Find your voice as a producer through utilization of Berklee’s time-tested techniques using

cutting edge production software. The following lesson material is taken from Berklee Online’s
Bachelor of Professional Studies degree program in Music Production. Want to learn more
about earning a degree online? Contact us at 1-866-BERKLEE (USA) / +1-617-747-2146 (INT’L)
or advisors@online.berklee.edu.

3. Music Production:
An Introduction

4. Listening Like a Producer

7. Tools of the Trade:

Microphones for Vocal Production

9. Tools of the Trade:

Mixing & Mastering with Pro Tools

12. Meet Instructor Jeff Baust

13. How Berklee Online Works

14. Get in Touch

2.
Music Production: An Introduction
From ‘Music Production Analysis’ by Stephen Webber

Being a recording artist or record

producer is in many ways a strange
job. What a producer creates can’t
be seen. What a producer creates
is not even an object. If you zoom
all the way out, what a producer
does for a living is this: Vibrate air
molecules in such a way that when
the air molecules bump up against a
human life form, that life form feels
something.

That last part, the part about feeling

something—that’s the key. Vibrating Fraser T. Smith, Grammy award winning producer for Adele
and Sam Smith, and Berklee Online student
air molecules is the easy part,
especially with all the gear record producers now have at their disposal. With a modest investment in
technology, you can be the master of frequency, volume, and timbre. But what determines whether or
not vibrating air molecules are worth anything is what happens neurologically to the organism whose
epidermis, eardrum, and cochlea receive those air molecules.

Make Your Mark: Careers in Music Production

• Recording Engineer • Sound Technician • Digital Remaster

• Mix Engineer
• Mastering Engineer
• Live Sound Engineer
Engineer
• Production Assistant
• Multimedia Developer
• Acoustic Consultant
• Studio Designer
• Studio Manager / Owner

3.
Listening Like a Producer
From ‘Music Production Analysis’ by Stephen Webber

Music, Prejudice, and the Brain

There is data that suggests that
musicians experience music
differently than non-musicians.
One brain imaging study showed
that when professional classical
musicians listened to music, the
left hemisphere of the brain (the
analytical hemisphere) was more
stimulated, while the brains of non-
musicians listening to the same music
were more stimulated in the right
hemisphere (the hemisphere involved
with creativity).

Often, musicians listen to music for reasons other than stimulating their emotions. They may want to learn
something, glean new ideas, broaden their horizons, check out the competition, or see how they stack
up against other players or singers. Sometimes they subconsciously harmonically analyze what they are
hearing out of habit.

Regardless of whether or not one is a musician, any person who listens to music has musical prejudices.
Fortunately, there are ways to transcend those prejudices. These skills are not easy to cultivate, but they
will make an enormous impact on how effective one is at making a record that conveys the intended
response.

Specific listening skills that benefit record producers include:

• Responding to a record’s emotional content • Listening on many levels at once

without unwanted prejudice
• Making note of possible problems without
• Reacting to a record as though it is the first time letting this pull you out of the emotion of the
you are hearing it, even on the hundredth listen record

4.
Listening Like a Producer

How To Develop Your Listening Skills

Put yourself in a good listening environment free from distractions. This can be your listening room or studio, or
somewhere comfortable and private with a good pair of headphones. Turn off your phone, and let the people
around you know that you will need to focus for the next several minutes and shouldn’t be disturbed.

Attempt to let go of as many of your musical prejudices as possible, and become an empty vessel. Allow yourself
be a good audience. If the record you are about to experience is capable of conveying emotion, resolve to
stay open to receiving this slice of human experience. At the same time, if you are distracted or confused by
something in the record, make note of this as well.

Have in front of you a blank sheet to write on, or, if you are more comfortable typing your notes, create a blank
word processing document on your computer. You will be making short, quick notes while listening, reporting
what you feel, and then returning to a relaxed state of listening.

Immediately after the record ends, expand on your abbreviated notes while your emotional response is still fresh.
Let’s take a few moments to consider some of the emotions and sensory responses one may experience when
listening to a record.

