Source: Levelica Canonical: https://www.levelica.com/en/guides/music-production # Music Production ## Summary Building sound from scratch into a finished track: writing, arranging, sound design, mixdown, mastering. ## Description Music production turns the idea in your head into a file someone can play. It starts with recording and placing sound, then runs through writing, arranging, sound design, mixdown, mastering, and delivery specs. Two skills have to grow together before a track is done: the technical side of running the tools, and the musical side of deciding what stays and what goes. Your reach widens from private sketches to producing work released under someone else's name. --- ## Level Overview | Level | Proficiency Stage | Hashtags | | ----- | -------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Lv.1 | RSL Grade 1 (First Recording) | #RSL-ProductionGrade1 #DAWSignalFlow #AudioRecording #StereoBounce | | Lv.2 | RSL Grade 2 (Finished Loop) | #RSL-ProductionGrade2 #BeatProgramming #Layering #LoopArrangement | | Lv.3 | RSL Grade 3-4 (Full Track) | #RSL-ProductionGrade3 #RSL-ProductionGrade4 #SongStructure #TrackCompletion | | Lv.4 | RSL Grade 5 (Sound Design) | #RSL-ProductionGrade5 #SoundDesign #Synthesis #FrequencyAllocation #DynamicsControl | | Lv.5 | RSL Grade 6 (Release Master) | #RSL-ProductionGrade6 #Mixdown #Mastering #StemDelivery #SessionProduction | | Lv.6 | RSL Grade 7-8 (Signature Voice) | #RSL-ProductionGrade7 #RSL-ProductionGrade8 #ProductionSignature #ReleaseCatalog #ProductionCredits | | Lv.7 | Beyond Grade 8 (Paradigm Contribution) | #BeyondGrade8 #SonicParadigm #ProductionMethodology #ProducerLineage | > Proficiency stages are mapped from the Graded Examinations in Music Production grade system of RSL Awards (Rockschool). The three-tier structure of Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5, and Grades 6-8 is mapped onto Lv.1 through Lv.7, and the names in parentheses come from the core behavior at each level. > **Integrative Framework:** The seven levels in this guide are not a copy of one grade table. They split where four independent axes meet. The Grades 1-8 of RSL Awards and the three-tier course sequence of Berklee Online supply the **curriculum axis** (what you learn and in what order). The competency analysis in the Journal on the Art of Record Production supplies the **competency-separation axis** (how much each level asks of technical skill in handling signal and tools versus musical skill in judging ideas and arrangement). The measurement spec in ITU-R BS.1770 supplies the **output-spec axis** (whether the result gets judged by ear or by number). The audio job definitions from AES supply the **scope-of-responsibility axis** (whether you answer for your own work, someone else's work, or the methods of the field). This guide covers the writing, arranging, sound design, and mixdown of the track itself. It does not cover track selection or set flow. > **Cross-Validation:** The level boundaries were set by confirming that separate sources converge on the same points. > > - **Lv.2↔Lv.3 boundary**: The RSL Grade 2→3 transition (Level 1 Award to Level 2 Certificate) ≈ the Berklee Level 1→2 transition. On the curriculum axis, production basics give way to producing. On the competency-separation axis, work that ran on tool handling alone starts to demand musical judgment about song structure. > - **Lv.4↔Lv.5 boundary**: The RSL Grade 5→6 transition (Level 2 Certificate to Level 3 Certificate) ≈ the Berklee Level 2→3 transition. On the output-spec axis, the standard of judgment moves from hearing to LKFS and dBTP readings. On the scope-of-responsibility axis, your own work expands into someone else's. > - **Lv.6↔Lv.7 boundary**: The point where RSL Grade 8 and the Berklee three-tier sequence both run out of scope. With the curriculum axis finished, the boundary falls to the scope-of-responsibility axis, and the position shifts from keeping industry standards to rewriting them. --- ## Level 1 #RSL-ProductionGrade1 #DAWSignalFlow #AudioRecording #StereoBounce ### Summary Recording and placing sound in a DAW to leave a short finished clip. ### Description You learn the signal flow of a digital audio workstation (DAW) for the first time. On the curriculum axis, you work through what RSL Grade 1 asks for, in order: importing material, recording, and bouncing a stereo file. On the competency-separation axis, only the technical side is running yet, so the musical judgment of what stays and what goes belongs to the next level. ### Checklist - [ ] Can import an audio file into a project and place it in time with the track tempo - [ ] Can connect an input device, record at least 1 track, and play it back to check it - [ ] Can set input gain so nothing clips while recording - [ ] Can adjust the level and pan of two tracks so both stay audible - [ ] Can clean up a section of 8+ bars so it plays back without dropouts - [ ] Can export the finished section as a single stereo audio file > If you've checked off most of this list, you're ready for the Lv.2 Finished Loop stage, where you stack rhythm and bass into layers. RSL Awards builds its grade system on progressive mastery: small finished pieces become the material for the next step. Export one 8-bar section to a file every week, and the habit of finishing opens a place for arrangement judgment to