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- 60 DAYS: Week 3 Recap
Round 3. 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
Ok, so this week I got 2 days into writing and realized I was pretty much having the same notes over and over. Mainly around sound design and using “placeholder” sounds that are not good. I don’t think making 60 ideas at this level is worth it so I’m pivoting (kinda).
I chose to take a week to focus on sound design. That means a couple things:
Creating my own sounds/patches.
Finding good packs that fit the music I want to make.
Organizing my sample library.
Digging in Splice and finding good sounds and organizing my Splice library so I can leverage it effectively.
So far I’ve made some cool sounds, I’ve organized my library more and have a better idea of what’s in it and I’ve spent a little time in Splice organizing that as well.
This is probably going to be something I do more often since more and more I think intention with samples/presets and knowing what I want to actually create is almost more important that sitting down and just writing something. I could write 100 tracks in a month but if I’m not being intentional with what I want to make and putting in time to curate those sounds, create those sounds, learn what it is I want to make and deliberately practice making it then it doesn’t really move the needle.
So I’ve found my first big gap - sound design/sound selection/sample curation.
I’ve attached the two ideas I wrote before realizing all this.
(I am counting the sound design days against the total 60. So next week will still be Days 21-28.)
DAY 15 - Catch Me If U Can
✅ Pros:
Using presets for cool leads, using Splice to fill in gaps, using some of my own sounds/presets for rest > good and effective.
Making idea at the end of the day instead of giving in and saying I don’t have time.
❌ Gaps:
Breaks and drum samples for break driven tracks needed > DID NOT HAVE ON HAND!
Need racks to put fx/downbeats into a space real quick. Really need racks for a lot of quick processing/sound design.
DAY 16 - Goa Lead
✅ Pros:
I think I get it now. I need to be giving sounds dimension and space on ALL my sounds. Anything except kick/sub and maybe certain drums. This is how you get them to feel 3D and spacious. I need to experiment a ton to develop good re-usable racks and chains for this.
Wrote out core idea, then tried to be creative about using it to create the other layers. I resampled the drum loop and distorted it into a noise layer that moves along with the drum loop and adds TONS of energy. Doesn't sound the best as is, but I can experiment and improve the technique and rack.
Arrangement/composition in this one feels better. Again, I think I just tried harder to make what I feel is a more “professional” arrangement. Mostly came down to putting in effort on transitions and micro-arrangement moments.
❌ Gaps:
Sound design.
Mixing different layers together. These type of tracks are all one big groove. I think I can mix all those layers together better so it feels more “in the pocket” and like one big thing instead of separate sounds.
✨ Notes:
Need to pay more attention to taking away sounds and creating more contrast in fill/transition/pre-drop moments.
A lot of the answers for me right now seem to be about creating better hierarchy and better contrast. Both mix-wise and moment/composition-wise.
Week 3 Takeaways
More important for me to dedicate some time to sound design and creating solutions for specific sound/mix gaps I have.
‼️ ‼️ Key ideas that I want to carry forward with me:
Creating repeatable chains/processing racks for sound design.
Being extremely intentional with sound selection, library, and design.
Need to go vocal hunting for good samples.
Applying processing to sounds that give them a sense of dimension or space, even if super short and subtle.
See you next week.
Aiya