The course content will focus on the following subject areas:

• Pre-production planning.
• Microphone types, placement and experimentation.
• Acoustic and psychoacoustic principles.
• Instrument types and recording techniques.
• Analogue mixing desks, signal flow, routing, patching and monitoring.
• Software operations – tracking, conforming, editing and exporting in Pro Tools 12.
• Session management and communication skills.
• Reamping, sound manipulation and experimentation with sound sources.
• Dynamic (compression), spectral (EQ) and spatial (panning) processing.
• Mixing and mastering principles.

Week 1 – Preparation

Project: Understand the basic principles of sound engineering and running a successful session.

• Introduction to sound engineering, studios, audio electronics and cable management.
• Introduction to Pro Tools 12.
• Introduction to signal flow, metering and signal quality.
• Basic acoustic and psychoacoustic principles.

Week 2 – Recording & DAW editing

Project: Learn the basics of pre-production planning, session management and communication skills in a recording session.

• Basic pre-production planning and demo recording.
• Introduction to session planning in Pro Tools 12.
• Basic drum recording techniques.
• DAW drum editing techniques.

Week 3 – Recording & DAW editing

Project: Record instruments in a professional studio environment and edit in Pro Tools.

• Basic instrument recording – guitar, bass and piano.
• Conforming, editing and exporting in Pro Tools 12.
• Vocal recording.
• DAW vocal editing processes.

Week 4 – Mixing and mastering

Project: Learn to use basic and contemporary tonal, dynamic and panoramic mixing and mastering techniques in your workflow.

• Basic mixing skills.
• Learn to use balance, position and EQ dynamics, space and depth in a DAW.
• Basic mastering skills.
• Listening and feedback session.

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Understanding how to operate and manage sound engineering equipment and processes.
• Apply basic pre-production planning, session management and communication skills in a recording session.
• Understanding how sound behaves in various environments, how we perceive sound and how to control that perception.
• Analogue mixing desk operation
• Familiarity with Pro Tools 12 software operations.
• Ability to creatively manipulate and experiment with different sound sources.
• Applying compression, EQ and panning techniques to shape sound.
• Basic ability to mix and master audio tracks for a polished final product.

Whether you want to spend four weeks making a professional recording studio your home and connecting with like-minded individuals, or you’re preparing to advance to one of our longer HE Certificate, BA, or MA programmes and need practical experience, this short course will equip you with the knowledge and practices needed to kickstart your career as a sound engineer.

In addition, the course will provide you with skills and experience in collaboration – essential in the music industry, for producers, songwriters, musicians, and sound engineers alike.

Enrolment fee*: €495

Course fee: €1,755

Total: €2,250

Early Bird Discount: Enrol in a Summer Short Course before the end of February 2025 and receive a discount of €150 off the tuition fee.

Multi Course Discount: Enrol in both a Summer Short Course and a degree course with us in the same year, and receive a discount of €500 off the total tuition fee.

*Enrolment fee is non-refundable.

We can’t provide an exact timetable until we know how many students will attend the course. However, you will have an average of 16 hours per week of workshops. Alongside this, you will have some technical inductions and timetabled opportunities for collaboration with students from other programmes.

Our campus facilities are open for the students to use beyond the timetabled workshop hours. A range of studios and mixing suites are bookable from 10:00 until 19:45 during the Short Course term. Each student has 3 hours per week of bookable time, as well as ad-hoc bookings depending on availability of the facilities.

You can expect to be in a class of 12 to 16 students.

The most important prerequisite for attending this course is that you must be passionate about building and developing your skills as a studio engineer.

Our Short Courses are designed to be accessible to anyone, so we do not require any level of academic certification to apply. Generally, applicants must be 18 or over when the course begins, although exceptions can occasionally be made by the Admissions Team where parental consent is obtained. If you're coming from outside the EU, a holiday/travel visa will usually suffice.

For more information, please contact a member of the Admissions team. We love to chat! Please reach out to us at admissions@catalyst-berlin.com or call us at +49 30 2900 9052.

Once a course is full, we will no longer accept more applications, so applying as soon as possible increases your chances of getting a place. The official deadline for applying to a Short Course is Friday 23 May 2025.

Get a feel for Catalyst and our courses at a range of both online and in-person events. Join us at a Virtual Open Day or an Open Day at our campus in Berlin, check out our facilities with a campus tour, join an Admissions Q&A, or try a taster workshop.

Designed for those wishing to join our main programmes, but lacking the formal education requirements to apply through standard entry.

These free workshops run at the same time as your short course programme and cover writing skills, reading, structuring arguments, debate and understanding context.

They utilise task and project-based learning methodology to ensure that you’re prepared and ready for our longer HE Certificate or BA programmes.