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The #1
Vocals Programme
For House producers

  • 12 hours on-demand content
  • Monthly live production webinar
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What you'll learn

It’s time to create that elusive vocal hook in your music. You’ll cover everything from finding and treating vocal samples, through to writing original lyrics and working with vocalists.

  • Unforgettable Vocals

    A memorable vocal is the hallmark of every legendary club track. Inject original vocal hooks into your own music, whatever the genre, to truly stand apart from the crowd.

  • Creative Production Techniques

    A great vocal will still fall flat if you can’t get the most from it. Learn the advanced skills and processes used by the pros to squeeze every last drop out of a raw vocal.

  • Work with Talent

    Discover how to create magic with your vocalist. Watch a vocal session in real-time, and learn how to create a free-flowing productive atmosphere.

Vocal production
de-mystified

Creating a vocal hook can be one of the most daunting tasks in music production, even for the pros. And for that reason, very few educational programmes have tackled this subject area.

By the end of this course, you will have the skills and the confidence to produce any vocal you want, in any style of House Music.

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Experience a real-time
vocal session

This has never been done before. Watch a vocal session take place in real time, and get an in-depth guide of how to work with a session vocalist.

You’ll also get a masterclass in lyric writing techniques, and even a guide on how to record and manipulate your own vocals.

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Course
description

Vocals are often what the A&R team are looking for when signing music.

It doesn’t have to be a full verse/chorus – it can be a simple one-line, or even a vocal texture. Because no matter how good the track is, without a vocal, it can feel like something is missing. Vocals offer a human connection to the music.

The Toolroom Academy and D.Ramirez are proud to present part one of the industry-leading Master Series: ‘Vocal Hooks’. This is the world’s most complete, affordable and in-depth programme tackling the full spectrum of vocal production across all of House music.

By the end of the course, you will have the skills and the confidence to be able to produce any vocal you want, in any style of house music.

Key Features:

  • An in-depth guide to working with a session vocalist
  • Recording and manipulating your own vocals
  • Creative lyric writing techniques
  • A masterclass in vocal sampling across multiple sources
  • A keyword-term search cheat sheet for finding vocal samples in unlikely places
  • Master the secrets to finding hidden vocal gems on Splice
  • Understand the differences across sub-genres of house music and beyond
  • How to create harmonies out of single vocals
  • Learn how to work with full multi-track stems
  • Professional mixing techniques – tuning, timing, EQ, compression, saturation and much more

 

We didn’t want to make a programme that served some house producers, and not others. That’s why every single chapter is centred around a different sub-genre. These include Tech House, Minimal, Driving Techno, Disco House, Progressive, Piano House and Classic House.

COURSE DETAILS
  • 12 hours, on-demand
  • Lifetime Access
  • Join a monthly live production webinar
  • Learn in Ableton
  • Includes Sample Key Phrase Cheatsheet
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Chapters
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Tech House
  • Dean gives you the tools to traverse one of the internet’s most daunting websites – Youtube – and discover hidden vocal gems in unlikely places.
  • We look at at more ‘leftfield’ sources of vocal samples to make your productions truly stand out in one of the world’s most competitive genres.
  • You’ll see how videos on spoken poetry, memes, interviews, film clips, found footage and much more, can lead to interesting and unique vocal samples.
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Minimal Deep Tech
  • Minimal Deep Tech is all about the space between the words, and producers in this genre will often create interesting patters, rhythms and grooves out of otherwise ‘standard’ vocal ideas.
  • In this chapter, we venture further within Youtube, find some RnB  vocals, and explore how to implement those within a minimal structure.
  • We make a mind-map of ideas, chops, atmospherics, and get creative with Ableton’s Samplers, to build a fun and engaging arrangement.
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Techno
  • Delving into Driving Techno gives an opportunity to explore spoken, less melodic, and ‘darker’ vocals.
  • In this chapter, Dean records his own vocal part, taking you from a blank page to a full lyric book.
  • We look at unique sources of creative inspiration for lyric writing, and secret tools used by professionals to devise brooding, trippy and deep vocal lines.
  • We explore creative mixing processes to make thick, tight vocal lines.
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Disco House
  • In this ground-breaking chapter, be part of a real-world recording session between an artist and a singer.
  • Dean records an energetic, party-starting original vocal with a renowned singer.
  • Starting from the song-writing stage, all the way through to a finished track, we explore the psychology of a vocal session, plus tips on how to encourage the best performance from a vocalist.
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Progressive House
  • Progressive House is all about melodic complexity and taking the listener on an emotional journey – which is exactly what we want from our vocal.
  • In this chapter, Dean looks for accapellas on Youtube, showing you how to get any vocal in time with Ableton.
  • He builds a palette of ideas and fleshes out a complex arrangement with lush atmospheric pads, creative EFX processing and hypnotic musical elements to create a powerful, melodic progressive house track.
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Piano House
  • Piano House is a vocal-lead genre, drawing from elements of pop music and Italo, and getting the vocal hook right is absolutely paramount.
  • One of a producer’s hardest jobs is working with multi-track vocals, and Dean demystifies the process entirely – showing you all the tips to turn ten recordings into one cohesive and powerful vocal hook.
  • Using professional tools like Melodyne, he will show you how to create inspiring harmonies that will stay in your head for days.
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Classic House
  • Raw Classic House is all about funky samples overlaid on chunky beats. They might not fit the grid, but they will make the crowd move.
  • In this chapter we explore the history of House music, and how to use the world’s largest royalty-free sample library, Splice.
  • You’ll minimise your search time on this vast platform, and learn how to find exactly the right vocals for Classic House.
  • Dean gets creative with samplers to make arrangements that are sure to lift the roof off.
Course Tutor
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D. Ramirez
For his entire career, D.Ramirez is a name that has been synonymous with cutting edge and beautifully produced House music. A true genre pioneer within Tech House, he has written underground anthems and crossover tracks, including the legendary tracks ‘Downpipe’ with Mark Knight, ‘Yeah Yeah’ with Bodyrox and more recently ‘Retreat’ on Crosstown Rebels. As a producer and studio engineer, his knowledge and reputation is unparalleled.

What our
students say

This is everything you could possibly want in a vocal course and more. D. Ramirez's experience and skill truly shines through - SALVIONE
I’ve never seen a vocal course this in-depth and specific to House and its relative sub genres - FIBI
A highlight for me was the vocal writing section. You can sometimes feel vulnerable writing lyrics, even if its just 1 tiny hook, but watching Dean do it gives you confidence to go for it - KEFFI
This is everything you could possibly want in a vocal course and more. D. Ramirez's experience and skill truly shines through - SALVIONE
I’ve never seen a vocal course this in-depth and specific to House and its relative sub genres - FIBI
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What You'll Learn
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    CREATIVE SAMPLING

    You’ll learn the ins and outs of extracting all there is from a vocal sample. You’ll master the art of digging for hidden gems on the world’s biggest rabbit holes, Youtube and Splice.

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    WRITE YOUR OWN LYRICS

    Sounds scary, but totally achievable. You’ll go from a blank page to a fully-fledged, original vocal idea – using our industry secret tips and tricks in lyric writing.

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    NAIL THE MIX

    Walk away with the tools you need to let your vocals shine. Grab A&R attention with floor-filling, well-produced vocal hooks.

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    RUN A VOCAL SESSION

    You’ll gain the confidence to arrange and record your own sessions with a vocalist. Learn how to get the most from a session, and build creative relationships with professional singers.

Sample Video

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