Hey. Back again with the second round of 60 DAYS. For anyone new this is my challenge to write a new idea every day for 60 days—no excuses, no overthinking, just creating. Each week, I’ll recap what worked, what didn’t, and the biggest takeaways from the process. Ultimate goal is to close gaps that I find in my process and get better at making what I want to make. Anything is fair game.

I have uploaded all the ideas to my YouTube: HERE

Week 1 Recaps

DAY 8 - Twonski - How2Rave (Aiya Dubstep Edit)
Day started with me doing mudpies in granulator > led to me using parts of the mudpie to make basses > layering processing on basses for different layers and then combining all of them together > doing the same for drums

Pros:

• Lazer-y sounds with combination of stacking vinyl distortion, stacking disperser and comb filter in snap heap, and shifter with 1/4 note LFO on it.

• Sample choice for drum fill is nice. Not overthing fills/transitions. Keeping the flow going while signaling a turnaround/change > key!

• Feel like this is an intentional loop.

 Gaps: 

• I don't know enough about this style to identify big gaps. I'm sure sound design and drum processing could be better.

• I bet I could make all these frequencies stand out and glue together better.

DAY 9 - YOU DON’T GOT IT

✅ Pros:

• Vocal samples

• Mixing garage and trap together is fire

• That vocal chant atmosphere I made is fire.

❌ Gaps:

• Want the kick/sub relationship to be tighter.

• Mixing of elements. I think there could be more seperation between leads/atmospheres/bass.

• Putting harmonic/melodic elements in space better. Better use of reverb/fx/etc without totally transforming the sound. Ties into previous point.

• Pre-drops.

✨ Notes:

• As long as you can nail the drum groove and the sub everything else will flow.

• Sub just needs to support the whole track > not tons for movement > save that for lead/mid bass/etc.

• Processing drums, and bass and any sound really with multiple parallel chains > really effective. New York Compression is a deeeeeep concept.

• Worth it to create a go to rack to put vocals/fx/leads in a space quickly.

• Intro's: keep simple. Introduce space + drums + vocal or melody + re-use and foreshadow elements that come later.

DAY 10 - niteStyle Garage

✅ Pros:

• Vibe is immaculate

• That breakaway section that comes back to the groove is nice.

❌ Gaps:

• Drums feel a bit messy or overinvolved.

• Sub in the trap switchup needs to be more pronounced I feel. Sub in general in this idea feels like it bleeds over too much into the rest of the track. Not sure the best term for it but it just feels "everywhere" and as a result lacks impact and punch and power. Feels really obvious at the trap switch section where the sub hits don't have the impact I want them to have.

• I want to take what I've written and have this be the part of the track around the drops. I want this vibe to carry the track and subtly blend into a drop section. Not as much of an obvious build as in an EDM song but still playing on the idea of a drop. More fluid but still with a big payoff for a club/warehouse.

✨ Notes:

• Cool interactions between vocal chop layers happening. processing the original > then resampling it and letting that audio interact with the original layer > creates unique interactions > SOUND DESIGN AS STAGES.

• Chorus on midbass is what gives it width and puts it in a space separate from drums/sub > literally not fighting anymore. You just dial it in so it feels good and is mixed well.

• Give anything that isn’t sub and kick some sort of space/chorus/detune/etc. This is how you get it to literally feel like it’s taking up space which means it won’t be flat. Even it if it’s just a little bit.

• From a composition stand point I think writing dance music where things subtly go away from the idea and then re-drop is strong. It's a little different than "EDM" which is written in more of a "songwriter" structure. I think writing in this way and then managing to still incorporate the idea of a drop that carries "EDM" energy and power is an idea I want to pursue and give.

• Live-show music is all about getting the drums right and then making sure the kick/sub is supporting the track. Sub doesn't need to do anything other than hold down the foundation of the track. For drops > root note hitting with kick.

• For live-show music Sub just achors the track and serves as the more consistent foundation all the “moving” parts sit on top of. Moving = melodic/harmonic movements (notes). Basically sub doesn’t have to play out notes as much, it can be more effective being one note or the root of the chord.

• Writing for live-shows > all about phrasing with sub/drums/energy. writing the sxns of your track so you have interesting sub/drum ideas that communicate tension/build/drop/musical sxn. Then creating sense of space and rising/falling energy. Then you fill in the gaps as needed with "musicality" > leads/chords/vocals depending on the sxn and style.

