True School’s Pro Music Production course prepares you for exciting careers in the music and film industry. You will learn to compose, arrange, program and produce music for artists, films, ads, and games from faculty are experienced industry professionals.
The course is certified by the Media & Entertainment Skills Council (MESC), India, and provides you with the option to earn a B.Sc (Hons) degree from the University of Hertfordshire, London, or a B.A (Hons) degree form Point Blank, London.
Students who successfully complete all 3 levels of our course are also eligible to apply directly for admission to a 1 year Masters course at BIMM Institute, UK.
This level focuses on the development of arranging skills in different musical styles, professional recording studio operations, advanced use of music notation software, mixing skills and electronic music production. You will further expand your proficiency in keyboards/piano playing and develop a comprehensive understanding of advanced contemporary harmony. Through collaborative work and peer assessments, you will develop critical and analytical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Upon successful completion of Level 2, you will earn a Skill Certificate for the role of “Music Producer” from the Media & Entertainment Skills Council (MESC) India.
PRACTICAL SOUND ENGINEERING
This module develops working skills within a recording studio environment, backed by solid theoretical foundation of operating principles and characteristics of professional audio equipment. You will familiarise with the recording studio layout and develop operational skills on audio mixing console, high-definition AD-DA converters, outboard audio processors, and Pro Tools Digital Audio Workstation through weekly practical exercises.
Faculty
Kishore Banan
Kishore Banan
Kishore Banan was the head of academics at the School of Audio Engineering, Mumbai. He has trained students of Sound Engineering for over 12 years and is currently a freelance sound engineer and an educator. His passion spans the entire spectrum of sound engineering, covering areas such as Digital Audio Technology, Digital Audio Workstations, Acoustics etc. He is excited to share the myriad possibilities that digital audio workstations bring to the modern world of audio production.
ARRANGING TO BRIEF
In this module, you will learn to arrange given pieces of music in several specific styles through analysis, examples and guided sessions by the faculty. You will learn to interpret and adhere to the guidelines given in creative briefs, which include instrumentation, genre, use/destination, mood, etc. You will prepare arrangements with the help of a DAW, while you will have the opportunity to have one of your arrangements performed live by an ensemble of musicians. Through this experience, you will learn to prepare music scores and parts for the performers, and to lead a rehearsal session with the ensemble of musicians. Learning Outcomes
Arrange given compositions in different styles (rock, pop, hip-hop, EDM, electro/synth pop, soul/RnB)
Prepare parts for musicians and conduct a rehearsal with the ensemble
Demonstrate an understanding of technical and artistic differences among the different music styles and their arrangements
Demonstrate awareness of arranging techniques
Faculty
Aki Spadaro
Aki Spadaro
Born in Palermo (Sicily, Italy) in 1986, music became his passion and main activity from a very early age. After seven years of classical piano training, he began to play jazz at the age of fourteen. Since then, he has constantly involved both as an arranger and as a pianist in various projects, where he demonstrated remarkable versatility and openness to different musical styles (jazz, swing, progressive rock, funk, R&B, world music, southern Italian folk, soul).
Aki’s own projects and performances have often received awards in both national and international contexts. In 2007 he won the first prize in the music contest “Show No Profit” in Palermo with his funk band Subjaez; in 2009 he was among the finalists in the jazz soloist competition “Vittoria Jazz Award”; and in 2010 he received the Audience Award and the 2nd jury prize at the prestigious jazz contest “Chicco Bettinardi” (Piacenza Jazz Fest) with his Jazz trio Even3. He went on to release a record with Even3 titled Below Sea Level, which was well received by audiences and critics alike.
In 2010 Aki settled in Amsterdam (the Netherlands), where he initiated a number of projects and collaborations with artists from all over Europe. In 2013 he also obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Piano at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.
In 2014 he temporarily moved to India, where he acted as Head of the Keyboard Department at True School of Music in Mumbai, and also collaborated with the Whistling Woods International Film School of Mumbai as a musical advisor.
Once back to Amsterdam Aki obtained a Master’s degree in Composing for Film with the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Nederlandse Filmacademie.
