All Posts by Miguel Campos

The best Music Production Videotutorials

 

What is music production?

We understand music production as all the technical and artistic processes involved in the realization of a musical project in order to boost or reduce some aspects of it. However, due to the wide definition, it is sometimes difficult to define each of the functions, since they are so close together, it will depend on each production who performs each process, or even if it is performed. We could say that music production is in charge of polishing details so that the result of the final product is closer to an idea or product (as the word itself indicates). For example, changing the sound of a guitar, adding or removing certain instruments, or even lengthening or shortening the duration of a song.

Artistic production

As I explained at the beginning we can separate the production processes into two large groups. Within the group of artistic production we find all those that affect more directly the composition.

For example, let’s imagine that we want to start a music production with our band. In most cases when we arrive at the studio we will have already done some artistic or creative work in the rehearsal space. We will know that the song is formed by an introduction made by the guitar and the bass and then the drums come in making a roll and then give way to the voice. But maybe when recording it, the other guitarist comes up with an arrangement that looks great and makes the song much more attractive. This would be a clear example of this group of processes.

Within the variety of projects that we can find there will be cases in which this process does not take too much time or in which it is necessary to invest enough time to completely dress the song. Imagine that you are faced with a production of a singer-songwriter who normally plays his songs accompanied only by his guitar and who, when he arrives at the studio, wants the songs to include bass, drums, guitars, string arrangements, keyboards…

 

Technical Production

Continuing with the previous example of the band, I will go on to explain the other great group of processes. We have already recorded the songs and made the arrangements that we liked the most during the creative process. But our production still sounds “raw”. This is when the more technical processes come in to “polish” the rough diamond that is our production. As I said before this part can vary a lot depending on the production and its result will depend a lot on the previous processes. If during the recording sessions the guitarist did not stop making mistakes in one part or his notes sounded noisy and with little definition, it will be very difficult to save that and make it sound powerful and it will require much more effort from us.

But on the contrary, if the material of the recording is really good and all the musicians have been able to transmit the energy that the song required, we will be able to focus on correcting small mistakes and boosting its virtues by making the song shine and stand out.

 

Why should I learn Music Production?

Whether you want to become a professional in the music industry or a musician and want to improve your own productions, you will know that reaching a good level and learning how to do things well requires study.

The world of music production is exciting and magical, but it is also a very demanding world since it is always in constant evolution. Knowing how to correctly mix a song or equalize a guitar can make the difference between a good song with a regular production that leaves you feeling like something is missing, or a good song with a brilliant production that will make people keep listening to it again and again.

So that you can learn the concepts and techniques that I consider most important I have made a selection of the best video tutorials that I leave you below:

Recording Your Own Music: A Step-By-Step Guide for Musicians

What I especially liked about this course is how comprehensive it is. Covering a step-by-step music production from the recording, editing and mixing process. The objective is clear, to achieve a significant increase in the quality of your productions.

Description:

Music creators like you have songs to share with the world. No matter what your genre, you’re passionate about your music, and you care about the quality of your sound.

But when it comes to recording music, many musicians and songwriters struggle with technological hurdles and steep software learning curves. And the expense of hiring a professional recording studio is simply too much for most independent music creators to bear.

This course aims to overcome this challenge by helping you get the skills and confidence you need to record and produce your own music at home.

Record and Mix Your Own Music in This Comprehensive Step-By-Step Guide for Music Creators

  • Discover the equipment you need and how to set it up to get the best results
  • Learn how to record acoustic and electric instruments (guitars, bass, vocals, etc.)
  • Extend your music production options with tools like MIDI and sample loops
  • Polish your recordings with simple yet effective editing techniques
  • Understand the basics of compression, EQ, and reverb and when to use them
  • Create a release-ready final mix with powerful and versatile mixing and mastering tools

Make great-sounding music recordings at a fraction of the cost

Technology has changed the music industry landscape. Music creators can now produce their own music for commercial release at a fraction of the cost. Unsigned artists, bands and DIY indie labels now have unprecedented power to record their own music, distribute their music worldwide, and connect directly to their audience.

We created this course for songwriters and musicians who want to record their own music at home. Whether you want be able to record high-quality demos, or you want to record music for commercial release — knowing how to record and mix your own music will help you get your music heard.Content and Overview

This course is a hands-on, project-based course suitable for musicians and songwriters with little or no previous recording experience. We designed this course especially for beginners — so you don’t need to know anything special about recording gear, signal flow, or mic placement before starting this course.

