BandLab is one of the very best tools out there for starting you on your music production journey. But that’s only the beginning! I’m going to take you on a guided tour through the platform, showing you how I go about creating tracks, how to get them broadcast ready and giving you a whole load of tips and tricks along the way. It’s your choice how deep you go.
Si Gordon
Music Producer, BandLab expert“BandLab has made me want to practise my instrument more and start a band”
Helping you get creative with BandLab
BandLab is a great bit of free, easy-to-use software. Whatever your style of music, from classical to pop to EDM, BandLab lets you get creative, without the need for buying any music kit. You can use it on any platform – PC, Mac, mobile, tablet – and best of all, it’s free!
“I have enjoyed Bandlab, having time to have a play around, which helps me to understand how it all works.”
What makes our courses different?
There are lots of tutorial videos freely available, but it’s often hard to know where to start, and where you should be going. You can end up losing the structure and consistent development that a course provides. Our courses take you through all of the steps required to create your own piece of music without missing any important details.
Our courses are designed by experienced educators. Si Gordon has taught at all ages from primary to adult education. He’s taught and designed courses for F.E. colleges for many years. His team of course tutors for MusicEL are also expert teachers and gigging musicians.
Si brings all this experience to bear in creating these courses that not only give you the ingredients you need, but chart the course for your learning. The handouts and research assignments are of the level you’d find at college. So you can choose how deep to take your learning – just for fun, or heading for a vocation.
Playlist of music by Si Gordon (a.k.a. Enyon). As a producer, Si is much in demand. He also produced some of the loop packs you find in BandLab, and works with them regularly.
In Si Gordon’s course, you get to follow in his footsteps and get insight into his creative process, at the same time as learning BandLab.
“I like it! My favourite bit of it is that you can create music on iPads and computers!”
Who are our courses for?
Whether you’re young or old, a complete beginner or a competent musician looking to dive into music production, if you want to get started on creating your own music, you’ve come to the right place.
Our courses are created to suit three age-groups:
BandLab for Kids
8 – 12 year olds
BandLab for Teens
13 – 17 year olds
BandLab for Adults
18 and above
For our premium courses, with live teaching, you will be grouped together with others in your age group.
What is in our courses?
You will have nearly 6 hours of pre-recorded tutorials – talking you through everything you need to know about BandLab. You can learn in your own time, at your own pace.
There is a version for each age group:
- BandLab for kids (8-12)
A shorter version that focuses on the fun stuff in smaller, bite-size chunks. - BandLab for teens (13-17)
The same in-depth course, but using BandLab Edu – a safe “walled garden” without the social media aspect, but where MusicEL students can collaborate. - BandLab for adults (18+)
Using the main BandLab site which has a social media aspect
Family access is included! By signing up, everyone in your family/household can use your login to access all three courses. So whatever age you are, you can join in and create music together!
Here’s a sample video from the course – although the course has lots more than videos, with worksheets, quizzes, and assignments to put your learning into action.
Live Online BandLab Training
Coming Soon – use our contact form to find out the next start date.
With our premium course access you not only get lifetime access to the three pre-recorded BandLab courses, but you will also have a live seminar each week, for 6 weeks.
In groups of 12 – 16, you’ll be able to discuss what you’ve learned, work on your individual music projects, get feedback and help from your teacher, and collaborate with your peers.
Your teacher will also give you challenges or assignments – to use the pre-recorded lessons and what you’ve learned in the seminars to put your learning into practice. For example the teacher might ask you to work on a drum track and upload it before the next seminar so you can get some feedback and guidance.
MusicEL makes it easy for you to get started. Whether you’re a complete beginner or looking to refine your music production skills we have a premium course for you:
- BandLab beginner (getting started)
Everything you need to get started. No previous experience required. By the end of the course you’ll have produced several tracks of music and know your way around BandLab. - BandLab intermediate (core skills)
Maybe you already have some experience using music software to produce music. If so, this is the course for you.- You will dive deeper into the creative music-making process, finding out about what makes a strong chord sequence, interesting rhythms, and how to structure your music tracks.
- And you’ll learn some more advanced techniques, such as automation, effect chains, and mixing skills.
Compare Access Plans
| What you get | Standard Access | Premium Access |
|---|---|---|
| Online Access to all 3 BandLab courses | 3 months | Lifetime |
| Join the MusicEL community (forums, feedback, challenges & online showcases) | √ | √ |
| Live weekly seminars with Si Gordon’s team of music industry professionals | X | √ |
| Masterclasses by professional musicians and a host of other experts – from songwriters to producers. | X | √ |
Whichever you choose, you’ll become a part of the MusicEL community, with plenty of opportunities to collaborate, share your music, and enter our competitions.
Modular courses, learning pathways
Your learning journey doesn’t stop at the end of your first course, it is just beginning!
Once you’ve completed your 6-week taught course, (or worked through our online-only course), we have more 6-week taught modules available from January 2022.
N.B. all the courses below require you to have a basic knowledge of BandLab before starting (which the BandLab Beginner course can give you).
Rock School Grade exams for Music Production
Grades 1 – 3 will be available from September. These courses are great if you want to take your studies further. If you take it all the way to Grade 8, these qualifications can put you on a path that prepares you for college or university.
Band Factory
If you sing or play an instrument, this course will get you working in bands to write your own song. You’ll learn how to remotely work as a band on the same track in BandLab, about your roles, and how to use BandLab’s collaboration features to work together.
BandLab for Gaming
You’ll learn how to use effects, capture audio and edit MIDI to create sound effects for Games and Videos. Whichever game engine you’re using, you’ll have audio content ready by the end of this course.
BandLab for Podcasting
In this course we will look through everything from recording your podcast locally to editing the podcast using the built in effects on BandLab to sound good and the editing process to make a podcast sound slick.
Our taught courses are modular, and designed to fit together. So you can take the courses you like. But you can also put them together to make your own learning pathway. Our team of tutors teach at college and degree level, and can take you from complete beginner to as far as you’d like to go!
Testimonials
Some feedback from Si Gordon’s work in schools: