Lessons
148 free lessons from the studio, and 11 paths through them from songwriting and arrangement to mixing, audio science and licensing. Most come with diagrams, an experiment to try in your DAW and a short quiz.
Learning paths
Each path is a set of lessons meant to be read in order.
New here? Start with Songwriting, lesson 1 (5 min) or Mixing & Mastering, lesson 1 (6 min).
- Songwriting10 of 10 read10 lessons
- Arrangement & Groove20 of 20 read20 lessons
- Genre Guides6 of 6 read6 lessons
- Sound Design10 of 10 read10 lessons
- Vocal Production12 of 12 read12 lessons
- Mixing & Mastering44 of 44 read44 lessons
- Audio Science14 of 14 read14 lessons
- Production Tips3 of 3 read3 lessons
- Music Psychology14 of 14 read14 lessons
- Producer Mindset10 of 10 read10 lessons
- Licensing Guide4 of 4 read4 lessons
All lessons
Featured · Songwriting · 5 min read
Skip risk starts in the intro
About a quarter of streamed songs are skipped in the first five seconds. Open with one clear sound the listener can follow, and build from there.- New · Vocal Production · 11 Oct 2026 · 8 min read
Room reflections EQ your vocal before you do
A hard surface near the mic adds a late copy of the voice and carves a comb of notches into the take. How to work out where they fall and get rid of them. - New · Vocal Production · 11 Oct 2026 · 8 min read
A clipped take stays clipped after the fader
Clipping at the preamp or converter is written into the file. The fader only scales playback, so the distortion gets quieter and stays. - New · Music Psychology · 11 Oct 2026 · 7 min read
Listeners bring genre expectations into your song
Whether a move sounds fresh or wrong depends on what the listener has heard before. How style knowledge shapes surprise, and how to test a crossover. - New · Music Psychology · 11 Oct 2026 · 8 min read
Why repeated speech starts to sound like song
Loop a spoken phrase and it can start to sound sung, with no change to the audio. What makes a phrase turn, who hears it, and how to mine it for a hook. - New · Music Psychology · 11 Oct 2026 · 8 min read
Why a song grows on you with repeated plays
Liking for a new track often climbs over everyday plays, and remembering a hook is a separate thing from liking it. What the studies found, and how to test a demo. - New · Music Psychology · 11 Oct 2026 · 8 min read
A chord's mood depends on how you get there
Major sounds happier than minor in some contexts and not in others. The progression into a chord, its role in the key and the listener's history change what it says. - New · Mixing & Mastering · 11 Oct 2026 · 7 min read
Mastering EQ starts with the big picture
Fix the overall tilt of a master before you chase analyzer peaks, many of which are the song's own notes, and pick references from the right era. - New · Mixing & Mastering · 11 Oct 2026 · 7 min read
Heavy limiting changes the tone of a master
A broadband limiter turns down moments, not frequencies. Whatever makes the peaks loses the most level, so the tonal balance shifts as you push it. - New · Mixing & Mastering · 11 Oct 2026 · 8 min read
Limiter release reaches into the groove
A master limiter turns the whole mix down on every kick. Its release decides what happens to everything between the hits: clean, pumping or distorted. - New · Mixing & Mastering · 11 Oct 2026 · 8 min read
Loudness, PLR and LRA answer different questions
PLR, PSR and LRA all get called dynamic range. Learn what each one measures, how it is calculated, and which change moves which number. - New · Mixing & Mastering · 11 Oct 2026 · 7 min read
Monitoring level changes the balance you hear
Turn the speakers down and the bass fades faster than the mids. What the equal-loudness contours say, and how to pick a home level and use quiet checks without fooling yourself. - New · Mixing & Mastering · 11 Oct 2026 · 7 min read
How to put reverb on bass without mud
"No reverb on bass" protects you from three real problems. A filtered, short, narrow return avoids all three and lets the bass share the room with the band. - New · Mixing & Mastering · 11 Oct 2026 · 8 min read
When reverb masks the next line
A long tail is still sounding when the next words arrive. How to work out how much it has faded, and how ducking and delay throws keep the space without the wash. - New · Mixing & Mastering · 11 Oct 2026 · 8 min read
Early reflections place a sound, the tail sets the room
A reverb has two parts that do different jobs. How early reflections and the late tail each change size, width and clarity, and how to set them apart. - New · Audio Science · 11 Oct 2026 · 7 min read
What a correlation meter tells you
A correlation meter measures how alike the two channels are, weighted by energy. A reading forecasts the mono loss, but a quiet anti-phase part barely moves it. - New · Mixing & Mastering · 11 Oct 2026 · 7 min read
Stereo low end is a translation decision
Some stereo bass survives a mono sum and some cancels. A level difference between the channels sums safely; a detuned or anti-phase part does not. - New · Mixing & Mastering · 11 Oct 2026 · 7 min read
Mid/side widening moves the centre too
A side boost raises every part that is not dead centre, by up to 4 dB at +6 dB of side. It changes your balance and your panning, and mono never hears it. - New · Mixing & Mastering · 11 Oct 2026 · 7 min read
Hard panning does not cure masking
Panning changes where a part comes from, not which bands it fills or when it plays. The help shrinks on speakers and disappears in mono, where the parts collide again. - New · Mixing & Mastering · 11 Oct 2026 · 7 min read
Set each high-pass from the lowest note
A high-pass on every track removes notes as well as rumble. Work out each part's lowest note, filter only what sits below it, and only when it causes a problem. - New · Mixing & Mastering · 11 Oct 2026 · 6 min read
Use solo to find problems, not to set tone
A part you EQ in solo is heard in the mix through everything around it. Use solo for clicks, noise and rings, and make tone decisions with the mix playing.
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PDF, coming soon
Music Production Guide: Trap Edition
More than 80 pages on trap drums, 808 tuning, vocals, mix balance and mastering for streaming.