Full Week Schedule

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  Thu, Jun 4 Ear Training Test your ears and discuss - Music, Mixing and more! w/ Shane Mickelsen · 5am (PT) | 8am (ET) | 1pm (UK)
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  Thu, Jun 4 Office Hours Ask questions, get help, and connect. w/ Kallie · 2pm (PT) | 5pm (ET) | 10pm (UK)
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  Thu, Jun 4 Office Hours Ask questions, get help, and connect. w/ Kallie · 5pm (PT) | 8pm (ET) | 1am (UK)

What We Covered Recently

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

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