Our Mission

At Pyramind our mission is to empower the next generation of audio creators. We achieve this by providing cutting-edge educational programs, comprehensive learning content, and fostering a vibrant community of like-minded individuals. Through our commitment to excellence and innovation, we aim to equip aspiring audio professionals with the skills, knowledge, and resources they need to thrive in the dynamic fields of music and game audio production.

Our Story

For more than two decades, Pyramind has been at the forefront of providing top-tier studio services and education in music production and game audio. Since our inception in 1999, we have been dedicated to delivering excellence in both our services and educational programs.

From the outset, we recognized the potential of Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) like Pro Tools, and we began offering recording sessions and teaching our clients how to leverage these powerful tools effectively.

Pyramind founder, Greg Gordon was among the pioneers in integrating MIDI, Digital Audio, and Analog recording technologies, setting a standard for comprehensive and innovative studio practices.

Continuing our tradition of innovation, we became the first facility on the West Coast to host Ableton Trainer Certification programs. Additionally, we were among the earliest to provide certification training for industry-standard software such as Pro Tools and Logic.

Over the years, our commitment to excellence has earned us recognition, and we have had the privilege of producing award-winning soundtracks and content for some of the biggest entertainment studios worldwide.

At Pyramind, we blend our expertise in studio services with our passion for education, empowering individuals to excel in the dynamic fields of music production and game audio. Join us on our journey as we continue to push boundaries and inspire creativity in the world of sound.

Graduation
Music Producer Classes
A group of people sitting at a table in front of a music production program.

Our Staff, Instructors and Course Developers

Our Books On Amazon!

A look back on some of the exciting moments!

Two men using a music producer program at a table in front of a pyramid sound logo.

Matt Donner & Greg Gordon

Original Co-Founders

Pyramind STudios Awards

2011-2017: Pyramind wins multiple G.A.N.G. awards including Halo Combat Evolved and two for Microsoft Studios’ Kinect Disneyland Adventures.

2017 : Pyramind is named to the Inner City 100 list (ICIC) of the country’s fastest growing small businesses.

Two men passionately engaged in beatmaking at a recording studio, while expertly handling a mixing board for optimal mixing and mastering.

Greg Gordon mixing with Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation.
 “Re Mana” Garza Solo Project 

A group of people posing with guitars in a recording studio, engaging in beatmaking and using music producer program.

Microsoft Studios & Insomaniac Games Sunset Overdrive Soundtrack production. Nominated for GANG Awards Best Song of The Year. In the studio with Meat Market with Steve Heithecker & Greg Gordon

In a recording studio, a group of people collaborate using a music production program.

Sound stage at Skywalker Sound recording the score for Halo Combat Evolved, Anniversary.

Pyramind Team Recording on the soundstage at Skywalker Sound

The team recording the orchestra at Skywalker Sound

Pictured L-R: First Row: Lenny Moore, Jan Flute, Wataru Hokoyama, Leslie Ann Jones, Paul Lipson, Greg Gordon, Brian Tryfon, Tom Salta
Second Row: Michael Roache, Dann Thompson, Andre Zveers

Four people posing for a picture in front of a green sign emphasizing the joy of music production.

First US Ableton Trainer Certification
Pictured Above
Laura Escude, Timo Preece, Greg Gordon & Ulrich Fisher

Big brands trust our music production online free training program.

2009: Pyramind hosts the first ever US Ableton Trainer Certification.

A group of people posing in a music production program studio.

Sunset Overdrive Soundtrack production: Greg in Nashville at “Welcome to 1979” Studios recording Cheap Time

Pyramid Studios in San Francisco offers top-notch music production services. Our team of dedicated professionals excels in beatmaking and is well-versed in the art of music production. Experience our expertise firsthand by

Mix Magazine Article by senior editor Tom Kenny. 2008 – 2017: Greg and Matt pioneer the rapid growth of Pyramind as a school in tandem with a real working studio facility.

A certificate that says established music producer of the year.

2007: Greg is awarded the prestigious “entrepreneur of the year” award by The Renaissance Center For Entrepreneurship.

A music production program located in a building with a sign that says pyramidd.

