Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A base station may receive, from a user equipment (UE), a first random access message of a two-step random access procedure. In some examples, the first random access message may be transmitted by the UE based on one or more cell-specific transmission parameters or cell-specific transmission schemes. The base station may transmit, to the UE, a second random access response message of the two-step random access procedure in response to the first random access message. The second random access response message being transmitted based on one or more cell-specific transmission parameters or cell-specific transmission schemes. Accordingly, the base station and the UE may establish a connection with the UE based on the first random access message and the second random access response message, or the base station can indicate to the UE to return to an inactive mode or idle state.