Places Where You Can Study Music Production
Top locations to study music production: Your guide to finding the best programs.

Studying music production has become the dream of millions of people. This career is considered a good option if you are a music lover. One of its main features is that you can work together with other artists and meet hundreds of producers, engineers, composers, and arrangers in the music industry. A few years ago, studying music production was unthinkable because it was a profession that people didn’t know back then. But before continuing with the article, I’ll explain what music production is.

What is music production?

All the music you have listened to throughout your life has been recorded professionally (most of the time) and gone through a production process. Music production needs the creativity and technique of the professional to work properly.

Music producers work together with the artist or band to help them in the recording process and materialize the main concept they want to do with their music. You must keep in mind something very important, artists can’t produce their music by themselves, or at least it’s not ideal. However, many producers are also musicians… so, they just do all the work by themselves.

Although you don't need to know how to play an instrument perfectly to be a music producer, you need (at least) be able to play the most basic notes and learn music theory. But don't worry, as you study music production you will learn what music theory is.

The difficult thing is that a lot of people don’t know where they can study music production, or simply believe that it's a career that is not worth it. Let me tell you, nowadays it’s one of the most popular careers because, during the last few years, more people are getting interested in music and how producers work.

There are hundreds of music producers who have worked with great artists, such as:

Dr. Dre was responsible for bringing Eminem to fame, however, he was also the producer of great artists such as 2Pac, Kendric Lamar, Snoop Dogg, and Anderson Paak. Although his real name is Andre Romelle Young, he is known worldwide as Dr. Dre as it is his stage name as a rapper as well as a music producer.

Brian Eno is a musician but…he was also a producer for Talking Heads, David Bowie, and U2. Brian is considered one of the pioneers of the ambient genre, and was also in one of the most recognized British bands called "Roxy Music".

Rick Rubin who was recognized by MTV in 2007 as the most important producer in the last 20 years, has worked with legendary bands such as Black Sabbath, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers Metallica, Aerosmith, Beastie Boys, and A.C D.C. Also, he was responsible for the production of Adele's album "21".

Now that you have a clear idea about what music production is, it's time to move on to the main topic of this article.

How to become a music producer

If you are thinking about becoming a music producer, I will explain where and how you can do it:

First, you should keep in mind that you can learn music production in different ways. One of the most famous is through courses that you can find on the internet.

Most of these courses are designed so you can have the possibility to learn from the beginning (if you are a beginner), but others are for more advanced levels.

All these courses can be found on sites such as NoiseLab, Coursera, Skillshare, and Udemy. In these courses, you will have the basic tools to start producing your first songs, but remember, you must practice a lot. And if you're wondering, prices vary as many of the subscriptions on these sites are monthly, but you can find some that cost anywhere from $8 to $40.

From my personal experience, taking these courses can be a great help especially if you don't have much knowledge about music theory or don’t know how to use a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). But, it doesn't offer you what you need to become a professional...

Taking this into account, I will tell you about some universities where you can apply to study music production and get a degree. This way you will have all the tools to become an audio professional!

1. Berklee College of Music: Studying at Berklee is the dream of millions of young people who are passionate about music. It’s one of the most important universities in the world because you can graduate as a musician, composer, producer, and engineer. However, it’s an expensive university so I recommend taking a look at the scholarships they offer and how they work.
2. Full Sail University: In 2021 it was named one of the best places to learn music production. The program offers practice rooms with instruments and consoles in which students can practice constantly.  Although it’s a 7-month program, it offers a certificate upon completion!
3. University of Massachusetts-Lowell: Like almost all other universities, the music production degree takes about 5 years to complete.
4. University of Hartford: To apply for this music production program, you must complete an interview and an audition in which you need to play an instrument or sing. In these cases, if you want to be a music producer you must be able to play an instrument.
5. American University, Washington: If you are interested in learning sound synthesis while pursuing a career in music production, this is the perfect university for you.

All these universities are located in the United States, but in a future article, I can show you other universities in different parts of the world, so if you don't live in the USA, don't worry!

In conclusion, studying music production will allow students to expand their knowledge about music, not only in theory but also in practice. Being able to know how audio works and how to handle any kind of problem is very important…mainly because you will be able to create your songs or even help your friends to produce their music. This will give you experience for future jobs!

If you liked this article, share it with more people! If you have a friend or family member who is interested in music production, they may be interested in learning where they can study to become a professional.