Main Topic: My thoughts on AIM '19

I had a lot of fun while participating in this year's Art-Inspired Music contest, and I also was chosen as one of the runner-ups for my song A Dreadful Space Journey! I would also like to congratulate all of the winners and other runner-ups!

Topic One: A Very Big Announcement

With Lost in Space coming to a close soon, I had made a little thing on YouTube a few days ago about a very special announcement about this big project:

Anyways, I did not think that this would actually happen, but it may actually happen!

Topic Two: NGADM and NGUAC

I have used my AIM entry as my NGADM entry and my NGUAC entry. I could not make anything at the time, so I decided to use my better AIM entry. Also, good luck to everybody else participating in the two contests!

Topic Three: Current Song Projects

Okay... this one will be a bit weird this time around...

In Progress

Crazy Thoughts 2: Crazier Thoughts

I have been working on this time to time, so this may come out very soon.

As for any other current projects, I am not going to explicitly mention about any of my other projects I am working on, but I am working on two secret music projects as of this post.

Planned

Lost in Space Chapter 17: The Battle of Humanity

This will be a very big collaboration between @Lamby07 and @TheFantasticZ and I as part of a three-person collab. This is planned to be a big climactic project, so stay tuned as this project progresses!

I cannot believe it has been 3 years since I joined Newgrounds. I never thought I would stay this long, but I have!

Let’s check what I have done for the past 3 years…

Well dang. 336 songs were made in just 3 years. I have no idea what I was thinking. My 350th song is coming up quickly, but I do not know when since I do a song in as little as a week now (there have now been times where I have not been doing music).

The First Year

To start, I did not have an actual DAW to use (which is kind of disappointing). I was scouted after I had done the (very crappy) remixes of Death Moon and Reanimate (two very popular songs in Geometry Dash, at the time). After a while, I started fiddling around with LMMS and FL Studio Mobile, deciding which one to stick with. I was messing around with LMMS since later 2016. I had done a few experiments (most of which involved just doing very little), and then I made the songs in Simplistic (most of which is in LMMS). In March 2017, I had randomly made a song that really took a long toll on my reputation, which was Dubstep Machine. It is my most hated yet most listened song (with over 29,000 views). Shortly afterwards, I had run into ELEPS’s music when he had made a remix of my song Dubstep Machine. Ever since then, I have been a huge fan of his music, and I am continuing to see his music production evolve as every song is made. Later in 2017, I began fiddling around with FL Studio Mobile, and then came Strong Force, which was my best song at the time.

Year 2

Shortly after joining Chips Compo, I was able to create more music, but I had a major downside. One person that I have stuck with since I joined (and left) Chips was TheFantasticZ. We had ran into each other and made Plasma Sword. For the period of time I was with the Chips Compo, I could never seem to fix the mixing of my songs. Nevertheless, I had a great time there, and I learned a few things (I never applied a lot of the knowledge until a lot later). I had done a lot of things in this year. I had also reached 200 songs during my second year. In May 2018, I had started my biggest project called Lost in Space.

Year 3

When July 2018 came around, I was so surprised to see myself in the NGUAC Knock-out round for the first time. I also decided to make my knock-out entry for NGUAC as the 10th song of Lost in Space. There was a big halt in the project (Chapter 15 for music, Chapter 11 for the story). During the latter part of the last month of 2018, I had made A Nightmare in Disguise as my 300th song. I was very shocked to find out how fast I was making music, but I never focused to mix a lot of my earlier songs. I had also tried AIM for the first time in May. I wanted to make my first impression there, with two songs, one cinematic song and one electronic song. In early June 2019, I decided to try to revive my “Lost in Space” project, which has been a success so far. I lost a lot of people who wanted to help, so I had to do it by myself (which was quite difficult). New Beginnings also begin early in the year as a set of new experiments to see what I can do now compared to my first year on Newgrounds.

This was just a very brief summary of my past three years, but I will be glad to talk about other topics like any sets of music not mentioned in the news post. What shall I expect in my 4th year on Newgrounds? Who knows... We will just have to wait and see!

