Inside a lesson

One lesson, from opening to next

A walk through a single lesson in Ten Beats: Your First Month in a DAW, so you know what you would be sitting down to. The panels are illustrations of the course player, drawn for this page.

The five stations of a lesson

  1. Station 1

    The lesson opens

    You pick up where you left off. The course is a list of units, and each unit is a handful of short lessons, so you always see where you are and how much is left in the unit.

    Course playerUnit 2 of 6
    1. The screen, the grid and the click6 lessons · 1 h 18 min
    2. Drums that groove8 lessons · 1 h 44 min
    3. Bass that sits7 lessons · 1 h 31 min
    4. Chords and a hook8 lessons · 1 h 44 min
    5. Arranging eight bars into sixty seconds7 lessons · 1 h 31 min
    6. Saving, exporting and starting again5 lessons · 1 h 5 min
    Illustration of the course player, using the real units of Ten Beats: Your First Month in a DAW.
  2. Station 2

    You watch

    Video, streamed in your browser. Lessons in this course run for about 13 minutes each. You can pause, jump back and watch a part again as many times as you need; that is what recording is for.

    A silhouetted producer typing on a laptop beside a MIDI keyboard in a dark room
    Illustration of the course player.
  3. Station 3

    You pause and try it

    The lesson is built to be stopped. At the right moment you pause and do the thing in your own music software, in a second window or on a second screen. In “Drums that groove” that means programming the pattern you have just watched. Nobody watches you do it, and nobody marks the result.

    Lesson
    Your own session
    Illustration. The lesson on one side, your own project on the other, here a drum pattern.
  4. Station 4

    A prompt on screen

    Courses close a unit with something to do rather than only something to watch. In Ten Beats: Your First Month in a DAW it is a prompt you answer on screen, for yourself, to make you say what you did and what you heard. There is no tutor to read it, so the check is yours.

    Your task for this unit

    Write one line: what you changed first, and what you heard when you did.

    Illustration of an end-of-unit prompt. The wording here is an example.
  5. Station 5

    Next lesson, or later

    When a lesson ends, the next one is ready. You can carry on, or close the laptop and come back tomorrow. Everything stays available for 24 months from payment, so you set the pace.

    Up next Drums that groove Lesson 3 of 8
    Illustration of the lesson that follows.

What you get, and what you do not

Better to know before you buy. These are the same for every course and programme.

Part of the courseYou getYou do not get
TeachingRecorded video lessons, watched online whenever you like.Live classes, or anyone teaching in real time.
FeedbackTasks and prompts built into the lessons, which you work through for yourself.A tutor, marking, or comments on your music.
FilesEverything watched and read inside the course player.Downloads. Lessons are streamed and cannot be saved.
Time24 months of access from payment, with no schedule to keep.Access without an end date.
RecognitionThe skills, which are yours to use.A certificate, qualification or accreditation.
HelpA person to ask about buying, access and the lessons themselves.Coaching on your own tracks.

How the lessons are cut

13–19

Minutes per lesson

Short enough to finish in one sitting. The average differs by course, from 13 to 19 minutes.

5–18

Lessons per unit

A unit is one idea, taken in steps and finished with a task. Units hold between 5 and 18 lessons.

24

Months to watch

Rewatch a unit the night before you mix, or leave one for a month. Both are fine.

See Ten Beats: Your First Month in a DAW All courses