Examples of Possible Emotions Being Conveyed:

agitation depression gloom longing fervor

anger desire gratefulness love remorse

anticipation disgust grief lust repentance

anxiety ecstasy guilt melancholy righteousness

arousal elation happiness nostalgia indignation

awe emptiness hate passion sadness

boredom energy homesickness peacefulness scorn

calmness envy hope pleasure sensuousity

confidence exasperation humility rage sexiness

confusion excitement infatuation rapture shock

contentment exhilaration joy rebelliousness sorrow

defiance ferocity jubilation relief sympathy

delight fury loneliness religiosity torment

5.
Listening Like a Producer

Examples of Organic, Kinesthetic, or Sensory Responses:

chills hand touching face raised eyebrow(s)

clapping head bobbing relief

clicking fingers headache exhalation

clicking tongue holding of breath rubbing fingers together

concerned expression increase or decrease in rubbing hands together

breathing rate
eyes closing shallow or deep breathing
increase or decrease in heart
eyes widening rate singing along

feeling of exhilaration knot in stomach sleepiness

foot tapping laughter smiling

frowning mouthing the words squinting and tilting

head to one side
furrowed brow nausea
surprised expression
goosebumps noticeable increase or
decrease in heart rate tear(s)
hair standing up on the back
of neck or arms playing air guitar or air drums tingling

hand covering mouth protruding lower lip

pursing lips

6.
Tools of the Trade: Microphones for Vocal Production
From ‘Vocal Production’ by Prince Charles Alexander and Mitch Benoff

Transduction is a process that converts energy. Microphones are transducers that convert acoustical energy into
electrical energy. Although there are different types of microphones available for commercial use, two have
emerged as workhorses in recording environments: the condenser microphone and the dynamic microphone.

Dynamic Microphones
Dynamic microphones operate by attaching a
Magnet
thin diaphragm to a wired coil that is suspended
around a magnetic field produced by a permanent
Diaphragm
magnet. When a vocalist sings into the diaphragm,
the vibrations cause interruptions in the magnetic Sound Waves Coil
field that cause the generation of a minute electrical
current. The electrical output of this “mini electrical Cone
Signal
generator” is not powerful enough to be useful at this Out

point, so it needs to be amplified using a microphone

pre-amp.

Dynamic microphones are sturdy, but have a low

sensitivity. Sensitivity is usually given in terms of a
reference dB SPL (Sound Pressure Level, i.e., 94 dB
SPL = 1 pascal). Microphones simply convert the
sound pressure variations “Pa” (pascals) to audio
voltage “V” (volts). Dynamic microphones have an Dynamic Microphone
output in the neighborhood of 1.5–3 mV/Pa, which is
less sensitive than condenser microphones.

Dynamic microphones don’t reproduce high frequency

detail as well as condenser mics. They are most
effective when working with sound sources where a lot of high frequency detail is not necessary.

Although dynamic mics are preferable in live situations because they are rugged, there are some dynamic
microphones that are very common in recording studios. The Shure SM57 is known to be a great snare-drum
mic, for live situations and in the recording studio.

7.
Vocal Production Microphones

Ribbon Transducer
Another type of dynamic microphone is the
ribbon microphone. Ribbon microphones Transformer

replace the moving coil with a thin sheet of

aluminum placed between the poles of a
magnet. Once again, the vibrations of the Ribbon

singer’s voice on the diaphragm moves the

Magnet
aluminum ribbon, which then causes small
interruptions in the magnetic field and,
thus, the generation of a minute electrical
current.
Ribbon Microphone
In the past, ribbon microphones were
typically not sturdy, but technological advances have given producers a generation of ribbon microphones that
are almost as durable as their coil counterparts. Ribbon microphones have an output of about 1–2 mV/Pa.

Ribbon microphones are good for high-frequency detail, thus making them competitive for vocal performances
with the fine detail of condenser mics.

Condenser Microphone
Output
Condenser microphones use a different method of Audio Signal
transduction for the conversion of a singing voice
into electrical energy. The diaphragm of this type
Sound
of microphone is one side of a two-sided capacitor. Waves
The changes in air pressure from a vocalist singing
into the diaphragm change the distance between
the diaphragm and the back plate. The back plate is Front Plate
(Diaphragm) Back Magnet
charged with a direct current from an external power
supply. Condensor Microphone

Condenser mics are more fragile than their dynamic-coil counterparts and rely on external power, either via
inputs on mic preamps as phantom power, or from a small battery. Condenser microphones have an output
between 5–15 mV/Pa.

