Alphabet Album Report #1 / Naiad

A few months ago, I watched Koko's video on leaving your creative comfort zone, and in it, as an example of doing so, she showed how she worked on a short beat as she has wanted to for a while. Inspired by this, I started messing around with a DAW (and applied a few tutorials from Alex Rome) and gaining a newfound interest in EDM, I resolved to make 26 tracks over the next 26 weeks, each based on a unique letter of the Alphabet, all part of an album named the Alphabet Album. Now halfway through this challenge, I have decided to write about my progress.

When making a song, I start with playing around with notes until I find an eight bar series of notes that convey the mood that I want. Then I turn them into chords and work on them as needed to further enhance the energy - I may move thirds or fifths (the notes above the original "root" notes) up or down an octave, add a pedal tone (a note that plays throughout the entire chord progression and does not change), or write a topline melody. This is the intro.

Next, I derive the buildup and drop or climax from the core chord progression. I increase energy as needed by introducing new instruments, putting the progression on a faster rhythm, or using more energetic drums. Drums themselves are simple - I use patterns that I feel work well in every song, such as the Four on the Floor Pattern or my favorite, Reggaeton.

Finally, I add bass and automation tracks to make things more interesting; I might vary the cutoff of the main instrument (or the side instruments) to vary the intensity on a finer scale. It always adds texture!

All of this I did for the Naiad Theme. I first experimented with the settings of my synth (TripleOscillator) until I got a sound that felt sparkly. Then I searched for a chord progression based on A# major that felt euphoric neutral, and expanded upon it as needed. For the drop, I added a topline melody based on a dotted quarter rhythm that resolves every bar. Pauses are important in melodies as they give them room to breathe. Additionally, I tried a few arps to add even more texture to the song, and I found out that adding an arpeggio side instrument to the buildup strengthened it well.

Throughout this I also got feedback from the Discord server "On Prod", specifically from the channel #feedback-4-feedback. This was invaluable for improving the song and encouraging me to work on it.

Apologies if the writing of this first post is disjointed! I have no idea what I'm doing but I think that as I write more, I will learn and produce better posts over time…