Mixing and Mastering Course
Making music, and want to take it to the next level?
Producer? Go pro!
Raise your sound design and mixdown and mastering game to put you into another league. Start competing with the pros.
Course Introduction
Do you want to be a good producer, or an amazing producer?
This course is for those already making music at a confident level on Ableton Live, who want to make their tracks sound better.
This hands-on course will teach you to approach the mixdown process with confidence and efficiency. Replace your counter-productive habits with robust strategies to tackle your mix, optimised to keep your project moving forward.
Make your kicks kick and your vocals punch. Put an end to flat mixes, and develop skills that you can monetise to make other’s music sound amazing, as well as your own.
If you achieve the learning outcomes of this course, you’ll finish delivering an EP that is of an excellent standard both musically and sonically, ready to send to record labels.
LEARN IN AN ENVIRONMENT THAT INSPIRES
Enjoy our world-class studios, and 1-2-1 support from tutors when you’re in SEM. This support extends to if you’re working from tracks from home, with daily online drop-ins.
Master top-tier techniques
Learn to achieve that “Big Studio Sound” regardless of your location, through use of highly accurate digital reproductions of staple music studio equipment. This intensive course is focussed on real-world techniques and workflows to elevate your music, and your process.
1-2-1 TUTORS
Our in-house tutors can provide additional 1-2-1 support, to help you further develop your production skills.
UNLIMITED ACCESS
Studios are available 10am – 10pm Monday – Friday, and 12 – 9pm on weekends. Use our online booker to plan ahead. SEM offers more practical time than any other UK equivalent.
Included with course
• 50% off NI Komplete • 40% off Ableton Live Suite
• Up to 25% off Focusrite and Native Instruments hardware
• Free 1 year’s Roland Cloud Ultimate (£150)
Enrol on any Introduction or Complete Music Production course and also get:
• Free Ableton Live Suite (£539) or NI Komplete (£499)
Enrol on SEM’s flagship Master Course and receive:
• Roland Cloud Ultimate, Ableton Live Suite and NI Komplete all free.
1-2-1 TUTORS
Our in-house tutors can provide additional 1-2-1 support, to help you further develop your production skills.
UNLIMITED ACCESS
Use our online booker to plan ahead. SEM offers more practical time than any other UK equivalent.
Course Overview
Creative Processing
Create space with reverb effects
Signal reinforcement with delays
Filters: Tonal shaping
Stereo width and modulationKey Mixdown Techniques
Efficient equalisation techniques
Audio frequencies & harmonics
Compressors, limiters & clipping
Peak volume vs perceived volume
Mixdown Strategy
Aims of the mixdown process
Good practice & methodology
Exploring mixdown conventions
Working with mixdown formulaAdvanced Processing
Legacy Compressors & Equalisers
Targeted Distortion & Saturation
Synergy in multi-stage processing
Stereo image, signal placement
Vocal Processing
Maximising clarity with EQ
Multi-stage vocal compression
Creative vocal processing
Digital vocal tuning & editingMastering For Producers
Vinyl, CD & digital formats
Fast, effective mastering
Modern mastering technology
Stem mastering techniques
Modules Included
Mixdown and Mastering - 6 months
Duration: 6 months
Your track may be a creative masterpiece, but if it doesn’t sound good then it’ll never stand out. Learning the skills of mixdown and mastering will not only allow you to create professional sounding music, but arm you with a skill that you can monetise through mixing and mastering other people’s music.
Mixdown can often be shrouded in mystery and labelled as a ‘dark art’ – we don’t think this needs to be the case. This module will give you extensive understanding and practical skills to expertly create professional and quality mixes, while minimising time investment. All the while, you’ll be creating music and getting your tracks to the next stage.
Starting with the basic toolset for the mixdown process, we’ll look at EQ, and equalisation tools for tonal balancing and optimisation of an instruments clarity. This includes dynamic processors such as compressors, which allow you to increase the perceived loudness of a signal allowing for more appropriate placement of a signal within the mix.
We’ll then build an understanding of what the aims of the mixdown process are, and explore structured methods that you can use repeatedly and reliably to achieve desirable results. We have refined each stage of the mixdown process into simple techniques that you can execute step-by-step, each step with tangible, measurable results so you can be confident your mix is moving in the right direction and avoid misspent time covering the same ground due to uncertainty.
