>> Well, essentially, we saw that there was a bit of a disconnect in
how music was taught, in that it could either have career teachers,
or academics, or ex-musicians doing the teaching.
And we ourselves wanted to learn from other producers,
the people who we thought were the most interesting.
And we saw that that was a common thing for other people who have either
an ongoing passion for music or who have just realized their passion for it.
So our process is to find really innovative artists and
producers who are doing something currently great or pushing music forward,
helping them distill their knowledge into our curriculum.
We actually have a set curriculum, but we keep updating it through their skills.
And putting the students directly in front of those people.
>> So just like we would do if we were synthesizing a kick drum,
I'm going to head over to the controls here and set up a filter envelope.
You have to add the beat of sound to the kick drum.
So just head in to the envelope here, turning her on,
boosting the amount, which is now up here.
[SOUND] Yeah, and then just pulling the decay time down.
[SOUND] Kick drum.
>> Let's say I arrive here, and I don't know anything about music and
I don't know anything about Ableton Live.
And I'm going to come in at whatever the very bottom level of your curriculum is.
>> Mm-hm. >> What am I going to learn in those first
few classes?
>> Well, I guess that the analogy would be if I put an instrument in your hand,
we'll need to get you to know what the instrument is, how it works, and
that kind of stuff.
But also, what you can do with it, and you'd want to be able actually
to do something satisfying throughout, and at least by the end of it.
So obviously, you need to get to know the software,
what it can do, how it works, what things are called.
But really, its about diving hands-in, and
making music and exploring creative ideas, possibilities.
And then as long as you have some abilities on taking control of things and
working with it by the end of the session, and you've made something yourself.
Then if we combine that with making you aware of what the possibilities are,
that’s what we hope to achieve out of the first session.
>> Okay, so over time, I stick with it, I love it, I practice, I become good.
Where can I take this, what can I learn as I progress through your curriculum?
>> Well, it depends on how far you go through, but at every step of the way,
we hope that you can make something and complete something.
And that just gets deeper and deeper as you go.
So making your own sounds,
completing your own instruments that you can then write with,
being able to perform live, being able to collaborate with others, be able to remix.
But then all the other things that come into that,
like the more you want to do, the more you want to know.
So we just feed all that information in, things like music theory, ear training,
all that kind of stuff, sound design, arranging, mixing, mastering.
>> Right, I think for your average music teacher, things like music theory and
ear training, that means worksheets and sitting at the piano
playing intervals to students and getting them to shout them out.
I'm imagining it's quite different for you.
How do they learn that through your course?
>> Well, I guess there's so many ways that you can do it with technology.
But also, the fundamental is still there, in that harmony is harmony, and that there
are some rules about it that are based on physics, and the maths of the physics.
Certain things just work, and certain things have an emotional resonance.