We simply expect that you’re a musician, and that you’ll be recording yourself throughout this course. And we strongly recommend you take this course with a specific song in mind to record! Songs that feature guitar, bass, percussion, keyboards and vocals are best suited for this course, but you can adapt any instrumentation. If you don’t have a song ready to record, you can record the sample project song we’ll provide to you.

Throughout this course, we’ll walk you through every step of recording your song:

  • You’ll learn how to set up your audio interface to work seamlessly with your computer and REAPER, the digital audio workstation (DAW) software we’ll be using throughout this course. You’ll also learn how to optimize REAPER for music recording, so you can improve your workflow and get the results you want faster and with less effort.
  • Using either your own song or the sample song we’ll provide to you, you’ll learn how to use XLR microphones, audio interfaces and other tools to record acoustic and electric musical instruments. Once you understand the basics, you’ll feel confident combining these tools to capture and preserve the quality of your sound.
  • We’ll demonstrate some helpful audio editing techniques so you can fix timing and tuning issues, compile your best performances, and edit out unwanted sections from your song. You’ll also learn how create a release-ready final mix by using compression and EQ, adding reverb, and automating level changes.
  • Finally, we’ll cover everything you need to know to export your final mix into your preferred digital format. Whether you need to send demos to your bandmates, upload your songs for digital distribution, or create stems for others to remix, you’ll learn how to export your mix to a digital format that suits your needs.

This comprehensive course includes complete project files and other downloadable resources, such as:

  • A checklist of recommended equipment
  • Sheet music, lyrics and chords for our sample project song
  • A customized configuration file to optimize REAPER for music recording
  • An audio troubleshooting checklist
  • Free kick and snare drum samples and percussion loops
  • Helpful PDF reference documents and “cheat sheets”

At the end of each section, we’ll also give you a project checklist so you can practice the skills you’ve just learned. By the end of this course, you’ll have recorded, edited and mixed a complete song you’ll be proud to share with the world!

Who is this course for?
  • This course is for musicians and songwriters who want to feel confident recording their own songs at home, either as high-quality demos OR for commercial release.
  • This course is intended for beginners with little or no previous experience with computer or multitrack recording.
  • This course is not intended for those who already have a solid understanding of computer and multitrack recording.

 

 

Mixing Heavy Rock

If your productions are clearly focused on Heavy Rock and all the styles of this family, in this course you will learn in a clear and precise way all the tricks and techniques to achieve that sound you have in mind.

Description

Music Producer and engineer Aidan will show you all the steps to get a Heavy Rock mix to a final mix stage. Check out many before and after comparisons with and without plugins, that way you can understand not only how but why he did those moves to achieve a great sound. 

In this Episode:

 -See how Aidan configures his Mixing template

 -Aidan processing chain to achieve a great sound for: Drums, Bass, Guitars, and Vocals

– How he virtually gets rid of any bleed that is happening on the drum mics.

– A wide variety of Plug-ins he chooses to use to achieve such a great sounding mix

– How and why he sets up and organizes his Stereo Master Busses

– Shows some of his favorite Plug-in choices, and why he thinks you don’t have to spend hundreds of Dollars to find good plug-ins

Who is this course for?
  • Anybody who wants to see how a professional mixing engineer mostly dedicated to the heavy genre, mixes a song from top to bottom explaining all the concepts and techniques utilized

How To Do Professional Audio Recording & Mixing

If you already have some level and knowledge about the world of music production but you feel you need to go deeper and improve your mixes this course will provide you with many resources to achieve your goal.

Description:

Ready to Learn How Professional Audio Engineers Make Pro Music? In this course you will look over the shoulder of a seasoned, professional music producers who makes music for a living. Whether you are an artist, looking to produce a demo, a professional sound engineer or someone looking to produce music for sale, you will learn valuable, real-life tips and secrets to making your sound stand out from the rest.

In this video course, you will learn how to:

  • Mix audio levels
  • Mixing EQ (equalization) as an audio effect
  • Mixing EQ and Vocals (Vox)
  • Mixing EQ and Bass
  • Mixing EQ and Acoustics
  • Mixing EQ and Tone
  • Mixing EQ and Masking Part 1 and 2
  • Mixing EQ and Percussion (Drums)
  • Mixing Compression as an Effect

Your instructor is Jordan Jackiew, owner of Tailored Mixing studio in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Who is this course for?
  • Artists, Recording Engineers, Film Makers, Singer Songwriters

 

Songwriting 101- Composition, Lyrics + Music Production

This course is mostly based on all aspects of artistic production. It explains such important concepts as melody and rhythm and how their correct combination will make your compositions shine. It also covers technical aspects such as mixing, equalization and editing.

