The Best Digital Music Production online course for homeschoolers
All four of my sons are interested in composing music. My oldest has his own band and has written songs for them to perform, but the other three love digital music production and composition. I’m thrilled to have a new option for them to learn about it and happy to say that this is the best digital music production online course for homeschoolers. Let’s learn all about the Mr. D Math Digital Music Production online course today.
Disclosure: I received access to Mr. D Math’s Digital Music Production in order to review it here honestly, and I was compensated for my time in researching and writing the review. Furthermore, I get commissions for purchases made through affiliate links in this post.
My experience with the Digital Music Production online course:
I love that the very first lesson started with examples of the teacher Brent Daniels’s work. He has created digital music for movies, TV shows, and video game trailers. He is a composer, singer, and instrumentalist (pianist/guitarist). But, his favorite thing to do is create digital music, and I was inspired to learn from him immediately!
The Digital Music Production course is designed for beginners, but he said experienced students should get a lot out of it, too. I know that my sons who have all composed their own music don’t know everything that Brent teaches in this course. So, it’s a perfect option for ALL composers (or composer wanna-bees)!
We started out by learning what music production is and what the three-stage process is.
- Recording (with composition at the same time)
- Mixing (setting levels, applying tools, and adding effects)
- Mastering (put it through the final polishing process)
I learned that there are some people who focus on only one of these processes as their sole job. They are called recording engineers, mix engineers/mixers, or mastering engineers.
Our goal for this online course is to learn to compose, arrange, and mix.
What Tools Are Used in Digital Music Production?
- Microphone
- Electric instruments (with transducers/pick-ups)
- Electronic instruments (drum machines, digital samplers, synthesizers)
- Effects (reverb, echo, distortion) and tools to shape the signals to help them fit in the mix.
- DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) used to record, process, and mix on a computer
- Analog to Digital Converter converts the microphone signals, or those from electric or electronic instruments into sound files. (All phones, computers, and tablets have these built in, but for higher quality, they use an audio interface.)
- Headphones and speakers/sound monitors
- Desktop or Laptop computer (Chromebooks can work, too, for beginners)
What’s needed for this course?
Brent has made it easy for us. To complete this course, you only need a computer and headphones. Wired headphones are best (as opposed to blue-tooth headphones or earbuds) because they won’t delay sound or compress the signals.
Optional, but really helpful:
Try to get a USB keyboard controller. Brent said any made by a major manufacturer will be fine.
Details about the Digital Music Production course:
There are 16 video lessons in the Digital Music Production course, followed by an assignment to practice what was learned (usually takes a couple of hours to complete).
Lesson 1: Introduction The first lesson is 27 minutes long. He tells us what we’ll be learning and plays some of the cool music he has created.
Lesson 2 gave examples of how to use the hardware that used to be used in digital music production. Now, it’s almost completely done by computer, which is way easier. But, I loved this lesson for showing the “old” ways.
It reminded me of a course I took in college called Electronic Music. We did it the REALLY old-fashioned way, with reel-to-reel tape and literally cutting and splicing it to create new musical sounds. No, I’m not that old, but my professor was! And, I’m actually really glad I learned how it used to be done.
The last four lessons take everything that is learned and the student will actually create their own music, along-side Brent who helps every step of the way.
The Digital Music Production Lessons
1. Intro to Digital Music Production
2. Hardware Electronic Instruments
3. Digital Audio Basics
4. The DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)
5. Working with the DAW Audio
6. Working with the MIDI Data
7. Virtual Instruments – Synthesizers
8. Virtual Instruments – Samplers
9. Effects Processing – Plugins & EQ
10. Time-domain Effects
11. Modulation & Dynamic Effects
12. Distortion
13. Putting It All Together/Part 1
14. Putting It All Together/Part 2
15. Putting It All Together/Part 3
16. Putting It All Together/Part 4
Brent Daniels, the Instructor
“Work is play. Music is play.”
~Brent Daniels
Brent Daniels is a music industry veteran who leads students step-by-step through the production process he uses to make music for Marvel Studios, Netflix, Activision, and Epic Records!
Quizzes:
I was really impressed with the quizzes that are included with each of the 16 lessons. They were challenging, and a very good test of what was taught in each lesson:
My Overall Review of the Mr. D Math Digital Music Production course:
Wow–this is a high-quality course, worth every penny. The high-production quality was amazing and very fun to watch and learn from. And, Brent is an incredible teacher! If your kids are interested in learning Digital Music Production, there is no better course to learn from than this one from Mr.D Math.
The course itself is visually fun to watch, with b-roll video interspersed throughout the lessons, which made it even more engaging.
I love that Brent explained that the hardware to produce the designed sound of music was once only available in an expensive production studio is now available with software on our computers. Millions of dollars worth!
And, now our kids can learn how to do this in the comfort of our own homes for only a fraction of the cost.
Thank you for your review of Mr D Math’s Digital Music Production course. I was wondering, is it enough to fulfill a 1/2 credit (1 semester) for high school? If not, about how many “days” of class do you think it would cover? Thank you!
Yes, if the student does all the assignments, it is a half-credit (1 semester) high school course.
~Gena