Music Production Mentoring

Covered the production of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" by the Temptations (1972) using the original multitracks in Pro Tools. Examined how the arrangement — a single-chord structure, no snare drum, sparse bass, and dynamically placed hand claps — directly mirrors the emotional content of the lyrics. Discussed the trumpet delay effect, a muted conga track, and a nearly imperceptible kick drum pattern reversal in the final verse as specific examples of production decisions that serve the story.

Reviewed submitted beats from multiple students, covering bossa nova arrangements, cinematic Rhodes-driven compositions, and experimental scale work. Discussed the limitations of MIDI bass instruments versus live bass performance, including programming nuance required to make virtual instruments compelling. Introduced the upcoming tetrachord mode in the Harmony Wheel tool and walked through how tetrachords combine to form scales and modes.

We covered how to analyze a reference track as a mixing and production tool — what to listen for, how to level-match before comparing, and how to use EQ sweeps and high/low-pass filtering to isolate frequency ranges. We worked through two reference tracks in detail (Brandi Carlile and Massive Attack's Mezzanine) and discussed loudness measurement via LUFS, perceived loudness, dynamics, vocal clarity, stereo placement, and how to translate a client's reference into actionable mix decisions.

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.

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.

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.