I’ve made it.
Two Cats is finally here—my first EP, 7 years in the making. But getting to this moment took more than just time. How I made my first EP was a journey through trial and error, emotional highs and lows, and a relentless pursuit of the sound I had in my head. Now, I’m ready to share that story.
A Journey Through Isolation and Discovery
This EP didn’t just take time—it took everything. When I recorded Stray back in 2018, I was in a dark place. Isolated at home, feeling low, and creating under my former moniker, Doran McKinlay. The song reflected my state of mind—moody, distant, and a little lost. The pandemic had just begun, and the world felt small and suffocating. I was locked inside, and so were my ideas. That’s where the story of this EP began—a 7-year process that, when I look back, explains exactly what comes next.
Why It Took So Long to Finish My First EP
It’s a little wild to think it took 7 years for 5 songs to come together. And let’s be honest—they’re not Grammy contenders. I’m not racking up millions of streams. If a few dozen people hear this EP, that’s a win in my book. But it wasn’t about the numbers. So, why did it take so long?
The truth is, I gave up on this project 3 or 4 times. The songs mirror that rollercoaster—some days I was riding high, feeling inspired, and others I was at rock bottom. I lost my job during that time and spent a season packing Amazon boxes to make ends meet. Music became a way to process the chaos, but I didn’t believe it was worth sharing.
But it wasn’t just emotional. It was technical, too.
Mastering Music Production: Lessons From My First EP
I wasn’t just making music—I was learning how to make music. I spent years trying to create a sound that reflected what I heard in my head. I bought gear, sold it, learned software, and discarded it. I spent hundreds of hours training my ears, trying to close the gap between imagination and reality. But that pursuit of technical perfection slowed down my creativity.
I wasn’t ready to move forward because I couldn’t get things to sound right. That’s why, in 2023, every one of my songs got a remaster—a reflection of what I now call the beginning of my better period.
2022: The Reboot
By 2022, life had shifted. I found a new job that made me feel more human again, and with that, my home studio started to come alive. I finally settled on a limited set of tools, hoping simplicity would bring clarity. But my music still sounded… off. Original, yes. But amateur, in a way that frustrated me.
That started to change in the summer of 2023, when I collaborated closely with Elliot. Together, we formed SonicSelves (go check us out!), and something clicked. Our release of Angelic was the moment I finally felt like my production skills had caught up with my ideas. Still, it took another year before I could achieve that level of quality consistently.
2024: Mastery Through Simplicity
By 2024, something shifted. I had finally figured out how to get the sound I wanted—and the secret wasn’t in complexity. It was in simplicity.
I’ve always believed that to master anything quickly, you need to master the basics and apply them in different contexts. It’s like sketching—if you get good at drawing cubes in perspective, suddenly you’re building intricate cityscapes. Complexity grows naturally from mastering the fundamentals.
With music, I finally took that to heart. I stripped everything down. I relied solely on Korg Gadget and my microphone for composition and mixing. On desktop, I kept it simple—T-Racks and Ozone for mastering. I forced myself to use mostly stock plugins in my DAW, and over time, I realized I could create almost any sound I wanted from this minimalist toolkit. Limiting my options set me free.
The Start of the Colorful Age
But something still felt… off. I was proud of the music, but the vibe wasn’t right. Everything was monochrome—my art, my sound, my perspective. It reflected the broken version of myself that had created it.
I didn’t want to stay there.
So, in early 2024, I rebranded as Doran Fixes Everything—a nod to my love of DIY and my determination to rebuild, not just my music, but everything around me. My visuals exploded with color. My sound shifted from melancholy to something brighter, more hopeful. And suddenly, the ideas started to flow. What used to take months now took days. My release schedule showed it.
In fact, 4 of the 5 tracks on Two Cats came together between summer 2023 and early 2025. I had finally hit my stride.
What’s Next?
As I hit release on this chapter of my journey, I’m already knee-deep in the next one.
I’ve got 4 tracks finished and ready for what’s coming—a full-length album with a story to tell.
The story of trying to fix everything.