Pro Tools

Work with world-class Berklee faculty and classmates from around the world to become a skilled producer using Digidesign’s Pro Tools, one of the world’s most popular music production software programs. This 3-course certificate program unlocks the secrets behind production and mixing (from basic to advanced) techniques for a number of contemporary music styles including jazz, pop/rock, electronica and more.

This program begins with Producing Music with Pro Tools, an introduction to recording in Pro Tools, which provides technical training in sound recording, from setup to mix-down. You learn the basics, and progress very quickly into incorporating some of the more advanced functions that make Pro Tools the industry standard for audio recording for engineers, producers, and songwriters. The course is full of tips, tricks, and shortcuts from a power user—information you might not find on your own. You'll engage in detailed discussions about production techniques and technical terms, and a get a chance to talk gear, studio configurations, and philosophies of production, even speaker placement, monitor mixes, and acoustics for your studio. By the end of this course, you’ll have a thorough understanding of Pro Tools and music producing in general, as well as the ability to apply these techniques to any project that you work on, regardless of the musical genre, or the type of song or artist.

Once you have the foundational Pro Tools and production background in place, you’ll take a deeper look inside the program in Mixing and Mastering with Pro Tools. In this course, you’ll learn mixing and mastering techniques such as mix balance; parallel compression; effects processing from simple EQ to triggered events; various approaches to using reverb; and ways to manipulate time such as delay, flanging, and chorusing —techniques you can apply to any situation, whether using Pro Tools, other digital production suites, or analog gear. You’ll also discuss the technical and creative issues involved with mastering recordings. Each week, you’ll view video demonstrations of engineers performing production techniques in the studio, and then try them out yourself in a weekly project that you will submit for evaluation. By the end of this course you’ll have acquired a clear knowledge of the entire mixing and mastering process, information that you can apply to any mixing and mastering situation. Continuing on from the concepts and lessons presented in Mixing and Mastering with Pro Tools, Advanced Mixing and Mastering with Pro Tools conducts in-depth, hands-on examinations of several mix techniques, such as EQ, compression, reverb, delays, and tempo maps, unique to Jazz, pop/rock and electronica. As you progress through the course, you will learn to monitor and apply critical listening to your mixes, add character to your mix by using “Lo-Fi” techniques, use multi-band compression in mastering, and master your mix using EQ and limiting.

By the end of the program, you’ll not only be creating polished and professional-sounding recordings from start to finish, but you’ll also have a portfolio of completed projects and a network of contacts to take with you as you develop your music production career.