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Instrument Gym

Weekly. Practice and workout on instruments. Included with residency.

Practice and workout on instruments with fellow residents. Guided sessions, technique exercises, and collaborative playing.

Upcoming Sessions

Sep 01 Nathan
Sep 08 Nathan
Sep 23 Kallie

Recent Sessions

Thu, Aug 06, 2026 Nathan 3 attended

Worked through the BK Harmonic synthesizer as an expressive instrument, exploring its core architecture — partials, overtone scan, tuning modes, and the partials matrix — with live hands-on walkthroughs for attending students. Covered just intonation versus equal temperament as implemented in the plugin, and demonstrated how to route MIDI modulation (pitch bend) to control the number of active partials as an expressive performance parameter.

All resident events are included with your Beat Kitchen Residency.

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Explore Classes

Office Hours Weekly. Ask questions, get help, and connect. Included with residency. Production Gym Weekly. Production breakdown of your favorite songs. Included with residency. Theory Gym Weekly. Morning music theory workout. Included with residency. Ear Training Weekly. Test your ears and discuss — music, mixing, and more. Included with residency.

Instrument Gym Weekly. Practice and workout on instruments. Included with residency.

Weekly Beat Review Weekly. Listen to Beat Challenge song ideas together. Included with residency.

Logic Pro X Core Live Logic Pro course in small groups — navigation, recording, editing, signal flow, and production workflow with a real … Ableton Core Live Ableton course in small groups — learn navigation, recording, effects, synthesis, mixing, and automation with a … Pro Tools Core Master Pro Tools, the industry standard DAW for recording and production. Learn essential operations, workflow, signal … FL Studio Core Master FL Studio with expert instruction. Learn navigation, workflow, MIDI programming, loop building, session …

Music Theory Learn fundamental musician skills including music theory, performance basics, and foundational concepts essential for … Mixing and Synthesis Tools Live course covering EQ, compression, reverb, delay, subtractive synthesis, gain staging, signal chain, and mastering — … Hardware & Recording Live recording course: microphones, audio interfaces, studio acoustics, stereo technique, and session workflow — …

Logic Pro 1-Day Intensive Full-day Logic Pro workshop for producers. Master navigation, recording workflow, editing, signal flow, and session … Ableton 1-Day Intensive THE TEN CHORDS WORKSHOP Master chord function and write instantly better music in one day. Unlock advanced harmony using the 10-Chord Toolkit … Orchestral 1-Day Intensive

Electronic Music Kitchen Master electronic music production fundamentals. Learn trance, bass music, EDM composition techniques, MIDI programming, … Hip Hop Kitchen Learn to create unique hip hop beats with professional structure, sound design, and mixing techniques. Master looping, … Orchestral Kitchen Master orchestral production techniques including articulation, arrangement, and realistic programming for brass, … Session Player Kitchen Learn professional session player techniques and realistic instrument programming. Master drums, guitars, bass … Vocal Kitchen Learn professional vocal recording, production, and processing techniques. Master microphone placement, vocal chains, …

Beat Building Jam Workshop ideas into songs. Peer feedback. Instructor support. Prep for production Mix Incubator Your lab for carrying a track across the finish line — the forcing function that turns a produced or recorded song into … Production Incubator Your lab for turning a song into a finished production — the forcing function that leaves you with a track ready for the … Recording Incubator Your lab for capturing real performances of your song — the forcing function that leaves you with recordings ready for … Songwriting Incubator Your lab for getting a song started and out the door — the forcing function that leaves you with a draft ready for the …

Mixing & Mixcraft Advanced live mixing course: parallel compression, sidechain, vocal chains, drum mixing, stereo imaging, automation, and … Recording Studio Masterclass Hands-on recording studio masterclass with professional equipment. Learn large format consoles, studio etiquette, and … Songwriter Masterclass Master songwriting techniques with professional composers. Learn melody writing, chord progressions, song structure, … Synthesist Masterclass Advanced synthesis masterclass covering wavetable, granular, FM synthesis, and sound design. Learn professional …

