Welcome to the Electronic Music Production course

These are notes for the Electronic Music Production course at SOMA (School of Music and the Arts http://www.soma.com.sg/). In this seven week introductory course, we will be learning the following aspects of electronic music production:

1. Laying down a groove - starting the electronic music track:
   riffs, beats, rhythms, loops, plotting
   


2. Structure - elements of an electronic music track:
   motif, verse, chorus, build, breakdown, drop
   


3. Sound design and synthesis - creating and customizing electronic music sounds:
   analog subtractive synthesis using VST (software instruments)
   


4. Sampling - turning noises into electronic music:
   found sounds, vocals, loops, sample manipulation with filters and envelopes
   


5. Effects - enhancing the sound of the track:
   reverb, delay, filters, compression
   


6. Remixing and loops
   


7. Mixing, mastering and publishing

Over the weeks, I will post links to software or samples that you can download for the lessons, as well as links to video or audio clips that you will find useful for reference. Please also share useful links that you have found, and we can all learn from one another.

For the first lesson, you can download a demo version of Ableton Live (the industry standard in electronic music production software, used by almost every major producer, performer and DJ) at http://www.ableton.com/

For more resources on how to use the software, check out these video links:

• Dennis DeSantos' Make music with Ableton Live