As a music producer, my main goal is to create the kind of music I would want to listen to myself, while developing a distinctive sound that can be translated into sample packs and tools for other producers. Over the last few years, my creative practice has grown through learning guitar and piano, experimenting with digital audio workstations such as Logic Pro X and Ableton Live. I studied Music Technology and Graphic Communication at A level and worked on a mixture of personal projects, collaborations and live sound. Together, these experiences have shaped the music I release under my alias and deepened my interest in sound design, synthesis and sample-pack creation as a way of contributing to the broader music production community.

This reflective journal focuses on one strand of that practice: my exploration of 80s-inspired vaporwave and related electronic styles, and how this has influenced my current approach to rhythm, sound design and workflow. In particular, I reflect on a recent project where I created a small collection of synth loops and one-shots. I consider how this work connects to earlier stages in my musical development, including my transition from Logic Pro to Ableton and my growing interest in building custom tools. By examining my choices and responses throughout this project, I aim to gain a clearer understanding of how I construct a signature sound for both my alias and my sample packs. 

To structure this reflection, I draw on Kolb’s experiential learning cycle, which presents learning as a continuous process of moving through concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation and active experimentation. Using this model allows me to move beyond simply describing what I did and instead evaluate how my experiences, insights and plans interact, with the long-term aim of becoming a more deliberate and adaptable producer.

The primary focus of this section is my exploration of 80s-inspired vaporwave music, which has shaped my current approach to sound design and sample-pack creation. For this project, I set myself the task of creating a small collection of synth loops and one-shots, using traditions of the genre to influence the foundation of my work. I focused on using simplicity to my advantage, both in the harmonic structure and in the sound design itself. Working mainly in Ableton, I experimented with classic synth-style sounds designed in the stock Wavetable synthesiser. This, paired with the quality of the stock effects – reverb, delay and chorus – guided my work towards a sense of nostalgia and an 80s character. At the same time, I paid attention to how each sound would fare in a modern mix scenario, aiming for high-quality samples that felt usable and consistent with the aesthetic.

This project built on several earlier stages of my musical development. Learning piano and guitar at a young age formed my practical understanding of chords, scales and structure, which helped when writing basslines and synth parts for this 80s-style material. I gained access to a laptop with Logic Pro X during lockdown, which allowed me to familiarise myself with recording and production with relatively few limitations. My experience with A level Music Technology introduced me to standardised mixing and processing techniques, allowing for a deeper understanding of my own production. Studying Graphical Communications at A level also influenced how I imagined the visual identity of potential releases, such as album covers and artwork aligned with the aesthetic of the era. Alongside this, live sound work at small local venues and collaborations with friends exposed me to the workflow differences between genres and the demands of real-time problem-solving. Over time, my projects became difficult for my laptop to handle, which directly influenced the development of the music I release under my alias, now characterised by simplicity and effective use of production resources.

When reflecting on my workflow, I noticed that beginning a project with rhythmic elements resulted in a more favourable output, both in my opinion and in the feedback received from peers. Starting with drum loops helped me establish a consistent vibe across each sample and prevented me from designing overly complex synth timbres that could distract from the core groove. In terms of sound design, I tended to begin with patches I already knew worked, typically combining basic waveforms with slight detune or unison and pairing them with delay or reverb. This approach produced mix-ready sounds that could be tweaked in subtle ways to build a cohesive collection of presets. Building on this foundation, I then explored greater variety by introducing more complex waveforms on one oscillator while maintaining simplicity on the other, usually a sine or sawtooth wave. This balance gave me the confidence to experiment with the options available in Ableton’s Wavetable synthesiser. As my sound collection expanded, I began to notice patterns in my use of filtering and automation, particularly a tendency to push the analogue-style filter emulations such as “MS2” and to route LFOs to oscillator or global pitch macros for an analogue character within the patches. 

Listening back to some older demos and samples created on my previous laptop, I realised a stark difference between the material produced in Logic Pro and the work completed in Ableton. Earlier samples made in Logic often sounded more linear and restrained, whereas the sounds created in Ableton felt more expressive and detailed. Although this shift partly reflects my personal growth and technical development, I recognise that Ableton’s interface makes it easier to set up complex routings that achieve simple effects but can be trialled and refined quickly. For the sample-pack creation and sound design, this workflow has been used to my advantage. However, when working under my alias I often find myself returning to a simpler process that reflects the limitations of my older laptop. For this project, the aim of the alias was never to showcase technical ability, but rather to translate the personal feelings I had into instrumental music as directly as possible, and why I intend to continue drawing from the more minimal, emotionally driven approach alongside my more experimental sound-design work.

