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Sound Design & Synthesis

Sound Design & Synthesis Course | Bay Area

Our Sound Design and Synthesis course is 36 hours, created for you to take back creative control of your music-making. We will teach you how to build sounds from scratch, how to manipulate and modify them, and adding those truly original elements to your music productions. This class is loaded with production tips and tricks and great ways to inspire any genre of music, and get it moving forward!

This is an intermediate to advanced course so learners must have a good understanding of their DAW. We encourage less experienced learners to attend one of our DAW courses first. The course is largely based on Ableton Live and Logic, but participants who are using other DAWs will find the instruction wholly suitable, too.

By the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of sound design principles, proficiency in various synthesis techniques, and the ability to create diverse and compelling sounds for different media applications.

View the dropdown boxes below to discover what you will learn in this class. Listed material is not in chronological order, and class material is not limited to these topics.

Sound Design & Synthesis

Overview

  • Understanding sound waves and frequency
  • Exploring amplitude, pitch and timbre
  • Advanced run-through of industry-leading soft synths
  • Tonal processing, effects and resampling
  • Implementing design elements into your projects

Introduction to Synthesis

  • Understanding Oscillators, Filters, Envelopes & LFOs
  • The Overtone series
  • Creating pads, basses, plucks, leads and drums using synthesis techniques
  • Deep dives into subtractive, wavetable and FM synthesis
  • Adding movement with modulation and automation

Tools of the Trade

  • Ableton synths: Analog, Operator, Wavetable
  • Logic Pro synths: ESP, ESFM1, ES1, Alchemy
  • Xfer’s Serum – wavetable synth
  • Vital – wavetable synth, free download here.
  • Advanced sampler techniques

Audio Manipulation

  • Creating drones and eerie soundscapes
  • Warping, stretching, mangling audio samples
  • Resampling and effects processing
  • Advanced audio editing
  • Layering and multisampling for complex textures

Creative Drum Design

  • Synthesizing drum sounds from the ground up
  • Layering with foley for a truly unique sound
  • Turn any sample into a rhythmic element

Effects Processing and Automation

  • Introduction to audio effects: reverb, delay, chorus, distortion, etc.
  • Implementing effects chains for creative sound manipulation
  • In depth automation using Macro controls
  • Spatial audio techniques: stereo imaging and binaural audio

Effects Processing and Automation

  • Introduction to audio effects: reverb, delay, chorus, distortion, etc.
  • Implementing effects chains for creative sound manipulation
  • In depth automation using Macro controls
  • Spatial audio techniques: stereo imaging and binaural audio

Real-world Applications and Projects

  • Sound design for film, TV, and video games
  • Creating soundscapes and audio branding
  • Compile your own sample and preset pack

Additional Information

  • This class is geared to teach you techniques regardless of what DAW you use
  • The purchase additional software synths or plugins are not required for this course
  • You will be equipped to dig into any synth you can get your hands on!

Our Instructors!

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Check out the student feedback from our longer Electronic Music Academy Program

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    Testimonials

    Both instructors were extremely knowledgeable, and quickly adapted to the areas which I needed the most work. There's also no substitute for being face to face with an instructor, to immediately address any logjams in the workflow.

    CJ DeLeo

    The course throughly covers the fundamentals of synthesis and has helped me understand concepts that go beyond the everyday Youtube tutorial. The course has made Youtube tutorials and other concepts of sound design easily understood.

    Daniel Tran

    The EMP course is a good time and super informative. I've been writing and producing music for the past year in Logic. There was so much I wanted to transcribe from my mind to my DAW, I just didn't fully know how. Fortunately, the EMP course changed that in just a few short weeks. Very exciting. Not to mention the Garnish LA folks are super cool.

    Patricia Seely

    If you're looking for in-depth knowledge about electronic music and how to create sounds using 3rd party software through Ableton or Logic then this course will definitely help you! Beginners can follow along but if you're a more advanced producer, then this will definitely show you more advanced techniques to apply to your productions! Extremely happy I found and attended this course!

    DJ WIED

    If you are trying to establish connections with local artists that have made a name for themselves in LA (the instructors) than this is a great program to join. You get to talk with them about their personal experiences and get a lot of really good inside tips about production from a professional point of view. Highly recommended not just to learn but to make industry connections.

    Zach Klein

    Garnish instructors do a great job at being in depth and detailed with everything so that no question or misunderstanding is left unsolved.

    Austen Greene

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