Mixing and Mastering Course | £449

 

An intermediate/advanced course for producers who want to get to grips with the art of mixing and mastering. Jam-packed full of classic and innovative mixing techniques, tips and tricks shared to you by our established mix engineer instructors. This course is for everything in mixing and mastering you knew a bit about before, but now want to fully understand and make a massive improvement to your music yourself saving a fortune on mix engineers and studio time. It doesn’t matter what DAW you use on your Mac or PC or what genre of music you are mixing; the principles are the same.

This course takes place at the Arthaus in London and the price is £449 with no registration fee. If you miss any sessions due to holidays or illness, we can engineer it so you can come back on a future cycle and catch up. All courses come with extensive notes put together by our expert course developers, and you also get an industry recognised certificate on successful completion.

See what recent learners thought of the course at the bottom of this page. You may recognise a name or two on the list too!

Al Riley, Pete Gleadall and Tom Belton are our mixing specialists. Check them out on our instructors page and Google.

The courses are designed for optimised learning so you take in the content in a day, recap in between sessions at home, and come back to us a week later for the next session of learning. This makes use of an educational practice called The Spacing Effect. Evening courses run two sessions per week for three hours each.

To enrol, call or send us an email telling us which course you would like to do, when it runs and we will organise the rest.

 

Week 1 – EQ, Environment, Acoustics and Separation

• Studio monitor speaker design
• The art of balancing and panning
• Acoustics and acoustically treating your home studio
• All about mono, stereo and 5.1 in your software DAW
• EQ explained – peak, shelving, low and high pass filters
• Notching frequencies using peak filters and using shelf filters to create separation

Week 2 – Dynamics (click HERE for taster video)

• How compression works and why we use it
• Threshold, ratio, attack, release, knee
• Types of compression circuitry (optical, valve etc) and their digital emulations
• Parallel dynamic processing for HUGE drums
• Gates and De-Essers
• Use side chain compression and gating to achieve clarity in your mix

Week 3 – Reverbs, Delays and Other FX

• Getting busses and effect returns to sit well in your mix
• Types of reverb and delay, where to use them
• Parameters explained; feedback, delay times, pre delay, diffusion etc
• Spatialisation with convolution reverbs and delays
• Phaser, flanger, chorus, pitch shifters, harmonisers and creative FX
• Tips on how to make your records come to life with FX

Week 4 – Vocals, Automation and Getting Creative in the Mix Process

• Filtering and samples
• Vocoder, Ring Modulators, Envelopers, Autopanning, distortion and bit crushing
• Preparing vocals, vocal comping and tuning vocals
• Getting separation between lead and BV’s
• Tips on automating levels (rides)
• Live and acoustic music listening critique

Week 5 – Out Of The Box

You have learnt how to mix records ‘in the box’ (your DAW). Now it’s time to have a go ‘out of the box’ in the analogue domain on a Neve 8078 console, which are considered by many experts to be the the Rolls Royce of desks and the best sounding consoles ever made. It’s not surprising that they are highly sought after.

The studio is a commercial mixing and tracking facility available for hire too. Clients to date include Mark Ronson, Katy B, Noel Gallagher, Burial, Alice Gold, Tinchy Stryder and Jamie Woon. You will be guided through the process of mixing a record in the analogue domain step by step as well as trying out the console, the EQ and all of the vintage outboard toys yourselves. Your mixes ‘in the box’ will benefit massively from this experience alone.

 

 

 This course is designed for all DAWs and is suitable for all genres of music.

 

Early Summer Saturdays

Date	Time
Saturday 12th May	11.00 – 18.00
Saturday 19th May	11.00 – 18.00
Saturday 26th May	11.00 – 18.00
Saturday 2nd June	11.00 – 18.00
Saturday 9th June	11.00 – 18.00
Saturday 16th June	11.00 – 18.00

 

Early Summer Evenings

Due to a number of requests and availability, this cycle is running on Tuesdays and Thursdays now except for the first session, and that will be on Wednesday 9th. 

Date	Time
Monday 7th May	18:45 – 21:45
Wednesday 9th May	18:45 – 21:45
Monday 14th May	18:45 – 21:45
Wednesday 16th May	18:45 – 21:45
Monday 21st May	18:45 – 21:45
Wednesday 23rd May	18:45 – 21:45
Monday 28th May	18:45 – 21:45
Wednesday 30th May	18:45 – 21:45
Monday 4th June	18:45 – 21:45
Wednesday 6th June	18:45 – 21:45
Monday 11th June	18:45 – 21:45
Wednesday 13th June	18:45 – 21:45

 

Midsummer

Date	Time
Thursday 21st June	11.00 – 18.00
Thursday 28th June	11.00 – 18.00
Thursday 5th July	11.00 – 18.00
Thursday 12th July	11.00 – 18.00
Thursday 19th July	11.00 – 18.00
Thursday 26th July	11.00 – 18.00

 

One week summer school condensed:

August 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 & 18

All 11am – 6pm. Same course, same amount of hours, same price, but can be done in one week. Please see our summer school page for information on accommodation.