Once we have established a basic framework for how to approach a mix, and built your confidence in executing a number basic mixdowns, we then start to expand our studies into a broader more varied selection of effects processors. We will explore digital recreations of coveted high-end studio effects, which due to their warmth and subtle saturation will begin to give your mixes a more professional quality.
Recording studio hardware is often varied in the way it is operated, and applications to which it may be best suited. We will look at effects that are very well-suited to processing specific types of instrument, for example, a specific valve compressor may be ideal for giving a bass pluck the warmth and weight that it needs to fill the space in the mix, or a modern solid-state EQ might be tonally paired with features that allow you to easily achieve a crisp pop vocal.
Building on our knowledge of classic hardware, we’ll then focus on more elaborate processing chains and explore the interactions that can occur between effects, and how to control them. The order of effects can be very important in allowing you to fix a specific issue with a signal, or create a certain result.
With this further understanding of a broader selection of tools, we’ll put this new information into practice in projects across a diverse selection of music genres. We’ll also dive into solutions to more elaborate complications that can occasionally arise during the process of mixing down a track.
Once having a solid understanding of the mixdown process, we can start to look at the final stage of music production to ready your track for commercial release. Mastering is the process that can add a final sheen to your completed mix, but most importantly ensure your audio is compatible with the format that your track is due to be released on. We explore a number of different methods and plugins you can use to achieve an amazing master, and modern methods such as stems mastering which allow you a little more flexibility and accuracy during that final stage.
Electronic Music Composition (Online) - 3 months
This module is followed live via Zoom. It can also be studied alongside your other modules, depending on when you feel you want to study it – speak to the office about intake dates that would suit.
Duration: 3 months
Unless students have a background in musical theory or have played an instrument, they commonly ask:
- How do I start and finish a track?
- How do I make a groove & arrange beats?
- How can I create a track, with a sample as a starting point?
- What is a chord structure?
- How do I know if this vocal or kickdrum is in key?
- How do I make a better breakdown?
- How do I write a hook?
- How do I finish my arrangement?
- How can I get creative when I open Ableton Live?
This online module will answer and teach you all these techniques, and more.
It will guarantee to give you the edge and help you to be a successful, creative music producer or audio engineer. It will give you a solid grounding in musical theory: a key area of your musical skill set which will allow you to create ideas quickly with confidence, and improve your musical ear. It will help you put your ideas in to an arrangement ready for mixdown.
You may be able to produce music to a high level but it won’t be enough if it doesn’t sound musical. Once you are on your way as a producer, remixer or sound engineer, having an understanding of music composition will be indispensable as you will be able to effectively communicate with vocalists, artists and musicians around you in a language they understand.
Some examples of content:
The keyboard, bars & beats, tempo, analysing music, music theory, keys & scales, basic chords, extended chords, inversions, acapellas, automation, structure, creating hooks, song sections, arrangement, song templates, audio sampling, working out key.
Extra Studio Time - 3 months
With this training, you’ll get 3 months after your modules end to continue using the studios and developing your sound. You can continue benefitting from our expert in-house tutors, and have space to keeping creating once your official training is completed. The way we total your time at SEM is:
- Mixdown and Mastering = 6 months
- Electronic Music Composition (online) = 3 months
- Extra studio time = 3 months
= 12 months guaranteed access to SEM from your start date
So this means even if you choose to study Electronic Music Composition alongside your Mixing and Mastering module all in the first 6 months, you will still get a guaranteed 12 months access to SEM. It would just mean you get 6 months studio time at the end instead after a busier 6 months. Enjoy!
Mixdown and Mastering - 6 months
Duration: 6 months
Your track may be a creative masterpiece, but if it doesn’t sound good then it’ll never stand out. Learning the skills of mixdown and mastering will not only allow you to create professional sounding music, but arm you with a skill that you can monetise through mixing and mastering other people’s music.
Mixdown can often be shrouded in mystery and labelled as a ‘dark art’ – we don’t think this needs to be the case. This module will give you extensive understanding and practical skills to expertly create professional and quality mixes, while minimising time investment. All the while, you’ll be creating music and getting your tracks to the next stage.