sit. --- ## Level 2 #RSL-ProductionGrade2 #BeatProgramming #Layering #LoopArrangement ### Summary Stacking rhythm, bass, and harmony into a loop with structure. ### Description You layer several sounds so they read as one block. On the curriculum axis, the benchmark is the multitrack arrangement and editing accuracy RSL Grade 2 covers. On the competency-separation axis, musical judgment steps in for the first time: you pick the sounds and decide where the repetition breaks. The focus here sits on making 16 bars feel complete, not on the shape of a whole song. ### Checklist - [ ] Can program a drum pattern bar by bar into a rhythm that repeats over 4+ bars - [ ] Can put rhythm, bass, and harmony on separate tracks to finish a 16-bar loop - [ ] Can correct timing errors in recorded or programmed parts against the bar grid - [ ] Can pick a preset sound that fits the track and say why you picked it - [ ] Can build 8+ bars of development by repeating and duplicating sections - [ ] Can revisit your own loop a day later and mark 1+ spot where it gets boring > If you've checked off most of this list, you're ready for the Lv.3 Full Track stage, where you finish a song end to end on your own. The competency analysis in the Journal on the Art of Record Production holds that plateaus break when technical and musical skills get trained separately. Alongside loop practice, set a deadline and force an unfinished project to completion. That's what builds the muscle for closing a song. --- ## Level 3 #RSL-ProductionGrade3 #RSL-ProductionGrade4 #SongStructure #TrackCompletion ### Summary Finishing a full song from intro to ending on your own. ### Description You stop copying and finish songs under your own power. On the curriculum axis, this is where the RSL Level 2 Certificate band and the Berklee second tier begin. On the competency-separation axis, musical judgment pulls ahead of technical skill. With no reference material open, you split the song into sections, add and drop instruments, and export a track of 2 minutes or more. ### Checklist - [ ] Can finish a 2+ minute song with an intro, a build, and an ending, alone and with nothing to copy - [ ] Can split a song into 8 to 16 bar sections and design where instruments enter and drop out - [ ] Can build up 3+ finished songs and log the length and structure of each - [ ] Can find two tracks that overlap in range and shift one of them to reduce the overlap - [ ] Can organize a 15+ track project by names and groups, then reopen it and keep working - [ ] Can switch between your song and a reference track and name the differences in level and low end - [ ] Can write down 3+ differences between the projects you abandoned and the ones you finished > If you've checked off most of this list, you're ready for the Lv.4 Sound Design stage, where you build tones from scratch. The Berklee Online second tier puts producing and sound design in the same block, so anyone who can finish a song is asked to design the sound itself. Once a week, drop the presets and hit a target tone starting from an initialized patch. That constraint speeds up the shift. --- ## Level 4 #RSL-ProductionGrade5 #SoundDesign #Synthesis #FrequencyAllocation #DynamicsControl ### Summary Designing your own tones and dividing up frequency space and dynamics. ### Description You cross over from someone who makes songs to someone who makes sounds. Using synthesis and sample manipulation, you design tones from scratch and hand each instrument its own frequency band and dynamic range to match the arrangement. This is where the competency-separation axis splits most sharply, so you gain the eye to tell whether a cloudy mix comes from a setting or from the arrangement. ### Checklist - [ ] Can combine synth waveforms, filters, and envelopes to build a target tone from scratch - [ ] Can chop a sample and change its pitch, playback rate, and envelope into something unlike the source - [ ] Can sort the instruments in a track into low, mid, and high and map which one owns which band - [ ] Can set compressor threshold, ratio, and timing to shrink one track's dynamic range to a target - [ ] Can make 2 versions with different arrangement intent, hear them side by side, and pick one - [ ] Can set reverb and delay times against the track tempo and explain the values you chose - [ ] Can diagnose a cloudy mix by splitting the cause into settings and arrangement, then log what you did > If you've checked off most of this list, you're ready for the Lv.5 Release Master stage, where you deliver masters that meet a spec. ITU-R BS.1770 defines how loudness and true peak get judged by numbers rather than by ear. Write down your ear's verdict on a track first, then check the meters and log the gap. Run that on about ten songs and the habits where your hearing and the measurement disagree become visible. --- ## Level 5 #RSL-ProductionGrade6 #Mixdown #Mastering #StemDelivery #SessionProduction ### Summary Delivering masters that meet spec and producing other people's work. ### Description Responsibility moves from your own sketches to someone else's record. On the output-spec axis, the verdict shifts from what you hear to integrated loudness and true peak readings, and you deliver stems and masters to spec. On the scope-of-responsibility axis, you run sessions, direct players and vocalists through takes, and pick