Djo is the musical project of Joe Keery—actor, songwriter, and producer best known for his role in Stranger Things—who has steadily built a reputation as a serious artist within the indie and alternative pop landscape. Blending bedroom-pop aesthetics, analog synth textures, and guitar-driven arrangements, his work stands out for its DIY sensibility and strong production identity.

Djo’s DECIDE (2022) represents a pivotal moment in Joe Keery’s evolution as a producer and songwriter, moving further away from his psych-rock roots into a synth-driven, introspective indie sound. Created alongside collaborator Adam Thein during the pandemic, the album blends analog-style synthesizers, layered vocals, and experimental pop structures to explore themes of identity, relationships, and growing up in a hyper-digital world.

I am recreating the song “End of Beginning”, one of the album’s defining tracks - a synth-pop piece that captures nostalgia, transition, and the feeling of leaving behind a formative chapter of life. Built on warm analog textures and introspective lyrics, the song reflects on Keery’s early years in Chicago and the bittersweet process of personal growth.

Although released in 2022, the track became a global slow-burn hit years later, going viral on TikTok and climbing streaming charts worl

Watch my performance video below, and read further down for the steps to recreate each instrument!

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END OF BEGINNING GUITAR TONE

‍The song doesn’t have many elements, making it a very direct and effective pop-rock example. The guitars have a fairly standard rock sound that I recreated using the Archetype Cory Wong amp simulator with the following preset. Then I added a Valhalla UberMod chorus with these parameters. I played the guitar with some palm muting. Listen to how it sounds!

Djo 'End Of Beginning' - Verse Guitar Sound

In the choruses, I recorded an additional second guitar layer using another preset with a lower, more distorted tone to add width.

Djo 'End Of Beginning' - Chorus Guitar Sound

There’s also a third guitar in the choruses playing a pedal note with a bend—listen to it below. It also has some reverb and thesame preset as the verse guitar.

Djo 'End Of Beginning' - Chorus Distorted Guitar Sound

Finally, there’s a guitar detail before the first chorus. I recorded a note using a preset with a lot of sustain and distortion, then reversed the audio, resulting in this:

Djo 'End Of Beginning' - Distorted Guitar Sound

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END OF BEGINNING SYNTHS PRODUCTION

‍On the album DECIDE, almost every track features lots of synthesizers, making the songs more electronic. However, in “End Of Beginning” there’s only one synth, which I recreated starting from another preset from a BadBadNotGood track that I had previously deconstructed. I slightly modified it and added reverb like this. Listen to it here!

Djo 'End Of Beginning' - Lead Synth

Remember you can download this synth preset along with many more sound banks on my Patreon!

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END OF BEGINNING BASS TONE

‍The bass in this song also has a standard rock sound, which I recreated using the “Fat Rock” preset from the Waves Maserati VST.

Djo 'End Of Beginning' - Bass Tone

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END OF BEGINNING VOCALS PRODUCTION

‍For the vocals, I recorded a single track in the verses, and in the choruses there are up to four tracks in total since there are harmonies and it requires more width.

The effects chain I use is the usual one—a bit of autotune for polishing, EQ, compression, and a DeEsser. Check out some of my other articles to learn more, or join our Patreon! Additionally, I used this preset from Waves CLA Vocals together with Waves Doubler to create a chorus effect and stereo width. Listen to the verse below!

Djo 'End Of Beginning' - Verse Vocals

And this is how the chorus sounds with the two harmonies—my favorite part!

Djo 'End Of Beginning' - Chorus Vocals

Finally, in the bridge there are also two harmonies! Were you able to notice them in the original song?

Djo 'End Of Beginning' - Bridge Vocals

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END OF BEGINNING DRUMS

‍As a final extra, I managed to get the kick, snare, and hi-hat samples from this song, which sound like this. Remember you can download them too if you support me on Patreon!

Djo 'End Of Beginning' - Drums Sound

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And that’s everything. Feel free to leave your feedback in the YouTube comments or ask any questions! Thanks for the support—see you in the next one!

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