All Beat Kitchen Articles

Upward compression, downward compression, and expansion

Downward compression, upward compression, expansion. and it’s to get these mixed up. But I hope you’ll forgive me if I try to simplify this in about 30 …

Hook Vs. Chorus

A hook is an element in your arrangement. That’s not to say it can’t also be a chorus, but if we choose to make a hook mean the same thing as chorus, then …

Half diminished chords and shell voicings

There is a reasonable chance that the first minor chord you learned to play was an a minor. That means an E seven was probably not far behind.

Diversity

You might be surprised to learn that the big studio sound you like isn’t just a byproduct of a big studio. Similarly, it’s not just a product …

Tetrachord combinations and scales

Tetrachords show up in music theory at various times. Most commonly, we see them along the first half of a diatonic scale. It’s only for notes, and it …

Survivorship Bias

You can’t learn how to be lucky, but you can learn a lot from failure.

We are all infatuated with success stories.

Fixing a chord clash in Apple Logic pro X

Like most things, fixing a subtle clash in logic is pretty much the same as it was in Ableton. I’m playing this line and there’s something I …

The Best Mixes

The best mixes are crafted by the top mix engineers, but that’s not why they’re the best mixes. Those engineers have great skills and they know …

Compression: input and output

An audio compressor — whether it is hardware or software — reduces the level of a track, but one of the places people get confused is in understanding …

Are sidechains overrated?

Side chains are overrated. Useful? Yes. Cool. Totally. Which is why engineers and teachers love talking about ’em. They require some explaining, …

Accidentals: sharps and flats

Is there a difference between a B flat and an A sharp? Yeah. What we’re talking about is called accidentals. Accidentals, don’t just refer to …

Cat Gut

Despite what you may have heard, instruments are not strung with Cat Gut. Neither are tennis rackets. They never have been Sheep Gut. Sure, but not cat. …