the ones that build the final track. ### Checklist - [ ] Can measure integrated loudness and true peak and land within 1 LKFS of the given target - [ ] Can deliver a stereo master and a stem set together in the requested format - [ ] Can run a vocal or instrument session, direct the takes, and pick the ones for the final track - [ ] Can take on 3+ songs released under someone else's name and log each one as finished - [ ] Can track revision requests as versions and roll back to an earlier state - [ ] Can document who contributed and what rights they hold, then get it agreed - [ ] Can log 3+ cases where you reversed a decision to serve the client's intent over your own taste > If you've checked off most of this list, you're ready for the Lv.6 Signature Voice stage, where you build a production style anyone can hear as yours. The audio job areas mapped by AES place passing on methods and setting standards one step past personal craft. Leave one line on every finished song saying what you chose and why. Collect ten of them and the repeated choices trace the outline of your style. --- ## Level 6 #RSL-ProductionGrade7 #RSL-ProductionGrade8 #ProductionSignature #ReleaseCatalog #ProductionCredits ### Summary Shaping industry practice with a recognizable style and a catalog. ### Description Personal craft turns into method. On the curriculum axis, the benchmark becomes the advanced processing RSL Grade 7-8 covers, like parallel compression, plus mastering the final mix. On the scope-of-responsibility axis, a released catalog and credits stack up as a track record. You move your own approach into documents and teaching so other producers can use it. ### Checklist - [ ] Can compile released work and credits into a public catalog of 20+ songs - [ ] Can pick advanced processing like parallel compression to fit a purpose and explain the choice - [ ] Can lay out your production sequence as a step-by-step document or course and publish it - [ ] Can gather 3+ cases where a third party named you as the producer from the track alone - [ ] Can point to 3+ producers you mentored whose work went on to be released - [ ] Can show a record of taking part in delivery-spec discussions or curriculum design - [ ] Can name the lineups or genres where your style fails and document the limits in writing > If you've checked off most of this list, you're ready for the Lv.7 Paradigm Contribution stage, where you leave a way of working the next generation treats as standard. RSL Grade 8 and the Berklee third tier run out of scope here, and past that point the measure is not what you can study but what you leave. Publish your techniques with the settings and numbers an outside team needs to reproduce them, take their results back, and correct. That loop is what turns into adoption. --- ## Level 7 #BeyondGrade8 #SonicParadigm #ProductionMethodology #ProducerLineage ### Summary Leaving contributions that shift the paradigm of sound and production. ### Description Your work changes what other people take as the baseline. This is the end of the scope-of-responsibility axis: the techniques you introduced get adopted by outside teams, and your methodology gets cited in writing and in teaching. The curriculum axis and the qualification systems have already run out of range. Achievement here shows up as the traces left in the work of those who come after, not as a grade. ### Checklist - [ ] Can show that a production technique you introduced was adopted by 3+ outside teams or studios - [ ] Can confirm 10+ citations of your work or method in writing, lectures, or interviews - [ ] Can show that your sonic style has been referenced continuously for 5+ years - [ ] Can confirm that a producer you mentored has built an independent catalog - [ ] Can point to results you shaped by joining design discussions on production tools or delivery specs - [ ] Can name where your own style constrains the next generation and publish an alternative > If you've checked off most of this list, you're standing where the way people make and handle sound gets rewritten. At the top of the audio job areas mapped by AES, what gets judged is the method you left rather than the craft you hold. The producers who follow take that method as a starting point and build styles of their own. --- ## References - [Berklee Online — Electronic Music Production and Sound Design Advanced Professional Certificate](https://online.berklee.edu/certificates/electronic-music-production-and-sound-design-advanced-professional) — Berklee College of Music - [A Musician's Engineer: Teaching music proficiency in audio recording and production programs](https://www.arpjournal.com/asarpwp/a-musicians-engineer-best-practices-for-teaching-music-proficiency-at-formal-audio-recording-and-production-programs-in-the-usa/) — Journal on the Art of Record Production - [AES Audio Education](https://aes.org/audio-topics/audio-education-2/) — Audio Engineering Society (AES) - [RSL Awards — Graded Examinations in Music Production Specification (Grades 1-8)](https://cloud.rslawards.com/file/download/music-production-syllabus-guide.pdf) — RSL Awards (Rockschool) - [ITU-R BS.1770-5: Algorithms to measure audio programme loudness and true-peak audio level](https://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-BS.1770) — International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R)