Sketch to Production: How to write music from scratch in your DAW.

A working composer's guide to theory, sketching, and finishing tracks on purpose.

Course Summary

Sketch to Production is a music theory and composition course taught 100% in the piano roll. Students learn the fundamentals of theory, and instantly useable frameworks to quickly compose chords, melodies and detailed track sketches.

Lessons feature a variety of styles and instruments, including piano, orchestral VSTs, guitar VSTs and synths.

The course also features an electronic sound design section to help students create commonly used sounds from scratch and write with them.

What sets the course apart is an emphasis on connecting theory to emotion, helping students find their voice as a musician in the DAW instead of simply following rules.

By the end, students will feel confident composing music from scratch in the piano roll, then transforming their ideas into a variety of styles.

A great fit for anyone who makes music in a DAW and wants to become more intentional: from first note to finished track.

Letter to Students

Do you feel like you have music inside you that needs to get out, but when you open the piano roll it just gets... stuck? If yes, this course is for you.

Hi, I'm Avery. I've been writing in the piano roll since 2008. My music has been used by Volkswagen, KSHMR, Major League Baseball, and thousands of others.

This course is where I teach the craft of writing music in your DAW from scratch: built for composers & producers who want to be intentional.

If you watched the video above, you already know my focus: writing clear, emotive music sketches.

With a great sketch, producing feels easy, and the mix stops being about fixing and starts being about enhancing something already great.

It's also just fun, because it gets you back in touch with why you probably fell in love with music: actually writing it.

Once you hear how satisfying your music can feel, with so much less, you might become addicted to sketching (like I am.)

But sketching goes deeper than just writing nice chords and melodies: it's an important step to any intentional production.

Making music on purpose is about balancing 4 layers.

Notes -> sounds -> performance -> mix. The lower layers support the layers above them.

Most people get stuck because they are troubleshooting the wrong layers, circling the mix when the problem was in the notes and sounds.

The solution is the sketch.

If you write a sketch that already feels alive, then when you to go polish, it's hard to go wrong. You will be picking between which good thing to do, instead of trying to save your idea by covering it up with plugins.

Also, reducing an out-of-control track back down to a sketch is a great way to find where the problems are - and fix them at the source.

That's why I made this course. To help you sketch from scratch, and write ideas that feel alive - and intentional - at the source.

What You Need

• Required: A DAW with a piano roll
• Optional: Serum 1 or 2, Orchestral VSTs
• A desire to write music from scratch in your DAW.

What's Inside

200 video lessons in 14 modules: 25+ hours of content.

The biggest change will happen after the sketching & theory lessons. The rest builds on it.

Sketching Modules

1. The Sketch to Production Workflow

1 lesson

Watch one simple sketch become different ideas across genres, then a finished track.

2. Sketching Fundamentals

4 lessons

How to sketch in pianos, strings, guitars and synths, with writing mindset and examples for each.

3. Sketch Sessions

6 lessons

My favorite practice routines. They help you get better fast, while writing a ton of ideas. Ideas from my sketch sessions have ended up in posts, finished songs, placements, with one even ending up in a KSHMR track with 1M+ streams.

4. Sketch to Finished Track

2 lessons

A real example from a commissioned electronic pop track: See the steps from sketching to a 100% finished, exported track. Plus get a complete [Start-to-Finish Production Checklist] that helps you follow the steps yourself.

Theory Modules

5. Scales & Rhythm

6 lessons

The source code of everything. Learn how to build scales, get all the chords out of them, and count rhythm on purpose - while connecting with the emotions of each note.

6. Chord Progressions

17 lessons

Frameworks that make writing chords make sense: TSD functions, substitutes, inversions, and voicing to tell story. Includes ~100 of my favorite chord progressions in a [MIDI PACK], labeled by emotion and type.

7. Chord Extensions

7 lessons

Instant color to any chord. Build 7ths, 9ths, 11th, 13ths, then feel the emotions they give to your music. 

8. Modes

10 lessons

Explore the moods of modes, from Dorian to Locrian. Learn which chords activate each color. This might be the worlds you've been looking for.

9. Melodies

14 lessons

Frameworks for writing melodies that feel complete: Ostinatos, arpeggios, chord melodies, rhythm melodies, and more.

10. Jazz Functions

12 lessons

For the courageous. Secondary dominants, tritone substitutions, and a few easy tricks to get a lush sound.

Genre-Specific Modules:

11. Orchestral Writing: A complete mini-course

26 lessons

Setup an orchestral template, hear the emotions of the instruments, then learn frameworks to write with them. Epic ostinatos, intimate orchestrations and movie-moods.

The coolest part: you're getting frameworks that work in any sounds - just use the same rules and you'll be writing a multi-part orchestration.

12. Electronic Writing: A complete mini-course

51 lessons

Learn every button in Serum. Recognize common sound families (reese bass, supersaw, pluck leads...) make them from scratch, then write with them. Go into 13 track breakdowns to see how I've composed songs with them.

Includes ~100 [Serum Presets] to sketch with, and all the sounds we made in the course.

Reference Module

13. Reference Buildout

29 lessons

A complete process for using a reference track: watch me analyze a song, extract its rules, setup my project, then build a full song with it. This is probably one of the most important skills to practice if you want to write music that feels like it "fits" a certain style.

Career Module

14. Business

19 lessons

Mindsets for staying consistent, attracting opportunity, and an introduction to music libraries and licensing.

What Happens When You Enroll:

You’ll get a lifetime login to the course backend with everything:

• [200 VIDEO LESSONS] 25+ hours of content.
• [MIDI PACK] ~100 of my favorite chord progressions, labeled by emotion and type.
• [SERUM PRESETS] ~100 Serum presets I often sketch with and every sound built in the course.
• [PRODUCTION CHECKLIST] Step-by-step from blank project to finished track on purpose. 

I will also ask you to tell me a little about your goals. If you fill this in, I will reach out and see if I can lend any advice to help.

This isn't just a course. It's also a light connection to me, if you choose to use it.

Do not take this course if:
You are looking for drum programming or mixing.

Do take this course if:
You take your craft seriously, and want to learn theory & sketching fundamentals to write music on purpose in your DAW.

If you have any questions, chat with me on email or IG DM.

30 Day Money Back Guarantee

If this doesn't help you feel empowered in the piano roll, I don't want your money.

Student feedback

 *Many comments from the first version of this course, "Chord Control."
Sketch to Production is the evolved version.