Starting with the basic toolset for the mixdown process, we’ll look at EQ, and equalisation tools for tonal balancing and optimisation of an instruments clarity. This includes dynamic processors such as compressors, which allow you to increase the perceived loudness of a signal allowing for more appropriate placement of a signal within the mix.
We’ll then build an understanding of what the aims of the mixdown process are, and explore structured methods that you can use repeatedly and reliably to achieve desirable results. We have refined each stage of the mixdown process into simple techniques that you can execute step-by-step, each step with tangible, measurable results so you can be confident your mix is moving in the right direction and avoid misspent time covering the same ground due to uncertainty.
Once we have established a basic framework for how to approach a mix, and built your confidence in executing a number basic mixdowns, we then start to expand our studies into a broader more varied selection of effects processors. We will explore digital recreations of coveted high-end studio effects, which due to their warmth and subtle saturation will begin to give your mixes a more professional quality.
Recording studio hardware is often varied in the way it is operated, and applications to which it may be best suited. We will look at effects that are very well-suited to processing specific types of instrument, for example, a specific valve compressor may be ideal for giving a bass pluck the warmth and weight that it needs to fill the space in the mix, or a modern solid-state EQ might be tonally paired with features that allow you to easily achieve a crisp pop vocal.
Building on our knowledge of classic hardware, we’ll then focus on more elaborate processing chains and explore the interactions that can occur between effects, and how to control them. The order of effects can be very important in allowing you to fix a specific issue with a signal, or create a certain result.
With this further understanding of a broader selection of tools, we’ll put this new information into practice in projects across a diverse selection of music genres. We’ll also dive into solutions to more elaborate complications that can occasionally arise during the process of mixing down a track.
Once having a solid understanding of the mixdown process, we can start to look at the final stage of music production to ready your track for commercial release. Mastering is the process that can add a final sheen to your completed mix, but most importantly ensure your audio is compatible with the format that your track is due to be released on. We explore a number of different methods and plugins you can use to achieve an amazing master, and modern methods such as stems mastering which allow you a little more flexibility and accuracy during that final stage.
Electronic Music Composition (Online) - 3 months
This module is followed live via Zoom. It can also be studied alongside your other modules, depending on when you feel you want to study it – speak to the office about intake dates that would suit.
Duration: 3 months
Unless students have a background in musical theory or have played an instrument, they commonly ask:
- How do I start and finish a track?
- How do I make a groove & arrange beats?
- How can I create a track, with a sample as a starting point?
- What is a chord structure?
- How do I know if this vocal or kickdrum is in key?
- How do I make a better breakdown?
- How do I write a hook?
- How do I finish my arrangement?
- How can I get creative when I open Ableton Live?
This module will answer and teach you all these techniques, and more.
It will guarantee to give you the edge and help you to be a successful, creative music producer or audio engineer. It will give you a solid grounding in musical theory: a key area of your musical skill set which will allow you to create ideas quickly with confidence, and improve your musical ear. It will help you put your ideas in to an arrangement ready for mixdown.
You may be able to produce music to a high level but it won’t be enough if it doesn’t sound musical. Once you are on your way as a producer, remixer or sound engineer, having an understanding of music composition will be indispensable as you will be able to effectively communicate with vocalists, artists and musicians around you in a language they understand.
Some examples of content:
The keyboard, bars & beats, tempo, analysing music, music theory, keys & scales, basic chords, extended chords, inversions, acapellas, automation, structure, creating hooks, song sections, arrangement, song templates, audio sampling, working out key.
Extra Studio Time - 3 months
With this training, you’ll get 3 months after your modules end to continue using the studios and developing your sound. You can continue benefitting from our expert in-house tutors, and have space to keeping creating once your official training is completed. The way we total your time at SEM is:
- Mixdown and Mastering = 6 months
- Electronic Music Composition (online) = 3 months
- Extra studio time = 3 months
= 12 months guaranteed access to SEM from your start date
So this means even if you choose to study Electronic Music Composition alongside your Mixing and Mastering module all in the first 6 months, you will still get a guaranteed 12 months access to SEM. It would just mean you get 6 months studio time at the end instead after a busier 6 months. Enjoy!
Is this course for me?
You’ve already learnt to produce music. You’ve put a lot of time and effort into getting there.
But are your tracks sounding exactly how you want? Mixdown and mastering are two areas that will massively enhance your production.
