The BEST Online Music Production Masterclass Course

Last Updated on January 4, 2024 by IDS Team

Investing in an online music production “masterclass” course is one of the best decisions you will make this year.

This might seem like a pretty bold statement, specially for those of you who have previously tried free courses or dabble around some youtube videos on production, but it’s the truth: Knowledge is more important than any piece of gear in your studio. Furthermore, enrolling in one of the below courses is nothing like doing a free course or watching youtube videos.

These online music production masterclass courses allow you to follow a tried and tested structure devised by top producers and engineers, plus incentivises you to follow through, as you have money invested.

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Anyways, if you’re looking for a summarised version of this article, check out the below table with our favorite online music production courses, including our very own choice for the best online music production course. And if you are also looking for a music production laptop, we have a comparison and test article with the top models here.

Note: if you are on a mobile device, scroll left and right in the table to see all the entries, and up and down in the cells to see all the content.

Summarizing Table

What’s so good about Groove3 and why is it our editor’s choice? For starters, it’s simply a great all-rounder beginner course and, as evidenced by the course reviews, has helped many musicians cut their teeth in production. 

The curriculum is varied, the pricing is low, and it focuses on pro-quality video lessons in comparison to many lower-quality user-made courses on sites such as Udemy and Skillshare. 

The best part is that it lets you learn at your own pace and in your own style due to the variety and flexibility of it’s content. This is not simply a walk-through, step-by-step course. One small downside is it is not as ‘official’ as some others – there is no qualification at the end, for example. However, it is a fantastic course overall, so read on for a breakdown.

• Music style: All
• Financial Investment: Low
• Duration: Over 20 000 hours of video + over 20 books. 1 077 Courses 17 979 Individual Tutorials.
• Main DAW used: All DAWs available.
• Our Rating: 9.5/10
• Skill Level: Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced
• Certificate upon completion: No

PROS:

1. High quality of content
2. Content available on all formats and platforms: Video, books, Desktop, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku.
3. Very affordable on a month-to-month basis
4. High quality instructors
5. Most comprehensive library of learning resources

CONS:

1. Lack of focus
2. Can be overwhelming

We’ll start with our favorite online music production course: . What an absolute gold mine of music production knowledge.

If you watched all of groove3’s videos back-to-back you’d take over 2 years to finish, probably much more, given that they update the content regularly.

There are tutorials on all topics you can imagine, including all DAWs, Plugins, and musical styles. If you search the forums, it’s often mentioned as a student favorite, along with some of the masterclass courses we’ll review below.

When it comes to price, an all-access pass costs only 89$, with . This represents without a doubt the best value of all courses.

We’ve found this to be a great way to stay focused for idle studio time. Simply browse around their website, find an interesting video, watch it, then apply it to your current project.

Do you want to learn from the pros? If you’ve heard of electronic music, you’ve heard of Deadmau5.  That’s right, Deadmau5’s Masterclass Course was actually the first course we’ve had a chance to review. 

Electronic mixing is an art not a science. On the website MasterClass, designed to let you learn from professionals in their field, Deadmau5 goes deeper than just production and shows you how getting to the beating heart of EDM lets you emulate his distinctive, crisp sound. 

Over six hours of tracks cover melody, composition, and the creative process plus how these areas intersect with production. This learn-from-home course is designed to inspire and delight both fans and those who want to break into EDM, and truly doesn’t disappoint.

• Music style: EDM / Electronic
• Financial Investment: Low / Moderate
• Duration: 6 hours of video + assignments
• Main DAW used: Ableton, though teachings can be applied to any DAW.
• Our Rating: 9.3/10
• Skill Level: Beginner
• Certificate upon completion: No

Pros:

1. Very entertaining, huge production value. Very easy to follow through with the teachings.
2. Very well-rounded. All major topics are discussed (mastering, mixing, synths, drums, music business, live performance, and more).
3. Composed of videos, assignments, and discussions.
4. Great community if you’re willing to engage.

