I’ve been giving private lessons to students since about 2019, initially in person and now over video or voice chat. I’m typically happy to answer small questions over email for free, but if you want involved and hands-on assistance on something then feel free to get in touch about a formal lesson.

Contact: nathan.waikin.ho at the gmail domain

Logistics: I use Skype and Discord. The current price for a 1-hour lesson is US$80, but if you’re a student or low-income I have no problem with lowering the price with no questions asked. (I tend to reduce the base price over time as I get more income from other sources, and I’ll notify you of those changes.) I have a flexible schedule and can generally do any daytime hours in the US West Coast. I take PayPal at my email address.

Material: I’m most qualified to help you with these topics:

• General programming topics. Most of my students are interested in SuperCollider but I can also help with Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, C/C++, and Rust. I have about ten years of professional experience as a software engineer and have been a major contributor to multiple open source projects, most notably SuperCollider itself.

• Electronic music production, with a focus on sound design using software synthesizers (unless specifically about SuperCollider, the feedback and advice I have is tool-agnostic). I have released an album and extensively documented my musical process. My releases are in an experimental style, but I have a traditional Western music theory background as well.

• Signal processing and any mathematics pertaining to it. If you want to implement an algorithm from an interesting DSP paper, I can help you decipher the math. The best evidence of my qualifications is my writing but my professional background includes working on research software at Dolby Laboratories, Inc. and multiple small companies.

I’m most equipped to help people who have experience in music, programming, or both, but I am happy to assist total beginners as well.

Teaching style: I’m open to hearing any ways I can best help you. My usual approach with SC students is to share my screen, walk through a coding session, and finally share with you any code I’ve written or resources I refer to. I tend to make lessons dense and packed with information so you have a wealth of ideas to process on your own time.

Talks and guest lectures

I’ve given a few talks, and love doing them. I can prepare traditional seminar-style talks about any topic I’ve written about on this site. A talk I’ve given multiple times is running a live SuperCollider production session almost exactly like my YouTube presence but accompanied by verbal explanations and answering questions live. I can usually cook up something interesting in about an hour of coding, and I will give the code to the host or organizer to share with the audience.