Andrew Sherwin

Lessons are online via Zoom, and are a relaxed and informal, where the only thing that matters is helping mentor you to greater success in your music compositions and productions. Typically a lesson will take one of two routes:

1. a lecture style lesson, where we will discuss a key concept of either music theory or production in order that the theoretical understanding is solid enough to start practically applying it in projects.

2. a practical lesson, where we will look directly at a current project, and address some of the key issues in the arrangement and the mixdown, and go about rectifying them with a variety of techniques.

Often, we do a bit of both as these lessons are flexible, in order that we can focus on whatever seems to be most important to your development. The more lessons we do, the more patterns begin to emerge and we'll be able to focus even more specifically on the things that may be holding you back - they might not be what you think! This is usually what informs the subject material for the lecture style lessons.

Common topics of discussion are often things like:

1. Balancing and Processing - compression and dynamics processors, EQ, parallel-processing, time-based effects, bus processing etc.
2. Sound Design - working with a variety of different synths and samplers such as Serum and FM8, granular and subtractive synths like Padshop2, Monark or Retrologue, and many others besides.
3. Orchestration - learning how to create complex and colourful orchestrations that aren't muddy or convoluted, which is often a root cause of difficulty in the mixdown.
4. Arrangement - wielding structure and form to your advantage to make better musical narratives.
5. Harmony and Counterpoint - using my training in composition and jazz piano to help you explore tonal colours and more interesting progressions.

and many other topics...