Best YouTube channels to learn Audio & Music Technology

Update: A new book, Build AI-Enhanced Audio Plugins with C++ by Matthew John Yee-King, was recently launched on 21st June 2024. It covers JUCE, libtorch, python, neural networks, CMake and all the relevant topics required to build an audio plugin. Matthew is currently is a professor in the department of computing at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Audio & Music Tech industry contribute a lot to human lives. Every Oscars & Grammy winning music owes to the people who create tools that enable artists to express themselves.

Here is a list of YouTube channels that are great resources for learning music & audio technology / programming including JUCE, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Digital Signal Processing (DSP), AudioKit & more:

1. The Audio Programmer: It goes without saying that TAP, by Joshua Hodge, has the largest community of audio developers to connect with. Make sure to join their Discord.

2. The Sound of AI: Valerio Valerdo has the most comprehensive series of tutorials covering AI, ML & audio. It's THE best resource you can get free access to right now! They also have an active Slack community that you can consider joining.

3. Akash Murthy: Akash creates videos covering DSP side of audio primarily and also C++ and JUCE basics. If you're new to digital audio, I highly recommend that you start with his playlists first.

4. Moby Pixel: An alias of Nick Culbertson, this channel has detailed (and super funny) tutorials for AudioKit, Swift & iOS, MacOS & iPadOS. If you're building anything for Apple devices, I'd recommend going through this channel & its playlists.

5. Wolf Sound: Run by Jan Wilczek, you will find tips & tricks related to DSP, C++ and JUCE in this channel. Some of the videos might require you to have a basic understanding of C++ concepts already, in which case I highly recommend also exploring The Cherno.

6. Audio Developer Conference (ADC): For more than a decade, there have been some amazing audio & music tech talks at ADC, all of which are available for free on their channel. Every big thing that has happened in the audio industry is available here. Highly recommend searching through the catalog since the list is huge.

Bonus:

If you're new to the audio & music technology world, you might also be interested in knowing a few important resources:

1. Frameworks: These are tools to speed up your audio programming. JUCE is the most widely used one across the audio industry and I'd recommended starting here. AudioKit is another one specific to developing for Apple's OS.

2. Books: Matthijs Hollemans completed a really good book in 2022 on Creating Synthesizer Plug-Ins with C++ and JUCE. It's now sold via The Audio Programmer's website. Fundamentals of Music Processing by Meinard Müller is another great one if you're more inclined towards machine learning & the use of maths. ⭐️ If you're just starting out, the next superb book by Matthijs Hollemans is out: The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Audio Plug-in Development.

3. Programming Languages: You need to know Python for any ML / AI project. This isn't going to change anytime soon. For real-time projects, C++ is highly recommended. A suggestion I'd make here is that sooner or later, you will find yourself in the need of using C++. Again, The Cherno's C++ YouTube Playlist will help a lot. CMajor is another one to keep an eye on as it can really speed up your prototyping projects.

4. Blogs / Website: HuggingFace has a free step by step Audio Course on dealing with digital audio for ML / AI use-cases. Matthijs also has a audiodev.blog with tips. Another one is by Sudara at melatonin.dev that has some good insights too.

Do you know any other YouTube channel that is a great resource? Comment below and let me know. I'll add them to the list. Share this article with anyone who would find this helpful. Cheers! 🍻