Music Theory, Synthesis & Production Videos Hacker News Recommends
Music theory, synthesis & production videos on HackerTube: the talks, lectures and explainers Hacker News commenters keep sharing, covering music theory, synthesizers, sound synthesis, audio production, mixing, guitar tone and amps, DAWs, composition, music notation software, instruments, electronic music.
89 videos · ranked by HN recommendations · showing 1–48
Most recommended music theory, synthesis & production videos
The ones HN returns to most often when a thread turns to this topic.
commentary#74Music Theory and White Supremacy
Adam Neely
“The canonical video on the subject”
11 HN recommenders · 2020–2024
commentary#226Music Software & Bad Interface Design: Avid’s Sibelius
Tantacrul
“might be the most entertaining serious critique of a software user interface ever posted to YouTube.”
8 HN recommenders · 2019–2026
documentary#295Trackers: The Sound of 16-Bit
Ahoy
“is an incredible, in-depth overview of trackers, their sound and history”
7 HN recommenders · 2021–2026
talk#347Functional Composition - Chris Ford
ClojureTV
“Recommend this talk that made Music 'click' for me.”
6 HN recommenders · 2013–2023
tutorial#360Intro to Synthesis Part 1 - The Building Blocks of Sound & Synthesis
matrixsynth
“It's the best educational video I've seen on YT”
3 HN recommenders · 2018–2022
commentary#451The Marvel Symphonic Universe
Every Frame a Painting
“You don't have to have seen any Marvel movies, the insights are universal.”
6 HN recommenders · 2017–2026
documentary#549Notation Must Die: The Battle For How We Read Music
Tantacrul
“excellent deep-ish dive into music notation by the inimitable Tantacrul”
6 HN recommenders · 2023–2026
talk#572DOOM: Behind the Music
GDC Festival of Gaming
“One of my favorite conference talks ever”
4 HN recommenders · 2017–2023
tutorial#648ORCA Sequencer Intro (Experimental Livecoding!)
Allieway Audio
“It is by far the best video overview of the system that I am aware of.”
4 HN recommenders · 2019–2025
explainer#655How I Designed a Free Music Font for 5 Million Musicians (MuseScore 3.6)
Tantacrul
“He does a good job at making the topic of music notation come to life”
5 HN recommenders · 2021–2024
talk#663K Lars Lohn - Keynote - PyCon 2016
PyCon 2016
“It's a beautiful talk about music, programming, biking, and life”
4 HN recommenders · 2016–2021
lecture#869The Unanswered Question 1973 1 Musical Phonology Bernstein Norton
cagin
“Check out the Norton Lectures especially, where Bernstein analyzes musical structure with references to Chomsky.”
4 HN recommenders · 2018–2023
tutorial#966Learn music theory in half an hour.
ANDREW HUANG
“I found this video to be an extremely helpful and concise explanation of music theory basics”
4 HN recommenders · 2019–2023
explainer#1012The most feared song in jazz, explained
Vox
“I highly recommend this Vox explainer on John Coltrane's”
5 HN recommenders · 2021–2025
tutorial#1123Making of "The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up" in Ableton by Jim Pavloff
Jim Pavloff
“I'm amazed at the level of musical knowledge needed to do this.”
5 HN recommenders · 2014–2025
music#1136Flying Dream
Gary Garrett
“this beautiful song using it”
4 HN recommenders · 2014–2020
explainer#1148Tested: Where Does The Tone Come From In An Electric Guitar?
Jim Lill
“I recently came across an excellent video where a guitarist tries to determine exactly which parts of an electric guitar affect its tone.”
4 HN recommenders · 2022–2026
commentary#1208Music Software & Interface Design: MuseScore
Tantacrul
“I find it very entertaining yet still informative”
4 HN recommenders · 2019–2024
explainer#1218Why Adults Can't Develop Perfect Pitch
Rick Beato
“This video convinced me that adults cannot develop or train perfect pitch.”
4 HN recommenders · 2017–2025
demo#1252Bytebeat: Experimental music from very short C programs
Ville-Matias Heikkilä (viznut)
“The video that started it all”
4 HN recommenders · 2014–2023
explainer#1302Why you DON'T want Perfect Pitch
Adam Neely
“This video by Adam Neely was helpful”
6 HN recommenders · 2021–2025
explainer#1369Testing 432 Hz Frequencies (and temperaments)
Adam Neely
“As someone who hasn't taken any musical theory or similar, it was quite interesting to hear.”
3 HN recommenders · 2021–2022
talk#1484Music as a Language: Victor Wooten at TEDxGabriolaIsland
TEDx Talks
“Victor Wooten gave an outstanding TED talk[1] on this topic[2]”
3 HN recommenders · 2017–2018
explainer#1507Gaslighting Your Fans w/ Dolby ATMOS™
Benn Jordan
“I found this video by Benn Jordan very enlightening about the whole Atmos nonsense”
4 HN recommenders · 2023–2024
explainer#1511Sample Breakdown: Daft Punk - One More Time
TRACKLIB
“This video is a great visualization on how it's composed. Absolutely incredible.”