He has since composed music for a number of Dutch fiction and documentary productions. In 2015 he composed and produced the score for the short film “Vandaag”, which won the award for best short film in the Dutch YAKFA Festival and was selected in 2016 for the International Short Film Festival, Nijmegen.
In the last years, he has performed in the most prestigious stages of The Netherlands such as Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ (Amsterdam), Schouwburg de Meerse (Hoofdorp), Theater Ludens (Voorburg) and Schouwburg Venray (Venray).
CREATIVE MIXING & MASTERING
This module involves a comprehensive coverage of the various tools and techniques used for mixing music. You will learn to balance different instruments and voices, place them in the stereo field by adjusting panorama and imaging, and develop application knowledge of concepts such as pan depth and MS. You will familiarise well with the use of dynamic processors, equalisers, various time based effects and harmonic processing. You also will develop a solid understanding of mix automation techniques and the concepts involved in mastering finished mixes for release.
Faculty
Zain Calcuttawala
Zain Calcuttawala
Zain began his career as an artist manager working closely with artists like ‘Megadeth,’ ‘Imogen Heap,’ ‘T-Pain’ and many others. Now freelancing as a music producer, Zain composes his own music under the stage name, ‘Bulli Bainbridge,’ plus he produces and engineers independent musicians such as ‘Short Round,’ ‘Spud In The Box,’ ‘Raghav Meattle’ and others. Zain also composes, produces, and mixes music for ads and short films along with his partner, Sid Talwar. They’ve worked with several brands such as Swiggy, TBZ, Sula, Bajaj, Housing.com and many others.
Apart from this he is also a member of ‘Bohemia Junction,’ which is an entity that represents Abbey Road Studios’ mastering services, and The Macedonian Radio Symphonic Orchestra recording services in India.
ELECTRONIC MUSIC PRODUCTION SKILLS
In this module you will learn advanced composing and programming techniques employed in various Electronic Music genres in order to compose and produce them accurately and convincingly. The main genres covered are Drum’n Bass, Dubstep, Trip Hop, Synth Wave and Chill Out focusing on their characteristic musical elements and their specific production techniques: Breakbeat samples, various LFO techniques, complex waveforms in Massive, sampling and atmospheric sound sampling, vocal production and treatment, etc. will be covered in detail. Learning Outcomes
Arrange in different styles of Electronic music following the guidelines of the brief.
Use software synthesizers and samplers to create genre specific sounds from scratch.
Demonstrate understanding of technical and artistic differences among the different electronic music styles and their arrangements.
Demonstrate proficiency with the use of synthesizers and samplers
MUSIC THEORY – CONTEMPORARY HARMONY
In this level, you will be introduced to harmonic concepts such secondary dominants and passing and auxiliary diminished chords. You will analyse the use of different ornaments and techniques employed in select repertoire from the bebop genre. Additionally, you will learn the concept of modulation and will delve deeper into chord scale theory. Further, you will study harmony derived from the melodic and harmonic minor scales, their modes and the application of these modes in different chord progressions. This level also aims at giving you a thorough understanding of major and minor pentatonic scales, including interesting pentatonic scales from world cultures. Lastly, you will also learn the basics of composition and arrangement.
Learning Outcomes:
Analyse the use of melodic techniques in select repertoire
Apply passing and auxiliary chords to existing chord progressions
Modulate to different keys using pivot chords, tone centred modulation and motivic development
Build all chords of harmonic and melodic minor scales
Construct all melodic and harmonic minor modes
Familiarise with principles of composition and arrangement
EAR TRAINING
In this level, you will get acquainted with different 7th chord qualities, modes of major scales, melodic and harmonic minor scales, as well as modes of the pentatonic scale. You will also work on transcribing melodies and chord progressions, as well as sight singing melodies in select major and minor keys.