DAY 11 - niteStyle House

✅ Pros:

• Reminds me of the 4 UR MIND track from dog blood and X&G. Which is a win in my book

• You can always write music. even if you're just throwing together some loops 😭.

• Breakdown section with that vocal atmosphere is good. I need to make more samples like that vocal atmosphere.

• Like the drum samples used for the hats.

❌ Gaps:

• Overall this is not a serious idea yet.

• More focus when writing leads on applying reverb to them. Not leaving them so dry. All mid bass/leads need a certain amount of space/dimension to them so they aren't directly completely dry.

✨ Notes:

• Didn’t take much from this session other than it’s possible to just create by throwing together loops, going purely off instinct and create an idea that could become something. I think there’s something in this I’d like but it needs major development. More of a sketch than anything serious which is not how I want to operate anymore.

DAY 12 - UH UH!

✅ Pros:

• Locked in today and did an intentional, legit arrangement.

• Vocal samples and pre-drop/fills implemented.

• Fills in this track were more simple. A drum roll or vocal chop. Not overly phrased or taking the ear out of the track but just signaling a change upcoming.

• Drum processing with parallel distortion and dialing in the layers.

 ❌ Gaps:

• Drop sound design could be better. I think the design of that lead idea could be split in

• Drop lead needs a sound that compliments it.

✨ Notes:

• ‼️ Treating drums as a whole group of frequencies and using parallel distortion to bring out and shape them in different ways. Not trying to get group to end result serially, but addressing punch, high end, bite, etc as parallel layers you can dial in and sum back together.

• To really get better I cannot do sketches, the key sounds HAVE to be in place.

• Key sounds:

  • “face” > mid bass/lead/chord

  • Vocal

  • Sub

  • Drums

  • Fills

  • Key FX (riser, impact)

• This means sessions going forward HAVE to be focused on implementing these elements. But, that also means you can find good ones that you want to re-use over and over and then make them your go-to’s if you’re ever in a crunch. That way you don’t leave an idea as a “sketch”, you have all the details and you can mix and play out the track if needed. Then you can go and update/swap out sounds later.

DAY 13 - 2theRight

Not my best day. Got started late, didn't do any of the things that made yesterdays session good.

✅ Pros:

• I like the melodic idea here. I actually thinks it’s a solid bass house phrase.

• I like the use of vocals.

 ❌ Gaps:

• Bass house sound design. I need to learn how to design good basses and leads for this style of music. Or find some good presets.

✨ Notes:

• When writing "hooky" drops or music you can test if your idea is good by imagining the riff being played out/teased in the build. If it doesn't grasp attention + signify that we're going somewhere then it is not good.

• Best way to write effective chords is to write the TOPLINE melody with them. Forces them to be useful.

• Easy way to create simple but effective fills/transitions in drops is to use a sound for a fill that will be part of the next section. In this idea I use that little vocal hit as a fill which then takes on the off beat pattern in sxn 2.

Day 14 - FREEFALL

Pros:

• Songwriting in the intro.

• “Anti-build” leading into the drop.

• Solid low-end for drop.

• Vocal pre-drop

Gaps:

• Needs a face for the drop and to be expanded.

• Metallic/ping snare design.

Week 2 Takeaways

• Back and forth this week between “intentional” writing and “sketching”. Can see a clear difference when I’m flowing but also just being intetional about implementing the core aspects of a track and doing that detail work vs. when I’m lazy with it and just sketching.

• Again, lack of sound design knowledge, presets, or samples → leading to placeholder ideas/sounds. Specifically:

  • metallic/ping snares

  • “face” elements: mid bass/leads/vocal chop.

• ‼️ ‼️ Key ideas that I want to carry forward with me:

  • best way to write effective chords is to write the TOPLINE melody with them. Forces them to be useful.

  • Create simple but effective fills/transitions by using a sound for a fill that will be part of the next section of music. Vocal or drums or lead.

  • Give space/detune/chorus to all elements that are not supposed to be dry. So pretty much all “face” elements.

  • “Anti-builds”. Builds that accomplish setting up the next section without feeling like an “EDM” build.

  • Using parallel distortion and processing more to shape sounds.

See you next week.

Aiya