Most of us spend a good chunk of our lives dreaming about pursuing a creative endeavor but never actually pull the trigger.
We find excuses, we’re embarrassed, lazy, and a lot of times don’t even know where to start.
Well today, we’ll be tackling some of the obstacles outlined above. We’ll show that you can start learning music production without leaving your house and with just a few hours per week. We’ll also show you exactly where to look for information regarding music production.
If you’ve ever looked up to electronic or hip-hop music producers and aspired to be just like them, then this is your lucky day. Stick to any of the courses below and you’ll be one step closer to that dream.
Online Music Courses
As you might have guessed, our preferred method of learning is through online courses.
There are two types of courses you can try: Free and paid.
Free courses are the easiest solution. They don’t require any investment, are widely available, and usually don’t require the creation of an account.
However, we will make the case that paid courses are the way to go.
Why?
Because paid courses keep you accountable. By having to spend a few dollars in a course, you have skin in the game, and that keeps you committed.
We’ve talked to hundreds of self-taught music students who have attempted to master music production on their own. Time and time again, we encountered the same issue: lack of commitment.
Enrolling in a free course is easy, but so is giving up on it.
Paid Resources
Additionally, despite the high level of quality available in free courses, we have found that the very best courses are paid.
The good news is that these courses don’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Coursera, Masterclass, Berklee Music School, and many others offer great courses at affordable prices. Berklee even offers student financing for their online program. For a complete list of music courses online, check out this article.
And finally, the other major benefit to taking certain paid courses is that they will give you some credibility.
We are lucky enough to live in the age where even the most reputable universities and colleges offer online courses, so if you’re looking into a career as a sound engineer or similar, you can look at programs offered by esteemed institutions in the industry such as Point Blank and HOFA College.
Free Resources
If we still haven’t convinced you to invest in a paid course, here are a few recommendations of good free music production courses:
How to EDM is a reference in the EDM production community. It has tutorials on a lot of topics, some more advanced than others, but has a lot of beginner friendly videos too.
As the name suggests, this channel focuses on electronic music, though some tips are applicable to any musical genre.
Despite not having a course structure, this YouTube channel has loads of content that you can peruse at your own pace. It covers a lot of ground and will set you up with all the basic and intermediate skills necessary to produce music
With close to 100 hours of videos on audio engineering, electronic music production, mix & mastering, synthesizers, and live sound, SoundGym is a great solution for someone looking for a structured and all-encompassing approach.
If you’re ready to commit a few months of consistent effort and don’t have a budget to spend on your music education, this is the program for you.
YouTube really is the place to look for tutorials. The amount of information available in this platform is simply mind blowing. A great example of this is SeamlessR’s YouTube channel. From beginner to advanced tutorials, he delivers high quality content for free.
His sound design knowledge is simply impressive and music producers of any level and genre will benefit from browsing his channel for a few hours.
Finally, we highly recommend looking at SadowickProduction’s channel if you are a complete beginner. The videos focus on learning the ableton DAW for people who have no background in music production.
Final Thoughts
We hope that this article has helped you start your journey in music production.
It is not an easy road. It requires significant time investment and some financial investment. However, anybody can do it. You don’t need to be born a musical genius to become a good music producer or engineer, all it takes is hard work.
Stick to any of the above outlined courses for a few months and you’ll have a great foundation from which to build your own career in the music industry. So now it’s your turn: Roll up your sleeve and let’s get working!
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