Learning Outcomes:
Aurally recognise at least eight different 7th chord qualities
Aurally recognise the sound of all modes of the major scale, melodic and harmonic minor scales and modes of the pentatonic scale
Sight sing melodies in select major and minor keys
Transcribe melodies and chord progressions
KEYS & ARRANGEMENT
You will learn to apply chord extensions in a major harmonic context and familiarise with how voice leading works in arrangements and performance. You will also learn to practise and play the different modes and to compose simple melodies on the piano. You will learn exercises that improve technique and hand coordination, application of chord extensions in a major or minor harmonic context and different ways to approach blues bass lines on the piano, and learn how to apply these to a 12-bar blues form by learning blues standards. You will learn the process of transcribing simple pop songs. You will also learn to transpose the chords and melodies of simple pop songs across different keys, as well as the application of harmonic concepts to Jazz standards, which will prepare you to deal with real world performance and arranging scenarios.
Learning Outcomes:
Transcribe and transpose melody and chords of contemporary repertoire to at least 3 keys
Play triads, 7th chords and melodies of contemporary repertoire while applying all relevant harmonic and rhythmic concepts
Apply drop 2 and drop 3 voicings to chords of contemporary repertoire
Harmonise melodies with accidentals using relevant harmonic concepts
Faculty
Derrick Johnson
Derrick Johnson
Derrick Johnson is a 29-year-old pianist from the outskirts of Mumbai. His musical journey began by playing the keyboards in Churches since 2005, where he learnt to play hymns by ear. He went on to get classically trained in Piano under the guidance of Clifton Rodricks from Mumbai. After completing his graduation in business administration (BBA), he worked as an HR for a recruiting firm for a year. But since music was the innate calling, he quit that job to pursue music as a career. Eventually, he started working with music schools as a piano instructor since early 2014, where he taught classical as well as pop piano. In November 2015, he completed his Grade 8 in Pop Music Theory from London College of Music through self-study. In February 2017 he completed his Advanced Recital Certificate from Trinity College London with Distinction under the guidance of Roxana Anklesaria, an established pedagogue and member of MTNA.
He’s a proud teacher to several distinction holders of music exams over the years. He’s currently also pursuing LTCL Diploma in Piano performance and wishes to continue the journey of learning and teaching quality music.
Aki Spadaro
Aki Spadaro
Born in Palermo (Sicily, Italy) in 1986, music became his passion and main activity from a very early age. After seven years of classical piano training, he began to play jazz at the age of fourteen. Since then, he has constantly involved both as an arranger and as a pianist in various projects, where he demonstrated remarkable versatility and openness to different musical styles (jazz, swing, progressive rock, funk, R&B, world music, southern Italian folk, soul).
Aki’s own projects and performances have often received awards in both national and international contexts. In 2007 he won the first prize in the music contest “Show No Profit” in Palermo with his funk band Subjaez; in 2009 he was among the finalists in the jazz soloist competition “Vittoria Jazz Award”; and in 2010 he received the Audience Award and the 2nd jury prize at the prestigious jazz contest “Chicco Bettinardi” (Piacenza Jazz Fest) with his Jazz trio Even3. He went on to release a record with Even3 titled Below Sea Level, which was well received by audiences and critics alike.
In 2010 Aki settled in Amsterdam (the Netherlands), where he initiated a number of projects and collaborations with artists from all over Europe. In 2013 he also obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Piano at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.
In 2014 he temporarily moved to India, where he acted as Head of the Keyboard Department at True School of Music in Mumbai, and also collaborated with the Whistling Woods International Film School of Mumbai as a musical advisor.
Once back to Amsterdam Aki obtained a Master’s degree in Composing for Film with the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Nederlandse Filmacademie.
He has since composed music for a number of Dutch fiction and documentary productions. In 2015 he composed and produced the score for the short film “Vandaag”, which won the award for best short film in the Dutch YAKFA Festival and was selected in 2016 for the International Short Film Festival, Nijmegen.
In the last years, he has performed in the most prestigious stages of The Netherlands such as Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ (Amsterdam), Schouwburg de Meerse (Hoofdorp), Theater Ludens (Voorburg) and Schouwburg Venray (Venray).
HISTORY & CONTEXT OF GLOBAL COMMERCIAL MUSIC
In this level, you will learn about different genres such as disco, gospel, Krautrock, late 60s and early 70s jamaican ska, reggae, dancehall, rocksteady and dub. You will also go on to learn about the origins of 80’s soft rock, hip hop and the rise of EDM.
