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Beat Kitchen At-A-Glance

Beat Ktichen Calendar

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Recent Resident Gyms
- EAR-TRAINING-GYM: Listened to 3 chord progressions blocked and arpeggiated. Students to identify which chords contained 7ths. Followed by aural breakdown of each chord—strategies for hearing 7ths in chords vertically AND horizontally through chord progressions. Interesting notes, triads and open 5ths sounds clearer than 7th chords which tend to add bits of heaviness. Explored different colors achieved through various voicings.
- OFFICE HOURS: Listened to David's new tracks. He is experimenting with Ableton. Went over some new stuff in his studio, and talked about distribution. I recommended one of the songs as something that caught my ear to develop more. Standish came in with 15-20 minutes left. We talked about his new studio setup, and listened to David's tracks. He suggested another song idea to develop that caught his ear. We talked about distribution a little more, and goals for releasing music. We recommended Soundcloud, Bandcamp, and Distrokid as three places to look based on his goals.
- WEEKLY-BEAT-CHALLENGE: Reviewed two student beats this session — one built around a stereo-widened percussive element, one centered on a sliced vocal and Serum leads. Covered stereo widening and its behavior in mono playback environments, and worked through harmony options for a track in E minor, including the IV chord, relative minor relationships, Dorian mode, and vertical vs. horizontal approaches to songwriting. Also introduced the chord wheel as a tool for finding diatonic chord options within a key.
- INSTRUMENT-GYM: Worked through diatonic 7th chord arpeggios across the C major scale in first position, exploring multiple fingering options for each chord degree (Cmaj7, Dm7, Em7, Fmaj7, G7, Am7, Bm7♭5). Discussed how staying in a fixed position versus traveling up the neck reveals different trade-offs in efficiency, reach, and fretboard knowledge. Connected the exercise to ear training, vocal training parallels, and fretboard note literacy.
- OFFICE HOURS: We discussed what the tonic is, some local jam sessions, songs/work in progress. Standish shared a demo, and we shared some feed back in return. We also briefly discussed mobile recording and songwriting inspiration on the go.
- THEORY-GYM: We worked through a full harmonic and rhythmic analysis of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," using it as a vehicle for introducing modal interchange, borrowed chords, and chromatic mediants. The song's three-section structure (verse, chorus, bridge) was mapped out chord by chord, with particular attention to how the parallel major/minor relationship between C and C minor explains the borrowed chords, and how third-motion between tonal centers creates the chromatic mediant shifts. We also examined the groove's rhythmic foundation — the swung or near-triplet sixteenth-note feel programmed into the drum machine — and how that rhythmic language informs the vocal phrasing throughout.
- EAR-TRAINING-GYM: Today's class focused on drum ear training using a deceptively simple premise: five songs from the '80s — Rebel Yell (Billy Idol), Kids in America (Kim Wilde), Never Say Never (Romeo Void), Turbo Lover (Judas Priest), and Maniac (Michael Sembello) — all built around the same basic drum beat at similar tempos. By holding the pattern and tempo constant, students could focus entirely on how the drums sounded rather than what they were playing — specifically drum tuning and mix balance within the kit. The real ear-opener came when we muted the Romeo Void drums and swapped in the drum tracks from each of the other four songs. Hearing a different kit and mix drop into the same song made it immediately obvious how much the drum sound shapes the feel and identity of a track — sometimes the swap sounded jarring and wrong, other times surprisingly natural. The takeaway: even when drummers are playing identical patterns, the sound of the kit is a creative decision with enormous impact on the finished record.
- OFFICE HOURS: 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.
- WEEKLY-BEAT-CHALLENGE: 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.
- OFFICE HOURS: We explored chromatic mediants, modal ambiguity, and the harmonic character of specific chord relationships — particularly E minor as the mediant in C major, and D major to F major as a chromatic mediant movement. We also discussed tertiary harmony as the structural basis for these ambiguous chord relationships, and worked through how augmented chords function as pivot points between multiple key centers. Additionally, we troubleshot the Harmony Wheel app with a participant experiencing a MIDI audio issue, and Nathan pushed a live update to resolve it.
Learn more about Residency
Upcoming Resident Events
- Office Hours: Scott Hampton
  Jun. 07, 2pm (PT) | 5pm (ET) | 10pm (UK)
- Weekly Beat Challenge: Nathan
  Jun. 08, 6pm (PT) | 9pm (ET) | 2am (UK)
- Office Hours: Jon Mattox
  Jun. 08, 2pm (PT) | 5pm (ET) | 10pm (UK)
- Production Gym: Jam
  Jun. 09, 5am (PT) | 8am (ET) | 1pm (UK)
- Office Hours: Cato Zane
  Jun. 09, 2pm (PT) | 5pm (ET) | 10pm (UK)
- Instrument Gym: Jon Mattox
  Jun. 09, 5am (PT) | 8am (ET) | 1pm (UK)
Learn more about Residency
Upcoming Courses
- Apr 19, 2026 Theory: Musician Basics
- Apr 22, 2026 Mixing: Effects, Synths & Tools
- Apr 27, 2026 DAW Core Skills
- Apr 27, 2026 FL Studio
- May 23, 2026 Logic Pro 1-Day Intensive
- Jun 10, 2026 Hardware & Recording Primer
- Jul 8, 2026 Hardware & Recording Primer
- Jul 12, 2026 DAW Core Skills
See All Courses
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