Also, a big thank you to the following people who have helped me along the way (incomplete list):

@DEM0NW0LF @Dereks @ELEPS44 @Everratic @JessieYun @johnfn @Kirefyx @Lich @Miyolophone @Random-storykeeper @Spadezer @TheFantasticZ @TheMajician @Troisnyx @Zelgeon

Main Topic: TFZ+JK

This has been my main focus for the past week or so now, but I will shift my focus back to NGADM/NGUAC later this month. TheFantasticZ and I have changed a little bit of our plans for the remix. Instead, we both decided to remix one of each other's songs (he chose Get Ready to Fight! for his remix, I chose Gestalt for my remix).

Topic One: NGADM 2019

I have been experimenting for the past two weeks to see what I can do, and I have been stuck lately. I know NGADM has not started yet, but I have just been testing some stuff.

I have been experimenting with some stuff from my sets such as Lost in Space, Blast from the Past, and New Beginnings. I have also been taking stuff from solo songs like Spooky Space. I may create a song of more than one atmosphere like I did for The Proud Orchestra of Many Origins.

Topic Two: Current Song Projects

Current

TheFantasticZ - Gestalt (JordanKyser Remix)

This has been one of two of my main projects to upload this next Thursday. The original song was made as TheFantasticZ's entry for AIM 2019. In return, he chose the 5th New Beginnings track of mine, Get Ready to Fight!, to remix.

Lost in Space Chapter 15: No More Running

This is the other of the two main projects I will upload this next Thursday. A lot of people really did not care for my big project Lost in Space, but I had some people want asked me what happened to this "big project". I randomly decided to go create No More Running after I had suddenly finished the Chapter 11 of the actual story.

First Hall of the Mountain King (In the Halls of the Mountain King cover)

I know this is a long title to put, but I just put the whole thing here just to clarify something very quickly. A couple of months ago, I was listening to the original song just out of the sake of being bored, but I then randomly decided to try to make a cover of it. Although it get extremely repetitive, it still has its own quirks. It says "First" because I plan to do two more covers of this song. This was is an orchestral cover of the original. I plan to do some kind of electronic cover and a fusion cover as well.

Planned

Lost in Space: The Battle of Humanity

The exact chapter is unknown, but it is expected to start soon. This is planned to be a big collaboration with @TheFantasticZ and @Lamby07. This may take a while because our times of being active are different, but they do overlap sometimes.

NGADM 2019 Entry

I had already mentioned this, but I put it here anyways. I have no name for it, but it is just planned.

Main Topic: NGADM/NGUAC 2019

I know neither have started yet, but I have already began my experiments for the two. I am trying something different for both. Unless I can be extremely confident in a few of my past projects for NGADM or NGUAC, I may not use a past project of mine if I want to actually get a good score.

Topic One: AIM 2019

I hope to upload both of my entries for AIM this Thursday. I had held them off for so long and did little with them for the past few days, so I thought it was time to share them this week while I have the time to do so.

Topic Two: Current Song Projects

In Progress

Escape from the Matrix

I have no idea what I want to do with this project. I may start a new set with this song, but I think I will be overloading myself with this set (if it happens), New Beginnings, and TFZ+JK.

Crazy Thoughts 2: Crazier Thoughts

I may upload this during the weekend when I have time. Not my best project, but I will learn to do better when I do similar projects.

Planned

Unnamed Remix (TFZ+JK Collab)

@TheFantasticZ and I were recently discussing about our remix collab for the TFZ+JK collab set. All I can say is the collab will be a remix from one of the Celeste OSTs.

Super Universe (TFZ+JK Collab)

Okay... This should be the biggest project for the TFZ+JK collab set. We have not started on it yet nor was it discussed thoroughly yet. It is planned to be based off of the past Super Space songs by @TheFantasticZ and maybe one or two of my songs.

Unnamed 180bpm TFZ+JK Collab

Like Super Universe, this one was only mentioned and not discussed. Not sure what we will do here, so we may discuss this later.

Main Topic: AIM

As of this news post, I have just started experimenting on what I am going to make for AIM this year. It will be my first year, so I hope to make a good impression.

Topic One: New Beginnings Update

One more song is set to be uploaded this Thursday (to be mentioned later in the post). I plan to do around 10 songs for New Beginnings, but that is not an official number yet.

