The coronavirus pandemic has darkened the live sound landscape, with events canceled, jobs lost, and colleagues living in isolation. As the industry faces uncertain times, technology providers are stepping up to support audio pros with expanded online learning resources. We’ve put together a list of courses, webinars, and certification classes for any experience level—and they’re all free. (Interested in lighting and control system training? We cover some of those options here.)
We know people are in dire straits, and skills-building isn’t enough to navigate this crisis. For help with financial or mental health issues, MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund, SoundGirls’ Surviving Coronavirus Resources page, and Tour Support are great starting points. If you’re in a position to support others, consider donating to the organizations above, the Roadie Rescue campaign, joining the call for a federal aid package for the events industry, participating in the Recording Academy’s efforts to advocate for protecting music makers as part of coronavirus relief funding, or even just reaching out to check in on a colleague.
FREE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Access archived LDI Show panel content here at Live Design Online, where you can watch video discussions about recording shows, wireless workflows, and a whole lot more.
In addition to an extensive Q-SYS online training curriculum, QSC offers free online courses in multiple languages for TouchMix, MP-M Series, and other products.
Axiva, the trade association and producer of InfoComm and other conferences, is opening online training to all AV professionals and waiving access fees through June 12.
Access dozens of Shure Audio Institute live and recorded webinars and online trainings at Shure.com.
Now’s a great time to get Dante-certified! Access free tutorial courses at Audinate.com.
HARMAN Professional University offers a range of free on-demand audio, control, and networked AV certification courses.
Adamson is holding free webinars with live Q&A sessions every few days on a variety of topics.
Synthax is hosting daily webinars on networking, codecs, and other topics.
Clear-Com is offering a series of webinars and virtual trainings, and published a guide to sanitizing Clear-Com equipment.
Figure 53 is giving educational users free use of QLab 4 Pro bundle until June 1, to support teachers and students “during social distancing.” Anyone with a .edu email address is eligible for a free temporary QLab 4 Pro Bundle. Create your account at qlab.app/account and email [email protected].
Gain Media Lab is offering the popular Guerilla Mixing Course for free for a limited time. Sign up here.
L-Acoustics is hosting free webinars daily at 8 a.m. PST; visit the company’s website and Facebook page for the latest topics and schedule. Check out the archived webinars on YouTube.
RTS intercoms offers a series of free online trainings and certification programs.
Check out Meyer Sound’s free webinars in Spanish on Facebook and YouTube, as well as its Mapp XT video tutorials. Meyer Sound will provide an English-language session every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9 a.m. PT. Join the English sessions at the scheduled times here, https://zoom.us/j/598994117, and Spanish sessions will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays here, https://zoom.us/j/439882997. Check out upcoming training sessions in the Events calendar on Meyer Sound's Facebook page. If you miss a session, catch up at www.youtube.com/thinkingsound.
Symetrix Composer Basic Training covers all aspects of DSP hardware and Composer software along with fundamental audio programming and design concepts.
Martin Audio offers live and recorded webinars on a variety of topics, from Dante to system design.
Production Expert offers a ton of free training resources, and is providing free access to its vast collection of premium educational content for audio pros for the next 90 days.
Biamp hosts free webinars in multiple languages and across several time zones.
Powersoft has expanded its series of E training online courses. Training sessions are divided by regions and are available in Spanish and English.
Waves offers numerous product-focused online courses; check out the eMotion LV1 and SoundGrid series.
ADAM Audio’s ADAM Academy video series on YouTube covers everything from speaker maintenance to mixing live sessions.
Lectrosonics’ The Wire-Lists is a series of blog articles aimed at sharing new ideas, insider tips and techniques, solutions, and reference information.
RF venue is adding new material to its online training, Q&A sessions, and interactive content; learn more at its Weekly Training series page.
Take SoundGym’s 8-hour online Live Sound overview course.
Sound Design Live hosts tons of online educational content; start with the free Getting Started with System Tuning introductory course.
Your online education doesn’t have to be limited to live sound. Berklee Online offers mini courses and lessons on topics ranging from songwriting to Pro Tools basics.
Take Sonic Scoop’s free 30-minute mixing workshop: “The Five Habits of Every Great Mixer.”
Outfitting a studio? Check out Acoustic Geometry’s educational video series about room treatment and acoustics.
In an admirable volunteer effort, Kelly Epperson, Pete Erskine, and Mac Kerr started a website with free webinars hosted Monday through Friday. The schedule and archive is at https://practicalshowtechcom.squarespace.com.
The Virtual Theatre, a 3D set design tool for the Theatre Arts Classroom, is providing free access to its online program for teachers and students: Log on, select ‘FREE ONLINE’ product, and purchase.
Enroll in The American Ladder institute’s free online ladder safety training.
While you’re at it, download the Event Safety Alliance’s Event Safety Guide.
Get your finances in order with this freelancer budget template (and tutorial video) from Clemco.AV.
Break a sweat! The folks at RoadieFit are opening up their online workouts to everyone for free for the next two months.
Enroll in Yale University’s free "The Science of Well Being" course.
Looking for a few more fun ideas? Pick up that old guitar and try Fender Play, which is offering three months of free lessons.
Sennheiser Sound Academy and guests present professional audio webinars, for free. Don't forget to stop by Sennheiser’s #Dontstopthemusic virtual concert series on Instagram. New artists added daily.
See if you can coil a 50' cable faster than Dave Rat.
Do you offer a free training series that you’d like to see included here? Let us know at [email protected].
Sarah Jones is a writer, editor, and content producer with more than 20 years' experience in pro audio, including as editor-in-chief of three leading audio magazines: Mix, EQ, and Electronic Musician. She is a lifelong musician and committed to arts advocacy and learning, including acting as education chair of the San Francisco chapter of the Recording Academy, where she helps develop event programming that cultivates the careers of Bay Area music makers.