Learn how to mix and master to a professional level. Throughout your training you will get tailored feedback from our experienced, industry-active tutors.
Entry Requirements
A strong working knowledge of Ableton Live Suite is required (see further info). We advise contacting SEM before enrolment to submit some music, so we can advise if you’re at the right level. If you’re not, then the Complete Music Production Course is the one for you.
Course Outcome
You’ll finish producing at a very high level, with the skillset of a mix engineer. You’ll also understand core music theory in detail.
Entry Requirements
A strong working knowledge of Ableton Live Suite is required (see further info). We advise contacting SEM before enrolment to submit some music, so we can advise if you’re at the right level. If you’re not, then the Complete Music Production Course is the one for you.
Course Outcome
You’ll finish producing at a very high level, with the skillset of a mix engineer. You’ll also understand core music theory in detail.
Enter your email, or arrange a call for more course information
Enrol on course
Change the payment option from the dropdown menu below to view further information.
Start dates and course fees
September (Weekend Term) October January (Evening Term) February (Weekend Term) April Book a call with a course advisor to discuss your full timetable as other modules may have different lesson days/times. Option One : Advanced Payment Option Two : Termly Payment Option Three : Monthly payments from 6 – 48 months Book a call with a course advisor who can discuss the best financing option to suit your circumstances.Start Dates
6 months music production : Saturdays 12pm – 6pm
6 months music production : Mondays 12pm – 6pm
6 months music production : Mondays & Wednesdays 7pm – 10pm
6 months music production : Saturdays 12pm – 6pm
6 months music production : Wednesdays 12pm – 6pmCourse fees
£300 registration fee to secure your place. If your course starts within 1 calendar month, the remaining balance of £2780 is also payable. Total course fees: £3080.
£300 registration fee + 2 x 10-week instalments of £1506. If your course starts within 1 calendar month, the first install is also payable. Total course fees: £3311.
We can offer payment plans from 6 – 48 months, subject to passing our criteria. Plans from 0% finance.
When should I enrol?
In short: enrol as soon as you are ready. All live course dates are available for you to enrol on.
Unlike most training centres SEM has a limit on lecturer to student ratio and keeps its class sizes small. We therefore have limited availability and courses fill up in advance. We would recommend enrolling as soon as you are ready, to avoid disappointment.
We would always recommend chatting to one of our friendly course advisors prior to enrolment. Book a call now.
Start dates and course fees
September (Weekend Term) October January (Evening Term) February (Weekend Term) April Book a call with a course advisor to discuss your full timetable as other modules may have different lesson days/times. Option One : Advanced Payment Option Two : Termly Payment Option Three : Monthly payments from 6 – 48 months Book a call with a course advisor who can discuss the best financing option to suit your circumstances.Start Dates
6 months music production : Saturdays 12pm – 6pm
6 months music production : Mondays 12pm – 6pm
6 months music production : Mondays & Wednesdays 7pm – 10pm
6 months music production : Saturdays 12pm – 6pm
6 months music production : Wednesdays 12pm – 6pmCourse fees
£300 registration fee to secure your place. If your course starts within 1 calendar month, the remaining balance of £2780 is also payable. Total course fees: £3080.
£300 registration fee + 2 x 10-week instalments of £1506. If your course starts within 1 calendar month, the first install is also payable. Total course fees: £3311.
We can offer payment plans from 6 – 48 months, subject to passing our criteria. Plans from 0% finance.
When should I enrol?
In short: enrol as soon as you are ready. All live course dates are available for you to enrol on.
Unlike most training centres SEM has a limit on lecturer to student ratio and keeps its class sizes small. We therefore have limited availability and courses fill up in advance. We would recommend enrolling as soon as you are ready, to avoid disappointment.
We would always recommend chatting to one of our friendly course advisors prior to enrolment. Book a call now.
Popular Courses
Next start: 8th March 2023
Study: Wednesday 12pm - 6pm
Study: Wednesday 12pm - 6pm
Course FAQS
What is my timetable for the course?
Your timetable can be tailored to suit your needs. Modules can studied one after the other, or at the same time, depending on the intakes running across the year.
Book a call with a course advisor to plan your timetable to fit around other commitments you may have.