Description:

Learn How to Improve your Songwriting Today!

BROUGHT TO BY PROFESSIONAL SONGWRITER PETER DARLING AND MUSIC PRODUCTION INSTRUCTOR TOMAS GEORGE.

If you are looking for a course that will show you how you can improve your songwriting and music production in different genres, then this is the course for you!

The genres we cover in this course include:

• Pop

• Rock

• Country

• EDM

In this course, we’ll be teaching you the essential Songwriting and Music Production techniques and tips used by songwriters today so you can write and improve your own songs.

The software we use in this course is Logic Pro X, but the skills and techniques we teach are applicable for any Digital Audio Workstation.

What makes me qualified to teach you?

Peter Darling is a Songwriting lecturer and has been professionally writing songs for over a decade and also has a MA Masters Degree in Music Composition and a BA(Hons) Degree in Popular Music.

Tomas George has a MMus Masters Degree in Music Production and a BA(Hons) Degree in Music Composition. He is also the creator of some of the world’s most popular music production courses – with over 100,000 students

Explanations are detailed and very easy to understand. Instructors pace and tonality is also on point. Outstanding! –  Antoni Sule

Very useful lectures which provide me a lot of information and improve my skills dramatically. His teaching method also helps me easily to understand. Thank you so much Tomas. – Huy Nguyen

I have studied music over the years since public and high school. I have been learning from all sources for more than 20 years and from what I can see the instructor is extremely knowledgeable. He is clearly very passionate about teaching and it shows in his approach, he is very well spoken and highly intelligent. – Stevie Masterson

Our Promise to You

If you have any questions about the content or songwriting or music production in general, ourselves or our teaching assistants will always be responsive to questions and direct messages. 

What is this Songwriting Course all about?

In this Songwriting course, you’ll learn all the tools and techniques for songwriting and music production to write amazing sounding songs

This course will cover everything you need to know about songwriting including:

  • Writing Vocal Melodies
  • Writing Chords
  • Writing Harmonies
  • Writing Lyrics
  • Arrangement
  • Structure
  • How to Write a Pop Song
  • How to Write a Rock Song
  • How to Write a Country Song
  • How to Write an EDM Song
  • How to Write a Song in the Style of a Popular Song
  • How to Produce and Mix these Songs
  • Music Production Tips and Tricks for Songwriting
  • Where to find Professional Drum Sounds and Samples
  • Compression and EQ Essentials for Producing your Songs
  • And much more!

Go ahead and click the enroll button, and we’ll see you in lesson 1!

Cheers,

Peter and Tomas.

Who is this course for?
  • You’re a songwriter who wants to improve at writing your own songs and songwriting
  • You’re a band member who wants to improve at music composition
  • You might be completely new to songwriting (You’ve had no formal training in songwriting)
  • You’ve been playing in a band for years, but now you want to learn how to write your own music and music production
  • You’ve been writing a few songs, but now you want to learn more about music production and songwriting
  • You want to learn how to mix the tracks you’ve been writing
  • You’ve tried songwriting, but need to learn more about writing songs
  • You’ve been writing songs for a while and want to improve your knowledge at songwriting and music production

Music Production for Beginners The Beat-making Process

For all electronic music lovers and beat-makers who are just starting out in the world of music production this course will give you the launching pad for producing your tracks in a fun and quality way.

Description:

This is a beginner course aimed at those wanting to simply and easily produce professional sounding electronic music with minimal equipment and cost. It covers things such as what equipment and software you need, through to how to create your own music and get it ready for publishing.

Areas Include

  • Equipment
  • DAW Software
  • The Creative Process
  • Arrangement
  • Mixing and Mastering Basics
  • Exporting and Sharing Music
Who is this course for?
  • Anyone wishing to start producing quality electronic instrumental music on their own in a cost effective way.
  • Singers who want to be able to create their own backing tracks
  • Aspiring beat-makers

 

GarageBand: The Complete GarageBand Course Music Production

If you are a Mac lover (IOS) and like the world of music production, you will surely know Garage Band, the flagship application of Apple Computer. You will discover all the tools and possibilities that the brand offers you in any of its devices.

