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Content from our social media — music theory, songwriting, engineering, mixing, synthesis, and more — collected in one place. If you saw something on our page and want to find it again, it's here. Read it, search it, share it.

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Wheel Demo: Blackbird

Paul McCartney's Blackbird is a masterclass in voice leading. The chord name doesn't matter — what matters is the function.

Phantom Balanced

There are a few reasons that pro audio connections often run over balanced cables like this or this.

When Everything is Stereo

When every track is panned wide, nothing stands out. Why mono and narrow elements are what make stereo mixing work — and how to use width as contrast.

Plagal: meet the amen chord

Meet the Amen chord, the plagal cadence.

Stitch: Emma Harner

It’s a shame to talk over this beautiful song by Emma Harner.

Video thumbnail: The next time you reach for the attack or release on a compressor, instead of thinking of them as a...

Attack Release: gas and breaks

The next time you reach for the attack or release on a compressor, instead of thinking of them as a time, think of it as the gas and the brakes.

Flow: Order of Operations

There’s an order of operations I prefer when announcing a new take.

Bread and Butter: 6/3 Church Chord

Another useful chord progression to put under your fingers — a common keyboard trope built on the 6/3 church resolution.

Keyboard MVP

The most valuable piano voicing you can learn — a 6/4 inversion straight out of Miles Davis that exerts maximum force for minimum energy.

Feedback: things they don't teach you in recording school

Important stuff they should teach you at recording school, but don’t.

TLDR: finish your songs

If you want to get better at finishing your songs, here’s the TL;DR.

Parallel Processing: have your cake and eat it too

Can you have your cake and eat it too?

Weather Sonification

What if you could hear everything? Sound waves are spheres with pressure in one dimension and time in the other.

Video thumbnail: If you told me a year ago that I’d have a video about cables that had a million views, I would have...

Rules

If you told me a year ago that I’d have a video about cables that had a million views, I would have laughed.

Chord Inversions

The easiest way to start understanding chord inversions is to think of it like a cake with three ingredients.

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Showing 12 of 611 articles (Page 26 of 51)

MPG: Music Production Gym

What makes music tick?

MBE: all levels

Let me share with you the steps I take to teach harmony to our students.

Video thumbnail: This is the simplest of riffs, but if you put it under your fingers on a little teeny tiny...

Keyboard Skills Elective

This is the simplest of riffs, but if you put it under your fingers on a little teeny tiny keyboard, it will be more useful than you can possibly …

Workhorse: suspended chord shape

You’ll get unexpected mileage out of this suspended chord shape.

Video thumbnail: It’s all too easy to fall into a trap of thinking your favorite engineers hear everything in...

Too Subtle?

It’s all too easy to fall into a trap of thinking your favorite engineers hear everything in brilliant color while you hear everything in black and …

Video thumbnail: Writers. Music is also about narrative. And if you’re curious about how those two things intersect,...

Writer's Kitchen

Writers. Music is also about narrative. And if you’re curious about how those two things intersect, so are we. Beat Kitchen is opening our doors to …

Keboard Skills: thirds and sixths

This may sound boring, but this sounds a lot more exciting.

Video thumbnail: This shape... It’s really handy. You’ve heard it in countless songs. It’s a 6 to a 2 to a 5 to a 1....

Simple Chords: critical progression

This shape... It’s really handy. You’ve heard it in countless songs. It’s a 6 to a 2 to a 5 to a 1. Look at it in C. It’s an…

Video thumbnail: Right ring, red. How do we get signal from here to here? These are both TRS cables. This one is...

Red Right Ring

Right ring, red. How do we get signal from here to here? These are both TRS cables. This one is carrying a stereo signal. Tip, ring, sleeve. And if …

Who Needs Synthesis?

Who needs synthesis, right?

The trouble with earbuds

Before you mix in earbuds, I want you to try this.

That's What Facebook is For

I made a mistake in a video.