Many songwriters and producers eventually run into the same problem during their practice process during a course or music education. We would all like to have the latest world hit on Spotify tomorrow, but the reality is that it doesn’t work that way. Creative people see progress quickly, but the biggest problem is that often […]

One of the most important parts of your studio setup is, nexts to the acoustics, a good set of monitors. From the start until the end you are trying your best to make your production or mix sound as good as possible. You invested heavily in a fancy laptop, an expensive interface, every plugin imaginable, […]

Potresti pensare che ci siano solo due tipi di scale nella musica: minore e maggiore. Pensa di nuovo. Ci sono molti colori che puoi aggiungere alla tua musica. I modi della chiesa (o solo i modi) sono un ottimo esempio. Per capirli non serve una laurea in conservatorio o seguire i corsi di una scuola […]

It might seem obvious, yet it is good to realise that your microphone choice has a massive impact on your recording. If you know the characteristics of each type of microphone, you can make the right decision for any recording. How does a microphone work? In essence each microphone is a transducer. A transducer is […]

As soon as you get to a certain level with your music and want to have it mixed and mastered, you will encounter the term LUFS. LUFS is a way of measuring the loudness of your music. If you understand this, you might also understand why you have to turn up your volume when listening […]

It requires a surprisingly low amount of money to get your home studio at a more professional level. You mainly have to invest some time. It often looks more complicated than it actually is. With a relatively small amount of adjustments in your space you can make all the world of a difference. Both for […]

Most music producers will produce from their bedroom, which means all their recordings are done there as well. As the famous saying goes: ‚fix it in the mix‘, but what if the source is already perfect and you don’t need to fix anything? Here are a couple of easy fixes to quickly improve your vocal […]

It is an industry secret that there are in fact no industry secrets. Or are there… There might be one industry secret every mixing engineer or music producer has up his sleeve. And that is using a reference track. If you spend so much time in your own world listening to a pair of monitors […]

On the internet you can’t go anywhere without reading it. Everybody seems to be saying ‚mind the headroom‘, but what is it? Is there a specific set of values you need to mind as a producer? How can you structure your mix to get a consistent signal flow throughout? What is gain staging Gain staging […]

Together with EQ’s compressors are one of the most important tools in music production. You can use it to decrease the dynamics of a track, but you can also use it to shape a sound. But with so many different kinds of compressors, when and where do you use which one? A lot of digital […]

Distortion is a term much used in music production. It’s a comprehensive term that could mean something in terms of mixing techniques, a sound effect or signal flow. But what is it? How can you use it and when should you avoid it? Which tools do you need and how will it fit your workflow? […]

Especially if you often write a lot of songs, it can be difficult to start a new song from scratch. But that is also possible if you don’t write that often and have become a bit rusty. There are many ways to start writing a new song. At the songwriting lessons at the Wisseloord Academy […]

Especially if you often write a lot of songs, it can be difficult to start a new song from scratch. But that is also possible if you don’t write that often and have become a bit rusty. There are many ways to start writing a new song. At the songwriting lessons at the Wisseloord Academy […]

Especially if you often write a lot of songs, it can be difficult to start a new song from scratch. But that is also possible if you don’t write that often and have become a bit rusty. There are many ways to start writing a new song. At the songwriting lessons at the Wisseloord Academy […]

Especially if you often write a lot of songs, it can be difficult to start a new song from scratch. But that is also possible if you don’t write that often and have become a bit rusty. There are many ways to start writing a new song. At the songwriting lessons at the Wisseloord Academy […]

Backing vocals are often indispensable in productions and live performances. Many people often say about backing vocalists; those are the failed singers. But that is of course a total misconception. Being a backing vocalist is harder than you think and requires total control over your voice. Backing vocals are a common part of arrangements and […]

As a songwriter, but also as a producer, it can be useful to be able to play an instrument. This gives you extra freedom within the creative process that is songwriting and music production. At the Wisseloord Academy we look at many different instruments and what we can do with them. What types and variations […]

As a songwriter, but also as a producer, it can be useful to be able to play an instrument. This gives you extra freedom within the creative process that is songwriting and music production. At the Wisseloord Academy there is also the possibility to improve your skills on the drums, for example. But if playing […]

As a songwriter, but also as a producer, it can be useful to be able to play an instrument. This gives you extra freedom within the creative process that is songwriting and music production. At the Wisseloord Academy there is also the possibility to improve your skills on the piano, for example. But if playing […]

