6 weeks to your first finished track
A structured, hands-on program that takes you from zero to producing your own music. Live Sunday afternoon sessions, real feedback, and mentors who are active in the scene.
The full 6-week curriculum
Audio interface, sample rate 44.1kHz, buffer size 256 to 512, plugin folders and record settings. Get your DAW running properly from day one.
Keyboard shortcuts, zoom, Info View, arrangement vs session view. Build speed and fluency so you spend time making music, not fighting your tools.
Audio tracks, MIDI tracks, return tracks and the master. Signal flow, how sound moves through your project and why the structure matters.
Drum subgroups (kick, snare, percs), track elements and vocals. A professional session structure from your very first project file.
Build and link your personal sounds library inside Ableton. Organise by category so the right sound is always a few clicks away.
Drag in samples, duplicate sections, set tempo, layer elements. By the end of this session you'll have something playing.
MIDI Drum Rack for hot-swappable layered samples vs audio loops from Splice. Build your drums from scratch or use pre-made loops, knowing when to do each.
Extract groove from samples via Ableton's Groove Pool. Vary velocity on ghost elements to sound human. Syncopation, moving hits off the expected beat to create energy.
Lower-velocity accent kicks and snares on separate channels. A professional habit from session one, with independent control over every element.
DnB (174 BPM syncopated), House (four on the floor), UK Garage (shuffled swing), Dubstep (140 BPM half-time). Learn the rhythmic language of each genre.
Semitones, octaves, minor vs major scales. Use Ableton's scale mode to highlight in-key notes, a practical framework so you can trust your ears without memorising theory.
Minor chords (root +3+7 semitones), major chords (root +4+7). The cohesion trick, keeping a shared note across chords so progressions flow naturally.
Your sub is a sine wave, a pure single tone. Load Operator, start simple. Always build bass first, everything else sits on top of it. How to find the key of any sample using Spectrum.
Writing melodies over chords using scale mode. Applying swing to melodic elements, the same amount as your drums, so everything feels like it belongs together.
Oscillators, filters, envelopes (ADSR) and LFOs in plain English. How to shape a sound from scratch using Serum or Ableton's Operator, no prior knowledge needed.
Reverb and delay as creative tools. Creating pad layers and atmospheric textures that fill space without cluttering your mix, presence without weight.
Chop, warp, pitch and layer samples intentionally. How to find sounds that complement each other and make a sample feel like it was made for your track.
Using reference tracks as a tool, what to listen for, what to take, what to leave. The difference between copying a reference and developing your own voice.
Intro, breakdown, build, drop, second drop, outro. How professional DnB and electronic tracks are structured, and why every section serves a specific purpose.
Building anticipation into a drop. Stripping back for breakdowns. How density, volume and contrast control emotional impact, the same tools producers use to move a crowd.
Drum fills, filter sweeps, riser FX and volume automation. How to move between sections without jarring cuts. Smooth, intentional transitions that feel earned.
What makes a drop hit: layering, space, contrast. Sidechain compression in context. Building the moment your track has been working towards from bar one.
Getting your levels right before touching a single plugin. Gain staging, ensuring every element has the right headroom and nothing is clipping before you mix.
High-pass filtering, cutting mud, removing clashes between elements. EQ as a mixing tool, making space for every sound so nothing fights for the same frequency.
Compression to glue and control dynamics. Sidechain compression to duck the bass under the kick, the signature pumping energy of electronic music, done correctly.
WAV vs MP3, stems, final export settings. How to share your track so it sounds its best, and what to do next with your first finished production.
You'll finish with a real track
Not loops. Not a work-in-progress. A finished, exported, shareable production, built from scratch over 6 Sunday sessions with guidance from active producers who've done it themselves.
- A fully arranged track from intro to outro
- Drums that groove and feel intentional
- A musical idea: bass, chords and melody in key
- A clean, balanced mixdown ready to share
- A workflow and template you'll use forever
- Access to the NLP private producer community
Drums that groove
Ghost notes, swing, velocity. Rhythms that feel human and intentional.
Musical ideas in key
Sub bass, chords and melody working together from a solid theory foundation.
A clean mix
EQ, compression, sidechain. Fundamentals that make a track sound professional.
Your first export
A finished track you can share, post and build on for the rest of your career.
Don't take our word for it
"I left every session feeling more confident and less like I was just pushing buttons and hoping I was right. I genuinely felt like I was learning the secret sauce without having to go through tons of trial and error."
Jumping into the course, I liked how each session gave just the right amount of info without feeling overwhelming. The content itself felt specific to me and where I'm at in my producer journey right now. As someone who relies heavily on structure and clear processes, I was impressed with the way the course was laid out.
Loved how you shared examples of workflows, thought processes, plugins and how to make the most of them. The online content hub with the summary and key tips, and little bits of homework helped me lock in what I had learned. Having access to the session recordings was huge for me too as someone who's always on the go.
Overall the course felt really well thought out, well planned, and genuinely helpful as a beginner producer. Definitely more than enough value for money too. Shoutout to BRIGSY and the NLP crew. Excited to keep levelling up and start bringing my ideas to life."
"This course genuinely feels like it saved me years of trial and error. I not only learned a huge amount but thoroughly enjoyed the experience and felt treated like a peer rather than a beginner."
I'm a DnB DJ and have been playing gigs and festivals for the past three years, but I'd never produced my own music before, even though it always felt like a natural next step. I'd previously tried learning on other DAWs and found them frustrating and unintuitive, which made it hard to progress on my own.
Max and Elliot created a course that took me from knowing nothing to feeling confident building full tracks. Watching Max build and tweak songs live while explaining the process was incredibly helpful, and Elliot's technical knowledge added huge value throughout the course.
Both were extremely friendly and patient. Even as a complete beginner asking lots of questions, everything was explained clearly. Huge thanks to Max, Elliot, and the whole Next Level Production team. I'd absolutely recommend this course to anyone wanting to get into music production."
"The team at NLP should be the first people any aspiring producer calls. After completing the beginner production course you'll have the skills and knowledge to jump into a DAW with confidence. This saved me months of trial and error."
Your first track starts here
No experience needed. Sessions run every Sunday afternoon. Apply in 2 minutes and we'll be in touch to talk through the next intake and whether the program is right for you.
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