Cons:

1. This 6 hour course will set you back 90$. It’s not a cheap course by any means, but we found the cost/quality relation to be quite good.
2. It’s a short course. It could benefit from going more in-depth into certain topics.

Course Structure

The course has 23 lessons, all delivered through video classes. It also has assignments and discussions.

The classes touch upon the following topics:

• The Deadmau5 Production Process
• Building Your Home Studio
• Melodic Structures
• Arrangements
• Synthesized Sounds
• Modular Synths
• Digital Vs. Analog Synths
• Sound Design with Effects And Processing
• Drums / Beats
• Song Structure
• Remixed
• Mixing
• Mastering (includes case study)
• Starting a Career
• Music Business
• On Stage Performance

Our Thoughts

Overall, this is a solid and very well rounded online music production masterclass course. It won’t hold your hand and automatically offer you a career in audio engineering or music production, but if you follow through with all the tips shared, your chances of making it will increase exponentially.

Furthermore, if you take your time to network and reach out to the community, you’ll likely make some useful connections out of this online music production masterclass course.

This is a great course for anyone looking for a well-balanced course on electronic / pop / hip-hop / digital music production, with no specific focus on any are of the music production process, but rather a wholistic approach. It gives you a framework, the one used by deadmau5, to produce a song. It is not a case study, i.e- it won’t show you how deadmau5 produces a song from scratch, but it will show you every single step of the process. We recommend to people that are starting out and want something a bit lighter (shorter) and more fun.

Up next is Hans Zimmer’s online music production masterclass course.This is more niche than some of the courses on this list; it’s specifically for audio professionals – or beginners – interested in the creative production process behind film scoring. This is another option from the great distance-learning site Masterclass, and works as an excellent resource for insight into how to produce film scores. 

There is one downside which we go into more detail later – there is not that much cohesive focus on a step-by-step set of skills. Instead, it is broken up with highlights of Zimmer’s work as a composer. However, it is still a very good course for producers of any skill level.

• Music style: Film Scoring / Soundtrack / Sound Design
• Financial Investment: Low / Moderate
• Duration: 4.5 hours of video + assignments
• Main DAW used: N/A.
• Our Rating: 8.5/10
• Skill Level: Intermediate

Course Structure

• Themes
• Story
• Directors
• Sound Palettes
• Creating with Synths
• Scoring to Picture
• Scoring Under Dialogue
• Tempo
• Music Diary
• Character
• Case Study: Frost/Nixon
• Working With Musicians
• Feedback & Revisions
• Audience Feedback
• Writing Tips
• Hans’ Journey
• Learning by Listening
• Life of a Composer
• Closing

Our Thoughts

This is a very interesting course. The simple fact that you get to hear Hans Zimmer talk in first person about stuff that he has never revealed on interviews is worth the cost of the program.

However, we found the structure a bit random.

As we mention above, the structure isn’t for everyone. Unlike deadmau5’s course, this program kind of jumped around topics, with one class being solely about Hans’ career and progression in the industry. To be honest, if we wanted to learn about that, we could just check one of the hundreds of interviews that he’s given.

Having said that, there are loads of golden nuggets there about his process, inspiration, and process. It is packed with loads of synthesiser tips as well as general aesthetic in sound design.

To finish off our selection of Masterclass courses, we’ll have a look at Timbaland’s online music production course. Hip-hop can be a challenging genre to produce because of the amount of skill invovled across diferent areas, from melody, unbderstanding of software, and subtler technique. A proper round-up of the best online hip hop production courses could be an article of it’s own. 

Hip-hop history is also more technologically innovative than many genres, from killer sampling that has gone down in legend to the invention of the DJ scratch. However, despite this legacy, it doesn’t take a lot to get started and this course shows you how to investigate the more pop-oriented end of hip-hop.

