patterns
- Sequencing Pattern Changes
- Practice Exercise: Recording Pattern Changes
- Practice Exercise: Copying Clips to Arrangement View
- Practice Exercise: Adding Instruments to a Drum Arrangement
- Working with External Hardware Instruments
- Rhythmic Feel and Groove Quantization
- Practice Exercise: The Groove Pool
- Practice Exercise: Randomization and Chance
- The Arpeggiator
- Practice Exercise: The Arpeggiator
- Practice Exercise: Recording Arpeggio Patterns to a Track
- Assignment 6: Rhythms and Patterns
Lesson 7: Audio Recording
- Digital Audio Basics
- Sample Rate
- Sample Resolution
- Overview of Hard-Disk Recording
- How Digital Audio Is Used
- Applications
- How Audio Is Stored to Disk
- File Formats
- Tracks, Channels, and Voices
- Hard-Disk Issues
- Channels
- Microphones
- Unipolar Response Patterns
- Microphone Types
- Frequency Response
- Getting Set Up to Record with an Audio Interface
- Audio Interface Configuration
- Practice Exercise: Setting the Buffer Size in Ableton Live
- Practice Exercise: Monitoring Options
- Practice Exercise: Making Your First Recording
- A Word about File Management
- Recording Demonstrations
- Assignment 7: Final Project MIDI Arrangement
Lesson 8: Audio Editing and Processing
- Non-Destructive Editing
- Practice Exercise: Defining Regions
- Practice Exercise: Using Clips in Ableton Live’s Sampler Instrument
- Practice Exercise: Launching Audio Clips in Ableton Live’s Session View
- Practice Exercise: Editing a Song Form
- Destructive Editing
- Using DSP to Edit Audio
- Practice Exercise: Using the Change Gain and Normalize Commands
- Fade In/Out
- Practice Exercise: Using the Fade In/Out Commands
- Practice Exercise: Using the Reverse Tool
- Practice Exercise: Changing Tempo and Pitch
- Assignment 8: Final Project Audio Recording
Lesson 9: Loops and Digital Audio Production Techniques
- A Word about Loops
- Making Audio Loops
- Practice Exercise: Editing a Loop
- Practice Exercise: Audio Tempo vs. Sequence Tempo
- Rendering MIDI Tracks to Audio
- Practice Exercise: Freezing Tracks
- Practice Exercise: Exporting Tracks
- Loop File Formats
- Beat Slicing
- Practice Exercise: Audio Slicing
- Strengthening a Weak Performance
- Practice Exercise: Audio Quantization
- Practice Exercise: Quantizing a Vocal Performance
- Pitch Processing
- Practice Exercise: Pitch Correction
- Practice Exercise: Pitch Effects
- Assignment 9: Final Project Loops, Audio Editing, and Processing
Lesson 10: Mixing and Audio Effects 1
- The Ableton Live Mixer
- Controls in the Ableton Live Mixer
- Practice Exercise Part 1: Fader
- Practice Exercise Part 2: Panning
- Practice Exercise Part 3: Mute and Solo
- Practice Exercise Part 4: Equalization
- Practice Exercise Part 5: Auxiliary Bus Controls
- Practice Exercise Part 6: Main Output Fader
- Mixer Review
- Technical Issues in Mixing
- Aesthetic Issues in Mixing
- Effects Processing
- Ableton Live’s Filters
- Practice Exercise: EQ Eight
- Cutoff Filters
- Practice Exercise: Filter Slope
- Practice Exercise: EQing the Piano Track with a Cutoff Filter, Part 1
- Shelving Filters
- Practice Exercise: EQing the Piano Track with a Shelving Filter, Part 2
- Parametric EQ
- Practice Exercise: EQing the Piano Track with a Parametric EQ, Part 3
- Practice Exercise: Mixing Practice
- Assignment 10: Final Project Mixing: Levels, Panning, and EQ
Lesson 11: Mixing and Audio Effects 2
- Dynamics Processing
- Typical Parameters of Dynamics Processors
- The Compressors in Ableton Live
- Types of Dynamics Processing
- Practice Exercise: Using Compression in Our Mix
- Limiting
- Practice Exercise: Setting Up a Limiter
- Practice Exercise: Gating
- Time-Based Effects
- Delay Effects in Ableton Live
- Categories of Delay Effects
- Practice Exercise: Delay
- Doubling/Flanging/Chorus Effects
- Practice Exercise: Doubling the Violin Melody
- Practice Exercise: Flanging/Chorus on the Guitar
- Reverb
- Practice Exercise: Reverb on the Drums
- Practice Exercise: Mixing and Automation
- Assignment 11: Final Project Mixing: Dynamics, Reverb, and Automation
