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. He's giving a talk at ADCx Gather, the free online version of the Audio Developer Conference (ADC) on 1st November 2024.
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, Cmajor, Wwise, FMOD, MetaSounds, Unreal Engine, Unity & more:
- 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.
- 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. It has the best culture amongst all other audio programming communities out there, in the sense that Valerio enables more folks to create their own startups, bringing musicians & developers together – a goal I so strongly align with.
- Brian Michael Fuller: The best (and probably the only) channel you’ll ever need to learn MetaSounds / Unreal Engine in detail, along with some bits about procedural audio. I was amazed when I first stumbled upon his videos when the channel had less than 100 views. Brian walks you through the complex examples as if it’s all a piece of cake. Highly recommend watching the MetaSounds 101 series if you're just starting out.
- School of Video Game Audio (SoVGA): Leonard Paul, the founder of SoVGA, is a renowned game audio name with a decades long portfolio in the industry. This YouTube channels brings you technical as well as business side of interactive audio with guest interviews and anecdotes that are really helpful for anyone starting out / wanting to upgrade further.
- Guido Fazzito: In Guido's own words (paraphrased), "I like to create musical experiences, irrespective of which technology helps me do that". His channel is precisely driven by this philosophy and that means videos covering a wide range of tools and tips covering Wwise, music processing, plugins, Max, AI, neural networks, and anything in the audio tech world that will be used in music in some way. His videos are not just about the techniques but also about new ways of looking at them creatively. Highly recommend watching and getting inspired.
- Akash Murthy: Akash creates videos covering DSP side of audio primarily and also C++ and JUCE basics. If you're new to digital audio, it's important to understand the basics and this channel gets you exactly that.
- Audio University: While this channel is not necessarily about audio tech, it does cover key aspects of audio engineering to help one understand the physics of sound. If you're a developer who doesn't have much visibility into how sound behaves, this channel can get you onboard with the foundation learnings.
- Lasse Munk / dopplermonk: Lasse has been actively making videos teaching the basics of Cmajor with Max/MSP. Cmajor has been getting a lot of attention because of its ability to prototype quickly and Lasse's tutorials show practical examples of using it. It's a really good pedagogy to learn it.
- The Audio Programmer: It goes without saying that TAP, by Joshua Hodge, has the largest community of audio developers to connect with. You can optionally join their Discord. The videos on this channel are a bit slow, but beginner friendly, although you'll have to find the right version of the tutorial since there are multiple versions & playlists on the same topic, some with deprecated information.
- 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. I had a great time being a guest on Jan's WolfTalk Podcast where I shared details from my work and the future of the audio tech industry.
- 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.
Bonus:
If you're new to the audio & music technology world, you might also be interested in knowing a few important resources:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Game Audio: Audiokientic's Wwise Certification series is self sufficient in helping beginners. It's free to access. For FMOD, their FMODTV's Getting Started with FMOD YouTube playlist that has detailed walkthrough videos.
- Communities: There are many initiatives at a global level and in small pockets to bring creatives & developers in one place. Music Tech Community and Game Audio India are some of my projects that you can join.
💡 ProTip: You can make Custom Nodes for Unreal Engine's MetaSounds. Learn more here: Creating MetaSound Nodes in C++ Quickstart
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! 🍻