Find your beat
Grammy-winning music producer Timbaland takes you behind the boards to teach you his process for creating iconic tracks with artists like Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, and Aaliyah. In his first-ever online class, learn how to collaborate with vocalists, layer new tracks, and create hooks that stick. Step into Timbaland’s studio and learn from one of the industry’s most innovative hit makers.
Lesson Plan
01. Introduction
Meet your instructor: Timbaland, producer of countless Top 40 hits for artists ranging from Jay-Z to Missy Elliott and Justin Timberlake. In your first lesson, Tim shows you how to create an entire track with just your voice and a microphone.
02. Studio Session: Making a Beatbox Beat
Step into the studio to see improvisation and creative feedback at work. Tim teaches you how to build a song around a beatbox, starting with the loop he created in the first lesson and adding harmony, melody, and texture.
03. Building Beats: Tim’s Process
It's essential to establish a workflow that serves your personal creative process. Tim talks you through his digital rig and reveals his process for selecting the sounds that he uses in his music.
04. Making a Beat: Getting Warmed Up
Collaboration with producers and engineers is a key part of Tim’s process. In this chapter, Tim teaches you how he shares music with his team to get them excited and into the creative groove.
05. Song Origins: “Dirt Off Your Shoulder”
Tim recalls how he built the backing track for Jay-Z’s hit “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” and explains how to create a complex texture from simple elements.
06. Making a Beat: Starting With a Chord Progression
Complex songs can develop from simple ideas. Tim and his co-producers show how a four-bar chord progression can form the structure of a multi-section song.
07. Making a Beat: Tweaking and Layering Drums
Tim’s drum sounds are legendary. Learn how careful audio engineering can turn dry drums into something that thunders through headphones.
08. Song Origins: “Pony”
Using Ginuwine’s “Pony” as an example, Tim demonstrates how choosing unique sounds can make your music production stand out from the competition.
09. Making a Beat: Manipulating Vocal Samples
Join Team Timbo in the studio as Tim’s co-producers Fede Vindver and Angel Lopez teach you how to imprint your signature sound on samples through effects and plug-ins.
10. Making a Beat: Creating a Breakdown
Tim believes that contrast is essential in keeping a song interesting from the first beat to the last. Here he shows how to create that contrast without changing the song’s chord progression.
11. Song Origins: “Gossip Folks”
Timbaland’s collaborations with Missy Elliott are dynamic and iconic. Here Tim shares how they worked together to create their hits and shows you how vintage samples can bring a beat to the next level.
12. Making a Beat: Adding a Topline
With help from New City vocalist Adrian Mitchell, Tim shows you the most important step in making a chart-topping hit— creating the vocal melody or “topline”— and shares his philosophy on lyrics.
13. Song Origins: “Are You That Somebody?”
Tim, Static Major, and Aaliyah had less than 24 hours to write “Are You That Somebody?” In this lesson, Tim explains how they did it. He also teaches subtle production techniques for turning good songs into great ones.
14. Tim's Influences
Tim pays homage to some of the great producers who came before him and explains what influences helped him shape his own sound.
15. How to Persevere
Tim believes resilience and dedication are critical for success. As he concludes his MasterClass, he reveals what drives him and how you can keep focused on your inspiration and goals.