As a songwriter, but also as a producer, it can be useful to be able to play an instrument. This gives you extra freedom within the creative process that is songwriting and music production. At the Wisseloord Academy there is also the possibility to improve your skills on the guitar, for example. But if playing […]

 If you, as a producer or artist, want to record something with several musicians at the same time, you will sooner or later have to deal with a music studio. A music studio is especially equipped to provide optimal acoustics for an audio recording. Unlike a home studio, no expense has been spared to record […]

 Good pop songs are easy to listen to and sometimes seem very simple, but nothing could be further from the truth. Writing a good pop song is not that easy. It really is an art to make a song sound ‘easy’. It’s the right combination of lyrics, hooks, and production.  Text  Needless to say, well […]

Once you start working more professionally as a songwriter or producer, it is useful to know what rights there are within the music industry. Much attention is also paid to this at the Wisseloord Academy. It is important to know what you are entitled to and how to register this. Simply put, music rights can […]

Music theory tells you why music works the way it does. It exposes the structure under your favourite tracks and explains why it does what it does. Musicians use music theory to communicate with each other about their music so that they can speak the same language with the same words. To master the basics […]

If you want to write memorable melodies, it’s good to know how rhythm works and how to use it in your tracks. Rhythms can get complicated quickly, but knowing a few basic concepts will get you a long way. Most music is systematically divided into units of time: measures. These measures follow each other at […]

If you want to make a career in music as a songwriter and/or producer, do a lot of sessions and possibly want to write for and with other artists, you may eventually end up working with a publisher. At the Wisseloord Academy Business Classes you will meet many publishers; they will tell you who they […]

It all seems so simple when you turn on the new ‘New Music Friday’ playlist on Spotify. Every week and everyday tens, hundreds, thousands of new songs. “That must be easy to do then”, is often thought. That is still somewhat disappointing in practice. There is still a lot of work to do before a […]

Labels will also visit the Wisseloord Academy to talk about their work, an ideal opportunity for you as an artist to put yourself in the spotlight. But what is and does a label actually do? Labels, also known as record companies, can be divided into two groups. The ‘3 Majors’ and the ‘independent’ labels. The […]

How do I find the right chords for my melody? Every melody is created in a key, but how do I find that key? A lot of pop music starts and ends on the tonic. The tonic is the chord that gives you the feeling of ‘home’. It’s a steady chord that immediately tells you: […]

Intervals are an essential part of music theory. They are the building blocks of melodies, harmonies, and chord progressions. Intervals in music are the distance between two notes. An interval can be played simultaneously, as in a chord, or sequentially, forming a melody. Intervals can be overwhelming at the beginning. Nevertheless, it is useful to […]

At the Wisseloord Academy, attention is also paid to the artist. How do you market yourself well? How do you want to profile yourself and how do you put on a good live show? The music First of all, the music. Before you start releasing, it must be clear what you want to release. Sounds […]

If you, as a producer or artist, want to record something with several musicians at the same time, you will sooner or later have to deal with a music studio. A music studio is especially equipped to provide optimal acoustics for an audio recording. Unlike a home studio, no expense has been spared to record […]

One of the things you will be doing as a songwriter at the Wisseloord Academy is toplining. Toplining is a way of writing in which the songwriter devises the vocal lines on a pre-made demo production. This is most done in the EDM scene. Many DJs produce their new tracks before there is a hook […]

Lyrics don’t necessarily have to rhyme, but in most cases, rhyme is used. We’re going to look at a few different options. Full rhyme In a full rhyme, the sounds of both the vowels and the consonants match. There is no more ‘complete’ rhyme than full rhyme. For example: hope – rope, think – blink, […]

The first thing that gets stuck in your head is often the melody. A real earworm can haunt your mind for days. But coming up with a new melody that is also catchy can be difficult. Many songwriters return after a few songs to a melody that they have used before. Here are some tips! […]

Whether a song is good depends a lot on the lyrics. Songs with a good and catchy story often stick with the listener the longest. It is because of this that someone can start to attach an emotional value to such a song. But how do you write lyrics that really tell a story and […]

It can sometimes be extremely difficult to come up with a new concept for a song from scratch. Of course, you want a good story and preferably something you have not heard before. Often songwriters already get stuck there. Fortunately, there are several ways to awaken your creative mind. You will do many of these […]

