Mark Ronson to Teach Music Production With BBC Maestro

Global DJ, Oscar, Golden Globe, BRIT and seven-time GRAMMY Award winning artist and producer Mark Ronson will share his critically acclaimed production skills as well as the processes of how he works as a producer, beat maker, musician, songwriter and collaborator in his upcoming BBC Maestro course in Music Production. Today you can catch a preview of Ronson's full BBC Maestro course, out July 5th.

Launched in October 2020 to incredible success, the BBC Maestro platform sees world-class experts share exclusive knowledge and insight into their craft. Mark's course launch coincides with the introduction of BBC Maestro's new all-access subscription service, where users can pay an annual fee for unlimited access to all BBC Maestro courses. Where users previously could only buy individual courses, all-access opens the door to every Maestro and a load more inspiration. Additionally, this course marks the launch of BBC Maestro in the U.S. for the first time.

Mark's BBC Maestro course will provide a one-of-a-kind learning experience as he lifts the lid on his unique creative process by breaking down the tips and techniques that have helped him become the award-winning music producer he is today.

Through eighteen online lessons with individual sub-chapters targeted to those interested and eager to learn more about music production, Mark will educate beginners on how to tackle songwriting, recording, production as well as advice on how to successfully collaborate with other musicians to create genre defying and timeless music.

I'm doing this so that any young kids curious about producing, or people who are starting out, or just music fans who are wondering if they want to get into it, can see how to produce music," Mark explains, "It's usable, accessible content".

"Whether it's chopping breaks or mic-ing drums, or a more holistic understanding of how to collaborate with artists. It's a bunch of things that I've learned over 25 years, the insight and foresight I've amassed, packaged in a nice little lesson series."

The 18 bespoke course lessons include: What Makes A Great Producer, Sample-based Production, Serving The Song, The Power Of Knowledge, Developing Ideas, Educate Yourself, Preparing The Session, Building The Production, Extra 'Ear Candy' and Tones, Colours and Textures as well as collaborations from the GRAMMY award winning rapper, Jon Bellion, singer Niya Norwood, GRAMMY winning engineer, mixer and producer, Ricky Damian and The Frightners drummer and vocalist, Richard Terrana.

Upon completion of the course, viewers will gain an advanced understanding of the production process, an authentic insight into recording a track and how the result will be a patchwork quilt of trial and error. Giving a rare look into how he has created some of his biggest hits such as Nothing Breaks Like A Heart and Uptown Funk, those involved will gain a respectable knowledge on the art of music production.

Watch the preview here:

BBC Maestro launched in October 2020 to phenomenal success. The first four courses attracted more than one million people to the service, with thousands signing up to learn from their favourite Maestro.

Whether you are a novice or an amateur enthusiast, BBC Maestro allows you to indulge in your area of passion from the comfort of your own home and learn from the experts. Each course is beautifully filmed in 4K and offers several hours of content, broken down into 20 to 40 easily digested lessons accompanied by downloadable course notes filled with hints, tips and a breakdown of each course.

Mark Ronson is the latest Maestro, joining Alan Moore, Malorie Blackman, Julia Donaldson, Peter Jones, David Walliams, Gary Barlow, Marco Pierre White, Vineet Bhatia, Jancis Robinson, Pierre Koffmann, Richard Bertinet and Line of Duty creator, Jed Mercurio. And coming soon are Doreen Lawrence, Sir Tim Rice and more - all imparting wisdom, expertise and industry secrets.

BBC Maestro taps into the fast-growing space of e-learning - because of the way technology has revolutionized teaching and learning, lessons no longer must be confined to the classroom. In 2020, the number of people using online learning videos rose dramatically, with an estimated 200 million users worldwide. The global 'Mass Open Online Courses' market size is expected to increase from $3.9 billion in 2018 to $20.8 billion by 2023.

BBC Maestro is a commercial platform developed and operated by Maestro Media Ltd under license from BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. BBC is a trademark of the British Broadcasting Corporation and is used under license.

a conductor of song, of sound, of studio recording. In a career spanning two decades, Ronson has gone from New York hip hop party DJ to international hitmaker. He is the perfect multi-tasking artist and all-skills teacher to lead a BBC Maestro course in Music Production.

The London-born, New York-based artist has created masterpieces with a staggering array of stars. Let's dive into just a few...

Shallow with Lady Gaga, the standout song from A Star Is Born, won Ronson an Oscar, Golden Globe and a GRAMMY.
Uptown Funk with Bruno Mars is a summer jam within dancing distance of 1.5 billion Spotify plays.
Amy Winehouse's iconic Back to Black earned Ronson two more Grammys, including Record of the Year for Rehab - a song that began life when he and Winehouse took a break from the studio to go for lunch: a conversation turned into a lyric turned into one of the defining songs of the 21st century.

Then there are the collaborations with Adele (Cold Shoulder), Dua Lipa (Electricity), Miley Cyrus (Nothing Breaks Like a Heart), Robbie Williams (Lovelight), Lily Allen (Littlest Things) and dozens more. His own albums sit on the shelves of all serious music fans, from the hip hop-heavy debut Here Comes the Fuzz (2003), the all-star indie-cover-filled Version (2007), up to the sad-banger symphony that is Late Night Feelings (2019) - all records he's supported on tour as a live performer and band leader.

