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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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Chord Thinking over Key Thinking

I favor chord thinking over key thinking, and here’s what I mean.

Chess pieces and audio cables on a chessboard atop a piano

The Stereo Mid Side Chess Test

A thought exercise to test your understanding of stereo imaging, mid side processing, phase, polarity, and signal flow.

Spooky: Major Minor Halloween

John Carpenter's Halloween theme — 70% of you identified it as minor. But there's no third in the structure. Music theory isn't about a right or wrong answer.

Hearing Vibrations

We say that when you hear a sound you’re hearing vibrations, but what does that mean?

Video thumbnail: Somewhere out there, somebody’s telling you that it’s dangerous to use natural phase EQ because it...

Natural Phase: danger

Somewhere out there, somebody’s telling you that it’s dangerous to use natural phase EQ because it imparts a phase shift on your recordings.

Video thumbnail: Time and time again, I see students run into trouble because of assumptions they make around the...

Wait! There's A Pan Law?

Time and time again, I see students run into trouble because of assumptions they make around the word "stereo." I’m not trying to take you down a notch by making you feel like you don’t understand something that you thought you did, but signal flow legitimately trips a lot of people up, so I want to challenge you by thinking about this example.

Two Similar Chord Progressions

A descending baseline over a minor chord appears in thousands of songs. But that little wrinkle at the end means you can't use a single scale.

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 white.

polarity and phase

One thing that tends to confuse new engineers is the difference between phase and polarity.

Video thumbnail: The power of a compressor really comes into its own as we start to adjust the attack and release...

Attack Release

The power of a compressor really comes into its own as we start to adjust the attack and release time.

Barker Bark

How many notes do you hear?

Fifth Optional

A chord has a root of a third and a fifth, but the fifth, it’s in there, whether you play it or not.

Lament Bass

This chord progression is so useful, it basically has a name.

A Little Gospel Under Your Fingers

Here is a little gift because if you can play this you’ve got a little gospel under your fingers and that means you’re playing with inversions and diminished chords and if that’s new to you that’s going to open some doors.

LFO Phase Detune

Check this out and tell me if it makes sense to you.

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Showing 12 of 611 articles (Page 44 of 51)

Plan A

Today I got diagnosed with something called "dupertrans disease".

Video thumbnail: Understanding the mathematical foundations of audio compression: how logarithms relate to dynamic...

Compression, Dynamic Range, Logarithms

Understanding the mathematical foundations of audio compression: how logarithms relate to dynamic range and decibel measurements in audio engineering.

Video thumbnail: Transform Logic Pro X from beginner to power user: comprehensive guide to advanced settings, custom...

Logic Pro X: Power User Settings

Transform Logic Pro X from beginner to power user: comprehensive guide to advanced settings, custom templates, workflow optimization, and professional …

Video thumbnail: Complete guide to recording grand pianos: from the 'missionary position' to ORTF arrays, boundary...

Recording The Grand Piano

Complete guide to recording grand pianos: from the 'missionary position' to ORTF arrays, boundary mics, and advanced multi-mic techniques for …

Video thumbnail: Complete guide to recording upright pianos: microphone placement techniques, removing panels for...

Recording The Upright Piano

Complete guide to recording upright pianos: microphone placement techniques, removing panels for better access, dealing with player noise, and miking …

Aspirin

Complicated doesn’t mean better.

Video thumbnail: Yesterday, during lab hours, one of our members shared a story about a challenging situation that...

We Have A Problem

Yesterday, during lab hours, one of our members shared a story about a challenging situation that came up in the industry because they’re a woman.

Video thumbnail: Not every question needs an answer, and understanding how sound works or how music functions should...

The Incantation Behind the Spell

Not every question needs an answer, and understanding how sound works or how music functions should never undercut the magic of the mystery or the …

Music

Music. It has the profound ability to create a kind of structured order out of chaos. It connects seemingly distant places, shifts them to create …

5/4 Be With You

Arrangement:mix

I’ve gotten some interesting questions people asking me to clarify what do I mean by an arrangement?

Word Cloud

The Beat Kitchen curriculum is a living document.