GetLife Intelligence · LUMEN

Engineering 001 Course Outline

Prepared for you by LUMEN · July 07, 2026

Engineering 001 — Run the Session

Pro Tools, Logic, and the LUMEN Studio

GetLife University | academy.getliferecords.com

What this course is

Eight modules that take you from "I don't know what a session is" to running one — recording, editing, and rough-mixing a real song in Pro Tools, Logic Pro, or the LUMEN Studio, and knowing when to use each. Every module ends with something you actually made, not something you watched.

Total time: roughly 14–18 hours of lessons and practice, self-paced. Most students finish in three to four weeks working a few evenings a week.

What you need: a computer, headphones, and any DAW. Pro Tools Intro is free. Logic Pro has a free 90-day trial (Mac only). The LUMEN Studio runs in your browser. You do not need an interface or a microphone until Module 8 — and even then, a phone headset mic will get you through.

Module 1 — Sound and Signal Flow: The Physics You Actually Need

~2 hours (90 min lesson + 30 min drills)

Lessons

1. What sound is — vibration, frequency, amplitude, and why "Hz" and "dB" are the only two units you must know
2. The signal chain — the path from a voice in a room to a waveform on a screen, one link at a time
3. Gain staging — setting levels at every link so nothing distorts and nothing drowns in noise
4. Clipping and headroom — what "in the red" actually does to audio, and how much space to leave
5. Mono and stereo — what a stereo image really is, and why you check every mix in mono
6. The three decisions every engineer makes before pressing record

After this module you can: trace a signal from source to speaker, set a healthy recording level on purpose instead of by luck, and explain why a clipped recording can't be fixed later.

Practice assignment: the three drills at the end of Module 1 — the gain staircase, the clip hunt, and the mono fold-down — done in any DAW's free version.

Module 2 — The Session: Sample Rate, Bit Depth, Buffer, and I/O

~90 minutes

Lessons

1. What a session/project file actually is — a folder of audio plus a set of instructions, and why you never email just the project file
2. Sample rate — 44.1 kHz vs 48 kHz vs higher, what each is for, and the one rule: pick it once, at the start
3. Bit depth — 16-bit vs 24-bit vs 32-bit float, and why you record at 24-bit or higher
4. Buffer size — the latency-versus-CPU trade, small buffer to record, large buffer to mix
5. Inputs and outputs — how your DAW sees your interface (or your built-in mic), and how to route input 1 to track 1 without guessing
6. Session hygiene — naming, saving, backups, and a folder structure you'll still respect in a year

After this module you can: create a correctly configured session from scratch in under two minutes, explain every choice in the new-session dialog, and fix "why is there a delay when I sing" without a forum post.

Practice assignment: build a session template — 48 kHz, 24-bit, one beat track, four vocal tracks, named and color-coded — and save it as your default. You'll use it for the rest of the course.

Module 3 — Pro Tools Essentials

~2.5 hours

Lessons

1. The two rooms: the Edit window and the Mix window, and when you live in each
2. Tracks in Pro Tools — audio tracks, aux inputs, the master fader, and what each is for
3. The edit tools and edit modes — Trim, Selector, Grabber, the Smart Tool, and why Slip and Grid modes cover 95% of your work
4. Recording — record-enabling a track, setting input, count-off, and your first take
5. Loop recording and playlists — recording takes on top of each other without losing anything
6. Comping — building one great vocal from six okay passes using playlists
7. The shortcuts that matter — transport, zooming, making new tracks, and saving (a short list you'll actually memorize, not a wall chart)

After this module you can: open Pro Tools without fear, record a vocal over a beat, comp a lead vocal from multiple takes, and move around a session at conversation speed.

Practice assignment: record any vocal — sung, rapped, or spoken — in six loop passes over an imported beat, then comp the best composite take.

Module 4 — Logic Pro Essentials

~2.5 hours

Lessons

1. The Tracks Area — Logic's main view, plus the Library, Inspector, and Mixer, and the keys that show and hide them
2. Audio tracks vs software instrument tracks — recording sound vs playing sounds
3. Recording and take folders — cycle recording, and Quick Swipe comping inside a take folder
4. Flex Time — fixing timing on a recorded performance without re-recording it
5. Session Players — Logic Pro 11's Drummer, Bass, and Keyboard players, and how to use them as a writing sketchpad, not a crutch
6. Bouncing — getting a finished stereo file out of Logic the right way

After this module you can: build a song sketch in Logic in one sitting — programmed drums, a recorded part, a comped vocal — and bounce a clean stereo file.