Lesson 12: Cloud Collaboration, Mastering, Music Distribution, and Course Wrap-up
- Collaboration via the Cloud
- Practice Exercise: Using Dropbox Cloud Collaboration
- Mastering
- Mastering Tools
- Audio Distribution Formats
- Practice Exercise: Mastering Your Project for Distribution
- Practice Exercise: Practice Mastering
- Audio File Compression Overview
- Practice Exercise: Creating MP3 Files with Audacity
- Distributing Audio Files
- Assignment 12: Final Project Mastering and Submission
Requirements
Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements
Prerequisite Courses, Knowledge, and/or Skills
Students should have:
- a basic, working knowledge of rudimentary music theory
- some basic keyboard skills
Textbook(s)
- No textbooks required
Software
- Ableton Live 12
- Although you will be able to complete the work for this course with Live Standard, all course materials will be presented using Ableton Live Suite.
- Audacity (free)
- VK-1 Viking Synthesizer (free)
Hardware
- MIDI keyboard controller
- Audio interface
- XLR microphone and cable
- One of the following studio monitoring options (both recommended):
- Studio monitors (pair), such as JBL 305Ps or better, as well as necessary cables
- Over-ear studio headphones, such as Sennheiser HD 600, Sony MDR-7506, Philips SHP9500, Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, etc.
Student Deals
After enrolling, be sure to check out our Student Deals page for various offers on software, hardware, and more. Please contact support@online.berklee.edu with any questions.
General Course Requirements
Below are the minimum requirements to access the course environment and participate in Live Classes. Please make sure to also check the Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements section above, and ensure your computer meets or exceeds the minimum system requirements for all software needed for your course.
Mac Users
PC Users
All Users
- Latest version of Google Chrome
- Zoom meeting software
- Webcam
- Speakers or headphones
- External or internal microphone
- Broadband Internet connection
Instructors
Author
Michael Bierylo is an electronic musician, guitarist, composer, and sound designer. He has been a faculty member at Berklee College of Music since 1995 and is currently Chair of the Electronic Production and Design Department where he led the development of Berklee’s Electronic Digital Instrument Program, the Electronic Performance Minor, and the Creative Coding Minor. Major projects include artist residencies with Suzanne Ciani, Nona Hendryx, Hank Shocklee, Richard Devine, Chagall, Robert Rich, and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. He is also active in Berklee Online, Berklee’s online school, where he authors and teaches music technology courses.
Bierylo has performed throughout the United States as a member of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic. As a solo electronic artist, Bierylo has performed with laptop computer and modular synthesizers in the US, Berlin, Shanghai, and Krakow including concerts with Grammy-nominated electronic musician BT and Terence Blanchard. As an active member of the Audio Engineering Society he has chaired the Electronic Instrument Design and Applications Track at national conventions, bringing together industry innovators such as Dave Smith and Dave Rossum, as well as design teams from Moog, Roland, and Korg. Read Less
Author
David Mash is a guitarist, composer, producer, synthesist, author, educator, and futurist. He retired in 2017 as Senior Vice President for Innovation, Strategy, and Technology at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, where he had worked for over 40 years. David was the founding chair of Berklee’s Music Synthesis Department (now known as Electronic Production and Design). David has collaborated on development and artistic projects with leaders in the multimedia and music industries such as Kodak, Adobe Systems, Digidesign/Avid, Opcode, Kurzweil, Yamaha, Roland, Korg, Softube, Fishman Transducers, Godin Guitars, and many others.
