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First Assessment
Send in some music to your course tutor so he or she can assess your strengths and weaknesses. Together you will discuss your objectives and plot a path through the course to help you achieve them. DM is uniquely flexible and gives an enormous range of options. Your course tutor is an experienced professional computer musician who can help tailor the course to your requirements.
Note: [First assessment is only available in the full Digital Music course, not DM:Select]
Unit 1 - Musical Structure and Form
How to take a 16 bar tune that goes nowhere and turn it into a really compelling track. Why musical structure is important. Common musical forms from Moby to Beethoven, jazz to rock and roll, dance to film music. How to analyse music and how to use structure and templates to improve your own tunes. Projects for all styles of musicians from re-mixers and guitarists to orchestral composers.
Unit 2 - Computers and Music
How computers work and why they sometimes don’t. Musicians need a much deeper knowledge of the inner workings of their computer than most, so this unit takes you from first principals - memory, processors, storage - through to backside cache and beyond. There’s a detailed troubleshooting section with video tutorials on both Mac and PC, helping you solve problems when your computer goes wrong.
Unit 3 - Tune Writing, Scales and Tonality
How to write great compelling tunes. How the best melodies work and a step-by-step method of producing better melodies by a top film composer. Part one of our crash course in music theory looks at how pitch is notated, scales and modes. How melodic hooks and motifs are used in contemporary music. There are dozens of exercises to help improve your own tune writing. The projects offer you an opportunity to add your melody to existing tracks, or to tackle more challenging assignments including writing in modes for more advanced students.
Unit 4 - Acoustics and the Studio Design
An introduction to the principals of acoustics upon which everything else in music technology is based. A studio designer shows you how to make your studio sound better and more accurate without breaking the bank. Planning a studio upgrade? Submit your plans to a specialist in the field for detailed feedback and advice. There is an online multiple-choice test which covers the acoustic science element of the unit.
Unit 5 - Rhythm
How rhythm works, how it’s notated and how sequencers approach it completely differently. How to programme better drum loops, a top session drummer gives you a guide to working with live drummers. Plus a crash course in Hip Hop from one of Dr Dre’s producers filmed in a Hollywood recording studio. Watch him create a track from scratch and then examine his track in detail in your own sequencer. How to record rap vocals with an engineer and producer from the legendary Death Row Records.
Unit 6 - MIDI
How MIDI sequencers work from first principals to more advanced MIDI controllers and hexadecimal. Practical techniques for recording, editing and manipulating midi data. Video tutorials and exercises to ensure you control your sequencer rather than the other way round. A checklist of tasks every musician should know how to do.
Unit 7 - Harmony and Chord Progressions
Even students with good music theory can struggle to construct a really good chord progression. This unit not only gives you the essential theory behind harmony and the circle of fifths, but also a practical no nonsense approach to selecting the right chord progression. Again there are dozens of exercises to help you develop your technique. Join producer and songwriter Steve Hillier on harmonising an indie band tune, plus a top session guitarist talks about how to get the best out of a live guitarist. Session bassist Steve McManus and dance guru Rick Snoman both guide you through how to write the perfect bass line.
Unit 8 - Audio Sequencing
A practical guide to recording, playing back and editing digital audio. How to install and use plugins and virtual instruments. A guide to music editing with a top music editor. Extensive video tutorials all with full sequencer file support, plus a checklist of tasks every computer musicians should know how to achieve. A top film composer shows you how to write orchestral music in a sequencer, and a guide to getting the best out of the sampled orchestra.
Final Project
An opportunity to bring together everything you’ve learnt so far in a more substantial and challenging piece of work. Choose from a range of subjects and styles.
Note: [Final Project is only available in the full Digital Music course, not DM:Select]
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