September start dates
Mixing and Master – 6 months – Saturdays 12pm – 6pm
Electronic Music Composition – 3 months – Mon/Tues/Wed 7pm – 10pm live online
October start dates
Mixing and Master – 6 months – Mondays 12pm – 6pm
Electronic Music Composition – 3 months – Mon/Tues/Wed 7pm – 10pm live online
January start dates
Mixing and Master – 6 months – Mondays & Wednesdays 7 – 10pm
Electronic Music Composition – 3 months – Mon/Tues/Wed 7pm – 10pm live online
February start dates
Mixing and Master – 6 months – Saturdays 12pm – 6pm
Electronic Music Composition – 3 months – Mon/Tues/Wed 7pm – 10pm live online
April start dates
Mixing and Master – 6 months – Wednesdays 12pm – 6pm
Electronic Music Composition – 3 months – Mon/Tues/Wed 7pm – 10pm live online
What about student discounts?
Even if you work full-time, you’ll also qualify as a full-time student whilst you study this course, which means:
- Either full exemption or discount from council tax depending on your living situation (this can save over £1000 a year!)
- NUS Totum card and all the discounts that come with that (eg. Up to 15% off Apple, cinema, restaurants etc.)
- 1/3 off rail and coach travel
- Huge discounts on musical equipment
View our full list of SEM student discounts here.
I work full-time. Is it possible for me to take this course?
Yes, a lot of our students work full-time, have family commitments, and study this course successfully alongside.
Your study is broken up into approx. 6hrs of weekly lectures (fixed time every week, see the ‘What is my timetable?’ tab).
Outside of lessons, you can book into SEM studios as much or as little as you need – we have long opening hours to cover evenings and weekends. You will have unlimited booking access, and support from in-house tutors when you’re in for studio time. The tutors also have time-slots each week for 1-2-1 zooms, so you can tune into these from home too if you can’t make it into the studio as often.
We also include Roland Cloud with training, so help you have the flexibility to make music at home. Coupled with our comprehensive online learning resources to support your in-house training, it gives you the ability to cover the content at your pace, to fit your schedule.
So as long as the lesson times doesn’t clash with your other commitments it is totally possible to study this course successfully alongside full-time commitments.
Book a call with a course advisor so we can chat to you about this in more detail and work out the best option for you.
What equipment do I need for the course?
You will need:
- Ableton 11 Suite (and be comfortable using it). This is not included with the training, but you can purchase this for 40% off with student discount. Alternatively, check out our ‘Complete Music Production‘ courses which include the Mixing and Mastering module, and also provide Ableton 11 free with training.
- Music Production headphones with a 1/4″ adapter
- An external hard-drive or USBs to save your work
- Writing materials.
If you need advice on what flat-response, comfortable music production headphones to purchase, please speak with Bop DJ Manchester who are 5-minutes walk from SEM. They can also offer you discounts as a SEM student.
You will receive with this course:
- 1 year’s subscription to Roland Cloud (£150).
Please note
Every student has access to their own iMac workstation in the school which also contains all the software, samples and 3rd party plugins that you will use throughout the course. We will also use:
- Slate Digital Everything Bundle
- Soundtoys 5
- Valhalla Reverbs
- Fabfilter Pro-Q, Pro-L, Pro-C, Pro-MB
- Izotope Ozone
The 3rd party plugins taught are all available for use within SEM, so none of these plugins are essential or required for home use. This is unless you plan on working on projects in SEM (using 3rd party plugins) and then working on them at home – if so, you will need the 3rd party plugins at home too or you will not be able to work on your projects at home. Read below for further info on this and how to claim discounts.
Home setup
A home setup is absolutely not essential. Some of our best students have benefitted from only using SEM’s studios, as it has meant they have are working in acoustically treated studios, with the most up-to-date software, and access to in-house tutors.
With this said, if you have a home-setup, or are thinking of setting one up, these are some things you might want to consider:
Mac or PC?
We use all Macs throughout SEM, but PCs are equally fine and can be more cost-effective. If you’re working on a budget, we would strongly recommend firstly thinking about whether a laptop vs a desktop is going to be better for your needs. Once you’ve decided, we would advise focussing on processing power as this will allow your software to run more quickly. Remember that you can get up to 15% discount on Apple once becoming a SEM student.
Flat-response monitors, audio interface and a MIDI keyboard
We have some awesome music production partners which you can view on our student discount page for a range of extra music equipment. Remember – these are not essential, but ‘nice to haves’!