Beat Kitchen At-A-Glance

Beat Ktichen Calendar

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Recent Resident Gyms
- WEEKLY-BEAT-CHALLENGE: Reviewed chord progressions submitted by members this evening, working through the harmonic analysis of a C–Am–Bb–F progression and unpacking how stacked voicings (a power chord in one hand against a full chord in the other) create unexpected color. Also heard a new improv guitar piece from Marc and a rhythmic sketch from Jon working in shifting meters (3, compound 8, 10, and 11). Much of the session was informal, with instrument discussion and member catch-up alongside the music listening.
- EAR-TRAINING-GYM: We ran an interval and chord identification exercise using a Portal-based multiplayer bingo game, working through a series of chords and asking students to name the intervals present. Discussion covered close voicings, chord inversions, the relationship between intervals and their inversions, and how a minor 6 chord is constructed. We also worked through the use of melodic reference songs as a tool for interval recognition.
- WEEKLY-BEAT-CHALLENGE: We reviewed work in progress from participants, with extended focus on a microtonal beat built on a noble number scale — exploring how non-rational tuning systems interact with blues harmony and functional chord progressions. The session also included a hands-on look at Bitwig's Grid modular environment, examining how polyphonic patches are constructed from sine waves and how waveforms can be sculpted by manipulating partials. A significant portion of the conversation covered Nathan's ongoing development work on a harmonic synthesizer that uses weather data as a noise source, including the mathematics of scaling that data across frequency ranges and the potential use of Perlin noise as a smoothing carrier.
- OFFICE HOURS: mixing vocals, listening to a student song and giving feedback, editing mouth sounds and plosives, sidechaining and all the different ways you can use it
- THEORY-GYM: Covered chord extensions and color tones through the lens of polychords — stacking two independent triads or chords to produce richer four- and five-note harmonies. Demonstrated how upper extensions (9, 11, 13, flat 9, sharp 9, sharp 11) can be understood as embedded triads within a single chord, and worked through voicing, inversion, and omission strategies for making those combinations usable. Used "Strawberry Fields Forever" as an analysis example to show how melody-first writing can drive harmonic choices rather than the reverse.
- THEORY-GYM: We worked through a chord-by-chord analysis of a student-submitted song, using it as a vehicle for ear training at the harmonic level. The focus was on identifying borrowed chords, slash chords, and functional voice leading — and on developing the habit of listening from a 10,000-foot functional view before zooming in to specific voicings. We also connected recurring chord progressions to named "tropes" drawn from well-known songs, framing harmonic pattern recognition as a transferable, buildable skill.
- EAR-TRAINING-GYM: Worked through learning a song by ear — specifically the chorus of a student-submitted track — identifying chord quality (major vs. minor), chord voicing, bass motion, and passing tones by listening alone. Also discussed live arrangement and band management: how to balance working with available musicians against the ideal production a song calls for, and how to leverage each player's strengths rather than forcing a predetermined arrangement.
- OFFICE HOURS: Covered recent updates to Logic Pro and the friction they introduce for experienced users — specifically the reorganized content library, changes to Drum Kit Designer, and multi-output routing. Also discussed a past project involving a video-sequencing app with a custom scripting language for audio and video, and briefly touched on Ableton's video sampling capabilities.
- THEORY-GYM: Covered rhythm, meter, and time signatures — specifically how to distinguish between common meters (4/4, 3/4, 6/8, 2/4) and why the differences matter less than knowing where the strong beats land. Used "Happy Birthday," Nina Simone's "My Baby Just Cares for Me," "Here Comes the Sun," and "House of the Rising Sun" as live examples, with particular attention to how the Beatles track moves through what sounds like a meter change but can be counted straight through in 4/4. Introduced the concept of syncopation as a preview for the following session.
- WEEKLY-BEAT-CHALLENGE: Worked through melody-writing approaches — specifically the top-down method (humming or singing a melody first, then harmonizing beneath it) versus the bottom-up method (building a chord loop and riffing over it until a melody emerges). Demonstrated a workflow in Logic Pro for loop recording, tempo adjustment, and audio-to-MIDI conversion that students can replicate in Ableton. Also gave lyric and phrasing feedback on a song in progress, focusing on syllable placement, syncopation, and intentional versus accidental ambiguity.
Learn more about Residency
Upcoming Resident Events
- Weekly Beat Challenge: Nathan
  Aug. 24,
- Office Hours: Jam
  Aug. 24,
- Ear Training: Nathan
  Aug. 24,
- Theory Gym: Nathan
  Aug. 25,
- Office Hours: Scott Hampton
  Aug. 25,
- Production Gym: Jon Mattox
  Aug. 25,
Learn more about Residency
Upcoming Courses
- Sep 01, 2026 Comprehensive Program
- Sep 1, 2026 DAW Core Skills
- Sep 2, 2026 Songwriting Incubator
- Sep 21, 2026 Beat Building Jam
- Oct 6, 2026 Hardware & Recording Primer
- Oct 21, 2026 Mixing: Effects, Synths & Tools
- Nov 10, 2026 Mixing: Effects, Synths & Tools
- Nov 29, 2026 Mixing: Effects, Synths & Tools
See All Courses
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