Lesson

5

Advanced Production Course - Zoom Session - 3/6

This was week 5 of LSEM's electronic music course, where students shared their progress on track development and received feedback on mixing techniques. The session focused on listening to students' work-in-progress tracks and providing hands-on guidance on implementing feedback, particularly around EQ and compression techniques discussed in the previous week. Penny expressed difficulty hearing the effects of EQ and compression changes, which led to an extensive discussion about frequency shaping, reference tracking, and the concept of creating "pockets of sound" in the mix. Dror asked about compression applications beyond vocals and drums, leading to explanations about controlling dynamics and achieving "glue" in the mix. Brio discussed CPU issues with plugins like the BX Glue, and LSEM suggested increasing the buffer size as a solution. Ellie and Cedric shared their current track work, with Ellie seeking help with clicky sounds in her drums and frequency masking issues, while Cedric presented a 2-minute 40-second track using Splice vocals and asked about the appropriateness of the song length.

Lesson

4

Advanced Production Course - Zoom Session - 27/5

This was a music production lesson focused on mixing techniques, led by LSEM with participants Dror, Bri, and Kieran. The session began with participants sharing updates on their music-making progress, with Kieran mentioning challenges due to house moving, Dror discussing Logic updates causing technical issues, and Bri noting a slow week due to weather and personal matters. LSEM then introduced fundamental mixing concepts, explaining frequency ranges from sub-bass to high frequencies and demonstrating how different instruments occupy specific spectral areas. The lesson included detailed analysis of several reference tracks, including Alabama Shakes' "Future My Back" to illustrate dynamic mixing and space creation, followed by Bicep's "Glue" to show effective minimal mixing. LSEM demonstrated practical mixing techniques using Pro-Q EQ, showing how to balance kick drum and bass relationships, and explained the importance of reference tracks for critical listening. The session concluded with a hands-on demonstration where Kieran's track was compared against a reference track, identifying areas for improvement including synth balance, width, and reverb placement.

Lesson

3

Advanced Production Course - Zoom Session - 20/5

This was a music production course session where students shared their weekly progress and received feedback from instructor LSEM. Cedric presented a track struggling with genre definition and mid-bass placement, with LSEM suggesting he establish a stronger groove foundation and build upon it rather than presenting multiple drops. Kieran demonstrated a complex IDM-style track with automation potential that LSEM helped him explore using Ableton's key mapping feature. Ellie shared a cinematic track with atmospheric elements that needed better drum placement and volume balance, while Brian showed a techno track with harmonic issues between the melody and bass line that required pitch adjustment. Dror presented an ambitious track with multiple ideas that LSEM advised to focus and develop rather than presenting too many concepts simultaneously. The session concluded with LSEM providing a detailed music theory lesson covering scales, chords, and the functionality of chord and scale tools in DAWs, demonstrating how to create rich harmonic progressions using Ableton's built-in tools.

Lesson

2

Advanced Production Course - Zoom Session - 13/5

This was a music production class focused on electronic music arranging and automation techniques. LSEM guided students through analysing different track structures, demonstrating how to use reference tracks to map out arrangements and extend ideas through automation and effects processing. The class covered techniques like parallel processing, filter automation, and spatial effects to create interest and development in tracks over time. Students were asked to practise these techniques by creating 2-3 minute explorations focusing on automation and layering of a single instrument or idea. LSEM provided specific plugin recommendations including free Valhalla plugins and suggested students hold off on major plugin purchases until sales events later in the year. The session concluded with plans to cover chords and harmony in the next week's class.

Lesson

1

Advanced Production Course - Zoom Session - 6/5

This was the first meeting of LSEM's 12-week Advanced Music Production course, where tutor Matt introduced the cohort of five students and discussed course structure and expectations. Students shared their current music projects and technical setups, with Cedric working on Deep House in FL Studio, Kieran creating minimal techno in Ableton, Brian developing melodic house and techno in Ableton, Elie exploring jungle and ambient techno in FL Studio, and Dror focusing on house music in Logic. Matt explained the course format, including weekly Wednesday sessions from 7-10 PM GMT, the requirement to create an EP consisting of three tracks with one remix by a peer, and the importance of developing a cohesive sound palette. The session concluded with Matt demonstrating workflow techniques in Ableton, including sample organisation and the use of Tracklib for finding unique vocal samples, while emphasising the importance of limiting one's sound sources for better artistic cohesion.