Software
The latest Ableton Live Suite is the main music production software used on this course. As mentioned, you will need a copy of this and be comfortable using it to join this course.
Once you have a copy of this, as long as you have a computer (Mac or PC) with adequate system requirements, you should be able to use this to make music at home as well as at SEM.
3rd Party Plugins
You will receive a year’s free subscription for Roland Cloud, which will be taught on this course. This course does also delve into other 3rd party plugins, in addition to Roland Cloud.
Slate Digital is the primary plugin that you may wish to purchase for home use. We provide Slate Digital for use in SEM, but should you wish to use this at home, with a SEM discount you can get Slate Digital for a year’s subscription for less than £100, or on a monthly $9.99 subscription. Others that are recommended but not essential are the FabFilter Essentials Bundle (Pro-R, the Pro Q-3 and the Pro-C 2) which is a one-off £299, or with a 40% student discount, £189. Valhalla Room is $50 for a one-off purchase.
Soundtoys 5 Bundle is completely optional, but also worth mentioning. Student discounts on this is 50%, however this discount can be stacked on additional seasonal discounts (Spring Sale etc) so can often be purchased for around £150 outright.
I am an international student. Can I apply?
UK Students
Students from within the UK can enrol via the normal way, by clicking ‘Enrol Now’ on their chosen course.
EU and International Students
Our course pricing remains the same – we do not increase the course price for international students.
Please view our international students page for further information regarding Britain’s exit from the EU, and VISA information. There are a few VISA options for EU and international students:
Standard visitor VISAs
If your main purpose to the UK is as a visitor ie. for leisure, and studying a course is something you wish to do in addition (and is not the main reason for your trip), you may be able to travel to the UK on a standard visitor VISA.
Short term study VISAs – for study up to 6 months
As the key module in this course is the Mixing and Mastering module (6 months), this would be a good VISA to apply for. The Electronic Music Composition module is delivered online so can be done remotely.
If the course you are looking at is longer than 6 months, don’t worry – this doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t study it with us.
We have several options in place where part of your training could be done online, with the key part of your training done during the 6 months in the UK. As our courses are modular, we can pack in a lot of training into the 6 months you are here in Manchester, with lots of the modules overlapping during this time to ensure you maximise your time.
Tier 4 Visas
We cannot issue Tier 4 VISAs, which are typically VISAs if you are wanting to study in the UK for longer than 6 months. However if you are a student already in the UK under a Tier 4 VISA (e.g. studying a university course) then you are able to study at SEM alongside, as long as it falls within the timeframe of your Tier 4 VISA allowance.
Please book a call with a course advisor who can discuss what VISA options might be best for you.
Alternatively, we also offer a range of online courses that may be of interest to you.
Do you provide student accommodation?
Student accommodation is not provided with the course.
Please see our accommodation page which has detailed information on both student halls, and private renting in and around Manchester.
It is advised that if you are moving to Manchester from abroad or a different city, the atmosphere of student halls might be better for you.
We can help you with other aspects of re-locating, such as advising you on the best transport links to find us, and where some of the best musical venues around Manchester are.
See our accommodation page for more information, and if you need any assistance in relocating please ring SEM office on 0161 833 4722 to speak with our Student Support Team.
How do I find out more?
Get more detail
We would recommend booking a call with a course advisor first, who can advise on what’s right for you. During this call we can also arrange a personal tour of SEM if you wish. Personal tours take approx. 1 hour, so we can get to know you, and you the school, in a lot more detail.
See SEM in full flow
We also hold Open Events are bustling events where you can get involved in lots of free music production and DJ workshops, and a range of industry seminars. All are welcome and it is a great way to see the school in full flow and meet lots of tutors, but as they are busier events you may not get the same level of information and detail that you would on a personal tour of SEM. You can see the next available Open Event dates and sign up for one here.
Try it for yourself
If you’re keen on music production and DJing and want to see what those areas are like, we would also recommend you come along for a Free Music Production Taster Course, or a DJ Taster Course. This is a great way to get a feel for the tuition style, and learn something new!
What is my timetable for the course?
Your timetable can be tailored to suit your needs. Modules can studied one after the other, or at the same time, depending on the intakes running across the year.
