• OFFICE HOURS: We talked about giving yourself grace when learning mixing and production, we hunted down a few reference tracks for Jon, We also talked about saturation and how to achieve a specific sound Jon was going for.
• PRODUCTION-GYM: We explored the songwriting and production craft of Tori Amos through three songs — "Silent All These Years" (1992), the new single "Shush," and "Cornflake Girl" — analyzing lyric writing, arrangement choices, frequency management in piano-driven production, and the relationship between a producer's frequency awareness and the mix engineer's workload.
• OFFICE HOURS: Checked in with students during open office hours, touched on the Beat Challenge leaderboard standings and encouraged continued participation. Discussed the Harmony Wheel app's new Android release and noted that testing on personal devices has been limited. Briefly explored the philosophy of choosing cover songs and the value of crowd-sourced input for that decision.
• WEEKLY-BEAT-CHALLENGE: Reviewed two submitted beats — one a polymetric rap piece built on a 9/8 sample with vocal phrasing that moves between 6 and 9, and one a piano-driven instrumental developed from the inchworm exercise, featuring arpeggiated chord progressions. Co-prime sequences came up as a theoretical framework for understanding the metric layering in both pieces, and the session extended into a broader discussion of generative songwriting practice, limitations-based writing, and the value of reps over output targets.
• THEORY-GYM: Covered the limitations of traditional music theory when applied to contemporary rock and songwriting, using chord quality recognition and ear training as a practical entry point. Discussed how borrowing chords outside a key's diatonic set is common and useful, and why chasing what sounds good often matters more than fitting strict theoretical rules. Offered guidance on learning songs by ear, alternate guitar tunings, guitar setup and maintenance, and using a DAW to capture and develop ideas.
• INSTRUMENT-GYM: We worked through the Hanon exercise as a harmonic training tool, running it in tenths across all keys via the circle of fourths and fifths. The focus was on using the melodic structure of the exercise to train the ear to catch wrong notes rather than watching the fingers navigate key changes. We also explored adapting the exercise to natural minor and attempted harmonic minor, which revealed the augmented second in that scale and introduced the Phrygian dominant scale as a related concept.
• WEEKLY-BEAT-CHALLENGE: We reviewed beats submitted by Christian and worked through feedback on mixing for multiple playback environments, arrangement choices under harmonic constraints, and the challenge of writing instrumental music in vocal-centered genres. We also touched on diminished chord symmetry as it relates to key rotation, and discussed the studio versus performance relationship as a broader creative framework.
• OFFICE HOURS: Covered approaches to managing sibilance on vocals recorded through cassette tape, including de-essing, multiband compression, frequency balancing, and saturation-based tape emulation techniques. Discussed snare replacement and sample triggering workflows in the context of a current mix project, including how to preserve a drummer's intentional dynamics. Reviewed two tracks brought by a student and gave detailed feedback on mix translation, and spatial decisions.
• THEORY-GYM: We explored secondary dominants using a real-world example: the chord progression from "Hush" by The Marias (A minor 9 – D7 – G major 7 – G7). The central question was how to identify and label non-diatonic dominant seventh chords in a progression whose key center is itself ambiguous. Discussion moved through multiple analytical lenses — five-of-five, five-of-four, modal interchange, and 2-5-1 in a relative major — without settling on a single definitive answer, which itself became part of the lesson.
• OFFICE HOURS: Covered foundational house music production concepts including beat structure, syncopation, bass line writing, sidechain compression, and basic mixing/mastering in FL Studio. Worked through a live build of a simple house beat from percussion patterns through bass layering, chord movement, and final limiting. Also reviewed a student's Ableton project built from hardware effects and discussed next steps for arrangement and sound design.

Show more… Learn more about Residency

• 
  Weekly Beat Challenge: Nathan
  Jun. 29, 6pm (PT) | 9pm (ET) | 2am (UK)
• 
  Office Hours: Cato Zane
  Jun. 29, 2pm (PT) | 5pm (ET) | 10pm (UK)
• 
  Ear Training: Nathan
  Jun. 29, 7am (PT) | 10am (ET) | 3pm (UK)
• 
  Theory Gym: Nathan
  Jun. 30, 5pm (PT) | 8pm (ET) | 1am (UK)
• 
  Office Hours: Jam
  Jun. 30, 2pm (PT) | 5pm (ET) | 10pm (UK)
• 
  Production Gym: Jam
  Jun. 30, 5am (PT) | 8am (ET) | 1pm (UK)

Learn more about Residency

• 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