Because condenser mics reproduce audio with a very high fidelity and great detail, most often they are the
microphone of choice for recording vocalists in recording studios.

8.
Tools of the Trade: Microphones for Vocal Production
From ‘Vocal Production’ by Prince Charles Alexander and Mitch Benoff
Pro Tools is as ubiquitous today as a tape recorder
was 25 years ago. Vast multitrack recording
capability, non-destructive editing, MIDI sequence
playback, automated mixing, signal processing,
integrated software, synthesizers and samplers, full
video support, and numerous other capabilities
make it possible to use Pro Tools for anything that
involves audio recording.
Starting a Mix
Imagine that you’ve been given a project to mix. The
big question is, “Where do I start?” The answer, of
course, is that all mix engineers have their own way
of approaching a mix, and they aren’t all going to
do it the same way. There are many approaches to
mixing, none of which is the “perfect” or “proper”
way.
Mixing is a creative act—an intuitive process where
you will be required to draw upon and utilize all of
your learned skills at once. It’s like playing a jazz
solo on a saxophone: a musician spends time in a
practice room learning scales and modes, playing
Charlie Parker transcriptions, and practicing ideas
over a variety of changes. In an actual performance,
however, the musician deploys everything she has
learned in a synthesized and intuitive way that
defines who she is as a player.
When you’re learning how to mix, break the
process down into its components, such as mix
organization, working with EQ, using time domain
effects, and so forth, and focus on learning those
9.
things one by one. When you go to mix, draw upon
everything in your toolbox as you need it, relying
on your technical knowledge as well as your musical
intuition and creative instincts.
Overall Approach in a Mix
Let’s think about the overall approach you might
employ in a mix. Imagine a typical pop music track
with lead vocals, two guitars, bass, drums, and keys.
One of the most common ways engineers approach
this kind of mix is to solo the kick drum, and EQ
and compress it. Next, solo the snare, and add EQ
and compression to that. Soloing and tweaking the
hi-hat comes next, then the drum overhead mics.
Once the drums are set, solo the bass and tweak
that up. Next, EQ the guitars, soloed and tweaked
one at a time, followed by the keys. Once the
backing tracks have been tweaked up, mostly while
soloed, the engineer adds the lead vocals...last!
There is nothing wrong with this approach, and it
works great for legions of engineers the world over.
However, it’s not the only way to mix. In the
above description, each track is tweaked (EQ’d,
compressed, etc. while soloed—that is, in isolation.
For many inexperienced engineers, this approach
often leads to hours and hours spent making each
individual track sound great, but when the tracks
Tools of the Trade Mixing & Mastering with Pro Tools

are all combined, the overall mix sounds terrible.
The problem is that working in solo mode helps
you focus on an individual sound, but takes away
your ability to hear how the sound will relate to the
rest of the production. This is where inexperienced
engineers stumble when they mix. These engineers
forget that a mix is essentially a sonic jigsaw puzzle,
where all of the pieces of the mix fit together in an
intricate way.
In a pop song, the most important element isn’t
the kick drum, or the rhythm guitar track; it’s the
vocal. Everything about the mix and the production
should support that. But if you mix by starting with
the kick, then the snare, etc., and add the vocals
last, you set yourself up for a situation where, by
the time you add the most important element into
the mix, there’s no more room for it. The mix has
slamming drums, and clean, crisp backing tracks,
and yet, the lead vocals are buried and must
compete for their own frequency and amplitude
space with myriad other sounds. This might cause
you to go back and redo substantial amounts of
EQ’ing and tweaking the other sounds, meaning
that the hours and hours you spent getting the
drums “just right” were, at least in part, wasted.
Layered Approach to Mixing
In this approach, you will work from the “outer”
parts of the mix, in towards the “inner” parts of the
mix. Tools such as groups and memory locations
help facilitate this process.
1. Start by putting up the lead vocals, the drums
(and/or loops), and the bass. It is important to
think about the most important elements in the
song: the lead vocals, and the foundation of the
rhythm section.
2. After those sounds and balances are underway,
add the rest of the production: guitars, synths,
and so forth, perhaps with the backing vocals.
3. Put up the pads and strings last, once the more
important elements are in place.
Layered Approach to Mixing
Pads
Strings
Guitars
Keys

Backing Vocals
There are other ways to approach a pop song. For
example, think of this kind of production as having Vocals
“layers” of sonic elements:
Drums
• lead vocals
Bass
• backing vocals

• “ear candy” (strings, pads, sound effects)

• supporting chordal and textural elements

1:30 -2:04
(guitars, keys, etc.)

