Next Event: Loading...

00: 00: 00: 00 Get Started

Beat Kitchen Plugins & Apps

Plugins and apps built by working producers and educators. Buy once — every update is included.

BKS Harmonic Synthesizer

An additive synthesizer that builds sound from individual overtones — fold harmonics, scan overtones by scale, gate partials by chord.

📶one-time purchase · free web tool View →

BKS Harmony Wheel

Theory-aware chord analysis tool. Free in your browser; plugin adds standalone + audio analysis.

📶one-time purchase · free web tool View →

BKS Audio Tools

Right-click loudness analysis, MP3 conversion, stereo check. Free macOS tools that live in your Finder right-click menu.

Free macOS download Download →

Tetrachord Toolkit

An interactive companion for exploring tetrachord construction — the building blocks of scales.

Free web tool Open →

Beat Kitchen Key Visualizer — a piano display lighting up a Cm7 chord with the root in blue

Beat Kitchen Key Visualizer

A MIDI keyboard display for teaching — lights up the notes you play, sized to your controller. Type on your computer keyboard too.

Free macOS download Download →

Built in the open

These tools are made by Beat Kitchen School — a music school run by working producers and educators. Every tool keeps getting updates as it grows, and your purchase includes them all.

Beat Kitchen At-A-Glance

Beat Ktichen Calendar

See the full calendar
Recent Resident Gyms
- OFFICE HOURS: Covered mic selection and placement for acoustic instruments, gain staging and signal flow through a DAW and hardware mixer, the difference between mic/instrument/line/speaker levels and how DI boxes work, and parallel effects routing using sends and aux tracks instead of in-line plugin mix knobs. Also addressed stem vs. track-out terminology and audio-level distortion management at different points in the signal chain.
- OFFICE HOURS: We worked through melody writing — specifically how to get unstuck when chord progressions are in place but melodies aren't coming. Covered approaches including intuitive exploration without theory constraints, patch tweaking for playability, learning other artists' melodies as vocabulary building, and when and how to break outside the scale. Students also discussed studying specific artists — including Django Reinhardt and George Benson — as a way to internalize melodic phrasing and style. We also talked about different kinds of audio interfaces, and explored potential ways to link up more than one audio interface at a time to maximize inputs.
- OFFICE HOURS: Covered mixing workflow in Logic Pro, focusing on why to avoid placing a limiter on the stereo output during the mixing process. Demonstrated how to use Logic's Summing Stack (Track Stack) feature to group and organize instrument buses, and walked through how to create and use a session template — including how to import tracks from an existing session — to save time when mixing multiple songs that share a similar track layout.
- PRODUCTION-GYM: we listened to some 90's hip hop and talked about the different elements
- OFFICE HOURS: Covered top-down vs. bottom-up mixing philosophy and how to find the workflow that fits your process. Walked through a full vocal chain demonstration — EQ, stacked compression, de-essing, saturation, vocal doubling, ping-pong delay, and reverb bussing — with live examples on a vocal-and-guitar arrangement. Discussed automation as the final step that separates a functional mix from a finished one, along with mic selection, plosive control, and the value of low-stakes practice projects.
- THEORY-GYM: We worked on extracting chord progressions from electronic tracks purely by ear — no instruments allowed during the listening phase. The exercise focused on using the voice as an analytical tool: singing bass notes, tracing scale direction, identifying the tonic, and then doing a final instrument check to confirm. We worked through three tracks, identified their key centers and progressions, and connected the process to harmonic series concepts to explain why certain note relationships are so easy to hear.
- WEEKLY-BEAT-CHALLENGE: Reviewed beat challenge submissions from multiple students, with feedback centered on percussion choices, rhythmic feel, and the relationship between drum programming and a piece's overall character. Discussed how early placement of a drum loop or plugin shapes compositional decisions in ways that are difficult to reverse, and explored the value of working with unconventional or handmade percussion sources. Also touched on the Beat Kitchen Harmony Wheel app — current store status, scale/mode counting, chord recognition accuracy, and upcoming fixes.
- 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.
Learn more about Residency
Upcoming Resident Events
- Weekly Beat Challenge: Nathan
  Jul. 06, 6pm (PT) | 9pm (ET) | 2am (UK)
- Office Hours: Scott Hampton
  Jul. 06, 2pm (PT) | 5pm (ET) | 10pm (UK)
- Theory Gym: Nathan
  Jul. 06, 5pm (PT) | 8pm (ET) | 1am (UK)
- Production Gym: Scott Hampton
  Jul. 07, 5am (PT) | 8am (ET) | 1pm (UK)
- Office Hours: Nathan
  Jul. 07, 2pm (PT) | 5pm (ET) | 10pm (UK)
- Instrument Gym: Kallie
  Jul. 07, 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
Request a Gym Topic

Helpful Links

Our Socials