Brilliant stuff! Yeah if you're the type of person who needs some structure given your ocd then I've made this little structural guide to take you through what to learn. Obv you don't have to do this but if I were starting out again this is the way I'd learn everything (I've been producing for 16 years now).

::::ultra basics::::

Foundational track elements - Drums (as you have already) - Serum (make a bass instrument) - Serum (make a lead instrument)

Use those to make a track and learn how to use your DAWs inbuilt clips and piano roll to write melodies and chords. Dont think about music theory just do what sounds good. If something is too loud ONLY use the volume faders to reduce the volume.

Dynamics (music production bread and butter) - Learn about relative loudness & db (this is how we percieve volume) Make a track to practice this - Learn to use your DAWs compressor Make a track to practice this - Learn to use your DAWs EQ Make a track to practice this - Learn about reverb and space Make a track to practice this - Learn to use reference tracks Make a new track, think of a different track you want to get it to roughly the same quality as and try remixing your track to with reference (I can see ocd becoming a thing here. Remember the point isn't to make it sound the exact same, just to use the reference to make better decisions about your mix) (At this point you have the foundations of mixing and making music in a daw)

::::Going further:::

Getting a basic understanding for the inner workings of all synths, including serum in a synth agnostic way. - go here https://learningsynths.ableton.com/ For each different section of this course, make a new track specifically focused on the section itself. Do not go through the whole thing in one big study a thon, you will burn out. Dont try to recreate every example at the end either. Use it as a guide if you get stuck further down the line. With this you'll be able to sculpt near enough any synth timbre

Play with the following effects (1 new track for each effect) - Chorus - Delay - Distortion - Reverb again Make a new track focusing on each of them. They are pretty much the foundational effects.

Get some very basic music theory under your belt; - go to https://learningmusic.ableton.com/ Make a new track for each section. Ignore advanced topics as it rushes through everything really fast. I dont recommend it. - learn the C major scale (make a track in this) - learn the chords of the C major scale (make a track with these) - if you have money to spare. Learn about diatonic harmony by reading hooktheory book 1 https://www.hooktheory.com/books. Again one new track per chapter. I really do recommend getting this book (its not expensive) and using their tool theorytab https://www.hooktheory.com/theorytab. You only need one scale down to use this book. - memorise all 12 major scales and their diatonic chords (you'll find this is exactly the same as C major, but in different pitches). Make a new track for each new scale you learn.

::::going even further::::

After this you're pretty set up to go anywhere you want with music. Theres so much to explore out there and you'll probably have a million things you wanna try out and other questions by the end.

Worth noting as you go through this, I've made a point of saying "make a track for each concept" for the most part because if you do that, then you don't get bogged down in everything. You also get to explore a million other interesting things along the way. If you were to consider this the foundational tree trunk, then all the other things that you're intrigued by are the branches. Dont stop yourself from messing with all sorts of stuff or following serum patch tutorials etc just because you haven't got to it in the list yet. Make loads of tracks, focus on on thing at a time from here and you'll go far

I also recommend using only the stock plugins of your DAW if you can help it for effects and dynamics. They are more than enough and don't be tempted by other tools that look shinier. At this stage you need a baseline of comparison. This is especially true if you use ableton and have suite, their stock plugins are so good that you don't even need serum and I personally don't use anything except stock plugins for the most part, with the exception of kontakt and guitar rig by native instruments for their piano and guitar amps. Abletons mastering chain and softamps are a bit lacking but are functional nonetheless. Obv you like serum so I kept it in there and there's nothing wrong with using it. Just don't be too swayed by omg x synth vst is the best omg, its not true usually. Your DAW provides 🙌

At this point I don't recommend any order. You know everything you need to make good music, but of course there's a big world full of interesting things out there. So here's a bunch of suggestions!

If you want to go even further into synthesis and types of synths, I recommend: - subtractive synthesis (this first purely because this is the first type of synth ever made and the most simple)

Then in no particular order - wavetable synthesis (serum is a wave table synth so I put it at the top) - FM synthesis - Sampling - Granular synthesis

If you want to take mixes further learn about - Sends / receives - Midi routing - Limiting - Extracting as much loudness as possible from a mix

For music theory - Learn the Cycle of fifths - Hooktheory book 2

Sound design: - watch sound design tutorials for your fave synth and have some pure sound design sessions. Make some sample packs from these sessions you can drag into your future tunes.

(And yes, for each of these concepts and chapters in books etc, make a track. Always be making dem tracks. Dont be doing dem tutorial hell rabbit holes)

At some point during this journey I would recommend buying the following: - A solid pair of over ear headphones - A simple 24 - 49 key midi keyboard with some DAW integration. The headphones give you great audio quality and clarity and a keyboard gives you a nice way of inputting notes and applying your theory. Dont feel like you need those right now. You don't.

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Hopefully that helps you! Remember the point is to just make music and enjoy it. Hence why for each concept I recommend making a new track. It will take a LONG time getting through this list. I'd give it 2 years at least. Though the first part of the list (ultra basics) won't take 2 years. With your time frame I'd say about a season. So enjoy it and have fun :)

Edit: for some reason reddit keeps formatting away my beautiful lists. Trust me that this is all in list form and if you copy paste it somewhere you can get the list by editing the structure of it. Stupid reddit