Overview
Discover the art of studio recording in a professional recording studio environment. Our 4-week short course is the perfect starting place for budding sound engineers eager to learn and practise the fundamentals of recording.
Supported by the core principle of learning by doing, you’ll be taught the basic concepts of sound engineering, pre-production and how to plan a recording session, audio production techniques, and how to use microphones, mixing desks and various software operations. Through project-based learning, you’ll work collaboratively with your peers and discover the art of recording bands, soloists or electronic artists in our cutting-edge recording studios.
Whether you’re a total beginner starting from scratch or an aspiring sound engineer wanting to build knowledge and confidence, you’ll gain a broad foundational understanding of studio recording.
Course structure
Topics covered
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.
Weekly breakdown
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.
Skills gained
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.
Progression
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.
"The summer course gave me a chance to prepare for an application to the Bachelor's degree and was a great preview to what the main course would have to offer. If you haven't decided if this school is for you yet, the summer course is a great way to find out!"
– Ian Manning, Creative Audio Production & Sound Engineering student
Your technological playground
Get hands-on access to cutting-edge facilities and tons of bookable gear.
Tutors
Our tutors are industry-acclaimed experts in their field, with a passion for passing on their knowledge to others. Here are some of the tutors that will be supporting you throughout your learning process.
Essential information
Tuition fees
Enrolment fee*: €495
Course fee: €1,755
Total: €2,250
Early Bird Discount: Enrol in a Summer Short Course before the end of March 31 2026 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.
Timetable
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.
Entry requirements
The most important prerequisite for attending this course is that you must be passionate about building and developing your skills within electronic music production.
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. 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! You can reach out to us at:
Email: admissions@catalyst-berlin.com
Phone: +49 30 2900 9052
Application deadlines
Early bird deadline: 31 March 2026
Final application deadline: 29 May 2026
Spots fill up fast. Once a course is full, you'll be placed on the waiting list.
Save €150 with the Early Bird Discount
Apply to any Summer Short Course before 31 March 2026 to secure your spot early and receive €150 off your tuition fee.
Student work
Here’s a glimpse of just some of the tracks created during the short course.