Book a call with a course advisor to plan your timetable to fit around other commitments you may have.
|
September start dates Mixing and Master – 6 months – Saturdays 12pm – 6pm Electronic Music Composition – 3 months – Mon/Tues/Wed 7pm – 10pm live online |
October start dates Mixing and Master – 6 months – Mondays 12pm – 6pm Electronic Music Composition – 3 months – Mon/Tues/Wed 7pm – 10pm live online |
January start dates Mixing and Master – 6 months – Mondays & Wednesdays 7 – 10pm Electronic Music Composition – 3 months – Mon/Tues/Wed 7pm – 10pm live online |
February start dates Mixing and Master – 6 months – Saturdays 12pm – 6pm Electronic Music Composition – 3 months – Mon/Tues/Wed 7pm – 10pm live online |
April start dates Mixing and Master – 6 months – Wednesdays 12pm – 6pm Electronic Music Composition – 3 months – Mon/Tues/Wed 7pm – 10pm live online |
What about student discounts?
Even if you work full-time, you’ll also qualify as a full-time student whilst you study this course, which means:
- Either full exemption or discount from council tax depending on your living situation (this can save over £1000 a year!)
- NUS Totum card and all the discounts that come with that (eg. Up to 15% off Apple, cinema, restaurants etc.)
- 1/3 off rail and coach travel
- Huge discounts on musical equipment
View our full list of SEM student discounts here.
I work full-time. Is it possible for me to take this course?
Yes, a lot of our students work full-time, have family commitments, and study this course successfully alongside.
Your study is broken up into approx. 6hrs of weekly lectures (fixed time every week, see the ‘What is my timetable?’ tab).
Outside of lessons, you can book into SEM studios as much or as little as you need – we have long opening hours to cover evenings and weekends. You will have unlimited booking access, and support from in-house tutors when you’re in for studio time. The tutors also have time-slots each week for 1-2-1 zooms, so you can tune into these from home too if you can’t make it into the studio as often.
We also include Roland Cloud with training, so help you have the flexibility to make music at home. Coupled with our comprehensive online learning resources to support your in-house training, it gives you the ability to cover the content at your pace, to fit your schedule.
So as long as the lesson times doesn’t clash with your other commitments it is totally possible to study this course successfully alongside full-time commitments.
Book a call with a course advisor so we can chat to you about this in more detail and work out the best option for you.
What equipment do I need for the course?
You will need:
- Ableton 11 Suite (and be comfortable using it). This is not included with the training, but you can purchase this for 40% off with student discount. Alternatively, check out our ‘Complete Music Production‘ courses which include the Mixing and Mastering module, and also provide Ableton 11 free with training.
- Music Production headphones with a 1/4″ adapter
- An external hard-drive or USBs to save your work
- Writing materials.
If you need advice on what flat-response, comfortable music production headphones to purchase, please speak with Bop DJ Manchester who are 5-minutes walk from SEM. They can also offer you discounts as a SEM student.
You will receive with this course:
- 1 year’s subscription to Roland Cloud (£150).
Please note
Every student has access to their own iMac workstation in the school which also contains all the software, samples and 3rd party plugins that you will use throughout the course. We will also use:
- Slate Digital Everything Bundle
- Soundtoys 5
- Valhalla Reverbs
- Fabfilter Pro-Q, Pro-L, Pro-C, Pro-MB
- Izotope Ozone
The 3rd party plugins taught are all available for use within SEM, so none of these plugins are essential or required for home use. This is unless you plan on working on projects in SEM (using 3rd party plugins) and then working on them at home – if so, you will need the 3rd party plugins at home too or you will not be able to work on your projects at home. Read below for further info on this and how to claim discounts.
Home setup
A home setup is absolutely not essential. Some of our best students have benefitted from only using SEM’s studios, as it has meant they have are working in acoustically treated studios, with the most up-to-date software, and access to in-house tutors.
With this said, if you have a home-setup, or are thinking of setting one up, these are some things you might want to consider:
Mac or PC?
We use all Macs throughout SEM, but PCs are equally fine and can be more cost-effective. If you’re working on a budget, we would strongly recommend firstly thinking about whether a laptop vs a desktop is going to be better for your needs. Once you’ve decided, we would advise focussing on processing power as this will allow your software to run more quickly. Remember that you can get up to 15% discount on Apple once becoming a SEM student.
Flat-response monitors, audio interface and a MIDI keyboard
We have some awesome music production partners which you can view on our student discount page for a range of extra music equipment. Remember – these are not essential, but ‘nice to haves’!
Software
The latest Ableton Live Suite is the main music production software used on this course. As mentioned, you will need a copy of this and be comfortable using it to join this course.
Once you have a copy of this, as long as you have a computer (Mac or PC) with adequate system requirements, you should be able to use this to make music at home as well as at SEM.
3rd Party Plugins
You will receive a year’s free subscription for Roland Cloud, which will be taught on this course. This course does also delve into other 3rd party plugins, in addition to Roland Cloud.
Slate Digital is the primary plugin that you may wish to purchase for home use. We provide Slate Digital for use in SEM, but should you wish to use this at home, with a SEM discount you can get Slate Digital for a year’s subscription for less than £100, or on a monthly $9.99 subscription. Others that are recommended but not essential are the FabFilter Essentials Bundle (Pro-R, the Pro Q-3 and the Pro-C 2) which is a one-off £299, or with a 40% student discount, £189. Valhalla Room is $50 for a one-off purchase.
Soundtoys 5 Bundle is completely optional, but also worth mentioning. Student discounts on this is 50%, however this discount can be stacked on additional seasonal discounts (Spring Sale etc) so can often be purchased for around £150 outright.
I am an international student. Can I apply?
UK Students
Students from within the UK can enrol via the normal way, by clicking ‘Enrol Now’ on their chosen course.
EU and International Students
Our course pricing remains the same – we do not increase the course price for international students.
Please view our international students page for further information regarding Britain’s exit from the EU, and VISA information. There are a few VISA options for EU and international students:
Standard visitor VISAs
If your main purpose to the UK is as a visitor ie. for leisure, and studying a course is something you wish to do in addition (and is not the main reason for your trip), you may be able to travel to the UK on a standard visitor VISA.
Short term study VISAs – for study up to 6 months
As the key module in this course is the Mixing and Mastering module (6 months), this would be a good VISA to apply for. The Electronic Music Composition module is delivered online so can be done remotely.
If the course you are looking at is longer than 6 months, don’t worry – this doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t study it with us.
We have several options in place where part of your training could be done online, with the key part of your training done during the 6 months in the UK. As our courses are modular, we can pack in a lot of training into the 6 months you are here in Manchester, with lots of the modules overlapping during this time to ensure you maximise your time.
Tier 4 Visas
We cannot issue Tier 4 VISAs, which are typically VISAs if you are wanting to study in the UK for longer than 6 months. However if you are a student already in the UK under a Tier 4 VISA (e.g. studying a university course) then you are able to study at SEM alongside, as long as it falls within the timeframe of your Tier 4 VISA allowance.
Please book a call with a course advisor who can discuss what VISA options might be best for you.
Alternatively, we also offer a range of online courses that may be of interest to you.
Do you provide student accommodation?
Student accommodation is not provided with the course.
Please see our accommodation page which has detailed information on both student halls, and private renting in and around Manchester.
It is advised that if you are moving to Manchester from abroad or a different city, the atmosphere of student halls might be better for you.
We can help you with other aspects of re-locating, such as advising you on the best transport links to find us, and where some of the best musical venues around Manchester are.
See our accommodation page for more information, and if you need any assistance in relocating please ring SEM office on 0161 833 4722 to speak with our Student Support Team.
How do I find out more?
Get more detail
We would recommend booking a call with a course advisor first, who can advise on what’s right for you. During this call we can also arrange a personal tour of SEM if you wish. Personal tours take approx. 1 hour, so we can get to know you, and you the school, in a lot more detail.
See SEM in full flow
We also hold Open Events are bustling events where you can get involved in lots of free music production and DJ workshops, and a range of industry seminars. All are welcome and it is a great way to see the school in full flow and meet lots of tutors, but as they are busier events you may not get the same level of information and detail that you would on a personal tour of SEM. You can see the next available Open Event dates and sign up for one here.
Try it for yourself
If you’re keen on music production and DJing and want to see what those areas are like, we would also recommend you come along for a Free Music Production Taster Course, or a DJ Taster Course. This is a great way to get a feel for the tuition style, and learn something new!
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CONTACT
- School of Electronic Music
220 Chapel Street
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