Music Creation 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.

To be a producer in today’s competitive environment means staying on top of the latest trends in technology, equipment, and studio technique. But it also means training yourself to hear, understand, and replicate a nearly infinite variety of sounds, styles and techniques. In the Specialist Certificate in Music Creation using Reason, you’ll work with world-class Berklee faculty and classmates from around the globe to gain a solid background in production basics and the art of creating music using Reason.

The first key to becoming a production wizard lies in knowing what to listen for. An expert mix can redeem weak material, but a poor mix can ruin a good song – and it all starts with knowing how to hear the difference. In Critical Listening, with instructor Dan Thompson (Assistant Chair of Music Production and Engineering at Berklee), you’ll use weekly training drills, analysis of classic recordings, and comparative studies of different styles of mixing to learn how sound is shaped and presented. The course will teach you how to identify width and depth, frequency range, and dynamics; how to tailor your mix to the genre of the music you’re working with; how to optimize your listening setup; tips to tailor your mix approach to the project at hand; how signal processors, EQ and reverb are used in different genres; how to identify different instruments, distortion types, and production techniques by sound alone; and more. And since sessions often begin with getting ideas from existing recordings, you will learn to identify and replicate the sounds of famous producers.

The computer is the most important tool an electronic musician will ever learn to use, and in the next course in the program, Desktop Music Production, instructor Michael Bierylo will show you how to get the most out of it. You’ll receive a copy of Reason software plus either Logic (for Mac) or SONAR (for Windows) good for the duration of the course, and with this software explore every aspect of digital music production., This course will give you a broad overview of the tips, tools and techniques that everyone needs to know to create music on your computer. You and your classmates will get an introduction to every aspect of electronic music production – how to create musical ideas, recording, editing, mixing, mastering, producing, sequencing, signal processing, mixing, and more. You’ll learn how to use MIDI sequencing to build tracks, and get inside tips on editing, tweaking, and fixing pitch, rhythm, and tempo to fit the project. You’ll cover common mixer configurations, signal processors and effects, and finally learn how to mix and master your final projects into a form suitable for distribution via CD or MP3.

You will refine and expand on all the production skills you have been learned so far in the final course of the program, Producing Music with Reason. With a rack of virtual instruments, effects, mixers, a built-in sequencer, and a patching system that emulates real-world hardware setups, Reason provides a nearly complete production environment for producers and engineers. 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. Through streaming video demonstrations, interactive exercises, and mixing and production coursework, you’ll learn to use Reason to create professional-sounding recordings and at the same time get a complete beginning-to-end overview of how music is written, recorded, mixed, and mastered.