<nonpony><original> Masquerade

[North Kozar]

So, I actually managed a completed song. It's crazy, I know. I had elephants of fun working on this, spent at least 40 hours or so over a period of I figure about four weeks. It's very inspiring to myself to have completed a piece that I'm personally very proud of. I was at that point, mentally, where I knew I could do it, but couldn't actually see myself doing it because I hadn't -- but now, having completed this song and being proud of it, it's let me see "oh hey, I can do this." Already when I am "thinking music" I can visualize what I would do in Ableton, etc. to get the sounds or make what I'm hearing in my head actually a reality. That was a pretty big disconnect for me prior to this, where I'd hear it in my head but be unable to recreate it.

Anyway, I won't say too much more here. I know I haven't really been around all that much. Just busy with lots of stuff IRL. But I graduate from High School on May 7th, so I figure I'll have more time after that. I also just want to say thanks to all of MLR: you guys are all really helpful, I've learned a lot from here, as well as getting really inspired to work on stuff. You're all the best!



(So you don't have to go to the YouTube page if you don't want to, I've copy/pasted the description for further info and more boring reading):

[From YouTube Description]:
First thing's first, what you might care about the most...

Download link: http://soundcloud.com/kozarious/masquerade


This was quite a big project of mine, racking up at least 40 hours of time spent on it over the past four weeks or so. I had a ton of fun doing it and I learned a lot, too, which is great. It's one of my few fully "complete" (meaning I feel like it's truly finished/polished and worthy) pieces and I plan on having a lot more. This isn't just going to be some one time thing popping up here. I'm planning to explore into other types of music, mess around with things, and do some weird stuff (along with some remixes, including one very overdue for a friend of mine [I promise, I'll make it worth the wait!]).

... But back to the piece at hand. Initially this was started as a song for a special occasion (or rather, to make something a bit more special), and my only real thought at the start was "it's going to be dubstep." So without having a real idea behind it, it just became a very evolving piece as I would just end up adding to it as I got new ideas. I think I was able to keep a cohesive enough theme so it doesn't feel like it's all over the place despite how I went about working on it. The evolving feel works pretty well and while the end result wasn't what one might call traditional dubstep, whatever my initial starting plan was led me fairly well (also genres are stupid).

I ended up with a bunch of other overlaid melodies that I didn't end up using just because they didn't fit well or made it too complex. As it is, there's a lot of layering to it and I didn't want to go overboard and make it too confusing to listen to. I think there's a decent balance between a slight confusion of layers (playing off of the "masquerade" type of theme, as if in disguise or something else super cliché) and a decent enough of leading lines to give you something to grasp ahold of. That being said, it really is best if you listen to it more than once. Even now, I've heard it five trazillion times and listening to a specific section a certain way can still provide a slightly difference experience. Not that I want to tell you how to enjoy my music, of course not.

It also ended up being really long because it turned into this evolving and expanding piece. Personally, I don't like stuff this long because it appears too daunting to listen to all at once (I'm also the kind of person that -hates- having to stop a song in the middle), but for some reason it works well here and I don't mind it as much. There really wasn't room for me to cut parts out because it would have detracted from the evolving feeling.

I'm really glad to have completed this because of how invigorated I feel now. It has opened a lot of mental doors for me and working on music, starting new stuff is feeling less intimidating. It's great I finished it when I did because I get to go back to dealing with some more stresses and emotional stuff for the next week. So yeah, exciting stuff.

But enough of reading this nonsense, back to the listening!

[the4thImpulse]

Seven and a half minute dubstep track, nice! You should be very happy in completeing a track that you yourself are proud of. I remember that feeling a few months back, never forget it and it will help you to continue creating.

The only criticism I have is the kick and snare are light for my taste but thats just me. I know some people would say there is too much reverb and spacial effects for dubstep but that was one of my favorite parts of the track. Good track I look foward to hearing more from you.