• rhythm foundation (bass, kit, loops)

10.
Tools of the Trade Mixing & Mastering with Pro Tools

Focus Approach to Mixing

In this approach, simply set the faders for a “rough” mix,
sit back, and listen critically. When something doesn’t
sound right, adjust it, and then listen some more. When
you identify the next sound that isn’t quite right, adjust
that sound and continue the process. This approach can
be compared to a videographer slowly bringing an entire
sonic picture into focus on a camera. When everything
feels like it’s in focus, the mix is done! In working this way,
don’t think about any sound elements in isolation; instead
hear and adjust every sound in context. React to the
overall blend of all of the tracks, and how it enhances or
distracts from the impact of the music.

The point is to think consciously about how you approach a mix, and then evaluate your results. The next
time you mix, force yourself to try a different approach, and then evaluate your success. This way, you will refine
your mixing skills by developing your own best approach to mixing. And of course, you’ll probably find that
different mixing situations will call for a different approach, and you’ll be adept at any of them.

11.
Jeff Baust
• Associate Professor, Electronic Production and
Design

• Online Course Author and Instructor: Mixing and

Mastering with Pro Tools, Advanced Mixing and
Mastering with Pro Tools, and Producing Music
with Logic

A composer, audio engineer, educator and multi-

instrumentalist, Jeff Baust has created scores for ESPN,
New England Sports Network (including music for the
Bruins and Red Sox), Avid, Sony, Polaroid, Sharp, Reebok,
Lotus, and others. He works primarily in his own facility,
Coral Sea Music. As an audio engineer, Jeff has worked
on projects for such artists as the Boston Symphony
Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, NBC-TV,
Andre Previn, Itzhak Perlman, Jessye Norman, and Dawn
Upshaw, as well as labels such as EMI, Philips, Nonesuch,
and many others. Specializing in digital audio production,
Jeff works with technologies such as Sonic Solutions,
high-resolution audio (96k/24bit), HDCD encoding,
and mastering as well as forensic audio and restoration
tools. Jeff holds a M. A. in Composition from University
of California, Davis, and a D. M. A. at Boston University,
where his concentration was electronic and electro-
acoustic composition. He has been published in Berklee
Today and Electronic Musician magazine.

“Berklee students go on to do everything from composing

and producing cutting-edge music to scoring and sound
design for video games, television, film, and the web,
to working as DJs and remixers, to being music artists
in and of themselves. Some become producers and
programmers for other artists as well as producing their
own music.”

12.
How Berklee Online Works

Renowned Faculty
Berklee Online instructors have managed, produced, and engineered hundreds of artists
and records and have received numerous industry awards and accolades. Each week you’ll
have the opportunity to participate in a live chat with your instructor and receive one-on-
one instruction and feedback on assignments.

Award-Winning Courses
Instantly access assignments, connect with your instructor, or reach out to your classmates
in our award-winning online classroom. Study from anywhere in the world at a time that fits
into your schedule.

Specialized Degree Program

No other accredited institution offers the acclaimed degree curriculum provided by Berklee
Online. Earn your degree at a cost that’s 60% less than campus tuition and graduate with a
professional portfolio that will prepare you for a career in the music industry.

Like-Minded Classmates
Offering courses for beginners and accomplished musicians alike, our student body comes
from over 140 countries and includes high school students getting a jump-start on college,
working professionals, executives at industry-leading technology and business firms, and
members of internationally known acts like Nine Inch Nails and the Dave Matthews Band.

Experienced Support
Every online student is assigned a Berklee-trained Academic Advisor. Each Advisor is
passionate and knowledgeable about music and here to support you throughout your
online learning experience.

Try a sample lesson for free:

online.berklee.edu/sample-a-course

13.
 Questions about
Earning Your Degree Online?
Contact Us.

1-866-BERKLEE (USA) | +1-617-747-2146 (INT’L)

advisors@online.berklee.edu

14.