These observations led me to recognise that the order in which I build a track strongly influences its overall character. Beginning a track with rhythmic elements anchors the creative process around groove and energy, which in turn encourages balance and congruence within the harmonic and tonal elements of my work. When analysing the traditions of dance music as an influence, I find the rhythm of a track often dictates the response an audience feels and communicates the characteristics of its genre. I also realised that relying initially on familiar, relatively simple patches is not a limitation but a deliberate strategy for consistent production. By treating basic waveforms with subtle effects as a foundation, I can experiment with melodic and tonal ideas while developing the sonic palette of a track. This provides confidence when generating ideas and leaves room to refine tonal aspects later in the process, as I often find it difficult to dial in the perfect preset for an idea that still only exists in my head. In line with Kolb’s stage of abstract conceptualisation, these reflections have allowed me to develop a clearer understanding of how workflow, tools and genre conventions shape the creative decisions I have as a producer. 

Comparing my earlier work in Logic Pro with my later projects in Ableton highlighted how strongly the tools and environments available within a DAW shape creative outcomes. The more linear workflow of Logic Pro caters to the production of straightforward, restrained ideas with pop-up windows interrupting my sense of flow, whereas Ableton’s flexible routing options and session views favour a more experimental approach to sound design and arrangement. This suggests that my creative practice is not only driven by personal preference but also by the architecture of the software I use, which effectively functions as an instrument. These patterns have shaped how I think about my identity as both a producer and a sound designer. For sample-pack work, I now see myself as someone who builds character through small, deliberate variations on mix-ready sources, with a focus on detail and interest for the listener. In contrast, the work under my alias continues to follow the more restricted traditions of a minimal workflow, which helps me focus on emotion and atmosphere rather than technical display. While I tend to keep the focus of each strand separate, both share themes of deeper meaning, expressed through different creative motives. 

Drawing on these reflections, I want to push my practice further by testing how far my approach can stretch across different genres while still sounding like “my work”. I plan to create small sample collections in areas such as house, drum and bass and more ambient or 80s-influenced styles, maintaining the same core principles of starting from strong rhythmic ideas and building around simple, mix-ready patches. In each case, my aim is to see how much the groove and overall feel of the drums can shape the identity of the track or sample pack before any complex sound-design decisions are made. By doing this across contrasting genres, I hope to gain a clearer understanding of which elements of my own production are adaptable and which work best for specific styles.

At the same time, I intend to deepen my knowledge of Max for Live so I can design tools that capture and streamline the habits I have developed in recent projects. One of my goals is to build devices or racks that contain my usual processing chains or synthesis modulation setups, so that the textures I associate with my alias and my sample packs can be recreated on demand. This would allow me to spend less time rebuilding the same signal paths from one project to another and more time focusing on important creative choices such as arrangement, harmony and variation. I also see this as a way to test how far my personal preferences in filtering, saturation and modulation can be realised as a reusable system, rather than remaining as loosely remembered settings from previous projects.

Alongside this, I am interested in deliberately switching workflows to see how they affect the final result. For example, I want to experiment with starting some tracks from harmonic material, such as a simple chord loop or bass motif, as a contrast to my current rhythm-first approach. I am also interested in developing guitar tones through software processing alone, instead of relying on my typical hardware effects. I plan to build tones from a single DI input followed by a carefully selected signal chain, which I believe will lead to non-destructive recordings that can be adjusted up until the final bounce. With this in mind, I am curious to see whether I can still match the energy and emotional weight of my prior work while changing the tools and starting points I use. 

Reflecting on this project through Kolb’s experiential learning cycle has highlighted how strongly my creative decisions are shaped by rhythm, simplicity and the tools I choose to work with. The concrete experience of creating 80s-inspired vaporwave material and building a small collection of loops and one-shots showed me how starting from drums and using intentionally simple, mix-ready patches can define the identity of a track or sample pack. Through reflective observation, I became more aware of the contrast between my earlier, more linear work in Logic Pro and the more expressive, experimental material I have produced in Ableton, as well as the influence of practical limitations such as an unreliable laptop on the minimal sound associated with my alias.

Abstract conceptualisation allowed me to turn these observations into broader principles, such as viewing DAW architecture and workflow as part of my “instrument” and recognising that my identity sits between detailed sound-design work and a more emotionally driven, minimal approach. In the stage of active experimentation, I have begun to plan specific ways of testing these ideas in future projects, including designing genre-focused sample collections, developing Max for Live tools that formalise my habits, and deliberately varying my workflows while aiming for the same emotional impact. This follows Kolb’s view of learning as a continuous cycle in which new insights are applied and refined through practice.

Reference list

Libguides.com. (2021). WU Learning Skills Guides: Reflective Writing: Kolb Model of Reflection. [online] Available at: https://wrexham.libguides.com/reflectivewriting/kolbsmodelofreflection.

Mcleod, S. (2025). Kolb’s Learning Styles and Experiential Learning Cycle. [online] Simply Psychology. Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html [Accessed 28 Dec. 2025].