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Working in a studio with professional musicians is a dream come true for many aspiring audio engineers. If you want to develop your career as a sound engineer, improving your skills through training and experience will increase your chances of employment. Online Sound Engineering courses offer you a great way to get that education. Although you can learn a lot online, enrolling in a dedicated sound engineering course or degree program will give you a much better, comprehensive education. A good course will provide structure, quality content, assignments, tutor feedback, and networks that will help you learn so much faster.
So, to ensure that you get the right audio training, I’ve compiled a collection of the best online audio engineering courses. You may find my article on the best music production schools useful too.
Summary of Best Online Audio Engineering Schools
If you’re serious about audio engineering as a career path, sign up with Point Blank Music School. It’s one of the few online music schools offering a comprehensive audio engineering degree with interactive lectures. You can choose from a three-year degree program, a one-year course, or any of the school’s online sound engineering courses.
Berklee College of Music is a well-established music school, offering Audio Engineering courses via the Coursera platform. This allows you to try them for free for 7 days. You will get a solid introduction to audio engineering with the Berklee music production specialization course. They also offer a Protools and The Technology of Music Production courses which will suit aspiring sound engineers.
Masterclass and Skillshare also use a subscription model and cost less compared to Coursera. With Masterclass, you can learn audio engineering and beat production from one of the biggest names in the music industry, Timbaland.
Skillshare is a creative online learning platform that offers access to 1000s of smaller audio courses for a monthly fee, an audio engineering course that stands out is How Young Guru Engineers for Jay Z. You can sign up for Skillshare’s free trial or get 30% off Skillshare subscription here.
LinkedIn Learning is another source for audio engineering courses. Offering comprehensive courses on live sound and drum mixing techinques.
If you want to improve your Pro Tools skills, Udemy’s Avid Pro Tools 12 course will give you a solid foundation. The Music Production I Learn to Be a Music Producer & Learn How to Mix Acoustic Pop Like A Pro courses will also improve your engineering skills.
If you are on a budget, Producer Tech is a great option to learn some music production basics. Focused solely on training the next generation of music producers and audio engineers, Producer Tech provides high-quality videos and lessons at reasonable prices. Check out their Music Mixing Fundamentals to get a solid introduction to mixing your tracks. It’s also useful for researching production skills for new genres.
Table of Contents
Related: The Best Mixing and Mastering Courses
1. Point Blank Music School – Best Audio Engineering Courses Online
Point Blank Music School tops the list of best schools for audio engineering, thanks to its comprehensive curriculum, a wide selection of experienced teaching staff and recently being voted by students as the highest-ranking specialist music institution at the annual WhatUni Awards 2023. The Office for Students also awarded it TEF Gold in 2023 (Teaching Excellence Framework), the only music production school in the UK to receive the award.
Point Blank has been teaching the art of sound engineering for almost 30 years, starting as a small studio in South London in 1994, it has grown into one of the most well-respected music schools.
Point Blank offers a large range of diplomas, certificates, degrees and professional courses in sound engineering & music production, as well as other music industry-based disciplines such as DJ performance, vocal performance, music industry management, songwriting, audio software development and radio, audio and podcasting. It’s a school where your fellow students will all be doing similar studies making it a great place to network and learn.
All lectures and courses are led by industry professionals that work within the music industry, and there are small classes too (16max) to ensure that there is lots of 1-2-1 student lecturer time. One-on-one feedback is so important when learning a craft like sound engineering so that you can learn from mistakes in real-time. The option of having this contact and feedback from industry professionals is extremely valuable!
The staff have a lot of industry experience having worked with legendary artists including Sting, Snoop Dogg, Daft Punk, Pharrell, Skrillex, NWA, Smashing Pumpkins, Tori Amos, and many more. The school’s alumni also include notable individuals in the music biz, such as Leona Lewis, Pete Tong, DJ Reiki, Goldie, Madam X, and dozens of others.
Here’s a quick look at a few of the options available through Point Blank Music School.
Online Courses
Mixing & Mastering in Depth
The Mixing and Mastering in Depth course is an extensive online program consisting of live video lectures, tutorials, and individual exercises with an instructor. It lasts six months and includes several start times throughout the year.
The course is divided into two parts: mixing and mastering. You first take the Art of mixing course then move onto Point Blank’s Audio Mastering course. These courses can be taken seperately if you desire, both take 3 months to complete. (You can view the Art of mixing solo course here or the mastering course here).
Art of Mixing
3 months, 1 module
Mixing is a key skill for sound engineers, with this course, you will develop your skills as a competent mix engineer focusing solely on the mixing aspect of the production process. The course covers the considerations, equipment, processes, and techniques involved in creating professional-sounding commercial mixes.
