So you’ve made the decision to purchase Apple’s Logic Pro, Avid’s Pro Tools, or Ableton Live. But now you need to learn how to use it. You might be asking yourself the question “now that I own a DAW, how do I learn music production?” In this post, we’ll explore a few options to help get you started.
Learning Music Production With YouTube
One place that many people get started is by watching YouTube videos. I even know an amazing Ableton performer/producer who learned most of what he knows by watching YouTube videos. The trick with using YouTube videos is that you need to learn how to formulate productive search queries. In order to find a YouTube series which is comprehensive, you may hit a paywall, or you might wind up with a series that’s incomplete until you pay up. That said, there are many excellent resources to get you started with the basics, and once you learn how to form a productive search query, you’ll be able to find answers to most of your questions.
As an example, one fantastic resource for learning Ableton Live on YouTube is the Sadowick Production YouTube channel. In addition to a YouTube channel full of immensely valuable tutorial videos on Ableton Live, the Sadowick Production website is a great source for sample packs, project templates, and a whole host of other Ableton related resources.
Avid Pro Tools Tutorials
For learning Pro Tools, the Avid website for a great resource for video tutorials and instructional articles for learning music production. The best part about it is that it’s completely free! Click here to check out the many resources available on the Avid website.
Ableton Live Tutorials
If you want to learn music production with Ableton Live, you can find a similar series of instructional tutorials on their website by clicking here. Again, these tutorials are completely free and there’s enough information to get a new user up and running producing music with Ableton Live.
Logic Pro X
One of the best tutorial series out there for how to learn Logic Pro X is completely free and is available via the MusicTechHelpGuy YouTube channel, a creation of the Carney Media Group. With 230K subscribers, they’re clearly on to something. The MusicTechHelpGuy YouTube channel offers free and current videos on everything you could possibly want to know about Logic Pro X including how to get started all the way through to advanced mixing and sound design techniques. The Carney Media Group website offers even more videos, both free and paid, as well as offering packages of EXS24 samples for sale along with other products. They also offer their mixing and mastering services through their website and based on the quality of their videos, I’d be strongly inclined to consider them.
LinkedIn Learning
If you’re not interested in searching through YouTube videos to find what you need and prefer to have a complement of course content to assist you with learning music production, there are many great options on LinkedIn Learning, where for a low monthly fee, you can work your way through an unlimited amount of content. The options below are just a few of the courses available on LinkedIn Learning to help viewers learn music production:
Pro Tools 2019 Essential Training: 101 – The Basics, by Frank Cook
Ableton Live 10 Essential Training, by Rick Schmunk
Logic Pro X Essential Training, by Scott Hirsch
All three of these courses are available as part of a monthly subscription to LinkedIn Learning or as an individual course for as little as $9.99. All include many hours worth of video content in a well organized format from a reputable instructor (Scott Hirsch in on the faculty at NYU), and all three courses are current, having been made within the last year or so.
Udemy
I’ve used Udemy to learn coding and WordPress, often with great results. The courses I’ve viewed have been excellent and Udemy’s rating system is transparent enough to allow the customer to make informed decisions about which course to download. Courses can often be purchased for as little as $9.99, and the website often runs sales and promotions.
One of Udemy’s top rated and newer Pro Tools courses is Avid Pro Tools: Audio Recording For Beginners In Pro Tools, created by Life Progression Project. This is one of their top rated Pro Tools courses, and it was last updated less than one year ago. The full price for this course is $104.99, though it can sometime be purchased on sale for $14.99.
If you’re looking to learn music production in Ableton Live, look no further than Music Production in Ableton Live 10 – The Complete Course, created by Tomas George. Full price is $109.99, but this course can be found on sale for as little as $14.99. For 15.5 hours of content, updates as recent as February of 2020, and over 3,000 five star ratings, this course is worth every penny even at full price.
And if you’re interested in learning Logic Pro X, Tomas George also has an option for that in the form of Music Production in Logic X – The Complete Course. Full price is $129.99, but the course can be found at a promotional price of $17.99. This course offers 48 hours of video content and over 6,600 five star ratings! Again, this one is worth every penny even at full price.
Summary
As you can see, there are many solid options for how to learn music production on your own. There are many free resources on the manufacturer’s websites or even from independent producers on YouTube. While these options are great (and free!), they can sometimes lack the structure of a thoroughly planned out course. For a structured video course with professional production, look no further than LinkedIn Learning or Udemy for amazing content at a reasonable price.
Some of the links on this website are affiliate links of which Music Learning Hub receives a small commission from sales of certain items, but the price is the same for you.
