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Songwriting Incubator

4 sessions · Tuesdays, Thursdays · 2hr each

Your lab for getting a song started — and out the door

An incubator is your lab — where you put what you learn in class to work on real material, with feedback from rotating instructors and your peers. But it’s also a forcing function: you can’t produce, record, or mix a song you never wrote. So the goal here isn’t a perfect song, it’s momentum — leave with a song, even a rough one, that you can push into the Production or Recording Incubator. This is where a draft gets out of your head and into the pipeline.

Come ready to listen actively, create fearlessly, and share as you go — whether or not it’s a bop. The main ingredient of success is unabashed failure. You don’t need anything prepared to join.

Prerequisites: None. Come as you are.

Building This Class

Feb 23, 2027 – Mar 4, 2027

Tuesdays, Thursdays, 4 PM Pacific | 7 PM Eastern | 12 AM UK

4 × 2hr classes

$185.00 includes 1 mo. residency

I'm a current resident $100.00

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 →

Other start dates and times (3 more)

More Dates

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Oct 24, 2027 – Dec 19, 2027 Sundays, 10 AM Pacific | 1 PM Eastern | 6 PM UK

Building This Class

Songwriting Incubator

Workshop ideas into songs. Peer feedback. Instructor support. Prep for production

Sundays, 10 AM Pacific | 1 PM Eastern | 6 PM UK

Oct 24, 2027 - Dec 19, 2027

8 x 1hr Classes

Are you a current BKS resident?

No Yes

$355.00

* This price includes 3 months required BKS Residency

None of these times work?

Building This Class

Want this class at a different time? Seats aren't on sale yet — raise your hand and we'll build it around your availability.

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

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What students say

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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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Recently took a couple of classes - Effects, Synthesis and Mixing primer and the Beat Building Jam. Both classes were really good. Ended up learning a lot of basics of how sound design and shaping works in the first one and a bunch of

—Hardik, Seattle, WA

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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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Nathan is a great teacher, very knowledgeable, and explains things in a practical way making it easier to understand

—aden, Australia

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Man’s really passionate about teaching music went in with literally 0 knowledge of music and came out with a lot still got a lot to learn but definitely recommend them

—Spyder

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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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

See the full calendar
Recent Resident Gyms
- OFFICE HOURS: Worked through Logic Pro's folder and track stack system in the context of transposing a full arrangement to experiment with different keys. Covered the distinction between region folders and track stacks, demonstrated how to pack regions into a folder for bulk transposition, and discussed folders as a general project organization tool including a muted "trash can" folder technique. Also briefly covered a piano plugin installation question and discussed velocity/dynamics characteristics of piano plugins.
- WEEKLY-BEAT-CHALLENGE: Worked through a pitch bend corruption issue in a Logic Pro session, tracing the source to accidental MIDI data and clearing it using the MIDI Transform function and the Event List. Covered Logic's Save / Save As / Save a Copy distinctions and project folder architecture as general housekeeping. Discussed arrangement direction for the song-in-progress — specifically the case for building around a simple piano part first, and the possibility of shifting from 4/4 to 3/4 or 6/8 as a structural and emotional choice.
- EAR-TRAINING-GYM: Covered compression ear training by working through a live project in Reaper — demonstrating how threshold, ratio, and makeup gain interact, and how over-compression affects dynamics, vocal performance, and high-frequency transients. Used the remastered versus original versions of "Stairway to Heaven" as a real-world listening example to illustrate what over-compression sounds like in context. Discussed multi-compressor vocal chains, cymbal treatment philosophy, and the principle of taking settings to the extreme as a learning tool.
- WEEKLY-BEAT-CHALLENGE: Reviewed two student beats this week — one from Mark and one from John — with feedback focused on drum programming vocabulary, section development, and how drum parts can drive arrangement evolution. Also demoed a custom-sampled piano instrument built from Nathan's own studio piano, discussing its architecture, velocity layering, neighbor-swapping for machine-gun prevention, and a Claude-assisted EXS mapping workflow.
- OFFICE HOURS: Worked through a chord analysis discovery on Paul Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years," demonstrating that the chord widely charted as a half-diminished chord is actually a minor sixth chord — verified by splitting stems and identifying a C-sharp in the piano part. Also covered setting up multiple audio interfaces simultaneously on Mac using Audio MIDI Setup and Aggregate Devices. A question about sampling permissions and copyright came up, with practical discussion of how to handle dialogue samples from broadcast media.
- THEORY-GYM: We worked through the harmony of Paul Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years," using it as a vehicle for exploring gospel and churchy chord voicings, figured bass notation, diminished chord function, modal interchange, and chromatic bass motion. Topics included the cadential 6-4, common-tone diminished chords, suspended chords (including the "super sus" voicing), and chromatic bass lines moving through borrowed chords to pivot between keys. The bridge was identified as particularly complex and was not fully analyzed in the available time.
- THEORY-GYM: We worked through the chord progressions of "Black Hole Sun" (Soundgarden) to examine how notoriously unusual chords function in context. Key topics included major/minor ambiguity, polychords, anchor notes in melody, tritone substitutions, and modal interchange — using the song as a vehicle to explain how these devices operate whether or not the songwriter named them. We also touched briefly on how power chords (open fifths) reveal harmonic structure by removing the third from the equation.
- THEORY-GYM: Worked through the chord changes to "Sweet Lorraine" (B♭ jazz standard), mapping the full A-section progression and identifying the harmonic devices that create its characteristic chromatic motion — including secondary dominants, tritone substitutions, diminished passing chords, and the use of the iii chord as a stand-in for the I. Also addressed left-hand piano voicing technique: how shells (thirds and sevenths), tenths, and the "drop assassination" vs. "sneak attack" approach connect directly to the voice leading inside those changes.
- WEEKLY-BEAT-CHALLENGE: Reviewed a hip-hop track built around stutter edits and an Aretha Franklin piano sample, with discussion of lo-fi authenticity, kitsch production aesthetics, and how to commit to a retro sound without tipping into parody. Explored stutter-editing techniques in Logic Pro — including the Beat Breaker plugin and manual cut-based approaches — and compared them to a buffer override plugin used by one of the students. Also searched Logic Pro's legacy instrument library for a Farfisa organ sound to illustrate a tonal direction for a separate piece in progress.
- OFFICE HOURS: Covered lead sheet and chart-writing fundamentals — including form notation, repeat signs, segno/coda navigation, and fitting a full arrangement onto a single page — using a Michelle (Beatles/jazz standard) chart as a worked example. Discussed drum kit curation workflows in Logic Pro, specifically how to audition and assemble multiple kits before committing sounds to Drum Machine Designer. Also ran a live vocal review session, listening for pitch offenses in two harmony parts drawn from a live dress rehearsal recording.
Learn more about Residency
Upcoming Resident Events
- Theory Gym: Nathan
  Nov. 01,
- Office Hours: Cato Zane
  Nov. 02,
- Theory Gym: Jon Mattox
  Nov. 02,
- Instrument Gym: Jon Mattox
  Nov. 03,
- Office Hours: Nathan
  Nov. 03,
- Ear Training: Nathan
  Nov. 03,
Learn more about Residency
Upcoming Courses
- Nov 7, 2026 Logic Pro 1-Day Intensive
- Nov 10, 2026 Mixing: Effects, Synths & Tools
- Nov 18, 2026 Mix Incubator
- Nov 25, 2026 Production Incubator
- Nov 29, 2026 Mixing: Effects, Synths & Tools
- Jan 5, 2027 Recording Incubator
- Jan 19, 2027 Synthesist
- Jan 27, 2027 Vocal Kitchen
See All Courses
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