Work through the nine modules and 32 practical lessons in order. Keep the source audio, your working project and a separate portable backup. The course records reflections and assessments; your audio stays on your computer.
Plan 60–90 minutes for a typical practical lesson. Divide the extended foundation, microphone, delivery and final-project lessons into additional sessions as needed. Listening, recording and revision determine the pace.
Course contents
- Plan the session and learn the workspace
- Noise, sound and recording formats
- Prepare a track and study the recording path
- Study microphone placement and plan a comparison
- Compare Shabby Road microphone models
- Trace the channel strip
- Prepare the supplied-performance capture exercise
- Capture the supplied first drum take
- Capture and retain the supplied second drum take
- Separate playback balance from recording level
- Capture supplied bass and organ together
- Capture the supplied stereo Rhodes
- Capture supplied guitar and vocal
- Punch in without pre-roll
- Punch with pre-roll and post-roll
- Quick Punch and recover the missed first note
- Practice loop capture and comp editing
- Mute percussion regions and preserve fills
- Clean the sax and audition edit boundaries
- Reveal the remaining mix tracks
- Build the balance and stereo image
- EQ balance and remove unnecessary low end
- Compress the vocal gently
- Build one shared reverb return
- Refine balances with the one-dB test
- Keep useful mix notes
- Write and read fader automation
- Edit automation breakpoints
- Level vocal phrases throughout the song
- Prepare the final mix range
- Export and verify the finished file
- Complete the training and explain the mix
Sample lesson
Plan the session and learn the workspace
Open the practical lesson
Read in the book
Instruction
We will build Street Life from its recording exercises to a mix you can reopen and export. Every change you hear will happen in this session.
Practice sequence
- Supplied-performance task: use the provided Street Life audio. Any live-recording alternative below is optional and belongs in a separate project.
- Open apStudio. Confirm the transport reads 00:00:00 and no Street Life tracks are loaded. If you already have work open, save it before choosing Session / Files > New blank project.
- If the studio is not connected to your account, choose Connect account and sign in with the account enrolled in this course. Return to the studio after the account check.
- Open Session library. Under Student sessions, choose Open educational session. Do not choose the plugin demo or the recording setup for this orientation.
- Wait for the audio to load. Confirm 11 visible tracks and the pre-song exercise regions. Keep playback stopped while you inspect the timeline.
- Open SESSION / FILES, enter Exercise-201 in Session name, and choose Save. Confirm Exercise-201 appears in Open saved session.
- After confirming the save, choose New blank project. Then use Open saved session to open Exercise-201 again.
- Locate the transport, seconds ruler, track controls, console, plugin controls and Signal Flow. Identify a track input and output, and distinguish them from the master listening level.
- Play a short passage, identify the parts you hear, and stop. In your lesson response, describe your recording plan and explain which session you opened and how you saved and reopened it.
- Write the session brief before adding equipment: performers, instruments, recording order, simultaneous inputs, monitoring, deliverables and budget. Decide which parts will be performed as audio and which will use MIDI.
- Check the computer, interface connections and free storage. At 48 kHz and 24-bit PCM, allow about 0.52 GB per hour for one mono track, then allow room for alternate takes and backups. Choose a working drive and a separate backup location. Save a portable project, reopen it with its audio, and record where the backup is kept.
Your assignment
Save your own working copy of the supplied Street Life project, close it, and reopen it. Play a short passage and locate transport, input, output, and listening controls. Write a workflow plan for the supplied-track exercises. Separately, outline the equipment and input count you would need to record musicians. Keep a reopened backup.
Review points
- Your project is named Exercise-201 and saved as a separate copy.
- The same tracks and audio return when you reopen it.
- You can point to the play and stop controls, track inputs, track outputs, and listening level.
- Your recording plan names the instruments, recording order, and equipment you need.
- The plan accounts for simultaneous inputs, monitoring, storage, deliverables and budget.
- A portable backup reopens with its audio; identify a second storage location for irreplaceable work.
Listen and check
Identify drums, bass, voice, and supporting parts as you learn the session.
Reopen the saved project and play the passages named in your notes. Compare the result with the review points. Repeat any step that needs work before completing the course assessment.
A new, empty apStudio project.
SESSION / FILES: save and reopen a named project.