Most songwriters have written their first song just by themselves. But nowadays almost all the songs you listen to are written by at least two or three writers. For some people it is hard to make that transition to do co-writes. But doing so can result in huge improvements in your songwriting. At the Wisseloord […]

At the Wisseloord Academy you will be prepared for the real thing. You will regularly work on assignments and briefings out of the work field. It gives you a double chance: you can gain experience while making the assignment and if you carry out the briefing well, it may just be that your work makes […]

 If you’ve been writing for a while and have delivered a lot of songs, you might develop a writer’s block. Haven’t I used this chord progression before? Isn’t this guitar rhythm from my previous song? I wrote this melody last week, didn’t I?  These are questions that regularly pop into the mind of even the […]

Good pop songs are easy to listen to and sometimes seem very simple, but nothing could be further from the truth. Writing a good pop song is not that easy. It really is an art to make a song sound ‘easy’. It’s the right combination of lyrics, hooks, and production. Text Needless to say, well […]

To become a better songwriter and/or producer you simply must practice a lot. But to find out where you need to improve your skills, you need feedback. Therefore, regularly ask for the opinion of someone you respect in the music field about the songs you are making. You don’t have to take everything lightly but […]

Few things seem to sound so good at first but can turn your track into a bathtub or mud pool in the blink of an eye. Reverb (short for reverberation) is different from delay. Where separate echoes are always audible with a delay, a reverb consists of a huge number of small echoes that follow […]

 Where drum samples are often already fully processed and ready to use, a live recorded drum kit is not.  A good drum sound almost always stands or falls with the recording. Are the microphones in phase, how does the room sound, are the drums tuned and so on and so on.  A typical drum multitrack […]

One of the most important instruments of modern pop music is arguably the synthesizer. This multicolored beast comes in endless shapes and flavors and seems to be able to go in any direction. But what is it? A synthesizer electrically generates its own sound. An acoustic instrument generates a signal by airflow (wind instruments), by […]

As a producer you often have to deal with vocals alongside your instrumental. As a singer or an artist you might also want to know how to proceed when you record your own vocals. It is important to know that no two singers sound the same, no microphone and no track is the same. The […]

The art of sampling dates back to the 1960s. Fragments of music were recorded from vinyl and later tape and placed in other songs. It has been very emblematic of the emergence of genres such as hip op, drum and bass and house. Many lawsuits have been filed for this, but it has become an […]

Your track has been mixed, your tracks are compressed and EQ’d to your liking, you just bought the most beautiful reverb ever on Black Friday, but your track still sounds static. You need to get moving! Life isn’t perfectly aligned, so why should your tracks be? There are many ways to give your tracks extra […]

                If you’d ask 100 music producers which tool they use most 99 out of 100 would mention an EQ. Although equalizers (EQ for short) are the most common used tools, they are also the most commonly misused tools. Which can lead to a bad mix and sleepless […]

Apart from EQ, the second most used tool in music production is probably the compressor. Because unfortunately (or luckily?) we can’t make our music infinitely loud, or because some instruments can go from very soft to very loud in a very short time, we use compressors. A compressor is a tool to control the dynamic […]

Where mixing is about balancing individual parts, tightening rhythmic elements and emphasizing important sections in a track, a mastering engineer looks at the big picture. He or she listens to the stereo mixdown and thinks about what else is needed to improve the sound. He corrects levels and balance and ensures that the track sounds […]

Since the dawn of time, people have been looking for something to differentiate themselves from others. Think religion, political preference, your taste in movies, whether you use a PC or Mac, and nine times out of ten in music production it’s about the DAW you’re using. Before you start arguing with anyone about why Ableton […]

I was 14 and sitting on Museumplein in Amsterdam, when I knew that I wanted to make music for a living. Crazy that I still remember that moment and place, but it was suddenly clear to me: this makes me happy, I’m good at it and it gets me attention from people I want to […]

Two years ago I was in a period  in life where I felt like I didn’t have any direction. Things I did didn’t give me much satisfaction. I felt like I wasn’t moving forward in life, or working towards anything until I found an Ableton starter course and thought why not. Through listening and making […]

I’ve been making music myself for 10 years now and have released few “POP” singles that were successful. I was also part of the pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest in Iceland. My favorite genre now is leaning more towards R&B and Soul. I want to help develop those genres and learn to think like […]

