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Learner Reviews & Feedback for The Technology of Music Production by Berklee

4.8
stars
1,058 ratings

About the Course

Learn about the music production process—including recording, editing, and mixing—and the tools available to you to create contemporary music on your computer. With the recent introduction of high-quality-low-cost software and hardware, the tools of music production are now available to the masses. Albums are made in bedrooms as well as studios. On the surface this is liberating. Anyone can make an album for the low cost of a couple pieces of gear and a software package. But, if you dig deeper, you will find that it is not so easy. Producing music requires knowledge, dedication, and creativity. Knowledge is where this course comes in. No matter what kind of music you are making, there is a large set of tools that you will need to use. Each lesson of this course will demonstrate a different set of music production tools, loosely following along the music production process of recording, editing, and mixing. We will start with some background on the nature of sound and how we perceive it. We will then examine the components necessary to record audio into a computer, so that you understand the devices that sound must travel through in a music production process. Once recorded, sound must be organized along a timeline, a process known as editing. It allows us to give the impression of perfect performances and create many of the sounds we hear in contemporary music. The contemporary editing tool is the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), a piece of software that stores and organizes all the assets of a musical project. We will focus on the editing tools that are essential in contemporary music production and that all DAWs provide. After editing, sounds must be combined or mixed together, so we look to the mixing board—a very creative place if you know how to use it. We will explore the basic functionality of both hardware and software mixing boards, including volume, pan, mute, solo, busses, inserts, sends, and submixes. The mixing process, however, includes more tools than the mixing board provides on its own. Sound must also be processed, modified from its recorded state to fit the context of the music. We will look at compression, equalization, and delay, and examine the many audio effects that are offshoots of these devices and how they are used in a musical context. In the end, the music production process relies on your creativity. Creativity is a product of the mind and will stay there, unexpressed, until the right tools are used in the right way to share it with the world. If you have an idea in your head, it will take numerous steps, each with an important tool, to reach your audience. You bring the dedication and creativity, and this course will bring you the knowledge to make that happen....

Top reviews

JJ

Feb 7, 2021

This course gave me a working knowledge of the many parameters of a DAW. I really have a base knowledge to continue my studies and not get frustrated with mental blocks in navigation of the software.

NV

Aug 18, 2022

everything is clearly mentioned, good overall couese. i think it would be better addtional materials are given for various DAW's, because sometimes finding options in daw's were little bit difficult

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326 - 343 of 343 Reviews for The Technology of Music Production

By João R

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Aug 17, 2024

It was a really technical course, great to understand how the basics work.

By Evgeny “ L

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Apr 29, 2019

Presentations are annoying. Information is wonderful.

By Nicolás E A G

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Feb 2, 2023

A little long, but has a lot of useful information.

By Sebastián L

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Oct 17, 2018

Good course. Lack of help in the discussion Forums.

By Deborah

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Dec 4, 2016

i guess it was great - but so technical and hard!!!

By Daniel S

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Dec 5, 2018

Definitely lots of helpful material!

By James c

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Jul 24, 2020

Highly Recommended

By christian s

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Nov 9, 2020

very interesting,

By Wellington J

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Jan 15, 2017

Vey informative

By Sarang A

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Aug 12, 2020

Amazing course

By Jairo B

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Mar 27, 2017

good course!!!

By Noah

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Aug 26, 2024

About half of the information was incredible useful, a quarter of it was mainly useful for electronic music producers, and a quarter of it was extremely simple material that likely anyone taking this course would either already be familiar with or could learn for free simply from YouTube. The presentation of the material was not great. Much of the information was briefly taught, and then the expectation was to go to the forums to teach your classmates the rest. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like anyone uses the forums on Coursera for anything but asking to have their presentations reviewed. The projects were just to repeat the information given. I agree that you solidify learning from teaching things, but I think the assignments could have been more focused on applying the information from the module into your own production/music style or situation.

By AKANKSHYA P

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May 19, 2021

It was a quite beautiful journey full of experiences for learning new things grasping the knowledge and concepts from the instructor and completing and submitting the assignments on time.

By Tomas O C

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May 21, 2020

It is a great course, broad and practical at the same time. You might have some trouble getting the key concepts out form the instructor´s speech, but the overall course is great.

By Aleksandr B

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Oct 20, 2020

Thought it would be deeper and more interesting things or hints, however it's just a technical course, to understand the basis of stuff i use everyday :)

By Sarah M

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Feb 22, 2022

Not the most interesting way to teach this course. The info was great but the way it was laid out was boring and I did not like the assignments - give me something to work on hands on, don't have me re-teach your concepts like this is high school.

By Stephentodd T

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Mar 15, 2022

There is some good info here, but mostly you get this line: "Go and play around in your DAW and figure it out yourself."

By Sergey O

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Jan 9, 2024

Very, VERY beginner course. Gives NO useful information to people with access to YouTube videos. Stupid system of peer assessment - Guys, why are you doing this at all?! - the Course forum is full of topics like "PLZ assess my presentation and I will assess your with hi mark" - Stupidness and a waste of time and money!