We had our first class in the Music Production 101 course this past Monday, February 3rd, 2025. There were a few computer glitches, but overall, it went well. I think most of the instruction will include showing the students how to use the DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). We are running Presonus Studio One Version 7, and while I believe it to be a very intuitive piece of software, some who are new to it might find it challenging to use.
At the beginning of the class, the six students were grouped into pairs, making 3 teams total. After all, music is a communal experience.
The majority of the class has had some familiarity with music. Some have played instruments and used other DAWs such as FL Studio and Garage Band, one was an audio engineer looking to branch out into music production, and one just wanted to learn as much as possible about music production.
The goal of the class is for each team to produce one song. They have the option of adding lyrics if they sing or rap. They will also be able to book the studio individually and schedule an hour of 1 on 1 instruction at some point during the course. At the end of the course, there will be a showcase, where all of the participants peer-review each other’s songs. The idea also is to record the showcase and broadcast it on Access 21.
Hopefully, at the end of this course, the participants will have the ability to score their podcasts and TV productions with original music. This will be encouraging for them, because it opens up another path to creativity, and, also frees them from having to worry about using copyrighted music.
Overall, I’m hoping to unlock the students’ creativity and have a clear path of communication, where the students feel that they belong and can learn something from the process of music production.