PreSonus Studio One is among the more recent Digital Audio Workstations yet one of the most popular, due to its streamlined workflow, powerful set of factory devices and user friendly music creation tools. On this beginners complete guide, you’ll be taken through all of the main areas of producing with Studio One, to help develop solid foundations for using the software to create quality music of your own.

Leading the tutorials is certified PreSonus Studio One professional, audio engineer, synthesist and sound design teacher, Adam Pietruszko. Teaching everything from scratch, Adam starts with configuration and setup, continuing through using on-board loops, effects and instruments, all the way to mixing and exporting songs.

As well as the main software features, a variety of audio engineering concepts, mixing and processing techniques are all demonstrated, so intermediate users will also benefit from the course. Furthermore, sound design tutorials covering synthesis and sampling basics will help you to create your own sounds, beats and loops. Throughout the course, detailed diagrams will aid in the understanding of concepts like compression, gating, signal routing, as well as the inner workings of synths.

In addition to the 8 hours of streamed tutorials, students also have access to a download pack containing all the songs and projects created within the course, so you can play around with the material presented. Plus, there’s an eclectic 600MB collection of bonus samples from Loopmasters, providing you with a fresh load of hits and loops to invigorate your music. Sign up to get access to this wealth of materials and take your Studio One production knowledge to a whole new level!

Although the majority of the course was made with Studio One 3, the course is fully compatible with Studio One 4, including comparison tutorials and lessons focussing on the new instruments and editing features. Studio One Professional edition is recommended to make the most from the course.

Sample Module - Recording Guitar with Studio One

 

Course Breakdown

Module 1 – SO3 Structure Overview

This module describes the basic structure and configuration of Studio One. We’ll be going through setting up your audio and MIDI interfaces, creating a new song, and accessing different sections. It also describes navigating the arrangement view, adding on-board loops, instruments and effects to the song, as well as configuring various track types and their parameters through the Inspector.

Lessons

Studio One 3 vs 4 – Using the course

Start Screen and Setup

Creating a New Song

Arrangement View

Track Types

Browser

Track Parameters and Inspector

 

Module 2 – Working with Audio

You’ll learn how to record external audio sources in various modes (take recording, punch in), use the guitar tuner, metronome. The section will also describe audio editing tools and Studio One’s mixer basics.

Lessons

Recording Audio

Tools and Audio Editing

Mixer

 

Module 3 – Using effects

In this section we’ll be looking at a plethora of effects available in Studio One 3. We’ll go through all the effect types and the principles of their use. Basics of EQ, compression, gating and adding reverbs and delays will be covered.

Lessons

Effects Overview

EQ

Gating

Compression

Channel Strips

Modulation and Distortion

Delay

Reverb

FX Sends

 

Module 4 – Automation

We’ll be learning to make the parameters of tracks and effects change in real time as the song plays, using automation curves.

Lessons

Automating Volume and Pan

Automating Effect Parameters

 

Module 5 – Mixing

This module presents the principles of mixing your song. We’ll mix the song from scratch using EQ, compression and effects, we’ll create a space using reverb and delay, mix the levels and perform master bus processing, as well as export the arrangement as a finished audio file.

Lessons

Mixing principles

Cleaning and Enhancing with EQ

Mix Dynamics

Creating Space

Mixing the Levels

Master Bus Processing

Exporting the Mix

 

Module 6 – Instruments and MIDI

We’ll start working with on-board synths and samplers of Studio One 3. This section covers recording and editing MIDI, quantization, programming drums and melodic parts, as well as using MIDI Note FX.

Lessons

Instruments introduction - Presence sampler

Recording and Editing MIDI

Quantization and Step Recording

Programming Drums

Pattern Editing [STUDIO ONE 4]

Note FX

 

Module 7 – Synthesis

This section will present basic synthesis techniques using the Mai Tai synthesizer, so you can program your own sounds from scratch. A variety of timbres will be programmed, utilising different synth concepts.

Lessons

Synthesis introduction. Mai Tai – Bass

Synthesis – Chord Stabs

Synthesis – Pluck

Synthesis – Gated Pad

Synthesis – Sine Bell Arp

Synthesis – Percs

Synthesis – Lead

Synthesis – Organ

 

Module 8 – Producing the Track

We’ll be putting together a track by arranging the drums, layering synth and sampled instrumental parts, as well as mixing the arrangement.

Lessons

Arranging drums

Layering

Mixing the track

 

MODULE 9 – Sampling

In this module we’ll learn about using the Impact drum sampler to create beats. You’ll learn to import your own hits, as well as sample them from audio loops. Beatslicing techniques will also be presented, as well as melodic sampling with Sample One.

Lessons

Making a Beat with Impact

Impact XT [STUDIO ONE 4]

Importing hits to Impact

Sampling Hits

Beatslicing with Impact

Music Loops

Melodic Sampling with Sample One

Sample One XT [STUDIO ONE 4]

 

MODULE 10 – Creating a Track with Samples and Synths

We’ll put together a song using sampling techniques, as well as creating bass and leads using the Mojito synthesizer. You’ll also learn how to sample and pitch vocals. Methods of making your song sound lo-fi and vintage will be shown.

Lessons

Creating a Beat

Chopping Instrument Loops

Mojito Synth – Bass and Lead

Sampling and Pitching a Vocal

Vintage Mix