Chapter 1, Gearing Up: A Preflight Checklist, explores settings, parameters, and preferences we need to get LMMS off the ground. We'll also explore creating sound libraries of samples without fear of getting sued. Before we make music, we need to get our studio in order!
Chapter 2, Getting Our Feet Wet: Exploring LMMS, explores the LMMS layout. LMMS has six main editors, and we'll explore the function of each, and how they will contribute to our process. We will also explore the way these editors work with each other.
Chapter 3, Getting Our Hands Dirty: Creating in LMMS, starts making music! Dance music is based on patterns, and in this chapter we will explore pattern-based music. We will take a close look at the different instruments used in electronic music production and their use in popular dance music patterns. We'll also make some basic patterns that are representative of some of the most popular dance music styles.
Chapter 4, Expanding the Beat: Digging Deeper into the Art of Beatmaking, starts exploring basic sound creation techniques using some of the instruments built into LMMS. In this chapter, we'll also start making sense of our music by creating a good, basic arrangement of our music. We'll also explore changing parameters of LMMS over time with automation.
Chapter 5, Making Spaces: Creating the Emotional Landscape, explores creating atmosphere and texture in our arrangement using ambience, reverb, and other techniques. In this chapter, we'll get familiar with artists that used ambience effectively in dance music. We will also explore controlling effects so that they change over time, creating dynamic movement in our music.
Chapter 6, Finding and Creating New Noises, explores some basic recording techniques, and where to put noises once we have them. Sampling is a technique of recording sounds in the real world and incorporating them in an instrument that can play them back musically. We will also explore playing samples in the Song Editor as well as the AudioFile Processor.
Chapter 7, Getting It All Stacked Up, explores the technique of loop stacking. In dance music, there is a process known as "subtractive arranging". We are going to take the first step in making our dance music arrangement by creating a very dense loop of music, and explore how the different elements of the loop fit together.
Chapter 8, Spreading Out the Arrangement, extends the loop that we created in Chapter 7, Getting it All Stacked Up, to create an arrangement. We will add additional content to our already dense loop, and explore the art of subtractive mixing.
Chapter 9, Gluing the Arrangement Together, explores the art of transitions and automation. Our arrangement works well at this point, but we need to still add life and movement to our music. Altering parameters over time to create builds and transitions is key to a dynamic piece of electronic music.
Chapter 10, Getting the Mix Together, explores mixing, which has to do with balancing the volume of all of our parts so that they all have a place in our sonic space. Now that everything has been put in place, we need to balance all of the elements of our song.
Chapter 11, Getting into Instruments, explores making awesome sounds and how to apply these sounds to a song. Now that we have been through all of the stages of production, it's time to explore the details of the instruments built into LMMS. LMMS has some powerful instruments under the hood. In this chapter we'll become musical mechanics.
Chapter 12, Where to Go from Here, explores the various guilds, unions, and such we need to know about to participate in the music industry at large. Making music is one thing. Getting it into the world is something else! We will also explore some of the newer methods of distribution of music that have come about recently and even how to share music with social networks.
Appendix, Pop Quiz Answers, contains the answers to all the pop quiz questions for all the chapters.