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Synthesist Masterclass

10 sessions · Tuesdays, Thursdays · 2hr each

Beyond subtractive — the full map of synthesis

The Mix Primer covers subtractive synthesis because it explains how filters and EQ work. This course picks up where that left off and covers every other way to generate and shape sound — from FM and additive through wavetable, granular, physical modeling, and sampling-as-synthesis.

16 chapters of ground covered

Oscillators, filters, envelopes, and modulation — quick review of subtractive fundamentals before moving on
FM synthesis — frequency modulation, operators, algorithms, and why FM sounds the way it does
Additive synthesis — building sound from individual harmonics. The harmonic series as a sound design tool
Wavetable synthesis — scanning through waveforms, morphing, and the modern wavetable engines in Serum, Vital, and others
Granular synthesis — slicing audio into grains, texture generation, and time-stretching as a creative tool
Physical modeling — simulating acoustic instruments and resonant bodies without samples
Sampling as synthesis — the line between sampling and synthesis, and how samplers became instruments
Patching, signal flow, and modular thinking — modular vs. integrated architectures, and how routing decisions shape the sound
Sound design exercises — practical sessions building patches from scratch across different synthesis types

Prerequisites: Familiarity with subtractive synthesis — oscillators, filters, envelopes. Covered in the Mix Primer or equivalent experience.

Building This Class

Share your availability and we'll build the next cohort around it.

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 →

Other start dates and times (1 more)

More Dates

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May 30, 2027 – Oct 17, 2027 Sundays, 10 AM Pacific | 1 PM Eastern | 6 PM UK

Building This Class

Synthesist

Beyond subtractive synthesis; advanced sound design and sound sculpting

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

May 30, 2027 - Oct 17, 2027

20 x 1hr Classes

Are you a current BKS resident?

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$960.00

* This price includes 6 months required BKS Residency

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Building This Class

Looking for this class at a different time? Share your availability and we'll build it.

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What students say

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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

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This was an awesome music theory fundamentals class. Nathan was a very thoughtful, thorough teacher who offered up time and energy outside of class to help his students in a myriad of ways from answering questions to providing feedback on

—Lizzie, New York, NY

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Just finished a Workshop about music theory with Nathan, and all I can say is he really opened my eyes and mind about it and makes me want to know more. I will definitely be looking into some of the classes to further my education in this

—Mercedes, Denver, CO

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Great teachers and instruction. I will definitely recommend and am really happy I took the time to attend a class-such valuable and easy to understand concepts and a few radical gems that will blow your mind!

—Valentina, Denver, CO

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Nathan is one of the great few teachers that care. As a graduate of a prestigious music school, I was whisked through a massive amount of knowledge, with many teachers. None of them stood up to parr as Nathan does, simply due to the quality and dedication he takes into account when explaining even the simplest of concepts. Amazing.

—Maxwell, Reno, NV

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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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 & Production Incubator Workshop ideas into songs. Peer feedback. Instructor support. Prep for production Recording Incubator Songwriting Incubator Workshop ideas into songs. Peer feedback. Instructor support. Prep for production