832 Folsom Street SF, Sidewalk Display

2007: Pyramind expands again by acquiring a second facility, previously home to Universal Music’s Northern California distribution headquarters. 

A music producer playing an electronic keyboard in a recording studio.

David Earl (AKA sflogicninja), Producing in the Loft Studio at 880 Folsom St.

music & audio production school

2003: Pyramind outgrows its original space of operations and begins renovations at 880 Folsom St. Pyramind begins training in Logic Audio, well in advance of the purchase of the software company by Apple, and well before any formal Logic Certification program.

A group of people sitting at desks in a music production studio, utilizing a music production program.

2001: Pyramind becomes one of Digidesign’s (now Avid) first official training centers as a sponsored school, well ahead of the rest of the world. Its first instructors are hired; Steve Heithecker and David Earl (AKA sflogicninja). 

A group of people sitting in front of a computer screen working on music production online, utilizing a music production program for mixing and mastering.

2000 – Pyramind becomes a registered non-degree granting institution with the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education under the DBA: Institute For Advanced Digital Audio Training.

A man passionately immerses himself in beatmaking, music production online free, and mixing mastering while sitting at a desk in a professional recording studio.

1999: Greg meets Matt Donner, a New York City based engineer, producer, and acclaimed digital audio specialist. Matt first comes on board to engineer for Pyramind’s commercial studio clients, then becomes an instructor and co-architect of Pyramind’s training programs.

The cover of Vox's album Luminania reflects their expertise as a music producer in the realm of beatmaking.

1996: Pyramind’s operations expand to address the needs of San Francisco’s rapidly growing dot com and multimedia industries. This leads to rapid growth in commercial post production and interactive audio development. 

A beatmaking studio with a lot of music production equipment.

1997 – 2000: Greg develops and teaches the digital audio curriculum at SF State University’s multimedia studies program. Pyramind becomes an SF State University studio training partner.

The native groove machine, a music producer program, takes beatmaking to the next level. Perfect for professional music producers, this innovative software is designed to enhance your creative process and help you produce

1995: Native, DJ collective with Bill Thompson (bTru), Tony Fader, Chris Campbell, Greg Gordon (G2), and Mark Paley signed to Vox Lumania/Priority Records

A picture of a man playing guitar, demonstrating his musical talent and expertise.

Cover of Blues For The Rainforest Album and Photo of Jerry Garcia, Greg Gordon & Merl
Saunders in the control room of Merl’s Studio.

A music producer's recording studio equipped with a keyboard and a monitor, perfect for beatmaking, mixing, and mastering.

San Francisco’s first fully integrated digital
audio and MIDI production facility, Pyramind Sound, is founded in
1992 by Gregory J. Gordon

A music producer's recording studio equipped with a keyboard and a monitor, perfect for beatmaking, mixing, and mastering.

San Francisco’s first fully integrated digital
audio and MIDI production facility, Pyramind Sound, is founded in
1992 by Gregory J. Gordon

A picture of a man playing guitar, demonstrating his musical talent and expertise.

Cover of Blues For The Rainforest Album and Photo of Jerry Garcia, Greg Gordon & Merl
Saunders in the control room of Merl’s Studio.

The native groove machine, a music producer program, takes beatmaking to the next level. Perfect for professional music producers, this innovative software is designed to enhance your creative process and help you produce

1995: Native, DJ collective with Bill Thompson (bTru), Tony Fader, Chris Campbell, Greg Gordon (G2), and Mark Paley signed to Vox Lumania/Priority Records

Curriculum

User, Operator, Post and Expert Avid Pro Tools Certification training.
Pyramind’s six month Pro Tools program is one of the most comprehensive options in the world. Students learn the ins and outs of this industry standard digital audio workstation software and can earn as many as four vital AVID manufacture certifications that greatly enhance employment opportunities in the industry. The Pro Tools Program introduces fundamental DAW concepts and principles, covering everything an individual needs to know to complete an advanced Pro Tools project, from initial setup to final mix-down. You will build sessions that include multi-track recordings of live audio, MIDI sequences with virtual instruments and lock to picture. Hands-on exercises and projects introduce essential techniques for creating sessions, recording and importing audio and MIDI, editing dialog and sound effects, speed navigating sessions, arranging media on tracks, using plug ins and outboard gear, and mixing techniques to finalize and then master your production.

