Pro Tools

If you’re serious about a career as a studio producer, one of the best ways to get started is to learn the techniques that the pros use on the software that music producing industry uses everyday. In the Professional Certificate in Pro Tools, you’ll engage in a guided program of study that will take you from the basics of setting up your home studio, to advanced mixing and mastering techniques using one of the most popular music production software around.

The program begins with Pro Tools 101. Berkleemusic is the exclusive online provider of Digidesign’s Pro Tools 101 curriculum, and this course constitutes the first stage of their Pro Tools certification program. In weekly exercises, you’ll explore the software’s capabilities, learn the basics of Pro Tools terminology, the software’s interface, session design, how to record tracks, MIDI sequencing, audio looping, and even get a taste of advanced features to be covered in detail later. This course provides real-world examples and frequent hands-on assignments that you’ll submit for feedback from your instructor and fellow students. This interactive component is a major part of the learning experience in this class, and will remain so throughout your certificate course work. At the end of the course, you’ll have an opportunity to take the Digidesign Pro Tools 101 Exam online.

The program moves on to cover Digidesign’s Pro Tools 110 curriculum (also exclusively provided online by Berkleemusic), the second stage of Digidesign’s Pro Tools certification program. Building on the foundational skills you learned in Pro Tools 101, you’ll learn work through a broader range of tools and Berklee production techniques that will help you to tackle more complex Pro Tools projects. You’ll focus on working with expanded hardware and software configurations, developing versatile tools for manipulating and editing both audio and MIDI data, and implementing various techniques to facilitate larger and more sophisticated mixing scenarios.

Once you have a solid Pro Tools base, it’s time to put the software through its paces. In Mixing and Mastering with Pro Tools, instructor Jeff Baust will take you deep into the software’s capabilities. Students will get an inside view on some shortcuts and ‘power tools’ that help them continue to build up their Pro Tools chops. You’ll learn principles of mixing and mastering that can be applied to any mixing situation, whether you use Pro Tools, other digital workstations, or analog gear. You work through interactive activities, and each week submit a completed mix for evaluation. The course addresses topics like: mix balance; effects processing from simple EQ to complex topics like using bussing and key signals to trigger dynamics processors; approaches to using reverb; and ways to manipulate time such as delay, flanging, and chorusing. Finally you’ll discuss the technical and creative issues involved with mastering recordings.

The program wraps up with Advanced Mixing and Mastering with Pro Tools, which provides students with a deeper understanding of the mixing and mastering tools and techniques that can be applied to a wide variety of styles. In this course, you’ll conduct in-depth, hands-on examinations of several mix techniques, such as EQ, compression, reverb, delays, and tempo maps, that are unique to Jazz, pop/rock and electronica. As you progress through the course, you will learn to add character to your mix by using "Lo-Fi" techniques, use multi-band compression in mastering, and master your mix using EQ and limiting. Again, although the course uses Pro Tools as the audio engineering tool, many of these skills will be portable to any kind of studio; regardless of software, hardware, or if the studio is digital or analog based. Berkleemusic, Waves, and AmpliTube have also come together to offer a generous educational discount on a number of required plug-ins for this course.

By the end of this program, you’ll know how to start up, configure, and navigate a Pro Tools session, develop versatile tools for manipulating and editing both audio and MIDI data, and develop a deep understanding of mixing and mastering tools and techniques that can be applied to a wide variety of styles that can be applied to any digital workstation, or analog gear.