 

Early Autumn Fridays

Date	Time
Friday 24th August	11.00 – 18.00
Friday 31st August	11.00 – 18.00
Friday 7th September	11.00 – 18.00
Friday 14th September	11.00 – 18.00
Friday 21st September	11.00 – 18.00
Friday 28th September	11.00 – 18.00

 

Early Autumn Saturdays

Date	Time
Saturday 25th August	11.00 – 18.00
Saturday 1st September	11.00 – 18.00
Saturday 8th September	11.00 – 18.00
Saturday 15th September	11.00 – 18.00
Saturday 22nd September	11.00 – 18.00
Saturday 29th September	11.00 – 18.00

 

Late Autumn

Date	Time
Monday 1st October	18:45 – 21:45
Wednesday 3rd October	18:45 – 21:45
Monday 8th October	18:45 – 21:45
Wednesday 10th October	18:45 – 21:45
Monday 15th October	18:45 – 21:45
Wednesday 17th October	18:45 – 21:45
Monday 22nd October	18:45 – 21:45
Wednesday 24th October	18:45 – 21:45
Monday 29th October	18:45 – 21:45
Wednesday 31st October	18:45 – 21:45
Monday 5th November	18:45 – 21:45
Wednesday 7th November	18:45 – 21:45

 

End Of Year

Date	Time
Wednesday 14th November	11.00 – 18.00
Wednesday 21st November	11.00 – 18.00
Wednesday 28th November	11.00 – 18.00
Wednesday 5th December	11.00 – 18.00
Wednesday 12th December	11.00 – 18.00
Wednesday 19th December	11.00 – 18.00

 

Book now

 

“I attended a music production course at one of the main London DJ schools before doing the mixing course at Garnish. There really is no comparison. If you want to learn to DJ, go to a DJ school. If you want to learn music production, go to Garnish!” Tristen Gleed

 

“A nice relaxed working environment and detailed, in-depth working practices. I really got a lot from this course and answered a lot of questions I had about sound engineering processes in Pro Tools, especially as I come from a creative background.“ Paul Tilley – Mixing and Pro Tools

 

“Doing the mixing course is easily the best thing could’ve done to quickly take my mixing skills to where I wanted them to be. Now I understand all about layering, how to find a place for everything, how and when to use compression to make my records sound so much bigger. Knowing how to mix properly has even effected how I make a record in the earlier stages. I can now master my mixes myself for playing out and only use a mastering engineer now when I’m not paying! If you want to learn to DJ, teach yourself or go to a DJ academy. If you’re serious about learning to produce music, go to Garnish” Toby Tobias

 

“As a songwriter/producer I relied heavily on engineers for recording and mixing if I wanted to get my tracks sounding like masters. I always wanted to do more myself but struggled to learn anything watching an engineer zip around Logic or Pro Tools at 1000 mph! Then I found Garnish School of Sound and did their Mixing and Mastering course. It was exactly what I needed, we covered everything I was unsure of in the past from using buses properly, EQ, audio compression and using specialist mastering plugins. Everything was explained and demonstrated in a way I understood. I never thought I’d ever be able get such great sounding tracks doing everything myself.” Ben Cullum

 

“I attended at mixing class at Alchemea college before I went on this one. Garnish’s mixing course had better practical learning whereas Alchemea is maybe too much theory not enough practical. Great course, great value, a must for all producers looking to raise their game.” Steve Morant – Mixing

 

“You are getting taught by teachers who have been in the industry for a very long time and have worked with some amazing people. They are not only showing you how to work the virtual synthesisers, but also giving you tips and amazing advice.” Crysta Healy - EMP and Mixing

 

“The professionalism and tutoring styles from both Dave and Larry are second to none. Not only did we cover everything on the list, but any questions about other musical topics were covered and answered from the guys. A huge library of knowledge available! Never have I been on a more informative course tutored by guys as experienced as Dave and Larry. If you’re serious about musical production and getting your tracks the quality they deserve, any of their courses should be at the top of your ‘to do’ list!” Pete Waidson

 

“Wide spectrum of knowledge and expertise in modern music trick-nology. Industry recognised instructors that talk the talk and can walk the walk. Don’t think twice book a course with the G.S.O.S!” Nick Burns – Logic and Mixing

 

As a Singer/Songwriter, I really was self-taught when it came to mixing, and although over the years I have worked out how to do a lot of things, getting a good mixdown always seemed to be where I was lacking. Trying to get your head around things like compression and EQing when you’ve not had any formal training is hard. Now I have done this course I can now mix my own tracks which I’m loving! Thanks a lot Dave, you’re a Legend! x AiNA - Mixing (Singer/Songwriter and Camden community music production teacher)

 

“It is the perfect course for mixing, everyone should do this course before starting to mix seriously. Knowledge really is POWER!!!” J Anthony Packett

 

“I appreciate the personal technique of teaching and the affable and approachable manner of the teachers. The facilities are top notch and the standard of knowledge conveyed is excellent.” James Randle – Mixing

 

“The teachers and environment are very high quality. I’ve learnt so much and will be booking the EMP course next!” Leighanna Allen – Mixing

 

“I know your teaching methods are ‘future proof’ and you have some awesome teachers who can express themselves very precisely, perfect balance between theory and practice. It was an overall perfect impression and I wish you and your school all the best.”Stefan Splinter (traveled from Austria) – Mixing

 

I had been reading manuals, learning the tricks from books, magazines, youtube reviews and much more. All of which are great, but the (Mixing) course I did with Dave took all this and put it into context, whilst making it real and usable straight away. The courses cover all angles of production in multiple DAW formats – a really in depth powerhouse of knowledge that only the traditional sound engineers would share amongst themselves is now at my fingertips…. On top of that, this (mixing) course helped me take all the best and most powerful tricks I picked up while studying myself to a whole new level of awesome! Top notch! – Heady Stepper – EMP and Mixing