This course is designed for complete beginners all the way to intermediate users of the software.

In addition to gaining familiarity with Live’s primary applications, the in depth lessons are arranged to emphasize the adoption of a solid workflow that includes Max for Live integration.

During this three month program we focus on the details of all the devices contained within Ableton Live Suite. Students receive comprehensive training on Live’s various modes, components, parameters, and capabilities, as well as how it is used in conjunction with the Push 2, and other professional audio applications and third party tools.

Pyramind’s twelve week Ableton Live Program provides the necessary training for students with little to no experience in computer-based audio production and recording to enter our advanced music production focused courses well prepared.

There are as many ways to produce music as there are people doing it, but some methods yield consistently better results than others. This class will show you best practices in music production and will involve lots of in-class, hands-on activity. We’ll be integrating the concepts learned in the other classes into a cohesive workflow. Students build ideas from day one towards completed compositions in the style of their choosing. Throughout, students learn advanced Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) concepts and techniques. This course builds off of the lessons learned in our other DAW courses. Students learn various workflows, remixing techniques, and advanced concepts to take their music to the next level.
The new era of sound design is here and more accessible than ever. Synthesizers have changed the face of modern music and the quality of our films’ and games’ dramatically.  This course is designed to deliver a comprehensive understanding of sound design using Native Instruments Products, Serum, Ableton Live Suite tools and Logic Pro X tools. Concepts are reinforced through in-class lab work, homework assignments and the final project in which students create a sample pack of patches from every instrument covered in class.
The Game Audio Program at Pyramind offers an intensive journey into the world of crafting and sculpting adaptive scores and sound design for interactive media.  This course provides students with exposure to the core skills and workflows involved in creating and implementing game audio. Class time is divided between demonstration and hands-on practice, with ample time for experimentation with sample material and Game Audio implementation. The class goes deep into common techniques for assessing, acquiring, recording, editing, mastering and implementing interactive audio. Pyramind is the only school on the west coast that is Wwise certified. Training in Wwise and FMOD means students receive hands-on training with this leading Middleware tools of the trade. Middleware tools like these provide a deep understanding of interactive audio creation and the implementation process. Students compose music, create sound design and record dialog for the purpose of implementation into a game environment.
The Sound Engineering program offered at Pyramind allows students to explore the concept of what sound really is, both scientifically and musically. Students study the psycho acoustics of live sound: from moving waves to electrons and then to bits and bytes. Audio engineering is dissected as both an art and a science: in depth and hands on analysis of signal flow from the live room and into the studio, microphone selection to placement and technique, headphone cue mixing, analog to digital conversion, compression, gating and recording live instruments are all part of these classes. The recordings created throughout are used to hone your post-production techniques in preparation for final mix and mastering. You tighten and clean up the recordings with editing, tuning and processing using the latest tools and plug-ins.
The mixing and mastering processes are an essential part of the production process.  Student projects and sample mixes are dissected in a workshop setting to determine what works and what doesn’t using a set of specified objective criteria. This class synthesizes ALL of the subjects learned to date – from music theory to songwriting, production tools and engineering concepts – as students actualize what a piece of music actually goes through to be finished. Students learn how to utilize fundamental mixing concepts as well as advanced creative techniques to bring their music to life and prepare their tracks for release.
Our full-time students benefit from having a place every week to present and talk through their projects, ideas, and get their questions answered by a professional musician/instructor. This class is designed to ensure that no student is left behind and serves to cement the concepts and techniques from each of their classes. Being able to recount the lessons learned is a vital part of the growing process and Pyramind has dedicated time each week to providing students the platform to do so with Technical Training.
The Pyramind Music Theory course combines both a theoretical and practical introduction to the theory and application of music. Infused with both piano skills and ear training, this fundamental class sets the foundation for understanding all music and is a must for any serious producer. We start from the absolute beginning and provide a ground-up introduction to Piano and Keyboard performance and music theory. The keyboard has become the Swiss army knife of instruments in the digital audio workstation and soft-synth heavy production landscape. Facility on the instrument will dramatically improve the speed at which you can produce and arrange music of all genres.
The Pyramind DJ/Performance course begins with the fundamentals of DJ’ing including: beat matching, EQ’ing, gain matching, track selection, harmonic mixing, effects, set prep, and more.   You get hands on learning throughout the class in our brand new, custom-built DJ/Performance lab, made up of six individual training stations using Pioneer DJMS3 mixers and XDJ700 Pioneer Pro CDJ’s. The performance stage is designed to look and feel like you’re in a nightclub environment and is outfitted with the X1 DJM-900NXS2 mixer and as many as four X2 CDJ 2000NXS2’s. The lab is outfitted with multiple video cameras, including overhead the performance stage to record your performance and for in-class viewing on the 64-inch LCD video display monitor. All the cameras are routed to a video switcher, optimized for live streaming, recording, and in-class viewing. The custom-designed LED light wall installation is controlled by Resolume Arena software. This uses beat synchronization with the CDJ’s for stunning visuals to accompany both your in-class and live streaming performance.
The Live Performance course focuses on harnessing the power of Ableton Live to create sophisticated DJ sets and Live Performances.   Whether you want to create all of your sounds and sequencing live, perform backing tracks with a band, create a live show for a touring act,  or DJ with the most power and flexibility possible this course is the answer for you. Students will work with various types of MIDI controllers, including the APC 40 and Ableton Push 2, and develop skills and strategies culminating in a live performance set.

