Short introduction to the course and how to approach it.

In this introductory lesson, I discuss what is needed as a minimum (keyboard, software, etc.) to make nice-sounding piano recordings. I further introduce you to MIDI and show you how to set everything up so you are prepared for recording.

Now it is time to make our very first piano recording. In this lesson, I first briefly introduce you to Logic (and Ableton Live and Cubase) and its features and then we make a piano recording. At last, I introduce my favorite software pianos and choose the one we are going to use throughout the course.

In this bonus lesson, I share audio demos with a longer list of software pianos. I also share my thoughts on pros and cons for each piano. So if you are looking for a new software piano, then this bonus lesson is a must-see.

Now that we have made our piano recording, it is time to edit the MIDI file to make sure that the performance is perfect. We want to remove any mistakes and inaccuracies from our performance, and we can easily do that in our DAW.

Now it is time to really work on the mix. In this lesson, I introduce you to EQ and reverb and show you how to apply this to our track. I also show you a little secret of mine to make the sound of the piano even richer.

Now we are close to being done working on our piano track. However, in this short lesson, I show you how you can automate some of the mixer settings in Logic. We do this to make sure that our mix is just as we want it throughout the whole composition.

At this point, our piano track is done. But I am not done teaching you how to take your production to even new levels. We can do that by adding simple strings to our piano composition. In this and the next lesson, we add two cello tracks and one violin track to our composition.

In this second part of the ‘Adding strings’-module, I continue to add strings to fully complete the string section that should accompany the piano track.

Now it is time to add the final small details. In this lesson, I add a third ambient piano sound in the chorus, and then we also add a small sound effect that serves as the final cherry on top of our work. Then our mix is done, and I discuss how to export it and how to deal with mastering.

In this bonus lesson, I give you a useful look into some of my other projects that has been produced differently than the presented projected throughout the course. It is meant to inspire you to see how you can experiment a lot with the opportunities of software instruments.