The idea for following a full course at the Wisseloord Academy actually came from my mother. After high school I came from Bonaire to the Netherlands because my mother was ill and I decided to stay here. She wanted my education to go forward and I wasn’t really looking. She thought Wisseloord Academy was just […]

“Songwriting is so special to me. Start with a simple idea for a song. Then write a text and find a few chords. And it all develops into a story that people listen to. Fascinating. My dream is to ‘break through’, to be heard and to ‘score’ hits with songs that make me happy. With […]

“When I was 13 years old, I started playing ukulele and when I turned 14 I also picked up acoustic and electric guitar. Right now, I’m trying to learn how to play the piano and bass. Since I was little, I have been busy with music in all kinds of ways. I sang and danced […]

For me, music is communication. A language like no other language that can express emotions, images and other intangible things.” (…) “My parents both raised me with their own culture. Beatles and Pink Floyd from my dad, from my mother jazz, theatre and volunteer work. In high school I always wore headphones. Music transported me […]

At the age of 10 I already knew that music would be my future. I wanted to be a producer and to live in New York. A friend of our family is a pianist and I soon realized that I had a feeling for music. Thanks to him I had piano lessons until I was […]

After I completed my preliminary education at the Prince Claus Conservatoire, things went a little differently than expected. I did not return to the conservatory, but ended up at the Wisseloord Academy. And in hindsight that was the best thing that ever happened to me.”   ‘The coronavirus ensured that my agenda with performances was […]

  Music is always around me. I live in Rotterdam and that is really a place where many musical cultures come together. From urban to techno, from Latin to funk. As a DJ I regularly perform in clubs and festivals. When I see people go wild, a special energy is released. Not only with the […]

Before I started the full course at the Wisseloord Academy in 2020 I already had two conservatory degrees. With my band INKT we just decided to take a different direction when corona came into our lives. With an empty agenda I decided to make the leap to a full time career in music.   At […]

Wisseloord Studios, Wisseloord Academy and NMUV (Dutch Music Publishers Association) have launched the Dutch String Sessions project. For this initiative, 12 well-known and big hits from Dutch soil have been given a ‘classic’ look. All publishers affiliated with NMUV could submit suggestions and the first EP contains classic arrangements of ‘Omarm’ (BLØF), He is mine […]

Esther Maier and Silvia Biemans from Buma Stemra and Sena graced the Academy today with their program “Music Rights On Tour” where our students learned all the ins and outs about music copyrights.  “We make sure that everybody who creates music has the right to get compensation. A lot of artists are busy with the […]

Glen Faria is a Dutch renowned rapper, singer and songwriter. He was also part of the famous Flinke Namen Band with multiple hit records to their name. Glen was a guest lecturer today at the academy and we had a short but enlightening interview with him after a “Q&A” session alongside artist manager and autor, […]

Arthur Vierboom, songwriter at DISTRIKT21 (and following the Module Creative Songwriting at Wisseloord Academy) ‘Wisseloord Academy is different. It’s not about mastering an instrument primarily, but about mastering a professional attitude.’ Malik Berrabah, director from Wisseloord Studio and Wisseloord Academy told us directly at our first lesson: ‘If you’re serious about making music I consider […]

Wisseloord has now an official Dolby Atmos enabled studio. Since Apple has chosen Dolby Atmos as its new standard, the industry is taking note of this amazing way to experience music. Is Dolby Atmos Music the new standard for spatial audio?     The team at Wisseloord is convinced about the impact of this new […]

Justice and Ole met at the Wisseloord Academy and had an instant connection, now they spend their days making music together and enjoying all that the academy has to offer. We spoke to Justice and Ole about their music, their time in Wisseloord and of course their friendship. Interested to know more? Read the interview, or have […]

Want to know more about life at the Wisseloord Academy? Brynja Mary is a sixteen-year-old singer/songwriter from Iceland and one of the first students at Wisseloord Academy. She mostly writes and sings pop and R&B music with a distinct Nordic vibe. We had the chance to ask Brynja some fun questions in between creative sessions. […]

Are you considering joining us at Wisseloord Academy next semester? The first group of students is well on it’s way to get the most out of their experience at Wisseloord Academy, while CEO Malik Berrabah is starting to make arrangements for a new group of students to join in January of 2021. We had a […]