PYRAMIND
IN ACTION

What some of our students say about the
benefits of their Pyramind experience
The relationships I gained through this school were incredible and vita. I got my internship opportunity with DoubleFine through Pyramind and was mentored by the award-winning Game Audio Director, Emily Ridgway. I also got to work beside one of the best sound designers, Brian Min, all under the roof of video game icon, Tim Schafer.. Now I’m the Audio Director!

Camden Stoddard

  • Audio Director at Doublefine Studios
  • Pyramind Alumni
What some of our students say about the
benefits of their Pyramind experience
The relationships I gained through this school were incredible and vita. I got my internship opportunity with DoubleFine through Pyramind and was mentored by the award-winning Game Audio Director, Emily Ridgway. I also got to work beside one of the best sound designers, Brian Min, all under the roof of video game icon, Tim Schafer.. Now I’m the Audio Director!

Brennan Anderson

  • Senior Sound Designer Riot Games
  • Pyramind Alumni
What some of our students say about the
benefits of their Pyramind experience
I came to Pyramind because I’ve been a musician my whole life and I was always very intrigued by interactive music for games and I wanted to learn from the very best so I came here.

Joshua Gouzy

  • Audio Designer
  • Turn 10 Studios a Microsoft AAA Developer
  • Pyramind Alumni
What some of our students say about the
benefits of their Pyramind experience
Pyramind provided me a supportive environment to learn and participate with others that share my interest in game audio. Their excellent instructors helped inspire and focus my passion. Their frequent events related to music and games helped me to learn from and network with many important people in the game audio community.

Shawn Minoux

  • Principal Sound Designer at Blizzard Entertaiment
  • Pyramind Alumni
What some of our students say about the
benefits of their Pyramind experience
I didn’t know how to play any instruments and I didn’t know what exactly I wanted to be. I wanted to be an artist but I was open to do it for film, for games etc. Pyramind helped me try myself in everything and the camaraderie with the students and the teachers made for a really positive experience.

Sol Rising

  • Over 612k monthly listeners on the Spotify streams
  • Pyramind Alumni
What some of our students say about the
benefits of their Pyramind experience
We were a few months into our program and that gave us a lot of time to sit in the studio and experiment, creating a project together, and trying to make something we could market and make successful.

Lutrrell

  • Artist/Producer Anjunadeep
  • Pyramind Alumni

MONTHLY ENROLLMENT DATES

San Francisco & Online

Due to our small class sizes these dates fill up well in advance.
Be sure to reserve your seat by contacting our admissions staff below.