Creating this course is, in part, about giving back. If BBC Maestro had existed 25 years ago, Mark would have loved to see a similar course led by the names of some of his favourite producers: Quincy Jones, Glyn Johns and DJ Premier. But he had to learn by looking and reading.

"When I was coming up, I was literally watching the back of someone's head while they were on Pro Tools. Or with the MPC, the sampler, I would actually have to learn from the manual, just by trial and error, because I didn't know any other people that made hip hop beats. And when I was making my first record with Nikka Costa, I learned to use Logic by literally just sitting behind the other producer for three months. Same with learning how to mic a drum kit, just watching other great engineers. You had to just do it all by life experience, unless you went to music school. There was no YouTube, no tutorials, no courses like this."

Ronson is renowned in the industry for not only his creative connections with artists, but also his friendships. The strength and depth of those relationships, he says, are fundamental to the success of his recording sessions.

"The main thing I'm thinking about when I'm working with an artist is, the more relaxed and safe that they feel, the more you're going to access and get deeper. I've always just felt that way.

"Also, there's an empathy part of the brain. The same thing that makes you susceptible to other people's feelings and emotions is also the same thing we have in the creative process. You always want to have this one open radar on your brain in case someone says one thing in the room where you're suddenly like: 'That's a lyric!'"

It's a connection he traces back to his own upbringing. "Around the time of Late Night Feelings, people asked why I always work with women, especially strong, powerful female artists. And I just think, the way I grew up with a big messy family, I was always the one that was trying to keep the peace. So, all those things go into it. Those are the things that are conducive to creating a really creative atmosphere."

Across 18 online lessons, learners will have an intimate, producer's-eye view of the building blocks of those professional relationships, and of the songs that resulted. His Maestro series is filmed in the same New York studio in which he first met and then worked with Winehouse, meaning he was able to call on both the memories and the sonic paper-trail of those classic songs.

"Generally, whenever I'm looking back at stuff, I'm never in a place where I have all my stuff in one place. But this is where we made all the Back to Black demos. There's the same Yamaha where I wrote Back to Black, lyrics of Amy's lying around, all the hard drives with all the demos - there's some special stuff.

"And I started to bring up the old Back to Black demos and I was like: 'Oh my God, this is literally the first time I played the piano on it... And Amy's first vocal with slightly different lyrics, and different vocal performance."

The course will also unpick some of the songs from Late Night Feelings, the emotions that fed into it and the long-running patience that proved that, even for platinum-selling producers, there's no such thing as a sure thing when it comes to collaborators.

"Going into that album, I was definitely in an emotional low point and it was the first time I was writing a record not from the party 'up up up' vantage point. I started DJing at a night in LA called Club Heartbreak, and I played this really beautiful Todd Terje edit of Dolly Parton's Jolene. It was so good. He proved that all you need is a kick drum and acoustic guitar and you can just take people away. That's such a beautiful feeling.

"So, I came into the studio the next day and my friend Tommy Brenneck, who was in The Dap-Kings and is such an amazing guitarist, started playing this really beautiful figure on an acoustic guitar that sounded really classic. And Ilsey Juber, a songwriter I was working with, came in with a lyric idea. She said: 'I was driving over and I was thinking about all these things that break - but nothing breaks like a heart.' I was like: 'That sounds amazing. We should Google it, to check there's not another song called Nothing Breaks Like a Heart. I can't believe it.' But no, there wasn't. And we started to build and we had a little chorus."

The foundations were laid. But there was still a key production component missing.

"I'd been trying to get a hold of Miley Cyrus for at least three years, since I saw her sing 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover on Saturday Night Live. I just never knew her voice had all that gravel and that amazing, guttural country thing. But I'd given up texting her. But I knew she'd be incredible on this, so I tried one more time. And she texted right back: 'Yeah, how's Tuesday, I can come over then?' Which is just so crazy - after four years of chasing!"

Cyrus duly rocked up to the studio, jumped on the chorus, "and she loved it. Then she was like: 'Shall I just sing it, to see how my voice sounds before we go any further? Then I write the verses?' And I said: 'Sure!' And that sounded amazing, and that's what happened."

These and other stories from inside the producer's studio are sprinkled like gold-dust across the course, framed within a coherent, step-by-step learning plan that provides a complete picture of how a producer produces magic. As with a man whose imagination roams across hip-hop, soul, funk, pop and rock, nothing was off-limits.

"I started to go through my creative process and went into overall the things I do. Because I work in different genres, some of it's sampling, some of it's learning how to mic a drum kit, some of it's learning how to coax a great vocal out of a singer. And some of it's just how to create a really positive, fruitful atmosphere in a studio - some of which just comes down to human nature, too."

This course is a producer's life in music, laid open. Mark Ronson has never previously opened up his studio like this, nor his creative process. Curious to know how songs are crafted and indelible musical moments are minted? Over to you, Mark...

"You're going to get a bunch of tools, whether it's chopping breaks or mic-ing drums, or a more holistic understanding of how to collaborate with artists. It's a bunch of things that I've learned over 25 years, the insight and foresight I've amassed, packaged in a nice little lesson series."

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