You will be encouraged to improve your critical listening and develop your technical and creative skills over the following topics:
- Mixing Procedures and Techniques
- Critical Listening
- Signal Paths and Routing
- Aux Sends vs Insert Processing
- Stereo Width
- Creative Mixing techniques
- Dynamic Processing
- Corrective and Creative Equalisation & Filters
- Timbre and Harmonics
- Creating Depth through Reverberation and Delay Effects
- Modulation Effects & Distortion
Audio Mastering
3 months, 1 module
The Audio Mastering portion of the program covers the final stage of production. You’ll learn more about monitoring, metering, critical listening, and other essential skills and techniques for professional sound engineers.
The mastering module will help you develop knowledge of digital audio production processes that create the highest quality recordings, and how to produce suitable mixes that are ready for mastering.
Your critical listening skills will be developed in the following areas:
- The role of the mastering engineer
- The physics of sound
- Monitoring
- Basic acoustics
- Critical listening
- Digital audio key issues in relation to mastering
- Types of EQ and techniques for mastering
- Loudness versus quality
- Advanced dynamic processing
- Mid/side techniques
- Mastering for Streaming Platforms
- Audio Restoration Techniques
- Metering
Online Degrees
BA Hons Music Production & Sound Engineering Degree
3 years, 18 modules
This comprehensive sound engineering degree will help learn everything you need to know to craft a career in the music industry. The degree is suited to those who want a career as a sound engineer, audio editor, studio manager, music arranger, artist/performer, music producer and many other audio vocations.
Point Blank offers access to a range of Online Learning features to help you in your studies. You also get access to exclusive 1-2-1 sessions so that you have individual time to speak to your lecturers. Getting feedback on your work is really valuable and is one of the reasons I think Point Blank offers one of the best sound engineering courses. Being able to share your projects and get advice or guidance on specific areas of your work is amazing.
You’ll go through 18 modules over three years, you’ll learn:
- Music Production (Logic or Ableton Live)
- Music Composition
- Sound Design
- Music Industry
- Creative Audio (Logic or Ableton)
- Production Styles
- Marketing & Branding
- Advanced Sound Design
- Mastering
- Advanced Composition
- Advanced Mixing
- Audio for Games
- Professional Portfolio Research
- Professional Portfolio Project
- Music Entrepreneur
- Creative Production & Remix
- Composing for Media
- The Art of Mixing
The courses are completed entirely online with 100% progressing into highly skilled employment. Click the link to find out more.
CertHE Music Production & Sound Engineering
1 Year, 6 modules
Instead of earning a degree, you may prefer to start with a certificate program such as this CertHE in Music Production and Sound Engineering. It’s the equivalent of completing the first year of the BA degree.
- Music Production (Logic or Ableton Live)
- Music Composition
- Sound Design
- Music Industry
- Creative Audio (Logic or Ableton)
- Production Styles
Related: The Best Electronic Music Production Books
via coursera.com
2. Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music was established in 1945, offering a music curriculum to millions of students across many decades. The school also has a wide range of music programs available online and through campuses in Boston and NYC. The online programs are available through Coursera and cover a variety of specializations, including Pro Tools Basic, and Music production. Although aimed at music production students, the course content is also suitable to Audio Engineering. Coursera specializations require a monthly subscription, which you can test out for free for seven days.
Pro Tools Basics
4 weeks
Pro Tools Basics is an entry-level audio engineering online course for those who want to know how to use one of the most popular DAWs available. You’ll become familiar with the interface of the software and how to use it to record a live performance. The course also includes an overview of how to adjust levels and apply EQ effects during mixing.
The Technology of Music Production
6 weeks
This course helps you better understand the technologies that you’ll rely on to record and mix music. Some of the topics include setting up a DAW, recording audio, using basic audio editing techniques, and using filters.
Music Production Specialization
If you want to go further then consider Berklee College’s music production specialization, which combines 4 audio production courses into one. The Specialization will provide you with all the tools and skills you need to record and produce professional-sounding music.
It will help you focus on developing your identity, vision, and intention as an artist and producer whilst learning the technical aspects of music production. This includes recording techniques, how sound is translated into audio signals, and effects such as reverb, delay, and compression. It combines the two courses outlined above and two others:
The Art of Music Production
The Technology of Music Production
Pro Tools Basics
Music Production Capstone
At the end of the course, you will have to apply what you’ve learnt in a ‘4-week Capstone’ where you complete a project that starts with the pre-production through to the recording, mixing, and mastering stages. After you complete the courses, you earn a certificate (this is one of the few audio engineering schools online that provide certification), which is useful for seeking employment.