My 6th song is set on one of my weakest points in music production... melodic drops. I will explain later.

Topic Two: Current Song Projects

In Progress

BRASS 2 (TFZ Collaboration)

This began last week along with another TFZ collaboration. Not much different from the original BRASS song we made last year, but it has new stuff in it as well.

Plasma Sword 2 (TFZ Collaboration)

This will hopefully be one of our best collabs yet. It is done both as a sequel and as a tribute to our first collab, Plasma Sword.

Crazy Thoughts 2: Crazier Thoughts

This is back in progress because I decided to focus on it a little bit more while I work with other things. I am not sure whether to put this in Random Thoughts or not, so I may hold this song off until I get a definition solution.

New Beginnings Track 6: Emotionless Adventure

This one was quite a special song for me. I won't say why until the song is uploaded this Thursday.

I intentionally made this song to test myself in one of my weakest spots... melodic drops. I am not talking about melodic dubstep, but melodic drops in general.

Planned

AIM 2019 Entry

This is planned because I have not actually started the project yet (I may tomorrow or later this week).

I know it has been over a month since my last big update, but I will try to get back to doing these...

Main Topic: TheFantasticZ Collaborations

This is will be my main focus for the next few weeks. @TheFantasticZ and I were discussing about the possibility of having a set of songs just for our collaborations. We do not mean add our old ones in. These will be comprised of completely new collabs (mostly) made from scratch.

Why are we doing this exactly?

Both TheFantasticZ and I were actually discussing about future expectations for the year of 2019. We both came to a quick agreement (I mean... very quickly) about doing a set of collaborations with each other for the next few months. Most of the songs will stay secret, but a lot of the songs that we have planned will be mentioned later in this news post.

How many songs are planned for this big project?

First off, I would say that I would consider this to be one big project as a whole. The answer to how many songs is still unknown. We have already agreed to at least 3 already (two a sequels to past collabs, one is a sequel to one of TFZ's song series).

Topic One: New Beginnings Update

So... I have not been having a lot of audience as I hoped for the first 4 songs, but I won't give up. I have my 5th song in the works right now, so I hope to surprise people (and I really mean that).

I did have two main expectations:

First: Get at least three of songs listened over 250 times.

Second: Get at least one song featured or on popular audio.

I have my first expectation reached, but I will still try to get the second expectation reached. It will be much hard due to the changes to the Audio Portal.

Topic Two: Current Song Projects

In Progress

New Beginnings Track 5: Get Ready to Fight!

This was a song that I started this past weekend. I hope to finish this week so I can upload it Thursday. Like the other New Beginnings tracks, it stands out from most of my past songs. Not only that, it also stands out from my New Beginnings tracks.

Plasma Sword 2 (TFZ+JK Collab)

Plasma Sword's much awaited sequel is finally in the works! We hope to make it much better and surprise you when it comes out! :D

Planned

Nothing much different. You can check my last news post about some planned projects already stated but not started.

Lost in Space: Chapter 15

This is now going to be in planned because I have had nobody actually give me their parts to this collaboration. I might have to seek people that will actually help me with this project.

Crazy Thoughts 2: Crazier Thoughts

Still not sure if this will be an actual project, I might wait a while until I make this.

BRASS 2 (TFZ+JK Collab)

This one was mentioned by TheFantasticZ. He has started the project already, but we won't know much about this project within the next few days or so.

Super Space 4 (TFZ+JK Collab)

I mentioned this collab to TheFantasticZ. The decision on whether to do this or not is still not made yet, so stay tuned!

Special song for 150 Fans?

Still an idea. I have 16 fans to go as of this news post. :D

Okay... I have been inactive on posting songs to Newgrounds for around 2 weeks, so let me explain before I freak people out. I am not leaving this place anytime soon, just to point that out. However, I have been inactive for songs because my next projects are taking a lot of time. I am not losing inspiration. Rather, these projects are taking so long because I have been experimenting quite a lot, and I have been either been letting the successful experimenting become actual songs, or the failed experiments may appear in the new songs as something similar.

What is the main point?

