Recording Workflow

1 article tagged "Recording Workflow"

Session Planning and Workflow

What to prepare before pressing record — templates, track naming, headphone mixes, backups, and session management.

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Recent Resident Gyms
- THEORY-GYM: We wrapped up this morning's gym session with a discussion of rhythmic displacement and interlocking parts — why having elements of an arrangement land *off* the downbeat creates space, feel, and texture that a locked-in, unison arrangement simply can't. We also spent time on microphone selection for vocals, making the case that the "best" mic on paper is not always the right mic for a given voice, and that your ears and instincts are the most reliable tools you have.
- OFFICE HOURS: We used this afternoon's office hours to orient new and returning students, answer questions about course placement, and revisit the core ideas from the first Music Theory class. The central demonstration walked through the harmonic series on a live synthesizer with an equalizer, showing how a single note already contains the building blocks of a chord — and why certain inversions feel more stable than others due to physics, not convention. We also talked broadly about what music theory actually is: a language for shared experience, not a rulebook.
- INSTRUMENT-GYM: We worked through a foundational lead guitar technique session, starting with an alternate picking finger warm-up across all six strings from fret 1 to fret 12 and back. From there we covered two pentatonic scale shapes — the G pentatonic (starting at the 5th fret, visualized as a backwards "G" curve) and the A pentatonic (starting at the 3rd fret, visualized as a little house or "A" shape) — practicing each five times with strict alternate picking, then testing muscle memory without looking, then exploring free improvisation within each shape using bends, tremolos, rhythmic variation, and note-skipping. We closed with a preview of the homework: linking the G and A shapes together across the fretboard as the foundation for building a full fretboard map.
- OFFICE HOURS: We talked about some guitar problems that Christian was having, and also we talked about signal processing and gain staging. I referenced an article I wrote about 'The Gear of Shoegaze', as Christian was experimenting with getting that style tone for his guitar. We also discussed arrangements, listening habits, and also what synch agencies are and how they work with music in film.
- OFFICE HOURS: We introduced Hinde to some things about Beat Kitchen, and she got to meet Alee. We talked about what office hours are for, and ways to find things around Dischord. Alee and I talked about her song that she was working on and thinking of songwriting in terms of cycles of the year. Also possible beat kitchen meet ups!
- EAR-TRAINING-GYM: We worked through a full ear training gym this morning covering timbre identification, effects recognition, classic drum machine sounds, and melodic interval training. Students listened to and identified three flavors of electric guitar (dry, amped, and amped with effects), steel-string vs. nylon-string acoustic guitar, reverb vs. delay, and four iconic drum machines — the TR-808, TR-909, LinnDrum, and Prince's LD variant. We closed with a pitch warm-up and interval identification exercise, then applied everything to a brief listening analysis of Herbie Hancock's *Headhunters*.
- PRODUCTION-GYM: We broke down unique production techniques on The Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows. First analyzing the vocal doubling and stereo techniques, covering a range of tools and approaches — from natural doubles to pitch-shifted harmonies — and discussed how to use doublers to blend a vocal into a mix rather than letting it sit on top. The conversation also touched on cymbal/room mic relationships and how compression choices affect the openness and ring of overhead sounds. Reference listening came up as a recurring thread, with discussion around actively analyzing records to sharpen production instincts.
- EAR-TRAINING-GYM: We set out this evening to explore an ear training exercise built around drum-swap comparisons — taking a recognizable song and replacing its original drum track with drums from other songs to hear how groove and texture shape the feel of a piece. Technical audio-sharing issues prevented the planned playback from happening, so the session shifted into open conversation while troubleshooting was attempted. The drum-swap concept and its creative/educational potential were introduced and will be revisited in a future session once the audio routing is sorted out.
- INSTRUMENT-GYM: We explored the intersection of sight-reading, improvisation, and musical fluency, using a jazz standard transcription as a springboard for discussing how to build vocabulary on guitar. Covered the language-learning analogy as a framework for understanding immersion versus structured study, and talked through practical approaches like slowing down transcriptions, playing over chord changes with single chord tones, and using cover projects as vehicles for deep musical study. Discussed how to narrow down long-term goals into short-term actionable targets, and previewed a future jam exercise where we'd work on improvising melody over moving changes.
- OFFICE HOURS: We worked through the Logic Pro signal chain hierarchy — channel strip settings, plugin-level presets, and the lesser-used Performance patch format — clarifying when and why to save at each level. Covered the general philosophy of starting with a blank slate rather than loading full library presets, and discussed field recording as a creative practice including microphone options for capturing real-world ambience.
Learn more about Residency
Upcoming Resident Events
- Office Hours: Cinnamontal
  Apr. 26, 1pm (PT) | 4pm (ET) | 9pm (UK)
- Weekly Beat Challenge: Nathan
  Apr. 27, 7am (PT) | 10am (ET) | 3pm (UK)
- Office Hours: Cato Zane
  Apr. 27, 9am (PT) | 12pm (ET) | 5pm (UK)
- Instrument Gym: Jon Mattox
  Apr. 27, 9pm (PT) | 12am (ET) | 5am (UK)
- Production Gym: Kallie
  Apr. 28, 7am (PT) | 10am (ET) | 3pm (UK)
- Office Hours: Jam Phelps
  Apr. 28, 10am (PT) | 1pm (ET) | 6pm (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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Recording Workflow

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