Making Beats! 3 Producers Share Their Best Tips & Strategies (Udemy.com)
Using Ableton Live to make unique and stylistic beats in any genre or style
Created by: J. Anthony Allen
Last updated May 2026
What you will learn
- Make beats in a variety of styles and genres
- Use advanced production techniques in Ableton Live
- Define your own style by learning from the best producers
Course Description
Welcome to Making Beats - 3 Producers Share Their Best Secrets!
100% Answer Rate! Every single question posted to this class is answered within 24 hours by the instructor.
This class is unlike any class I've done before: It is a fully collaborative class. That means you are not just going to be hearing about how I make beats, and my production tips and secrets. You will hear those, but you will also hear from two other well-known producers to show you some of their tricks as well. This is an art, and the best way to develop your own style is to hear the perspectives of several teachers - not just one.
For years I've been teaching Ableton Live in the college classroom. These classes I'm making for Udemy use the same syllabus I've used in my college classes for years, at a fraction of the cost. I believe anyone can learn Ableton - and cost shouldn't be a barrier.
Recently I was named as a semi-finalist for the Grammy Foundation's Music Educator of the Year award because of my in-person university classes. Now I'm taking those classes to Udemy in an online format in order to reach more students and give them the joy of Music.
In this class, we will cover:
Drum Racks
Recording Drum Racks
Making Your Own Drum Racks
Monitoring the Kick in Alternative Channels
Working on the Triplet Grid for Better Grooves
Playing Beats with Controllers
Setting up Controllers
MIDI Mapping
The Push Interface
Effect Racks
Building Audio Effect Racks
The Operator Synthesizer
Creating Ghost Notes
Velocity Adjustment Tricks
The Groove Pool
Quantizing Tricks
Effect Automation
...and much, much more!
And of course, once you sign up for Making Beats - 3 Producers Share Their Best Secrets, you automatically get huge discounts to all the upcoming parts of this class.
You will not have another opportunity to learn Beat Making in a more comprehensive way than this. Start here.
Dr. Jason Allen is an Ableton Certified Trainer and a Ph.D. in Music Composition and master of Electronic Sounds. His music has been heard internationally in film, radio, video games, and industrial sound, as well as the concert hall and theater. His 2015 album, Aniscorcia, reaching the CMJ Top200 Charts and radio broadcasts nationwide. In 2014 he was named a semi-finalist for the Grammy Music Educator Award.
He currently as an adjunct professor of composition at the University of St. Thomas, and the CEO of Slam Academy in Minneapolis.
Praise for classes by Dr. Jason Allen:
"Without a doubt the best explanation and east of use that one can get. It leaves you enough room to go explore. The classes go by quickly, so you can be on your way to being proficient. What are you waiting for!"
"Amazing - Seriously Loved It! I took all his courses and have to say I'm so happy! Learned loads! Jason is an awesome teacher!"
"I have never had any formal training in music at all. Trying to learn all the notes and how everything translated was a serious challenge. After going through this class, Dr. J has totally brought down the barriers. The content was very useful and was easy to grasp for me."
"I like these courses because you can get up and running quickly without having to spend hours of time wading through TMI (too much information!). Jason hits the high points but shows you what you need to know. Thanks!"
"I've watched many other videos on scales and chords before, however, this one has been the best. I now understand minor scales and chords and even how to analyze songs. It really gave me the confidence to start producing music because I feel like I have some structure and guidelines to follow. AWESOME!"
"Clear and Informative - Jason has a clear uncluttered style (with the important dashes of humor) of presentation that is focused on the important key aspects of this course. Recommended for those starting out!"
"Dr. Allen does it again with his music theory series. This course really opened up everything I learned from the 1st section, and now I understand more about the composition side of things for music. I highly highly recommend this course to anyone!!! Really opened my eyes to many things I wasn't aware of."
"The Best Teacher Ever, who makes you understand the ins & outs of Music Theory by all means without giving what you don't want to know."
Instructor Details
- 4.2 Rating
132 Reviews
J. Anthony Allen
Dr. Allen is a 2026 Apple Distinguished Educator.
Dr. J. Anthony Allen is a distinguished composer, producer, educator, and innovator whose multifaceted career spans various musical disciplines. Born in Michigan and based in Minneapolis, Dr. Allen has composed orchestral works, produced acclaimed dance music, and, through his entrepreneurship projects, he has educated over a million students worldwide in music theory and electronic music production.
Dr. Allen's musical influence is global, with compositions performed across Europe, North America, and Asia. His versatility is evident in works ranging from Minnesota Orchestra performances to Netflix soundtracks. Beyond creation, Dr. Allen is committed to revolutionizing music education for the 21st century. In 2011, he founded Slam Academy, an electronic music school aimed at increasing accessibility to music production education. His innovative approach to academia was highlighted in 2024 when he received tenure and resigned from his university position on the same day.
