The Story Behind "Destination"

Destination came together incredibly fast during a trip out to the Midwest in early June. The song title, a page full of scribbled notes, and my DAW software all came together during the plane ride. One day I found myself stuck in a hotel room with nothing but my laptop and my Akai MPK Mini keyboard controller—my favorite travel songwriting companion. By the end of the day, the foundation of the song was there.

Musically, it leans heavily into a laid-back reggae groove with a modern coastal feel, but the lyrics are really what drive the song. The idea of a "destination" isn't meant to be a physical place. It can be whatever you want it to be—a dream you've been chasing, someone you're longing to see, a road trip with no map, or simply following your heart wherever it leads. Sometimes the journey itself becomes the destination.

ggLike I mentioned above, the core of the song was created entirely on my tiny Akai MPK Mini that lives in my travel bag next to my laptop. I managed to build almost the entire arrangement before I ever got back home.

Once I was back in my studio, the fun really began. Real guitars, bass, keyboards, and vocals replaced many of the original placeholder tracks, although quite a bit of what was created in that hotel room actually made it into the final recording.

My usual collection of plugins—including Kontakt, Neural DSP, and several others—handled most of the virtual instruments, while the drums were sequenced in Reason. Most of the instrumental breaks and melodic fills were written on my Ernie Ball Music Man L4 guitar. During the later solo sections, I doubled parts with a distinctive synth patch that gave the song a unique texture without taking away from the guitar.

The bass was recorded first using my Music Man StingRay, then layered with a Reason bass patch to add a little extra weight to the low end. I've become a big fan of blending real bass with synth bass—it creates a fullness that's hard to get any other way. 

Vocals were actually one of the simplest parts of the production. There are only three vocal tracks in the entire song, but getting there took countless takes. I spent a lot of time working on the phrasing, trying to make every line feel natural and conversational. The vocals were recorded using my Warm Audio WA-87 R2 Microphone through my Warm Audio Tone Beast TB12 preamp with a lightly compressed Warm Audio WA76-D.

The real secret sauce, though, came from Jon Ellis. His mix completely transformed the song. The reverbs, delays, ambience, and little production details elevated everything far beyond what I imagined while recording the dry tracks. Hearing that first mix come back was one of those moments where I just sat back and smiled. 

The lyrics went through more revisions than almost any song I've written. Words were replaced, verses were rewritten, and entire phrases came and went until everything finally clicked. It felt like putting together a puzzle where every piece had to land in exactly the right place.

In the end, I wanted the song to remain intentionally open-ended. Your destination doesn't have to be a place on a map. It might be a person, a dream, a new beginning, or simply the courage to leave your comfort zone and see where life takes you.

I hope when you listen, you find your own meaning in it. After all, sometimes the most memorable destinations are the ones you never planned to find.