Sound Design using Reason

The curriculum in this program is developed and certified by Berkleemusic and Propellerhead Software. This certification provides a powerful credential for any resume, as well as the practical skills necessary to pursue your creative ideas and reach your creative potential using Reason. A joint certification from Berkleemusic and Propellerhead Software assures educational integrity and industry credibility.

In classes taught by award-winning Berklee instructors, the Specialist Certificate in Sound Design using Reason will give you a complete overview of how music is written, recorded, mixed, and mastered using Reason, with a focus on sampling, sequencing, sound design, and building your own synth patches from the ground up. Along the way you’ll have the opportunity to share ideas with classmates working in a wide range of genres from around the world.

The program begins with Producing Music with Reason, where you’ll study the basics of sound design and sampling, and proceed to learn cutting-edge techniques for mixing and mastering in a variety of popular genres. You’ll learn advanced programming techniques you can use to set your work apart, and since Reason’s interface closely models the industry standards used by today’s top producers, you will be able to step into any studio and apply the skills you’ve learned.

In Sampling and Audio Production, you’ll explore the nuts and bolts of sampling and samplers, using Reason’s built-in NN-XT sampler. You’ll learn how to create and manipulate samples from a variety of sources, how to use filters, equalization, and other techniques to clean up samples and make them fit a musical environment, how to plan, program, edit, and sequence a project, and more. You’ll not only know how to use existing samplers, but how to build your own using hardware and software that will let you move far beyond factory presets, and will have completed a finished project using the NN-XT sampler and Reason’s other features.

The program finishes up with Sound Design for the Electronic Musician, which will take you deep inside the workings of modern synthesizer technology, and provide you with the practical knowledge that you can apply to existing and new products as they emerge. You’ll start with the basics – what a synthesizer is, how they work, how to program them, the physics and properties of sound, and move on to the essentials of filtering, sound design, frequency modulation, imitating acoustic instruments and more. You’ll learn how to use all these techniques to effectively design your own sounds, instruments, and patches using Reason– totally unique sounds that will set your work apart from everybody else’s. By the end of this course, you’ll have your own arsenal of unique samples and synth patches and the knowledge you need to make your music sound the way you want it to.