As a composer, Dr. Allen is known for his unique synthesis of diverse musical influences, often blending acoustic music with electronic dance music elements. With a Ph.D. in Music Composition, multiple master's degrees, and numerous awards, Dr. Allen's academic and professional achievements are substantial.
More courses by J. Anthony Allen
Music Theory Comprehensive Complete! (Parts 1, 2, & 3) (2025)
4.7 (23,763 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 12.3h
$124.99
Music Theory for Electronic Music COMPLETE: Parts 1, 2, & 3 (2026)
4.7 (9,404 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 12.6h
$149.99
Music Theory Comprehensive Complete: Part 4, 5, & 6 (2026)
4.8 (3,968 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 10.2h
$19.99
Ultimate Ableton Live 10 COMPLETE: Parts 1, 2, and 3 (2023)
4.5 (3,508 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 8.2h
$11.99
Ultimate Ableton Live 9 COMPLETE: Parts 1, 2, & 3 (2026)
4.7 (3,467 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 8.5h
$12.99
More Music courses
Music Theory Comprehensive Complete: Parts 13, 14, & 15 (2026)
5.0 (315 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 8.4h
$16.99
Electronic Music Production with Ableton Live (2025)
4.9 (2,479 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 11.9h
$84.99
Jazz Piano - Ultimate Beginners Course for Piano & Keyboard (2025)
4.9 (2,224 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 8.1h
$15.99
Music Composition with the Piano: Ultimate Keyboard Theory (2020)
4.9 (1,679 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 7.8h
$16.99
Pianoforall - 'Classics By Ear' - Erik Satie (2018)
4.9 (1,303 Reviews)
Provider: Udemy
Time: 4.1h
$11.99
Reviews
By Saffo Papantonopoulou on 4/1/2022
It's really cool watching what other producers are doing and getting tips from them, along with Jason's explanations to make sure we are able to follow. Be aware it's a little bit different type of class, so if you are a beginner you might want to stick to one of Jason's beginner classes before jumping into this. This class is more like... hanging out with different producers and learning some of their techniques. I hope Jason does more classes like this because it's really nice to see different approaches that different producers take.
By Jeremy Hatch on 2/28/2020
Overall, a really interesting look at the workflows of a couple different producers, with expanded explanations by Jay. I took this shortly after completing Jay's complete Ableton 10 series, so a number of videos I was able to skip over (having seen them just recently) but that's no criticism, just a heads up that if you've taken that course as well, there is a small amount of repeated content here. However, I bought the course in order to "look over the shoulder" of a couple experienced producers and this course delivered fully on that expectation. I'm pretty experienced with Ableton so I was able to follow all the complicated routing and automation and so forth just by watching (and I'll be adopting some of it for sure in my current and future tracks) but I think someone who is more of a beginner would probably need to get hands-on and follow along with Ableton open in front of them. Great stuff as always.
By John Holder on 11/26/2018
Really interesting discussion on beat making. Despite using Ableton for 2.5 years, I found some very interesting new ideas... most immediately, the tips from Bjelo will be influencing my stuff immediately. The sample and audio slicing / effecting of CORA is pretty wack -- never had thought of any of that, and I'll have to set aside time to try it. In all, this course exceeded my expectations!
By Joe O'Brien on 11/20/2018
Fun, informative and filled with valuable insights into a variety of styles. Very well-curated by instructor J. Allen. Can't wait to dive into the next part!
By Jordan Omohundro on 10/2/2018
Mostly it has been intros so far. But this is the second class of Jason's that I have taken and the previous one was amazing. I don't think I've ever come across a professor in any genre of learning that has actually explained topics this well.
By Sir-Siljian Silfa on 8/17/2018
I found the course to be beginner level. There were some small things that I learned but overall the concepts of what was explained was very basic. I love J, so overall it was still pleasant to go over this course. Always grateful and doesn't hurt to review.
By Tom Morgan on 7/12/2018
The course has promise but doesn't deliver. The video is too monochromatic(pale gray) without adequate use of color. Combining that with the reduction of Jason's 4k video to 720 pitch by Udemy makes the course almost impossible to follow for anyone with less than perfect vision. There are better choices out there so don't waste your time.
By Lee Walters on 12/17/2017
It was a fantastic course! I loved seeing the different working styles of the guys and seeing how they interact with Ableton. Every class seems like I learn some new nugget I didn't know about Ableton. I have a ton of new ideas for creating beats now. Thanks!
By Paige Kelaart on 8/4/2017
The instructors were harder to follow and went over finicky details quite quickly. I don't feel like I'm walking away with more knowledge on beats unfortunately.
By Gregor Ittensohn on 2/4/2017
Looking into the workflow of Bjelo and Cora is great and Jason does a great job explaining what they do. If you know your DAW you won't need Ableton for this btw. I was using Reaper and that worked just fine.
Quality Score
No CourseDuck member has rated this course yet. Taken it? Give each part a thumbs up or down.
Overall Score : 84 / 100