Practice assignment: create a 60-second sketch using one Session Player track and one recorded audio track, comp the audio from a cycle recording, and bounce it.

Module 5 — Universal DAW Concepts: Routing, Buses, Sends, Automation

~2 hours

Lessons

1. The mixer is the same everywhere — channel strip anatomy in every DAW ever made
2. Buses — sending many tracks to one place, and why every mix wants a drum bus and a vocal bus
3. Sends and returns — one reverb shared by ten tracks, instead of ten reverbs
4. Inserts vs sends — the difference, and the simple rule for which to use
5. Automation — read, write, touch, latch: making the mix move over time
6. Gain staging through a full mix — keeping headroom from the first fader to the master

After this module you can: open a DAW you've never seen and find your way, route a mix into logical buses, share effects across tracks with sends, and ride a vocal with automation instead of chopping clip gain by hand.

Practice assignment: take your Module 3 or 4 session and rebuild its mix with a vocal bus, a beat bus, one shared reverb on a send, and automated vocal level through one section.

Module 6 — The LUMEN Studio: A Session in Your Browser

~90 minutes

Lessons

1. What the LUMEN Studio is — a browser multitrack workspace with a built-in assistant — and honestly, what it is not
2. Importing audio — a 2-track, or stems, straight into track lanes
3. The track lane — per-track gain, pan, mute, and solo, and how far those four controls actually take a mix
4. The transport — play, stop, and moving through the song
5. Exporting a mixdown — getting a finished stereo file out
6. Working with the LUMEN assistant — how to ask for help in plain language, with real example prompts

After this module you can: balance stems into a rough mix from any browser on any machine, export it, and use the assistant the way you'd use an engineer sitting next to you.

Practice assignment: import the stems from your Module 4 bounce (or any stems you own), build a balance using only gain, pan, mute, and solo, and export the mixdown.

Module 7 — Working Hybrid: LUMEN Studio + Your DAW

~90 minutes

Lessons

1. The honest comparison — what a full DAW does that a browser workspace doesn't, and the reverse: what "anywhere, instantly, no install" is worth
2. When to reach for which — recording and detailed editing in Pro Tools/Logic; quick balances, travel, collaboration, and client playback in the LUMEN Studio
3. Exporting stems from Pro Tools and Logic — same length, same start point, properly named, so they line up anywhere
4. Round trips — DAW to LUMEN Studio and back, without losing quality or sync
5. One session, three tools — a worked example of a song touching all three

After this module you can: export a clean, aligned stem set from either DAW, continue the work in a browser, and choose the right tool for the moment instead of the familiar one.

Practice assignment: export stems from a DAW session, import them into the LUMEN Studio, adjust the balance, export the new mixdown, and A/B it against the DAW bounce.

Module 8 — Start to Finished: One Song, All the Way Through

~3 hours (follow-along walkthrough)

Lessons

1. Setup — session from your Module 2 template, beat imported, tempo confirmed
2. Vocal recording — mic position, headphone mix, gain set the Module 1 way, takes recorded the Module 3/4 way
3. Comp and clean — the keeper vocal, breaths and clicks handled, timing checked
4. The rough mix — buses, balance, pan, one reverb, automation on the lead
5. The bounce — a correct mixdown: format, sample rate, and the headroom you leave for mastering
6. Master prep — what a mastering engineer (or mastering tool) actually needs from you: peaks with room to spare, no limiter slammed on the mix bus, labeled files, and a note on loudness targets for streaming
7. Ship it — file naming, versioning, and the export checklist you'll use on every song from now on

After this module you can: take a song from a beat file to a mastered-ready bounce, alone, start to finish — which is the whole point of this course.

Practice assignment (capstone): produce one complete song — beat import, recorded vocal, comped, rough-mixed, bounced at mix level and prepped for mastering. This is your portfolio piece and your proof.

The through-line

Module 1 gives you ears and vocabulary. Modules 2–5 give you the machinery. Modules 6–7 make you portable. Module 8 makes you dangerous. Nothing in this course is theory for theory's sake — if a fact doesn't change what your hands do in a session, it isn't in here.

Made with LUMEN — the artist-owned AI · ai.getliferecords.com/assistant