Train to become a working music producer — and run it like a business.
A two-week studio intensive, with an optional twelve-month mentoring program, built for people who want to produce for hire or open their own studio. The skills, the techniques, and the business know-how — without years of university debt.
The industry changed.
Most courses didn’t.
The days of climbing the ladder as a salaried studio employee are largely gone. To build a real career today, you need more than button-pushing in Pro Tools — you need professional production skills and the ability to run the business around them. We’ve distilled 25+ years of engineering, production and business experience into a focused alternative to a university degree: everything you need to work as a producer, and nothing you don’t.
This is not a music school.
It’s producer training.
This course is purely for people who want to produce records and run a production business. We don’t teach live sound, sound for film and TV, game audio, dialogue editing, or performance — if that’s your path, another provider will suit you better. What you get here is total focus on the craft and business of music production.
Learn from people with the credits to back it.
Our instruction comes from producers and engineers with real industry credits — including ARIA #1s, multiple ARIA nominated releases, and over 5 billion streams. Our lead instructor has over 25 years in audio, and some of our instructors trained under Grammy-winning engineers Michael Brauer and David Kahne, bringing those techniques straight into the room.
“I learned what the difference between an okay mix and a great mix actually is — not just how it sounds, but how to get there.”
“If you want to get past the stuff you see on YouTube and actually hear what it takes to do great work from a professional — do this course.”
The Academy of Audio advantage
Learn faster, earn sooner.
A two-week intensive plus 12 months of mentoring support* means you can start applying skills — and earning — straight away. No need to quit your job to study.
Real studio, real tools.
Train at The Avenue Recording Studio on an SSL 6000 console, across multiple production suites and a Dolby Atmos mix room.
A serious investment, not a debt sentence.
$4,890 (inc GST) — a fraction of a university course — and you finish with real skills instead of years of debt.
12 months of mentorship*
Personalised one-on-one and group guidance for a full year* after the intensive, plus a 160,000-word proprietary textbook and online resources.
Connections that compound.
Access to studios, session musicians, and industry professionals to build the network a production career runs on.
Earnings context Established freelance producers can earn $60–100k+ a year — and you avoid the $20–30k in lost wages a multi-year degree can cost.
* The 12-month mentoring program is an optional add-on.
What you’ll learn
30 chapters, close to 200 units, covering everything from first principles to launching your business. Expand any topic for detail.
How sound behaves, room acoustics, and the physics that underpin every decision you make at the console and in the mix.
Signal in the analog and digital domains — sample rates, bit depth, conversion, and why they matter for the records you make.
Tracing audio from source to speaker. Patchbays, routing, gain staging and the logic that keeps a session clean.
Mic types and polar patterns, placement techniques, and choosing preamps to capture a source with intent.
Tracking sessions end to end — capturing performances that need less fixing and more producing.
Equalisation and compression as creative and corrective tools: shaping tone, controlling level, and making elements sit.
Reverb, delay, modulation and creative effects — building depth, space and character in a production.
Working fast and clean in Pro Tools: comping, editing, timing and tuning to a professional standard.
Balance, depth, width and translation — the craft of turning raw tracks into a finished, competitive mix.
Final-stage processing, loudness, and preparing your music for streaming and release.
Arrangement, songcraft and the musical decisions that make a record connect — the producer’s core craft.
Pricing, contracts, invoicing and running yourself as a sustainable production business.
Building a presence that attracts paying clients — portfolio, positioning and getting found.
Keeping a reliable studio rig: systems, drives, backups and troubleshooting so sessions never stop.
Specifying, acquiring and configuring a room and signal chain that works — on a real budget.
Hearing protection, safe levels, electrical and workplace practice for a long career behind the desk.
The essentials
- Where
- The Avenue Recording Studio, Melbourne — SSL 6000 console, multiple production suites, Dolby Atmos mix room.
- Format
- Two-week in-person intensive (Mon–Fri), then 12 months of online catch-ups and optional assignments, with personalised mentoring available as an add-on.
- Investment
- $4,890 (inc GST) — a fraction of a university course.
- Entry
- No strict prerequisites. Prior experience with music, composition, a DAW, and basic recording is an advantage.
- Bring
- Your own laptop, audio interface, and headphones. Pro Tools (demo is fine) installed beforehand.
- International students
- Welcome — contact us.
Where graduates go
Our graduates use what they learn to launch a production business, scale an existing one, or sharpen their skills as a self-producing artist.
“This course showed me that with the right processes, I can start a business now. I’ve already got client work — and we haven’t even finished the course yet.”
Frequently
asked
The course runs in person at The Avenue Recording Studio in Melbourne. It’s built for people who want to produce music for hire or open their own studio — career- and business-focused, whether you’re starting out or sharpening existing skills. It is not a general music school and not aimed at performers.
Two weeks of full-time, in-person studio training (Mon–Fri), followed by 12 months of online catch-ups and optional assignments, with personalised one-on-one and group mentoring available as an add-on. You start applying skills immediately rather than waiting years to graduate.
No. This course is purely music production and the business around it. We don’t cover performance, live sound, sound for film and TV, game audio or dialogue editing — if that’s your goal, another provider will suit you better.
Pro Tools is the core DAW, taught on an SSL 6000 console across multiple production suites and a Dolby Atmos mix room. You’ll bring your own laptop, interface and headphones, with Pro Tools (demo is fine) installed beforehand.
The course is $4,890 (inc GST) — a fraction of a multi-year university course. We don’t currently offer payment plans; if the fee is a hurdle, get in touch and we’ll be straight with you about what’s possible.
If your goal is to actually work as a producer, a focused, industry-based course gets you there faster and for far less than a traditional university degree. You learn the craft and the business from working professionals, in a real commercial studio, and you can start earning right away — rather than carrying years of debt first.
Ready to work in the music industry?
Request the full curriculum, or book a one-on-one call to see if it’s the right fit.