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Online Studio Class

Natural Vocal Production: The Professional Process For Producing Top Vocals

Learn everything you need to produce natural-sounding vocals like a pro. In this class, Grammy-nominated #1 mixer/producer/engineer Dana Nielsen takes you into his studio and teaches you his complete editing and post-production process — the same process he's used with chart-topping artists such as Adele, Justin Timberlake, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and countless others. Follow along as he comps, tunes, mixes, and masters a full-length song from start to finish, right in front of you, explaining everything he's doing along the way.
$399.99

What’s included:

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    In-depth video lessons (11h 30m)

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    Step-by-step curriculum

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    Online and at your own pace

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    Watch on all devices

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    Unlimited lifetime access

Taught by

Profile picture for Dana Nielsen
Grammy-nominated mixer, engineer, and producer. Worked with SZA, Rihanna, Adele, Justin Timberlake, Post Malone, Neil Young, The Avett Brothers, Kanye West, Bob Dylan, & more.
What you’ll learn
How to mine raw performance "takes" for gold and assemble a comp with confidence
How to contend with tempo fluctuations and bleed when comping between takes recorded without a click track
Dana's complete Melodyne process for "natural sounding" tuning - so you can't tell it's been tuned
Creative editing techniques for masking vocal bleed in instrument tracks - especially once the vocal has been tuned
Dana's entire mixing process, philosophy, and go-to plugins for in-the-box mixing
All Dana's favorite Pro Tools shortcuts, plus tons of workflows, signal routing, and session organization tips
Mastering, file management, and final delivery
Hacks for keeping your ears fresh and your perspective clear

Class Overview

Learn all of Dana Nielsen's secrets for comping, tuning & mixing natural-sounding vocals
Dana Nielsen is a Grammy nominated mixer, engineer and producer. He's worked with SZA, Rihanna, Post Malone, Neil Young, The Avett Brothers, Kanye West, Bob Dylan, and many more. He's comped and tuned vocals using the exact process he shares in this course for artists such as Adele, Anderson .Paak, H.E.R., Black Sabbath, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linkin Park, Sheryl Crow, Miley Cyrus, The Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer, Slayer, Justin Timberlake, and others. In this class, Dana brings you into his home studio and teaches you his start-to-finish production process for comping, natural sounding tuning, and mixing a song written and performed by Nashville-based singer-songwriter, Josh Del. You'll see Dana's entire process from how he organizes raw vocal takes in his DAW all the way to his finished, mastered mix. Throughout the course, Dana explains everything that he's doing. Every idea, decision, tool, and technique is out in the open, on display for you to use in your own productions. He'll show you how he edits to mask vocal bleed and how he comps between takes that weren't recorded to a click. You'll hear his thought process along the way as he decides which takes to use, and you'll see how he tunes vocals so you can't tell they've been tuned. This course is mostly about listening and learning how to listen, whether you're listening to individual takes in order to assemble a comp or - as Dana teaches in this course - listening from a new position in your room in order to broaden your perspective and focus on the bigger picture. If you're a recording artist, engineer, or producer who struggles with decision fatigue, this course can be transformative in helping you to make creative decisions with confidence. You'll see Dana working in Pro Tools; however, the techniques taught in this course can be easily adapted to any DAW and any style of music. In the final lesson, Dana shows you how he mixes and masters an acoustic singer-songwriter track and exports it for final delivery. By the end of the class, you'll know everything you need to comp, tune, and mix vocal performances like a pro.

Lessons (10)

Apply what you learn

Follow Dana’s proven process, step by step

In the class, Dana Nielsen breaks down his vocal comping, tuning, mixing, and mastering process into clear, actionable steps. Follow along with Dana’s process step by step and produce your own natural-sounding vocal-based song. You can also watch Dana’s process in full first and then bring the ideas, tools, and techniques into your own projects. By following Dana’s proven process, you’ll learn everything you need to comp, tune, mix, and master vocal performances from a wide variety of genres and artists like these:

Who’s this class for?
1

Experienced songwriters and hobbyists looking to drastically level up their vocal production skills.