If anybody does ask this question, the main purpose is that I want to get my music out there. The problem is that I am not at a good level yet. Hopefully, these new songs will help gather new audience. I have no idea how I can do it without driving people crazy in their DMs (I prefer the old-fashioned way... I am nice like that). I have had a couple people here and there spread a few of my songs so other people can listen, which I appreciate very much. I have had only a select few promote my music via YouTube, which I also encourage as long as you link my music.

What are these new songs exactly?

Okay... Most of these songs are going to be part of a big set to be called New Beginnings. The main purpose of New Beginnings is so that I can push myself to make decent-level songs that may attract the audience in a good way (a few of my older songs that got popular got negative attention, but some people do not understand that I have completely changed my music style since then). The first song of New Beginnings will not come tomorrow, but maybe next Thursday (March 14). My fourth song for New Beginnings will be a very special one to a special somebody (whom I am collaborating with for the song). Each song so far has something unique that makes each one stand out. I may not disclose any of the names of the projects in the making for New Beginnings.

What about old projects?

Don't worry. Sets like Lost in Space and Random Thoughts will not be ending as soon as you may think. Although, Tales of Touhou will be an exception, in which I may have to open up a second set for newer Touhou-related music of mine. By incomplete projects themselves, I may either give them to somebody (who uses LMMS) or just stop the project altogether (I do not scrap a few projects for some strange reason).

Main Topic: 18th Birthday

This is actually a special news post about tomorrow. Since I usually upload things every Thursday, I decided to upload 3 special songs a day early as part of my birthday special:\

It Came from Space

Trancy Space Adventure

Happy Life

Topic One: Current Song Projects

Current Song Projects

In Progress

Lost in Space: Chapter 15

This is right now at a standstill. Not sure when we will get this moving.

Mixed Emotions 2: Nonplussed Emotions

A few months ago, I had somebody ask me about making Mixed Emotions 2. I really did not have plans on making a sequel for Mixed Emotions. As of last night, I finally started a new project called Nonplussed Emotions, which will be the sequel to Mixed Emotions.

Planned

Nothing much different. You can check my last news post about some planned projects already stated but not started.

Crazy Thoughts 2: Crazier Thoughts

Not sure if this will be an actual project, I might wait a while until I make this.

Ten (Ten Chord Progressions, One Song)

The reason why this is in planned and not in progress is because I have the main chord progressions, but I have no idea if I should actually start on the project. It might take a good while to see where the project really goes.

Special song for 150 Fans?

This is just an idea, but I think it may be a possibility.

Main Topic: New Blog Posts

Personally, I think this flows a lot better. It may take some time to get used to it though.

Topic One: Current Song Projects

In Progress

Journey to an Unknown World

This song will be a nice minor change of pace while I am back at it with the cinematic music.

Lost in Space: Chapter 15

This is will hopefully be my first successful music megacollaboration. I have had Truth 3, but that eventually failed. This will be a collaboration with @Spaceatronix @vidu3k333 (NeyraX) @thVTA (Thexta) and one other person (I can't place the name off my head at the moment). Not all may choose to collaborate, but we may need some more musicians if they choose to decline.

Planned

Random Thoughts 6: Anger Issues (Angry)

This will be part of what I discussed at the end of last year. What I hope to accomplish is a harsh cinematic, but I have to save a little bit of that intensity so I can make a more intense song for a later song for this set.

Random Thoughts 7: Heartbroken (Broken)

This was also discussion last year. It is planned to be similar to Please Don't Cry, but possibly on a more sorrowful feel (and possibly more mellow in spots).

Random Thoughts 8: Dangerous Sadism (Insane)

This will be the one that stands out the most (Crazy Thoughts already stands out as it does). It is planned to be on a more intense cinematic feel, but it also might have some elements from previous Random Thoughts.

This is a special post for my thoughts on how 2018 was and what I expect in 2019. Please understand that this is a LONG post, and there is a specific reason to why it is so long.

TOPIC ONE: LOST IN SPACE UPDATES

We got the songs for Chapters 13 and 14 uploaded! It has been a couple months since the song for Chapter 12 was uploaded. Chapter 15's song has been put on hold because I have to figure out how that song will work out. I have it planned as a collab with at least 3 people. A future Lost in Space song will be a collab with all of the side story writers (I don't have it planned for Chapter 16, but somewhere around that chapter).

