WEEKLY-BEAT-CHALLENGE: We reviewed recent beat challenge submissions from Alee and Paul, offering detailed feedback on chord voicings, harmonic choices, and production techniques. We explored reharmonization concepts including major sevenths, suspended tones, and chord substitutions in the context of Alee's vocal pieces. We also went deep on the idea of procedural music and code-based animation as a creative direction, introducing Daniel Shiffman's work and the Processing/p5.js environment as resources for exploration.
OFFICE HOURS: We explored songwriting and harmonic concepts, including tension, chord progressions, and how to approach self-accompaniment on piano. Worked through questions about music production in FL Studio and practical next steps for skill development. Also touched on how studying artists like Nina Simone can inform arrangement and accompaniment thinking.
OFFICE HOURS: We explored how to build emotional tension in songwriting without relying on additional chords, lyrics, or volume, covering the full range of musical tools available — melody, rhythm, arrangement, orchestration, and performance. We also dug into synthesis options beyond subtractive synthesis, including wavetable and FM, and spent time on meter and feel, particularly triple and compound meters like 6/8 and how changing meter can completely transform a piece. The session was wide-ranging and idea-focused, drawing on examples from Depeche Mode, Lana Del Rey, Eminem, and "Fly Me to the Moon."
OFFICE HOURS: We talked about the "Abbey Road Reverb Trick", which is basically cutting the lows and highs of a reverb send or return. You can additionally boost or cut additional frequencies to create space in the mix, or highlight something you want to in the mix. We looked at examples from a singer/songwriter project, and talked about how to approach the philosophy rather than using the same numbers in the EQ each time.
INSTRUMENT-GYM: We covered hand strength exercises, technique exercises for hammer on and pull of, tremolo's, sweep picking, and then we learned the G scale and practiced it with tremolos and bends. I left Michael with the idea of taking the two scales he now knows, and seeing about how to interlock them playfully via common notes, for his own practice.
OFFICE HOURS: -mixing notes on their song
-micro timing in mixing
-difference between mixing and production
-reference tracks
-piano sounds, MIDI vs real
-acoustics in a home studio
-recording studios credibility vs engineer's experience
EAR-TRAINING-GYM: An ear training session built around a deceptively simple but challenging exercise: generating random chord progressions and attempting to conceptualize how they sound — including identifying a likely key — before playing them. Using an online chord generator tool (shared via the Discord chat), the session explored multiple progressions, each presenting its own puzzle around key identification and harmonic context.
OFFICE HOURS: Drum tips
EAR-TRAINING-GYM: We listened and studied pitch and the use of auto tune vs natural performances
OFFICE HOURS: Helped Nadine troubleshoot her live synth sync issues, midi concepts, and music production