2

Aspiring professionals looking to learn and practice the skills needed to produce vocals on par with professional-level songs.

3

Professional producers, engineers, mixers or editors looking to hone their craft.

Profile picture for Dana Nielsen
Profile picture for Dana Nielsen
meet your instructor
Dana Nielsen

Dana Nielsen is a Grammy-nominated mixer, engineer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist known for his work with SZA, Rihanna, Adele, Post Malone, The Smashing Pumpkins, Neil Young, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Weezer, The Avett Brothers, Bob Dylan, and Kanye West. Nielsen also frequently works with music for picture, producing, recording, and mixing a growing number of film scores and soundtracks, such as Kristen Wiig's Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar (Lionsgate), Will Ferrell’s Anchorman 2 (Paramount) and Casa De Mi Padre (NALA), as well as the Sam Rockwell/Olivia Wilde dark comedyBetter Living Through Chemistry. Based in Los Angeles, Nielsen has amassed credits that run the stylistic gamut from Neil Diamond to Slayer and just about every style in between. Nielsen’s work can be heard on albums by a diverse roster of artists. He worked as an engineer on Kanye West’s Yeezus(Roc-A-Fella) and Rihanna’s Loud (Def Jam), recorded Bob Dylan’s Tempest (Colombia), mixed three songs on SZA’s chart-topping album “SOS” (TDE/RCA), arranged vocals and sang on Post Malone’s “Twelve Carat Tooth Ache” (Mercury), and recorded Neil Young and Crazy Horse for their album Colorado (Reprise). As a composer, saxophonist, singer and programmer, Nielsen’s own music and/or voice can be heard on countless TV commercials, as well as hit shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, America’s Next Top Model, and the Duplass brothers’ HBO series Room 104. Throughout his career, legendary producer Rick Rubin has frequently tapped Nielsen’s skills for various projects including Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/LoveSounds, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Stadium Arcadium, and The Smashing Pumpkins' "Shiny and Oh So Bright Vol. 1" (Napalm), which Nielsen recorded and mixed. In 2008 he mixed Neil Diamond’s #1 selling album, Home Before Dark, and in 2013 Nielsen worked as an engineer on Black Sabbath’s Rick Rubin-produced 13, the band’s first album to top the UK charts in 43 years. Nielsen has also recently recorded and mixed albums for Santana as well as The Avett Brothers. Nielsen can be seen on screen working as an engineer alongside Rick Rubin and David Letterman in episode 4 (feat. Jay Z) of Letterman’s Netflix series “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.” Nielsen is also featured in the SHOWTIME series “Shangri-LA” as well as the Judd Apatow/Michael Bonfiglio HBO documentary, “May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers.”

A better kind of online class
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Apprenticeship-Style Learning ™
In Studio Classes, creators take you into their studios and teach you everything they actually do behind the scenes. Learn by observing the real process like an apprentice.
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The Start-To-Finish Process
Instead of watching surface level tutorials, watch the entire start-to-finish process of a creator to uncover every idea, decision, tool, and technique used throughout their journey.
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Vulnerable & Open
At Studio, creators step into the vulnerable arena and share everything. Every idea, setback, and triumph is included. Creators openly share the full process, not just the final output.
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Learn Insider Secrets
On Studio, accessing the world’s guarded knowledge has never been easier. Creators share their secrets, tips and tricks that are impossible to find elsewhere.
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Watch On All Devices
Whether you’re at home or on the go, you’ll always have access to all your class lessons across all of your devices including mobile and tablets.
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Unlimited Lifetime Access
On Studio, you get unlimited lifetime access to every class you purchase. Pay once and use your class lessons as valuable references forever.

Frequently asked questions

$399.99

What’s included:

  • include icon

    In-depth video lessons (11h 30m)

  • include icon

    Step-by-step curriculum

  • include icon

    Online and at your own pace

  • include icon

    Watch on all devices

  • include icon

    Unlimited lifetime access

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