Electronic Music Production Level II

This is the second of 3 courses (Level II) in our beginner Music Production series in Ableton Live. The purpose of this course is to continue exploring the basics of music production by focusing on composition techniques. You’ll learn about programming drums, quantization, and basic music theory such as writing melody, chord progressions, adding a lead part, arpeggiators and many other topics.

You'll learn essential drum programming concepts and common techniques in creating different kinds of beats, including the important parts of any drum beat (kick, snare, and hi-hat) as well as filling in the spaces with various percussive rhythms. The drum programming lessons are divided into the different types of beats - from straight beats and broken beats to half-time beats - to encourage you to learn more about the different tempos and rhythms, and to inspire the creation of your own unique beat patterns. You'll also learn about humanizing programmed drums with different quantization and track delay settings.

After showing you the ins and outs of programming drums, we'll move on to creating melodies. We'll cover the basics of synthesis including ASDR envelopes, LFOs and the Analog Global Parameters. You'll also learn some music theory such as chord progressions, the difference between major and minor chords, and how to add lead lines, chord progressions, and pads that complement not only each other, but the drums and bass tracks.

This is the second level in a 3-part series. Level I got you familiar with the Live interface and working with MIDI instruments and audio material, and Level III will focus on EQ, effects, creative sampling techniques and export settings. After completing these 3 courses you’ll be able to combine all of these elements into making a song.