• Music style: Hip-Hop / Pop
• Financial Investment: Low / Moderate
• Duration: 3.5 hours of video + assignments
• Main DAW used: Ableton
• Our Rating: 8.5/10
• Skill Level: Beginner / Intermediate

Course Structure:

• Studio Session: Making a Beatbox Beat
• Building Beats: Tim’s Process
• Making a Beat: Getting Warmed Up
• Song Origins: “Dirt Off Your Shoulder”
• Making a Beat: Starting With a Chord Progression
• Making a Beat: Tweaking and Layering Drums
• Song Origins: “Pony”
• Making a Beat: Manipulating Vocal Samples
• Making a Beat: Creating a Breakdown
• Song Origins: “Gossip Folks”
• Making a Beat: Adding a Topline
• Song Origins: “Are You That Somebody?”
• Tim’s Influences
• How to Persevere

Our Thoughts

Despite how important technical skills can be in hip-hop production, we found this masterclass to be the least technical of all online music production masterclass courses reviewed. Perhaps on purpose, as Timbaland’s production process seems to be based a lot around feeling, leaning on his team to fill in the more technical gaps. However, this does mean it’s a very accessible and simple course for beginners that gives you the confidence to begin producing from your bedroom. Plus, the way it takes you from making beats to creating a whole song makes it a great breakdown on the process.

We still found it very useful and inspiring, with some pretty straight forward but useful tips such as thinking about drums through beatbox.

His team of “co-producers” also share some gems on drums layering, chord progression, beatmaking, and more.

If you’re a hip hop head, you’ll love this course. You’ll learn about how Timba produced hits for Missy Elliot, Jay-Z, and others, as well as some inspiring tips on how to succeed in the industry and production studio. If you’re not a hip hop nerd, then you might find it not that inspiring. Though we still recommend purchasing it as part of the masterclass bundle of classes.

Point Blank Music School Online

If you want a qualification with your course, then this is the one for you. Point Blank is an award-winning, well established English music school, which has opened its expertise to the online sector. If you want a serious, life-changing course for a music career in production or sound engineering, you can’t beat it. The sheer diversity of courses that they offer, including Music Business courses, is practically unmatched. This Online Music Production Masterclass Course set is both formal and fun due to its interactive elements.

• Music style: None in Specific
• Financial Investment: Medium-high
• Duration: Depends on the subject of choice.
• Main DAW used: Ableton
• Our Rating: 9.5/10.
• Skill Level: Intermediate-High

The “Online” courses of Point Blank Music School are actual real-time/live lecture by teachers, customised to you as a student. You get to ask questions and interact with your teacher via webcam. Each course thus has it’s own structure.

Our thoughts:

So, this is clearly something different. There are no pre-recorded sessions, like the others, which also explains the high price point in comparison. Essentially, this is an online degree at a virtal university and courses do, in fact, go up to bachelor degree level. As a drawback, this means you have to enroll like you would to a school. The only difference is that  that the school location is your home, if you cannot access the offline schools Point Blank Music School has running in London, L.A., Mumbai, Ibiza and China.

We feel like this product is for the more advanced music production, since asking questions is key here.

If you feel like you have run out of material to study on your own and feel like it’s time to get 1:1 with a teacher who can guide you further then look no further and click the button below to access the Point Blank Music School website.

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Producertech EQ Fundamentals Review

Producertech is a well established music course provider,founded in 2009 by Rob Jones. All their content is high-quality and on demand with clear care and effort put into it. However, f all their online music production courses, EQ fundamentals is one of our favourites. Although DAW knowledge is often transferrable depending on your skill level, what makes this course stand out is it is actually one of the best online music production courses for Ableton specifically.

Here’s why:

• Music style: None in Specific
• Financial Investment: Low
• Duration: 2.5 hours of video + assignments +
• Main DAW used: Ableton
• Our Rating: 9/10.
• Skill Level: Intermediate

Course Structure:

• Introduction to Frequencies
• EQ Controls 
• EQ in Isolation
• Frequency Demo #3 – Combining the Piano and Sine Wave 
• The Frequency Spectrum Explained
• EQ with respect to other parts
• EQ’ing Drums 
• Common EQ Practices
• EQ’ing Kick and Bass
• EQ on the Master Channel
• EQ In The Mix

Our thoughts:

This course is, in our opinion, a must-do for all aspiring producers. Having a solid grasp of EQ can be the difference between an amateur-sounding song and a commercial-grade end product.