Story-wise, the ninth chapter has yet to begin. I have it put on hold so I can have a little break. The break should not last too long, but I will hopefully get back to the story within the next month if I can.

TOPIC TWO: MY BEST SONGS OF 2018

I am looking over the whole year, and I am choosing the top 10 of my songs that were the best. 

10. Technotrancy Beats

This is the only trance song that I put on my top 10 best songs. Most of this song was made in one sitting (around 70% of it was made until I took a break). I pushed myself a little bit when I made this song even though there was no contest for it to be a part of. Regardless, it has gotten a lot of positive criticism.

9. Joyride to Space

This song was a rather weird song for me when I first made it. I placed it in the top ten because of how I made this without a limiter. This was one of the first songs I made without a limiter (one of the crazy songs at least).

8. Please Don't Cry

This is the saddest piece I have ever made. I did make a song before joining NG (even before sharing my music) called Pain, but Please Don't Cry has a more sorrowful feel than Pain.

7. A Revolutionary War of America/A Confederate Declaration of War

These two were songs that stand out from most of the rest that I have made ever. They go along with An Early Age Ceremony of the Native and A Colonial Age Ceremony of War in that they were songs I made to tell a part of history.

6. The Proud Orchestra of Many Origins

This was rather a very recent song, but I did think that it belonged here. I have done a lot of orchestral music before, but I have not done a song like this before. It was for the NGAP BINGO Contest this year.

5. A New Day, A New Time To Shine

This song was rather unexpected at first, but I had to make the song.
HERE IS A FUN FACT: Before I was making the song, I was in such a good mood, I was thinking "why not make a song about a very happy day?" So... that is how this song was made. I started making the song on November 10 this year. I have never had so much making a song in a LONG while!

4. Abandoned Hope

This is the only collab I put in the top 10. It was a collab with the amazing @OfficialHenyx and we both did an amazing job making this song! 

3. Spooky Space

This was a song that I made as a part of Halloween this year. It was another one of my songs that stood out from most of my songs. It was possibly the eeriest song I have made this year, with A Nightmare Disguise coming in as a close . I loved making the song, and I hope to make something similar to it next year.

2. The Dangerous Path to Home

This song was my number one song until A Nightmare in Disguise. This was a weird song from the start because I never had such a combination of orchestral and synthetic music in one song. The crazy thing was that I made this without the use of samples. The whole song was made with internal LMMS plug-ins. The song itself stands out in how it sounds. When I originally made the song, I took a little bit inspiration from its prequel song, A Disastrous Escape (both part of Lost in Space).

1. A Nightmare in Disguise

I owe a lot to myself when I made this song. A lot of time was spent on this song. It had a lot of what I had done in the past. It was not just one particular genre, but it was multiple genres (orchestral, cinematic, house, dubstep) into one song. It was one of those songs that made a HUGE turn in how a made music, but this song also changed how I looked at making my music. While mixing is not my forte, I have had people tell me about the mixing in the song being pretty decent (others said it was a well made song). It was a rather long song, and I had someone tell me that the first big chunk could have been a different song, but I don't usually make different songs with the same melodies unless I have to (which is pointless to use the EXACT melody for more than one song).

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Even though I have the ten songs listed above, I will also like to name a few songs that I feel were acceptable (ordered by Song ID).

BRASS (805083)

This was a collab with @TheFantasticZ early this year. It was around the same as Plasma Sword (our first collab) in terms of how we made the song.

Let's Get Swingin' (807278)

My only electro swing song that I made. It was pretty decent, but I should be able to do better on my next electro swing song (if I ever do another one, that is).

Lost in Space (starting from 807329)

I chose the set as a whole rather than just the song because the songs are different from my other songs. At the time of starting Lost in Space, that is all I could do for a very short period of time. Abandoned Hope made the list because it stood out from the rest of the songs.

Moonlight Sonata Cover (819501)

This was a cover of a song rather than an original. I was told to make this song last year, but I was not able to at the time. Doing this song was rather strange, but I liked making it in the end.