Related: The Best Music Production Schools
3. Coursera – University Of Rochester
Along with the Berklee Online courses, Coursera offers access to other audio engineering programs from some of the best audio engineering schools in the world. They are all pay as you go courses which would suit students who cannot commit as much time to their studying. Several of the video courses are free while others require a paid subscription to Coursera. If you want to broaden your audio theory and audio production knowledge, this platform has a few courses to consider. Check out one of the highlights below:
Fundamentals of Audio and Music Engineering: Part 1 Musical Sound & Electronics
This course is a good entry point for those who want to know how to learn audio engineering from real professionals instead of random people on YouTube. Taught by the Univeristy of Rochester the course covers the basics of sound engineering, including sound waves, electronics, and speaker design.
It’s also one of the free courses found on Coursera. If you enjoy the format, you can consider signing up with a paid subscription to explore additional classes. It should take about 14 hours to complete and doesn’t require any previous knowledge of music production or sound engineering.
Financial Aid is also available.
Related: The Best Music Business Courses
4. Producer Tech
Producer Tech’s courses are all specifically made for aspiring audio engineers and music producers. Although you can’t earn an online audio engineering degree from Producer Tech, you can get a massive amount of audio production education for reasonable prices.
The Producer Tech courses are available through Plugin Boutique where you pay per course or sign up to a monthly or annual subscription. With any subscription, you can access over 500 hours of video content.
The courses are also among some of the most affordable options when it comes to paying for single classes, so great for new students or audio engineers looking to increase their knowledge of niche production topics.
You can find classes in almost any area of music production, from advanced mixing, and beats production to DIY mastering and EQ effects. Each course includes pre-recorded video lectures and downloadable content. You can typically download a set of song stems for use with your DAW to apply the techniques taught in the course which is a nice touch. One stand-out course for audio engineers is Music Mixing Fundamentals:
Music Mixing Fundamentals
One of the best courses for the aspiring audio engineer. If you want to improve your technical skills, at some point you are going to need to improve your mixing chops. Producer Tech’s Music Mixing Fundamentals provides a great introduction to the fundamentals of getting your mixes sounding professional.
You’ll learn more about level balancing, getting levels under control, shaping frequencies, stereo imaging, send effects, reverb, master effects, and more. The class includes nine modules with about five hours of content. After paying for the course, you can access the videos whenever you want.
Related: The Best Ableton Courses Online
5. Skillshare
Skillshare is another online learning platform that offers audio engineering courses. There’s one that I’ve picked out by Young Guru, he offers a few other courses on other sound engineering topics.
Along with sound engineer courses online, you can use Skillshare to develop your skills in a wide variety of areas. The available online music classes cover music fundamentals, sound design live audio, music theory, guitar, piano, Ableton Live, and much more. You’ll need to subscribe to a yearly plan, which breaks down to about $14 to $32 per month, depending on the plan… Or you can try this free trial.
How Young Guru Engineers for Jay Z
This course serves as an introduction to audio recording techniques. Young Guru explains his audio engineering techniques for working with major players in the industry, including Jay-Z.
The course is divided into a series of short lessons, each lasting between three and seven minutes. The short, bite-sized lessons allow you to easily understand and apply the main points to your music production process.
After completing the course, you may want to check out some of the other lessons from Young Guru. He’s also released classes on mixing music, mastering songs, and setting up for a soundcheck when DJing.
You can try a 30-day free trial or get 30% off your annual Skillshare Subscription.
Related: The Best Music Business Courses
6. LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn offers access to many audio engineering classes online through its learning portal. LinkedIn Learning requires a paid subscription but includes over 21,000 courses taught by professionals in their respective fields. As you may expect, the biggest categories include business and technology. However, LinkedIn Learning also has thousands of courses dedicated to music. You can take classes on music theory, playing instruments, promoting music, and other relevant topics. Stand out courses are:
Drum Mixing Techniques
Learn how to mix drums from a Grammy-winning producer. This course explains the steps needed to get more out of a drum track using EQ effects, compression, reverb, and other techniques. It only takes a few hours to complete but offers a lot of useful advice that you can apply to your music.
Live Sound Engineering Techniques
This course covers the techniques involved in recording live audio and sound in a studio or public venue. It’s a good alternative for those who can’t find an audio engineer certification online that meets their needs. While you may not receive a certification in your field, you can learn what it takes to do live events and ensure that you capture quality live sound.
Vocal Production Techniques
Unless you focus solely on house/electronic music, your songs and recordings will likely include vocals. This means that you should understand how to record, mix, and master vocals. With this course on vocal production techniques, you can learn what it takes to capture clean, crisp vocals.
Related: Best DJ Courses Online
7. Udemy
Udemy is not specifically an online audio engineering school, it’s an online learning platform that has courses on sound engineering, music production, instruments, vocals, software, and more. The site also has classes dedicated to the music business, marketing, and dozens of other topics.
