Sound Design 1 | Fall ‘26

James Patrick is a sound artist, music producer, author and educator. He has been creating original electronic music works and events involving technology and live music since the 1990s. He is the co-founder and owner of Slam Academy, an Ableton Certified Training Center based in Minneapolis that teaches music production, DJing, and specialty music industry courses.

James was one of the first Ableton Certified Trainers in the world, helping pilot the trainer program in 2008, and has since been a leader among Ableton educators. His first 10 years of teaching sound design and audio production were at the Institute of Production and Recording in Minneapolis, before moving onto Dubspot in New York City. Since starting Slam Academy in 2012, he has taken on private clients from around the world that range from beginners to some of the most prolific musicians of our time.

James has written two books: Sound Design for Electronic Music - Creating Original Sounds with Ableton Live: Part One - Essentials of Analog and FM Synthesis, and Sound Design for Electronic Music - Creating Original Sounds with Ableton Live: Part Two - Effects Processing, Sampling, and Advanced Digital Synthesis. Through his professional involvement in both academic and popular electronic realms, James curated the international Spark Festival of Electronic Music in collaboration with the University of Minnesota. James is also the recipient of the American Composer’s Forum MECA award, among other awards.