Patterns - House (829607)

This song was a rather weird song. I used the same instruments that I used in Plasma Sword (made using Organic) and my cover of Into the Backdoor (made using LB302). It was the last house song that used the so-called "nasty bass" I made in Organic before I started making A Nightmare in Disguise.

TOPIC THREE: 2018 TRANSITION AND WHAT I EXPECT IN 2019

HOW MY MUSIC HAS CHANGED IN 2018: The change in my music throughout 2018 was vast compared to joining Newgrounds to the end of 2017. I hope to improve a lot more next year! :D

WHAT I WILL EXPECT IN 2019: I expect to improve a lot more in 2019. I hope to get to the point where I can be noticed a lot more than I have been this year. I also hope to see a lot more musicians to help out, mainly because I helped a lot of musicians this year.

TOPIC FOUR: POSSIBLE PROJECTS IN 2019

1. Lost in Space Sequel

I was told by a few people as soon as the second chapter of the first story was finished that I should do a second Lost in Space story. I will say that I may do a sequel to the story, but I may not finish it in time. Why do I say that? You see, I am about to turn 18 years old in a couple of months, which means that I have college up ahead. With college on top of my music, I may not be so active on anything for music.

Anyways... If I can finish Lost in Space (the first story, assuming that there will be a sequel) in time, I may start doing songs for the Lost in Space sequel, but there is no guaranteed on finishing the full project.

If you want to know what is happening with Lost in Space, check out the discord link on my profile.

2. Blast from the Past (Chapters 5 to the epilouge)

I hoped to get to the present chapter with this, but at the rate I have been going, I may not finish this either. Chapter 5 was originally planned to be about 1870 to 1910, but I may change that to 1914. Along with this possible change, Chapter 6 will be 1920 to 1935, Chapter 7 will be 1939 to 1945, but I have not gotten plans for future chapters. If I can plan the next chapter swift enough, Chapter 5 can hopefully be made before Spring 2019 comes around.

3. Random Thoughts (future songs)

Unlike the two projects I have already stated, this one will be a certain. I only have at least 3 that I will plan within the first two weeks of 2019 (possibly the following (mostly likely in order): Angry, Broken, Insane). The names for the 3 future Random Thoughts that I will make don't have official names, but they should have names closely related to what kind of thought they have (like how the 3 Random Thoughts that have already been made).

4. The Mysterious Land of Gensokyo

For any of you that may not know, this will be a Touhou-based project. I don't know if I will make it a set of songs, one huge song, or both (as in a set of songs a long with a melody). I should have thought of this months ago, but I did not think that I was ready at the level I was in. I should start this as soon as the new year starts. I have talked with @ShenronMusic about a possible Touhou-based collaboration. I might make the collaboration a part of this big project, and we may do more collabs along with our main collab next year.

The plan is to make songs that are mostly original, but they are solely based on Touhou and certain characteristics of characters in Gensokyo. A lot of the songs may end up having melodies from the songs in Touhou, but there may only be a few (or even a couple) songs that will be less of an original song and more of a remix/remake/cover.

(NOTE: This is not top priority) While making this part of the news post, I was thinking about a cover art for this project. I may not need it right away, but if an artist who does cover arts for free who would be glad to do this PM me for any further discussions.

5. Patterns (future songs)

Okay, I know that doing this is a bit of nonsense, but I like to make these songs.
I have the following as possible songs for Patterns:

• Dance (I don't do dance songs often, but it would be nice to do one again)
• Dubstep (this one will be a nice experiment to do)
• Electro House (I know I have done house, but this one is different from that)
• Future Bass (a weird one compared to the rest that I have done.

I may have others to make, but the four above are the ones I may plan within the next two or three months.

6. MR. CR4ZY MU51C1AN (future songs)

I know these may not be so great to a lot of people, but I only do these just for fun. Most of these are not meant to be taken seriously. They are made like they are non-joke songs. Take them as half-serious songs, that is what I am saying (I make them as if they were serious songs, but not completely). I have at least 5 more of these songs to make because I planned to make 8 songs in all for the set.

If you read this news post, thank you for taking your time to read it. It took me quite a while to make it because I had no idea what to put at first (mainly for the first and fourth topics). I want to wish everybody a happy 2019 and many more to come! <3