Producertech’s EQ Fundamentals online music production masterclass course will give you the foundation you need to make clean sounding mixed, at a very accessible cost (25$).

It doesn’t have a rock star teacher or cover 10 different topics, but that is, in our opinion, a strength. There is no magic pill that will make you a successful musician. Instead, the path to success is continued investment in small courses on different topics. Simply put, this is the best specialist course to learn how to EQ online. This laser focused course will give you a very complete foundation on one of the most important skills in the game: EQing.

It also comes with the EXPOSE software, which allows you to “test” your final mix for any potential issues. We were positively surprised by the production quality of the course. Here’s a sample video from the course:

In addition it’s one of the best places to learn to use Ableton if you’re not familiar with the popular alternative DAW. There is a special focus on bass and kick mixing, thus making it slightly more relevant to electronic, hip-hop, and pop producers, though it really suits any kind of music style.

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Berklee’s website claims you can learn in your own time and create your degree online, meaning even though it is one of the most famous music schools in the world, you don’t have to follow strict rules. This institution is a , having started in 2002! They still are an industry leader and offer the most formal, academic  type of education you’ll find in this list. Yes, you can teach yourself music production online. However, if you want a really good academic course that gives you a degree, this can’t be beaten. 

• Music style: Electronic
• Financial Investment: Moderate
• Duration: Around 6 months (4 hours / week recommended)
• Main DAW used: Ableton, though teachings can be applied to any DAW.
• Our Rating: 9.5/10.
• Skill Level: Beginner / Intermediate
• Certificate upon completion: Yes

Course Structure:

• The Technology of Music Production
• Introduction to Ableton Live
• Creating Sounds for Electronic Music
• The Art of Vocal Production

Our Thoughts:

This is a solid course for students looking for a serious commitment and some degree of credibility. It teaches all the theoretic background + gives you a solid foundation in ableton production and recording / mastering vocals.

If you’re looking for some credibility in the industry, the Beerklee is something to stick in your CV that can also teach you some good theory.

However, there are more advanced and complete courses in this list in terms of knowledge.

Finally, one of the main advantages is that coursera offers financial aid to certain students.

All in all, it is pretty inexpensive, at 39$/month, and if you’re feeling motivated, you can knock it off in a couple of months, getting a “mini” degree for a very affordable price.

Next up, we have a couple of Udemy courses. Udemy allows users to upload their own courses to teach the world their skills. The website has a mixed bag, so we’ve included several. We can’t fully say what is or isn’t the best Udemy music production course – but this is a good breakdown. We’ll start with probably the most popular music course in the platform, “Music Production in Logic Pro X”.

Udemy has a lot of online music production course programs on it’s website, they mostly have a similar structure to the Logic X one which is our reference.

This course was developed by Digital Music Masters, a well-established music school.

• Music style: None in Specific
• Financial Investment: Low
• Duration: 38 hours of video + articles and resources
• Main DAW used: Logic Pro X
• Our Rating: 9/10.
• Skill Level: Beginner / Intermediate

Our Thoughts

This is mostly for those more advanced. What we like is that you can just pay for one “topic” and not buy the whole online music production masterclass course package like with the others. Thus, it’s more of a specialized music production course, in the same way that ones aimed at skills like EQ or reverb are. You just get to Udemy, shop for what you want to know and that’s it. 

These courses are mostly focused on DAW workflows, with some specific items covering hardware gear like the Maschine and others focusing on specific sub-genres like music for games. All in all, we think it is good product if you just want to fill some specific empty spaces in your skill arsenal.

Final Thoughts

We hope that the above suggestions help you kickstart your music production career/hobby. It may seem daunting to teach yourself music production online and that’s why we recommend courses to make things easier and give a more comprehensive view of what a killer mixing and mastering process looks like. Honestly, all of these have made the list because they are worth your investment in both time and money.

This article is in constant update as we try new courses, so if you have any recommendations, please post them below in the comments section!