Thunder: A Battle Cadence in the Making
10/18/2025
My first time writing at the same time I’m writing a piece of sheet music. It’s more like a written vlog documenting the process as I’m working. Usually you would find a video of someone in the studio making music, but I decided to write instead. I may get into live streaming eventually though. My goal is to write about all my music here to describe what the music sounds like but also my thoughts while in the process of making it.
11:00pm — I had just got off work. Now, I’m in my studio getting ready to upload a new video to my YouTube channel.
10/19/2025
Brainstorming..
12:00am — After uploading the video, I started to work on a new drum cadence called Thunder. I had already started working on it a few days prior. The intro had already been complete for the most part. I kept listening to it over and over for almost half an hour. Trying to figure out which direction it should go. I added a few measures after the intro and had that on loop for almost 20 minutes. Listening to the whole selection of what I had created to see if it matches well. I think it does.
1:20am — Taking a break, letting the subconscious put it together. I pretty much have the concept ready, I just want to return more focused.
10/27/2025
It’s been a week since I started working on Thunder. I uploaded another video to my YouTube channel.
9:00pm — I listened to what I was working on a week ago. I listened for almost 10 minutes without making any adjustments. I was trying to figure out how I was going to change from one part to the other. Should it repeat? Should the snares be different after it repeats? Or should it change completely to the next phase?
Making music requires a lot of critical thinking sometimes. There are so many ways to develop a piece from nothing. To make sense of what you’re creating is the most important thing. The flow should be consistent with the overall piece. It wouldn’t make sense to have a pattern switch from a previous part so dramatically different that it becomes difficult to listen to. My goal is to transition from the intro to the second part in a very specific way so that it can carry the flow that I’m trying to describe.
10/28/2025
1:00pm — I decided to move the section I was working on last night a few measures back so that it starts later. The section that was initially supposed to start after that one was moved in front instead. For example, a person will count 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. Imagine you would count 1, 3, 2, 4 instead. Another analogy would be copy and pasting a sentence in front of a paragraph instead of reading it at the end. Technology allows you to copy and paste almost anything with the same shortcuts for any program. The reason why I made this change is because the music flows better this way.
2:00pm — The cadence is just about done. I know how it’s going to sound even though it’s not completely written out. I just need to make some adjustments to earlier parts, but it should be completed tomorrow. Once it’s done, I can start editing the video for it. I normally post on Fridays. My goal is to have it ready for YouTube this week.
10/29/2025
5:00pm — At this point, I think the cadence is done. I added a snare part for the outro and everything sounds good. I’m going to return tomorrow and give it a final listen before I start editing the video.
10/30/2025
1:00pm — Listened one time just to refresh my mind on what I was working on. I had a Twitch streamer playing in the background, a chess player. I listened to her as I was editing notes. Becoming a better chess player is another one of my goals.
The final process in writing sheet music is to adjust the values for each note. There’s a lot of math involved. Because, I’m self taught I’m learning all the time about what’s acceptable for writing percussion parts.
4:00pm — I arrived at my studio, continued editing notes. Listened to the final audio wav file. Now, it’s time to start editing the video.
5:00pm — Video has been uploaded and is scheduled for 1:00am tomorrow morning.
Final Thoughts
Currently, I have a good selection of music on my YouTube channel. I’m going to change the frequency of weekly uploads to every other week. I want to start focusing on different aspects for building the BLXCK RUSSIAN brand. I want to learn more about marketing, design, video editing etc. I will use this extra time to study.
I’m starting to feel more like a writer by posting on Medium. I know I literally “write” sheet music, but writing articles is a very different pursuit of creativity. I write in my journal sometimes but that’s for personal use. I would’ve never thought I would be writing to share something with the public. I look forward to improving my writing skills in the future.
