I think there’s a common myth that music production tools somehow take away from the need to understand music theory. I’d say exactly the opposite: they’re more demanding.
Every musician is now in the position of composer. You have an opportunity to arrange new sounds in new ways without any clear frame from the past. You’re now part of a community of listeners who have more access to traditions across geography and essentially from the dawn of time. In other words, there’s almost no choice too obvious.
So I also believe that every musician and producer ought to have access to some of the privilege I’ve had in regards to learning music theory and ear training. And I find that when my own creativity is lacking, I go back to listening deeply to sound and music.
There are in fact many resources online for deepening your music knowledge, but it’s interesting at least to observe how a software maker like Ableton gets involved. Having already established a book (Making Music) and a conference that takes on these issues at least in part (Loop), they now have unveiled a browser-based learning tool.
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