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Beat Kitchen At-A-Glance

Beat Ktichen Calendar

See the full calendar
Recent Resident Gyms
- OFFICE HOURS: Worked through mixing challenges on a live tracking session recorded in Ecuador — a 16-song project with guitars, bass, and drums. Covered fader-setting fundamentals before compression and EQ, sidechain compression between kick and bass, region gain as an alternative to volume automation, and parallel distortion as an approach to recovering sub-bass content from an extended-range bass instrument. Also discussed multing as an organizational strategy for handling tonal variation across a bass performance.
- EAR-TRAINING-GYM: Listened to 3 chord progressions blocked and arpeggiated. Students to identify which chords contained 7ths. Followed by aural breakdown of each chord—strategies for hearing 7ths in chords vertically AND horizontally through chord progressions. Interesting notes, triads and open 5ths sounds clearer than 7th chords which tend to add bits of heaviness. Explored different colors achieved through various voicings.
- OFFICE HOURS: Listened to David's new tracks. He is experimenting with Ableton. Went over some new stuff in his studio, and talked about distribution. I recommended one of the songs as something that caught my ear to develop more. Standish came in with 15-20 minutes left. We talked about his new studio setup, and listened to David's tracks. He suggested another song idea to develop that caught his ear. We talked about distribution a little more, and goals for releasing music. We recommended Soundcloud, Bandcamp, and Distrokid as three places to look based on his goals.
- WEEKLY-BEAT-CHALLENGE: Reviewed two student beats this session — one built around a stereo-widened percussive element, one centered on a sliced vocal and Serum leads. Covered stereo widening and its behavior in mono playback environments, and worked through harmony options for a track in E minor, including the IV chord, relative minor relationships, Dorian mode, and vertical vs. horizontal approaches to songwriting. Also introduced the chord wheel as a tool for finding diatonic chord options within a key.
- INSTRUMENT-GYM: Worked through diatonic 7th chord arpeggios across the C major scale in first position, exploring multiple fingering options for each chord degree (Cmaj7, Dm7, Em7, Fmaj7, G7, Am7, Bm7♭5). Discussed how staying in a fixed position versus traveling up the neck reveals different trade-offs in efficiency, reach, and fretboard knowledge. Connected the exercise to ear training, vocal training parallels, and fretboard note literacy.
- OFFICE HOURS: We discussed what the tonic is, some local jam sessions, songs/work in progress. Standish shared a demo, and we shared some feed back in return. We also briefly discussed mobile recording and songwriting inspiration on the go.
- THEORY-GYM: We worked through a full harmonic and rhythmic analysis of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," using it as a vehicle for introducing modal interchange, borrowed chords, and chromatic mediants. The song's three-section structure (verse, chorus, bridge) was mapped out chord by chord, with particular attention to how the parallel major/minor relationship between C and C minor explains the borrowed chords, and how third-motion between tonal centers creates the chromatic mediant shifts. We also examined the groove's rhythmic foundation — the swung or near-triplet sixteenth-note feel programmed into the drum machine — and how that rhythmic language informs the vocal phrasing throughout.
- EAR-TRAINING-GYM: Today's class focused on drum ear training using a deceptively simple premise: five songs from the '80s — Rebel Yell (Billy Idol), Kids in America (Kim Wilde), Never Say Never (Romeo Void), Turbo Lover (Judas Priest), and Maniac (Michael Sembello) — all built around the same basic drum beat at similar tempos. By holding the pattern and tempo constant, students could focus entirely on how the drums sounded rather than what they were playing — specifically drum tuning and mix balance within the kit. The real ear-opener came when we muted the Romeo Void drums and swapped in the drum tracks from each of the other four songs. Hearing a different kit and mix drop into the same song made it immediately obvious how much the drum sound shapes the feel and identity of a track — sometimes the swap sounded jarring and wrong, other times surprisingly natural. The takeaway: even when drummers are playing identical patterns, the sound of the kit is a creative decision with enormous impact on the finished record.
- OFFICE HOURS: Office hours this afternoon covered a chord and harmony detection tool currently in development, including how it identifies chords from live audio or pre-recorded music, displays them on a keyboard, and maps them to a harmony wheel to help determine key. Discussed distribution logistics for the tool across desktop (standalone and plugin), Discord-authorized, and potential iOS versions. No formal instruction was given; the session was primarily check-in and tool-testing coordination.
- WEEKLY-BEAT-CHALLENGE: Reviewed submitted beats from Paul and Jon, with feedback on chord progressions, bass tone, arrangement, and structure. Discussed modal interchange in the context of a minor-chord submission built around a destabilized fifth. Explored a potential new challenge format: scoring original music to a provided video clip.
Learn more about Residency
Upcoming Resident Events
- Office Hours: Nathan
  Jun. 14, 2pm (PT) | 5pm (ET) | 10pm (UK)
- Weekly Beat Challenge: Nathan
  Jun. 15, 6pm (PT) | 9pm (ET) | 2am (UK)
- Office Hours: Nathan
  Jun. 15, 2pm (PT) | 5pm (ET) | 10pm (UK)
- Production Gym: Jon Mattox
  Jun. 15, 5am (PT) | 8am (ET) | 1pm (UK)
- Instrument Gym: Shane Mickelsen
  Jun. 16, 5am (PT) | 8am (ET) | 1pm (UK)
- Office Hours: Alex Poselski
  Jun. 16, 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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