Udemy is a little cheaper than enrolling on a full-time course as you pay per course, making it a great option for those on a budget, or as complimentary education to a degree course. The costs can vary from $10 to $100+, depending on how in-depth the content is. Udemy has many online audio engineering classes to choose from. Here’s a closer look at a few of the best.
Avid Pro Tools 12 Fundamentals
Pro Tools is the standard digital audio workstation (DAW) in most recording studios, so if you want to be a sound engineer, you need to know how to use it. Designed for the absolute beginner this course is made up of 90 lectures, spread out over 6.5 hours. By the end of the course you’ll have a much better grasp of Pro Tools and be able to record, edit, arrange, compose, and mix music and audio. Some of the topics covered are; recording audio, utilizing keyboard shortcuts in Pro Tools, creating and working with Midi, utilizing virtual instrument audio plugins and working with compressors, EQs and reverb plugins. Check it out.
Music Production I – Learn to Be a Music Producer
Featuring over eight hours of on-demand video, 24 articles, and downloadable resources, this course offers a comprehensive look at recording and mixing. It covers a lot of technical topics, including, how to mic various different instruments in the studio environment, automation, and what you need to start recording and mixing. Ideal as an introductory course.
Learn How to Mix Acoustic Pop Like A Pro
This course is a great place to start when getting into audio recording and music production. It includes 25 lectures with a total length of 11 hours covering how to mix acoustic pop songs. You’ll learn the best techniques when recording drums, vocals, guitars, effects, and other sounds.
Other Courses worth checking out, click on the links to find out more:
Ultimate Live Sound School (1st Edition)
Audio Engineering Fundamentals
Learn Pro Tools – Audio Recording
Related: The Best Music Business & Marketing Books
8. MasterClass
Masterclass is an online learning platform offering some of the best audio engineering courses taught by incredibly successful music industry professionals. Whether you want to know how to learn about audio engineering skills, songwriting, or recording, Masterclass has you covered.
Masterclass is only $10 a month, billed annually. Membership includes access to the over 180 classes on the platform, bonus class guides, and content.
This platform provides something that you can’t get from even the best sound engineering colleges. The instructors are among the best in the world. No other site offers classes from the likes of Timbaland, Usher, Reba McEntire, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Herbie Hancock, Carlos Santana, Ringo Starr, and more.
Timbaland Teaches Producing & Beat Making
Timbaland teaches one of the few courses on Masterclass dedicated specifically to music production. The class includes 15 video lessons with a little over three hours of content. The lessons cover making and building a beat from start to finish.
You’ll also hear how Timbaland crafted the beats for popular songs such as Jay-Z’s hit, “Dirt Off Your Shoulder,” which he co-wrote. The unique insight that you gain should help you better understand what goes into the creative process of creating a killer beat.
If you are interested in Music Production, Deadmau5, Armin Van Buuren courses are also worth looking at.
FAQS
Is an Audio Engineering Degree Worth it?
Earning a degree offers a more thorough education compared to completing a few online audio engineering courses. A degree also shows that you’re committed to learning your craft and provides an opportunity to meet others. Networking can open up a lot of career opportunities further down the line and is a major benefit of being in a degree.
Finding courses, such as ones at Point Blank Music School & Berklee College of Music, that provide 1-2-1 feedback are really worthwhile too. It can be really hard to get constructive, technical feedback on your audio projects, having that facility during a degree or an online sound engineering course is exceptionally valuable. Having a degree certificate can also increase your chances of finding employment.
How Much Does an Audio Engineer Make?
The average base salary for an audio engineer is about $96,000 per year. California, Nevada, New York, Tennessee, and Louisiana tend to offer the highest pay. Obtaining a degree from one of the best sound engineering schools may also boost your chances of making good money in this field. Those working in the music industry also tend to make more compared to audio engineers working in television or radio broadcasting.
What are the best Online Audio Engineering Schools?
Point Blank Music School – The best audio engineering school with single courses, Audio Engineering degree and dedicated audio mixing courses. Also offer a wealth of course to improve your DJing & music production skills.
Berklee College of Music – One of the best music schools in the world, Berklee offers some great online audio engineering courses via Coursera. Their Music production Specialization is one of the best audio engineering courses that you can take online. Also offer great one off audio engineering courses.
Producer Tech – Best for one off audio production courses and video lessons. Also features monthly memberships.
Coursera – Useful one off courses in sound engineering, great for complimenting a more comprehensive course.
Udemy – Beginner and budget friendly audio production courses.
Masterclass – Best online audio engineering courses from big names in the music business.
Skill Share – Best value courses, access all for one annual fee. With a free trial available.
