Rouxbe Online Cooking School Blog

Aside from my personal cooking adventures (or lack thereof), my favorite part of working for Rouxbe is writing the music. When I first met with the team to decide what sort of music we needed, we were really searching hard for ideas. My first intuition was that we needed jazz and big band music. Then I thought maybe something more hip and electronic could work. Within days it all clicked in my head – Rouxbe doesn’t need one type of music, it needs all types of music! Cooking is global in nature; one night you can make an Italian dish, the next night something Thai or Moroccan and I thought the music of Rouxbe should reflect this. And so music-pairing was born at Rouxbe.

More importantly though, serving a great meal is all about the experience. Just as you would pick out the perfect complimentary wine, everything here at Rouxbe, is thought-out based on what plays nicely with the other elements of the meal. At Rouxbe, we aim to offer this experience by writing music that pairs up with the dishes or by giving you the option to turn off that music during instruction. We are working step-by-step to recreate the world of fine dining in your home while you learn from us.

I develop my art with a range of digital tools and sound libraries to create the Rouxbe Sound. Preparing this music really is like being in a kitchen; I start with a mini-recipe in my head before I sit down to write. If I know I’m about to work on a track for a Middle Eastern inspired recipe like Moroccan Lamb Tagine, I might envision myself using a Daduk sound or a Saz and then add in some synth and keyboard sounds from the West. I mix and match different flavors of instruments and drum tones, adjusting the quantity of each ingredient as I go along.

Some instruments are core to each recipe and can be thought of as your chicken or sauce on top. Other instruments or effects might be so subtle that they act as salt and pepper – without them the song can still exist but with them, things sound just that much better. Then I mix and master the sounds so that they can be served on your speakers, like plating the food and placing it on the table for your guests.

I’m excited by the launch of Rouxbe and hope that you are just as excited as I am. Please enjoy the sounds you hear on the site, and most importantly, make Rouxbe your friend. Learn as much as you can from the videos and be sure to cook for your friends and family. Just as a musician only knows how good he or she is by performing for others, you too will only know how good your cooking is by cooking for others.