Music Production Mentoring

Office hours this afternoon covered a chord and harmony detection tool currently in development, including how it identifies chords from live audio or pre-recorded music, displays them on a keyboard, and maps them to a harmony wheel to help determine key. Discussed distribution logistics for the tool across desktop (standalone and plugin), Discord-authorized, and potential iOS versions. No formal instruction was given; the session was primarily check-in and tool-testing coordination.

Reviewed submitted beats from Paul and Jon, with feedback on chord progressions, bass tone, arrangement, and structure. Discussed modal interchange in the context of a minor-chord submission built around a destabilized fifth. Explored a potential new challenge format: scoring original music to a provided video clip.

Vibe coding plugins Building a studio room with a business partner Focusing on songs, and artistry versus production vs mixing

Covered mix decisions from a completed original song, walking through manual pan automation, ping pong delay routing, reverb on snare, and processing approaches for bassoon (Fresh Air plug-in, horn-style EQ preset, light compression). Also discussed genre specialization in mixing, when to outsource versus learn to mix yourself, and the value of building a complementary creative partnership rather than wearing all hats.

Keyboard techniques on I - IV - V - I (over tonic pedal) V6 - vi7 - IVMaj7 - I. Introducing 7th and 9ths through common tones.

Covered a deep listening and production analysis session using a 1970s Yacht Rock track by Ambrosia, with AI stem separation in Logic Pro to isolate and examine individual elements. Worked through instrument identification (Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Hammond organ, piano, synth, bass, drums, guitar), production techniques of the era (overdubbing, palm muting, dry drum production, multi-miking), vocal technique (chest voice, head voice, the flip/yodel transition), and jazz-influenced chord vocabulary including passing chords, turnarounds, and borrowed chords.