Full Week Schedule

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  Sun, Nov 15 Theory Gym Start your day at the 'gym' with a morning music theory workout w/ Nathan ·
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  Mon, Nov 16 Weekly Beat Challenge Gather and listen to anyone's Beat Challenge song ideas -- just for fun w/ Nathan ·
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  Mon, Nov 16 Office Hours Ask questions, get help, and connect. w/ Jon Mattox ·
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  Mon, Nov 16 Instrument Gym Practice and workout on instruments! w/ Nathan ·
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  Tue, Nov 17 Theory Gym Start your day at the 'gym' with a morning music theory workout w/ Nathan ·
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  Tue, Nov 17 Office Hours Ask questions, get help, and connect. w/ Nathan ·
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  Tue, Nov 17 Production Gym Start your day at the 'gym' with a production breakdown of your favorite songs w/ Jam ·
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  Wed, Nov 18 Production Gym Start your day at the 'gym' with a production breakdown of your favorite songs w/ Scott Hampton ·
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  Wed, Nov 18 Weekly Beat Challenge Gather and listen to anyone's Beat Challenge song ideas -- just for fun w/ Nathan ·
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  Thu, Nov 19 Office Hours Ask questions, get help, and connect. w/ Nathan ·

What We Covered Recently

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  THEORY-GYM Covered the fundamentals of rhythm and drum programming in a production context — time signatures, note subdivisions, and the grid system underlying beat construction. Demonstrated how to build drum parts in a DAW starting from a basic 4/4 pattern and incrementally adding variation through kick placement, hi-hat fills, snare velocity changes, and fill transitions. Also addressed how to reference real drumming to inform programming decisions, including velocity, ghost notes, and limb logic.
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  EAR-TRAINING-GYM We spent this morning's session doing a comparative microphone listening exercise, working through a playlist of real client recordings made on a range of microphones — from $38 Amazon condensers to $289 Lewitt condensers — to train the ear to hear what mic choice actually does (and doesn't) do to a recording. Discussion covered how microphone character interacts with voice timbre, why high-end EQ demands differ between dynamic and condenser mics, and how performance and songwriting quality consistently outweigh gear choice.
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  OFFICE HOURS Worked through Flex Pitch and Flex Time editing in Logic Pro, covering take folder management, flattening regions, pitch correction on individual notes, and timing adjustments using flex markers. Also demonstrated a chord chart web tool that transcribes audio, detects chords and lyrics, and allows live collaborative editing with section labeling, roadmapping, and harmony wheel integration.
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  PRODUCTION-GYM Covered acoustic guitar recording technique — specifically the tradeoffs between mono double-tracking and stereo mic placement — and gave detailed feedback on a student's mastered tracks, focusing on reverb philosophy, low-end management, and mix translation across devices. Demonstrated a custom workflow for auditioning drum sounds in Drum Machine Designer using Logic's Sampler and Link window, and introduced the Logic Preference Librarian tool for backing up and managing Logic preference files across versions.
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  WEEKLY-BEAT-CHALLENGE Reviewed submitted beats this evening, including a tetrachord-based improvisation piece and additional work from Mark. Used the Harmony Wheel app's tetrachord feature to demonstrate how scales can be constructed and identified by mixing and matching tetrachords, and explored modal naming and cross-referencing. Discussion also covered vocal production strategy — specifically selecting and color-coding takes by emotional truth rather than technical execution — and the broader principle of subtractive production: identifying what to remove rather than what to add.

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