David is past International Chair for Electronic Music for the International Association of Jazz Educators, was a founding board member of the Technology Institute for Music Educators (TI:ME), and recently retired as the Founding Executive Chair of the Avid Customer Association board. In addition to recently joining the Board for The Record Co., he is currently President of the board for the Bob Moog Foundation and chairs the Alan R. Pearlman (ARP) Foundation.
Today he is writing and producing music full-time, releasing his own music under the “Mashine Music” and “Stefan” personas, and you can find his work wherever you normally find digital music (Amazon, Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, CDBaby, etc…). He’s also producing music for other artists with his long-time collaborator and friend Peter Bell, under the name “Bar Of 2 Productions.” Read Less
Instructor
Lee Gilboa is a US-Based Israeli composer, researcher, and audio engineer. In her work, she uses speech, audio spatialization, and vocal processing, and engages with different themes around sonic identity such as naming, representation, collectivity, oppression, and self-expression. While living in New York between 2017 and 2019, she began her work as a curator for Daniel Neumann’s CT::SWaM, and she developed her debut album, The Possibility of Sonic Portraiture (Contour Editions). Her works have been presented at Roulette Intermedium, the Immersion Room at New York University, the Cube at Virginia Tech, the Ars Electronica Forum Wallis festival, and the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, among others, and at conferences such as the Audio Testimonies Symposium, Residual Noise, and the Sound of Sound Studies. Gilboa has participated in several master classes and artist residencies internationally, including the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Honk-Tweet, and IRCAM's ManiFeste Academy. She holds degrees from Berklee College of Music and Columbia University. Currently, she is pursuing a Ph.D. in Brown University’s music and multimedia composition program. Recent activities include the release of a collection of works titled The Other’s Conception and a collaboration with the rapper Sammus.
Instructor
Mike Hamilton has been producing, writing, recording, and performing music for over twenty years. He was a member of the late night band for the BET television show Live from LA, where he wrote and produced hip-hop pieces for guest artists such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, Warren G, Method Man, P. Diddy, and Mystical. He has produced recordings for Interscope, Island Def Jam, and BGP Records. His recordings include Heart and Soul with the Winans, Thus Spoke Z with CTI, and the solo albums Natural Attraction and Here Together. While the saxophone is his principal instrument, he also plays keyboards, bass, and drums.
Hamilton has appeared and toured with multi-platinum recording artists such as James Brown, Tyrese, Savage Garden, Coolio, Joe, Ronny Jordan, Jonathan Butler, and Phil Perry. He has performed at the BBC London, the NFL World Bowl IX Halftime Show, the Turn Ben Stein On TV show, and the Today show. He has been featured at the Boston Globe Jazz Festival and the Santa Barbara Jazz Festival. He received his bachelor of music degree from Berklee College of Music, where he is now an assistant professor in the Contemporary Writing and Production department. Read Less
Instructor
Collin Russell is a composer and sound designer, as well as an Assistant Professor of Electronic Production and Design at Berklee College of Music. A specialist in modular synthesis and through-composed electronic music, he enjoys composing pieces for film and modern dance.
Russell has worked in the electronic music instrument industry for nearly a decade and is currently a product consultant and manual author for Instruō Modular, a modular synthesizer manufacturer. Additionally, he is an editor and contributing writer for Bjooks, a music technology book publisher.
He also founded Grainbow Sound and works with the post-production company Audiobrew as a composer, sound designer, and voice actor.
Instructor
Carla Hassett is a Los Angeles based singer, songwriter, producer, recording artist, session singer, and music educator. Born in São Paulo Brazil, Carla was raised in Chicago and schooled in the city’s great recording studios where she learned to be a studio rat and jingle singer. Soon after moving to Los Angeles, Carla began touring with bands like Curiosity Killed the Cat, REO Speedwagon, and artists like Billy Idol, Sergio Mendes, Christopher Cross, Cristan Castro, and actor/musician Gary Sinise. Carla has backed up soul legend Solmon Burke, and performed with Brazilian artists Flora Purim and Airto Moreira, and Faith No More’s lead singer, Mike Patton. She sang on numerous albums for artists like Gino Vannelli, Spanish rock artist Enrique Bunbury, Brazilian country music superstar Paula Fernandes, Michael Bublé, and Mike Patton. At the Latin Grammy Person of the Year Show honoring treasured Brazilian artist Caetano Veloso, Carla sang for Veloso and other artists like Natalie Cole, Nelly Furtado, Seu Jorge, Lila Downs and other Latin music superstars.
