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Session Player Kitchen

What does it take to be a professional musician? First, learn to program like one

In this course you will learn to make your programmed instruments sound like they were played by human hands. To this end, your instructor will show what is expected of a session player, and what tools and techniques you will need to record a perfect take every time. Learn how to communicate with engineers and artists to save yourself unnecessary time and frustration.

In this course you will learn to make your programmed instruments sound like they were played by human hands. To this end, your instructor will show what is expected of a session player, and what tools and techniques you will need to record a perfect take every time. Learn how to communicate with engineers and artists to save yourself unnecessary time and frustration.

Only then can you approach programming these instruments in a realistic manner.

Key Topics

Communication/Vocabulary
Drums
Drum Programming
Fills
Understanding Stringed Instruments
Programming Guitars and Bass
Expression
Rhythm Section
Mixing Considerations

Prerequisites: DAW Core Skills or equivalent proficiency in your platform.

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What students say

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Nathan has a great understanding of sound and music theory. He got me thinking and excited to dive deeper.

—Michael, Seattle, WA

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Nathan it’s a really great teacher and really cares about people understanding everything he explains :)

—Shantal, Miami, FL

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I loved the class I took on music theory. I am a theory nerd, and a music teacher since 2008. I got new insights in this class about things I had learned before. I also thought Nathan did a great job of establishing basic ideas before using

—Jon, Seattle, WA

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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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In the month of June, I joined a free zoom workshop called “Music Theory for Producers and Engineers” where I got to meet Nathan. I wasn’t expecting much, as I have joined other workshops from other businesses in the past, but I was

—Rich, Switzerland

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
- 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).
- THEORY-GYM: We used Michael Jackson's "Rock With You" (written by Rod Temperton, produced by Quincy Jones) as a vehicle for analyzing chord voicing, bass function, and cadence types. Covered the difference between perfect and plagal cadences, and introduced the "super sus" chord — a slash chord that stacks a IV chord in the right hand over a V bass note, combining both cadential motions simultaneously. Demonstrated how this voicing technique appears throughout soul, gospel, and R&B, and how it can be practiced as a movable shape across the keyboard.
Learn more about Residency
Upcoming Resident Events
- Office Hours: Shane Mickelsen
  Jul. 19, 2pm (PT) | 5pm (ET) | 10pm (UK)
- Weekly Beat Challenge: Nathan
  Jul. 20, 6pm (PT) | 9pm (ET) | 2am (UK)
- Office Hours: Nathan
  Jul. 20, 2pm (PT) | 5pm (ET) | 10pm (UK)
- Instrument Gym: Nathan
  Jul. 20, 5am (PT) | 8am (ET) | 1pm (UK)
- Ear Training: Jam
  Jul. 21, 7am (PT) | 10am (ET) | 3pm (UK)
- Office Hours: Nathan
  Jul. 21, 2pm (PT) | 5pm (ET) | 10pm (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
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