3 HN recommenders · 2021–2026
demo#1520Making of "The Prodigy - Voodoo People" in Ableton by Jim Pavloff
Jim Pavloff
“There are legendary Prodigy tracks reconstructions by Jim Pavloff”
3 HN recommenders · 2011–2024
documentary#1533I BOUGHT A WHOLE CHURCH ORGAN - Part 1 The Organs Removal
LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER
“this series where a pipe organ is gradually rebuilt by an extremely talented and enthusiastic amateur is great fun!”
3 HN recommenders · 2022–2023
talk#1605New Horizons in Music: Polyrhythms | Loop
Ableton
“Highly recommend Adam's channel if you're interested in music/music theory.”
3 HN recommenders · 2018–2023
documentary#1643How We Made MuseScore 4 - Music App Design is Challenging!
Tantacrul
“the whole video is worth watching as well”
4 HN recommenders · 2022–2026
music#1645Lazerhawk ~ Redline Full Album
Stay Nifty
“My favourite album from that genre is Lazerhawk's debut album Redline, awesome for programming IMO”
3 HN recommenders · 2015–2021
explainer#1680The most mind-blowing concept in music (Harmonic Series)
ANDREW HUANG
“Music producer Andrew Huang does a fantastic job demonstrating the harmonic series concepts”
3 HN recommenders · 2021
interview#1834Every Melody Has Been Copyrighted (and they're all on this hard drive)
Adam Neely
“Strongly recommend watching that video! Excellent info.”
4 HN recommenders · 2020–2022
comedy#1849Pachelbel Rant from 2006 [Official High Quality Re-Post]
RobPRocks
“If you haven't seen the 'Pachelbel Rant' yet, you should, it's an entire comedy bit based on the fact that these chords are fundamental to music”
3 HN recommenders · 2022–2024
talk#1869Andrew Sorensen Keynote: "The Concert Programmer" - OSCON 2014
O'Reilly
“This video of one of his presentations on Impromptu is one of my all-time favorite programming talks”
3 HN recommenders · 2017–2024
explainer#1896Why It's Impossible to Tune a Piano
minutephysics
“minutephysics had a nice video about the mathematics that go behind piano tuning too.”
2 HN recommenders · 2015–2026
explainer#1925Which key is the saddest?
Adam Neely
“lots of historical context about tuning systems, but also raising the issue of timbre of specific instruments”
3 HN recommenders · 2018–2020
music#1949電磁祭囃子 in NEO TOKYO 🏮
ELECTRONICOS FANTASTICOS!
“It's this band from Japan who make incredible music with instruments they made themselves.”
3 HN recommenders · 2020–2026
demo#1992Sam Aaron live coding an ambient electro set w/ Sonic Pi
Sam Aaron
“Sam Aaron is the guy behind the project, he does a lot of ambient type stuff”
3 HN recommenders · 2017–2023
comedy#2016Pachelbel Rant
RobPRocks
“There was a relevant and entertaining stand-up bit about this”
3 HN recommenders · 2012–2023
demo#2025Sam Aaron live coding a DJ set with Sonic Pi
Sam Aaron
“The most impressive thing you can do with it is live coding”
3 HN recommenders · 2017–2020
talk#2060Get Ready to Rock with Sonic Pi - The Live Coding Music Synth for Everyone • Sam Aaron • GOTO 2018
GOTO Conferences
“There's also a _great_ talk from the creator (Sam Aaron) on Sonic Pi”
2 HN recommenders · 2020–2023
documentary#2069How Music Works 1 - Melody - Part 1
timegrinder
“There's also a great TV series from England called 'How Music Works' which gives more of a historical background.”
3 HN recommenders · 2009–2016
documentary#2096Dan Deacon - Bromst - In The Studio
Pitchfork
“He talks about it quite in a bit in a Pitchfork TV video that documented him working on one of his albums, Bromst”
3 HN recommenders · 2013–2019
demo#2115The rigs we've created for chipsynth MD's emulation.
plgDavid
“This video shows some insight into the development process”
3 HN recommenders · 2022–2023
explainer#2123Emulating the DX7 the HARD way
plgDavid
“a YouTube video about the reverse engineering process from David at Plogue”
3 HN recommenders · 2021–2024
demo#2208Microtonal Guitar (Fixed Fret) - Tolgahan Çoğulu
Microtonal Guitar - Tolgahan Çoğulu
“Tolgahan Çoğulu and his awesome microtonal guitar creations”
2 HN recommenders · 2015–2022
music#2211Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, organ
smalin
“videos are eye-opening”
3 HN recommenders · 2010–2026
comedy#22524 Chords | Music Videos | The Axis Of Awesome
The Axis of Awesome
“the "4 Chords" medley by Axis of Awesome is a great demonstration of its ubiquity”
3 HN recommenders · 2012–2025
Channels HN cites most for music theory, synthesis & production
Each channel page lists every video of theirs that HN recommends.
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