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Orchestral Kitchen

6 sessions · Tuesdays, Thursdays · 2hr each

Cheesy strings ends here

Great orchestral libraries won’t save poor programming. The best sample libraries in the world sound terrible when played like a keyboard — because orchestral instruments don’t behave like keyboards. This course teaches you how the orchestra actually works, and how to translate that knowledge into realistic, expressive productions.

12 chapters of ground covered

The orchestral template — setting up a session that mirrors how an orchestra is organized
Reading the orchestra — understanding the score, the sections, and how they interact
Writing for strings — voice leading, articulations, divisi, and the techniques that make string parts sound performed rather than programmed
Programming strings — translating written parts into MIDI that sounds real. Velocity, expression, legato transitions
Writing for woodwinds and brass — range, doubling, section writing, and the characteristics that define each instrument family
Programming woodwinds and brass — articulation keyswitches, dynamics, and expression mapping. The MIDI side of making wind and brass patches respond like instruments
Percussion and the full score — orchestral percussion writing, and assembling a full orchestral arrangement
Orchestral mixing — reverb, spatial positioning, balancing sections, and making sample-based orchestral productions sound like they were recorded in a real space

Prerequisites: DAW Core Skills or equivalent. Music Theory is helpful but not required.

Building This Class

Seats aren't on sale yet. Raise your hand to request enrollment and we'll build the next cohort around your availability.

The more times you select, the more likely we are to build a class that works for you.

What's a residency?

Residency is your Beat Kitchen membership —$85/mo or $700/yr. It includes office hours, gyms, beat challenges, and a community of producers on Discord.

Non-residents can take any class — residency months are bundled into the price. If you're already a resident, check the box above and you'll see the lower class-only price.

Learn more about residency →

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What students say

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Lots of foundational and important information happens in this class. For producers this class is a MUST, for artists its a PRIORITY and for theorists its a MOST DEFINITELY. You will leave the class with something no matter how skilled of a

—ivan, New York, NY

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Great resource! Super friendly! I’ll continue to check out Beat Kitchen offerings.

—Sam, Los Angeles, CA

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One of a kind. Precious and deeply conscious teaching and learning exchange. Recommended to all who wonder about the mysteries of the universe <3

—Alix, Berlin, Germany

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Took a lesson over music theory and learned a lot in a short amount of time! Amazing teacher and lots of great information!

—J4de

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Had an amazing time at the workshop! Nathan is really passionate teaching and talking with others. Really recommend taking their classes.

—Anthony, New York, NY

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.

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Beat Kitchen At-A-Glance

Beat Ktichen Calendar

See the full calendar
Recent Resident Gyms
- WEEKLY-BEAT-CHALLENGE: Reviewed member-submitted beats and works-in-progress, with feedback covering rhythm, guitar tone, arrangement balance, and lyrical concept. Discussed the tension between drum programming and melodic development when a song outgrows its original rhythmic foundation, and touched on mixing philosophy — specifically the value of separating writing, arrangement, and mixing as distinct stages. Closed with a brief creative writing exercise asking participants to write a note to their younger musical self.
- OFFICE HOURS: Covered video export workflows in DaVinci Resolve for social media, focusing on resolving resolution mismatches between vertical and horizontal footage when posting to Instagram. Also discussed project organization strategies and ADHD-related focus and productivity resources, including a task management app demo and a book recommendation.
- PRODUCTION-GYM: Covered the full import, routing, editing, and initial mix workflow for a live string orchestra session recorded onto a solo piano track. Walked through grouping stereo room mics and spot mics onto separate buses, applying reverb via a post-fader send using 7th Heaven Professional, timing edits across three string passes, and basic piano EQ. Discussed mic placement strategy for the recording session itself, including ORTF pairs, a Decca tree, and a wide room pair, along with the cost breakdown and logistical considerations of hiring a string octet versus a quartet.
- OFFICE HOURS: Covered drum programming fundamentals — anatomy of a drum kit, how to layer kick and snare samples, and how to vary a beat between verse and chorus. Gave detailed feedback on a fully produced hip-hop track, focusing on kick presence, vocal level, stereo width, and multi-band compression on the vocal.
- THEORY-GYM: We introduced Interval Bingo — a browser-based ear training game played in multiplayer and solo modes — and worked through identifying intervals within dyads and triads by listening, singing, and reasoning from known chord shapes. The session focused on the practical skill of isolating individual voices inside a chord: hearing the top note first, finding the bottom, and using chord quality (major, minor) to infer the intervals in between.
- EAR-TRAINING-GYM: We ran two rounds of "Interval Bingo" — listening to mystery chords and identifying specific intervals (perfect fifth, major second, minor second, tritone) by ear. Worked through the reveals chord by chord, using chord inversions as the central challenge: why a major chord in first inversion hides its fifth, why a diminished chord is built from stacked tritone pairs, and how voicing affects what the ear locks onto. Also previewed an upcoming Songwriting Incubator series and a new harmonic synth feature in development.
- WEEKLY-BEAT-CHALLENGE: Reviewed new beats from two participants this evening, with feedback focused on arrangement direction, groove feel, and sonic identity. For the first track — a Spanish-language vocal beat — we covered potential drop placement, groove pool techniques in Ableton, and isolating the strongest melodic and rhythmic hooks. For the second set of tracks, we dug into experimental gas mask vocal recording, contact mic techniques, low-end clarity, and vocal presence in a dense mix.
- INSTRUMENT-GYM: We talked about technique with playing to help alleviate shoulder pain, or any discomfort from posture and the way we hold the guitar. We then worked through some hand warm up exercises, finger dexterity and talked about ways to find the root, 3rd, 5th etc on the guitar neck. We also discussed briefly how 3 piece bands and songwriters write a little differently in terms of self accompaniment and looked at some popular examples. Finally we wrapped up class with connecting and soloing around two scales as part of the Cage theory, and ways to improvise with flourishes like bends, hammer ons, or even just changing the rhythmic feel.
- OFFICE HOURS: Worked on a new feature in the harmonic synth that allows importing a sample, treating it as a set of partials, folding and reconstituting it through quad filters — essentially re-synthesis from a recorded source. Identified and resolved a polyphony bug in the release stage where a stale glide event was causing monophonic behavior on note release. Also scheduled the upcoming Songwriting Incubator session, targeting a Wednesday evening slot approximately two weeks out.
- PRODUCTION-GYM: Covered production techniques for Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon" (from the Headhunters album), using Arturia's ARP 2600 model to reconstruct the iconic synth bass patch. Walked through the ADSR envelope in detail — particularly the role of decay — and explained how the VCF with high resonance produces the characteristic "barky" tone. Also broke down the arrangement and production of "Chameleon" with students, covering its call-and-response structure, stereo placement decisions, and harmonic simplicity (two-chord vamp).
Learn more about Residency
Upcoming Resident Events
- Office Hours: Kallie
  Jul. 23, 2pm (PT) | 5pm (ET) | 10pm (UK)
- Office Hours: Cato Zane
  Jul. 23, 2pm (PT) | 5pm (ET) | 10pm (UK)
- Office Hours: Scott Hampton
  Jul. 26, 2pm (PT) | 5pm (ET) | 10pm (UK)
- Weekly Beat Challenge: Nathan
  Jul. 27, 6pm (PT) | 9pm (ET) | 2am (UK)
- Office Hours: Cato Zane
  Jul. 27, 2pm (PT) | 5pm (ET) | 10pm (UK)
- Ear Training: Nathan
  Jul. 27, 7am (PT) | 10am (ET) | 3pm (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
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