Learning Outcomes:
Trace the origins and development of disco, krautrock, hip-hop and EDM
Identify major artists and political, technological and social events that shaped these genres
Relate the role played by record labels to the changing sound of music across the different decades
Faculty
Vehrnon Ibrahim
Vehrnon Ibrahim
Vehrnon has had many long term rolls in his career including Vice President of various National FM Radio Networks, a House Music DJ, Frontman of Indian Heavy Metal band Millennium, an Event Director, an Audio Engineer both live and in studios, a Music Producer and Song Writer, a Stage and Lighting Designer, the Creative Director of an Interactive Television Company and a regular Commentator on Music, Culture and Creativity…
Today, Vehrnon continues to work in Live Music Events, Radio and other Media and is also an Independent Music Artist Advisor with “FreeWillMusic” a system designed to help them make and keep more money…
HISTORY & CONTEXT OF INDIAN COMMERCIAL MUSIC
In this level, you will learn about the development of music in India between the 60’s and the 90’s. You will learn about the birth of Bollywood music, Hindustani and Carnatic music and international influences on Indian music. You will explore the golden age of Bollywood and delve deeper into the careers of Kishore Kumar, RD Burman, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bosle, Manna Dey and Mohammad Rafi. You will also learn about the development of fascination with disco songs, history of Indian DJs, rise of the satellite TV and lastly, indie-pop’s influence on Bollywood.
Learning Outcomes
Trace with the evolution of Indian film music between the 60s and the 90s
Identify the impact of prominent musicians on the development of Indian popular music
Relate the advancement of technology on the evolution of music in India
Faculty
Vehrnon Ibrahim
Vehrnon Ibrahim
Vehrnon has had many long term rolls in his career including Vice President of various National FM Radio Networks, a House Music DJ, Frontman of Indian Heavy Metal band Millennium, an Event Director, an Audio Engineer both live and in studios, a Music Producer and Song Writer, a Stage and Lighting Designer, the Creative Director of an Interactive Television Company and a regular Commentator on Music, Culture and Creativity…
Today, Vehrnon continues to work in Live Music Events, Radio and other Media and is also an Independent Music Artist Advisor with “FreeWillMusic” a system designed to help them make and keep more money…
Mandar Deshpande
Mandar Deshpande
Mandar is an established Bollywood playback singer who is known for his distinct and versatile voice. He has sung for a number of films, OTTs, plays and TV/web channels. He has been working as a faculty member for the Pro Hindustani Vocals course at True School and has also designed courses for their popular music learning app – Learn to Sing:True School. Mandar started learning the Tabla at the age of 4, and later Hindustani Classical vocals and Natya sangeet from various gurus and gharanas. His career as a singer started with him singing covers of songs by Sudhir Phadke and Shankar Mahadevan.
As a playback singer, Mandar debuted with the film Zubaan, starring Vicky Kaushal and Sarah Jane Dias, where he was launched by the singing sensation Gurudas Mann in Punjab. The film was well received at several international Film Festivals like at Bussan & Palm Spring. His most recent work as a playback singer was for the film Monsoon Shootout in which he was released by Times Music. This film was also critically acclaimed and presented at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
Apart from this, Mandar has collaborated with the Symphony Orchestra of India (NCPA), and Dharavi Rocks. Along with his passion for designing and teaching modern curriculum for Indian popular music, he has also been busy with his performances and recordings.
Milestones:
1. Best Vocalist award – Yamaha Asian Beat 2006
2. Best Background Score Nomination – Zee awards Commercial Drama 2007
3. Uttunga State level award – Best Music 2013
4. Frontman – India’s First Raag Metal fusion Band Founding member 2006- 2010
5. Judge for IIT Bombay – Mood Indigo – 2017, 2018, 2019
101 SESSIONS
101 sessions are additional learning opportunities outside of your core curriculum that cover a number of relevant topics associated with professional music. You may choose up to three 101 sessions of your interest in each term from the available list.
Eligibility
Students entering at level 2 will need to have either completed successfully level 1 or have developed a portfolio of work and experience that can be assessed at level 2 skills.
Students will have to prepare a set of pieces on the piano as well as demonstrate sufficient music theory knowledge.