Description:

In This GarageBand for Mac & iOS Tutorial Course – Complete Beginners Guide I will show you how to Master GarageBand from knowing nothing to create three different complete full tracks. 

This course is created for the absolute beginner as well as advanced users who wants to expand their knowledge in music production techniques. We are covering all of the techniques that the biggest music producers use in the real world to get professional sounding productions in the box with the FREE high quality software that GarageBand is.

This Course Includes All You Need To Create Music and to Get Your Musical Ideas to GarageBand – You Will Only Need a Mac and / or an iPhone / iPad (or a Hardware with iOS) and an Internet Connection.

There are a plenty of different Music Production courses out there where they focus on a lot of different things – but in this course I rather focus on the Music Production Stage and how to actually lay out ideas on GarageBand quickly instead of messing around with unnecessary knobs and other settings that you won’t need to use ever in GarageBand.

This course is designed for every skill level from Beginners to Advanced. If you never used GarageBand before, that’s totally fine as well. This course includes an introduction section where we will download GarageBand on the Mac App Store and on the iOS App Store and show you how to get the big additional sound library that comes bundled with GarageBand as well.

Just a few of the things you’ll learn in this GarageBand for Mac course:

  • How To Get Your Musical Ideas Quickly To GarageBand
  • Produce Three Full Songs From Ideas Inspired Out Of Apple Loops & Plugins That Comes With GarageBand
  • Get You Familiar With The GarageBand Interface And Looks
  • Introduce You To The Music Production Software From Apple and Show Why You Should Upgrade To Logic Pro X

Improve Your Music Production Techniques and Start Making Professional Quality Music in No Time!

Regardless of what your level of experience is or what type of music you are creating, this course will take you knowledge to a whole another level. I will show you step-by-step how to create two different tracks with only GarageBand sounds and plugins without any third party plugins.

Whether you prefer creating music or learning different production techniques and methods such as workflow, this course will suite you perfect.

Unlike other music production courses, this course will cover everything from how to learn GarageBand from scratch to how to come up with the idea.

About the instructor:

Martin Svensson started producing music since 2005 and teaching since 2016, and now has over 80,000 happy students on Udemy learning music production and other related topics viewed from a Music Producers perspective. Martin has been working with different producers around the world as well as co-created a few very well known tracks with other musicians. Martin is based in Stockholm, Sweden

Who is this course for?
  • If You Own an iPad or iPhone and Want to Learn Music Production
  • If You Own a Mac Computer and Want to Learn Music Production
  • Advanced Users Who Already Produce Music And Has a Lot Of Knowledge
  • GarageBand for Mac Users Who Wants to Learn GarageBand on iOS To Lay Out Quick Ideas
  • You DON’T Have to Know How to Use GarageBand
  • New Users Who Has Never Used GarageBand or Produced Music At All
  • Logic Pro X Users Who Wants to Learn GarageBand To Lay Out Quick Ideas

 

Recording Vocals the Right Way

As the title of the course says, you will learn how to record voices in the right way. The voice is the main instrument in most musical styles. Therefore, if you want your recordings to have the quality you expect, it is necessary that you know the techniques and resources needed to record our most natural instrument.

Description

This course breaks down all of the variables involved with recording vocals for music; how to choose the right microphone, set the preamp and compressor, and how to run your D.A.W. most effectively.  We take you through the steps of a typical recording session using a professional studio (Madison Records) and singer (Alex Tru).  Various microphones, Vintech 573 preamp, EL8 Distressor compressor, and Pro Tools software are all utilized and explained in detail.  Additionally, there is a section dedicated to post-production techniques.  We explain what to do after you have finished recording.  Comping vocals, editing, and basic mixing techniques are all covered in this section.  

The entire course should take less than a week to complete.  Reviewing specific lectures after watching the complete course is recommended in order to refresh yourself on any topics needed. You will have lifetime access and all videos can be downloaded, so you can easily review any of the videos at a later date.  Thanks for checking out “Recording Vocals the Right Way,” and we hope to see you inside the course!

¿Para quién es este curso?
  • This recording course is meant for anyone who wants to capture a professional vocal sound. We assume a bit of previous knowledge in the course, so if you are just starting out this may not be for you.

Music Production I – Learn to be a Music Producer!