Carla has performed on TV shows like The Tonight Show, Dante Night Show, The Grammy Awards, and Pee Wee’s Playhouse. More recently, Carla was featured soloist in the Sonorama project for Pacific Standard Time LA/LA at the Getty, The LA Tribute to Luiz Melodia, the Film Composer Collective concert at the Theatricum Botanicum for film composer Matthew Ferraro, and the rock opera Feast of Friends at the Rio Threatre in Santa Cruz. Carla sang on several feature films, including the Oscar nominated (for best original song) RIO for composers Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown, and John Powell, and RIO 2 with Janelle Monae and her band. In Brazil, the song “Teu Olhar,” which Carla produced and co-wrote, became the lover’s theme song for the popular telenovela Amor e Ódio. Back in the states, Carla sang and contracted vocal sessions for numerous Disney recordings in Portuguese and Spanish, and on countless commercial jingles. Carla sang on the pilot for the Amazon original Mozart In the Jungle, and on the Netflix original film, Like Father.
Inspired by her work with Caetano Veloso, Carla explored tropicália and jazz for her self-produced 2016 album, +Blue (whose title, “More Blue” was inspired by Veloso’s song “A Little More Blue”). On +Blue, Carla explored the meaning of “home” and the complexities of growing up between two countries and cultures: her birthplace, Brazil, and her adopted country, the U.S. NPR featured +Blue and interviewed Carla on Weekend Edition with Linda Wertheimer.
In 2019, Carla released a vinyl single, Adriana, on the Burlacticus Recording Company label. Adriana, written by the great bossa nova guitarist and composer Roberto Menescal, was chosen by the label especially for Carla and her band for its exquisite groove in 5/4 meter, and intimate vocal style. During the recording session for Adriana, Carla tracked and produced an additional two songs of her own, Three Kings and Sempre Odara, which went on to win the John Lennon Songwriting Contest grand prize in jazz.
Carla graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Music Production from Berklee Online and is currently a professor of commercial music at California State University, Los Angeles. She is on the songwriting team for the children’s web series, Outta The Books, and continues to perform, write, and produce music both in-house and remotely from her studio in Los Angeles. Read Less
Instructor
Tony Schultz has been an audio engineer, music producer and composer for more than 28 years as owner & operator of Big T Productions in Boston. He is an assistant professor at The New England Institute of Art, where he has taught since 1997, specializing in MIDI and Audio Technology. He has been teaching for Berklee Online since 2016.
Tony has a bachelor’s of music degree in Music Production & Engineering from the Berklee College of Music and a master’s in Music Technology from the University of Newcastle in Callaghan, Australia. He has served three consecutive two-year terms as the chair of the Boston Section of the Audio Engineering Society and is currently serving his second two-year term as the AES VP of the Eastern Region of the US/Canada. He is also the current chair of Regions & Sections, overseeing all Pro and Student AES Sections Worldwide.
Past clients include RCA Records, Mercury Records, Virgin Records, WFNX, Filene's, Home Inc., EF Education, Schneider & Associates, Softskull Press Inc., Brand X Filmworks, Dudnyk Healthcare, Teatro de Marionettas de Venezuela, and the NAHB Production Group.
Tony has presented at a number of colleges including Berklee College of Music, Harvard University and the Royal College of Music in London.
He is a member of the Society of Professional Recording Services (SPARS), National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS), and the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP). Read Less
What's Next?
When taken for credit, Music Production 101 can be applied towards the completion of these related programs:
Related Certificate Programs
Related Degree Majors
Related Music Career Role
Employers look for skills learned in this course, when hiring for the following music career role:
Questions?
Contact our Academic Advisors by phone at 1-866-BERKLEE (U.S.), 1-617-747-2146 (INT'L), or by email at advisors@online.berklee.edu.