For all the people who are in an initial phase in their learning process in the world of the musical production this course will give you all the necessary knowledge so that you can face your productions with a suitable result. And if you already have some knowledge but you want to reinforce it and correct possible mistakes this course will also be of great help.

Description

This course is designed for the beginner, who has no previous knowledge in the Music Production field. Although this course will benefit those of you who have little to much knowledge with Music Production as well! In this course, you will learn how to become a music producer and a recording engineer, and how to take the sound production quality of your music production studio to the next level. Although we us a free DAW in this course, you will learn the basic tools you need to be able to start working in the powerhouse DAWs like Logic Pro X and Avid Pro Tools!

You will learn things like…

  • equalization 
  • compression
  • mic placement
  • plugins
  • audio editing
  • effects processing
  • how to import and export your tracks
  • how to record audio
  • how to produce music
  • how to record audio on a PC
  • how to record audio on a Mac
  • how to use basic functions within any DAW such as Logic Pro X!
  • and much more

Even if you have never worked with audio equipment before, or words like equalization mean nothing to you, by the end of this course you will be well on your way to starting a successful career in the music industry, and taking your talents to the world!  You will learn the best practices for music production, so that “music making” can be your career! By taking this course you will learn how to record your masterpiece from scratch starting with what computer you should have all the way up to mastering and releasing your own music. You will learn how to become a recording engineer and how to produce music like a pro! Thanks for checking out my course, Music Production I, and I hope to see you inside!

Who is this course for?
  • Artists who want to produce and record their own music.
  • Aspiring Recording Engineer.
  • People who have had a desire to record a single song.
  • Artists who want to learn how to use a DAW such as Logic Pro X.

 

Electronic Music Production – Synthesis

If you are attracted to the world of electronic music production and synthesizers, this course will fascinate you. In a fun and enjoyable way you will learn the most important concepts of this world so that you can capture that sound you have in your head in your productions.

 

Description:

Have you always wanted to approach a hardware synth like a Moog or a software synth like Massive and understand how to program it? Well this course is for you.

The goal of this course is to provide students with a fundamental understanding of how synthesizers work and how to manipulate them to create the sounds they’ve always wanted to make.

Learn essential synth elements such as oscillators, filters, and envelopes: what they do, how they work together, and how to go about creating sounds beyond the manufacturer’s pre-set patches.

UPON FINISHING THIS COURSE YOU WILL KNOW:

  • How to identify just about any synthesizer by type, old or new, and how to use it
  • How to create any sound of your own concept using a hardware or software synthesizer
  • How to incorporate synthesizers and synth-style processing techniques into DAW programs like Ableton Live
  • How to distinguish where your favourite “retro” synth sounds come from along with other classic sounds like those made by Moog, ARP and Oberheim

TOPICS COVERED

  • Signal Generators and Signal Modifiers
  • Types of Synthesis  (subtractive, additive, FM, wavetable etc.)
  • Synthesizer modules – (VCO, VCF, VCA, CV processors, LFO, Wave Shapers)
  • Common synthesizer layouts
  • Incorporating synth elements into audio production
  • Hardware vs. software – finding the right synth for you

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

  • We cover all the Ableton Live Synths so Ableton Live would be helpful but not mandatory.
  • We cover Native Instruments FM8 and Massive. Again not mandatory but helpful.
Who is this course for?
  • Beginner and Intermediate Music Producers
  • Music Producers who are wanting to create their own sounds
  • Music Producers who want to understand synthesis
  • Music Producers interested in how music is made and what sounds they are hearing in their favorite tracks

Songwriting AND music production for self-produced musicians

If you would love to launch your own productions and don’t have the knowledge to know where to start, in this course you will acquire all those notions so that in an independent and autonomous way you can record your compositions with good quality.

Description

Get all the fundamental notions that you need to go from an empty score, to a professional sounding mix. Learn what makes a great melody, Great! Streamline your songwriting process with useful hints and techniques. Avoid the usual pitfalls and mistakes when making digital recordings. Learn how to use a Digital Audio Workstation to write your music. Apprehend the Art of Mixing by understanding key concepts that can make or break a mix. And all of this, from a musician’s perspective – stripping away non-essential technical details and concentrating on what a musician needs to know to write music using the latest technology, arrange, record and generate a professional mix.   

Who is this course for?
  • Professional and amateur musicians who want to learn fundamental songwriting techniques and go from an empty score to a full professional mix.