My entire creative life is defined by fruitless endeavors, so what's one more?
This is my entry for the Express Yourself music contest being held by the Furry Musicians group. I wasn't actually making it for the contest at first but I wrapped it up in, frankly, record time, after just about a day's work so I figured, couldn't hurt, then I'll feel like I did something and can more easily justify never doing anything in the future.
You get a bonus point for explaining your motivation, and I seek to find out if you can actually be deducted points by sharing too much motivation.
-Technical Stuff-
Since it's meant to sound like classic game music, I did what I could not to over-produce it, making the most of what's there. I'm not gonna say I completely committed to making it sound like an authentic video game track from the time period because well, I didn't, but I did at least try to make it seem sort of feasible. I'd also settle for "retro-themed video game made in 2018 with the enhancements that come with it." I do love to layer, perhaps more than I should given my capabilities, and there are definitely spots where it was tempting to throw in some other bells and whistles but I decided to go for a less-is-more approach here, utilizing sounds that sound fuller by themselves without having to stack too much on top of each other.
Most of this was done on my Yahama PSR EW...something or other keyboard, it's the $500 one, look it up. As mentioned earlier, the melody which comes in at the 32-second mark was done on my Ibanez electric guitar, played mostly clean, save for the reverb pedal, and played into my Loop Station pedal so I could export it onto the computer. All of it was then mixed in crummy ol' Audacity. Fact is, I don't know jack about music production. Hell, I don't know jack about music, I can tell you that the first two strings on my guitar are E and then A, and then after that, god only knows. I just tinker around until something happens. What ultimately comes out is only ever gonna be as good as my instincts, which are questionable at best.
But all that said, and definitely not proof-read, I feel content with this. I'm cautiously confident in saying it doesn't sound quite like my other stuff up to now, which is cool. In my moments of lucidity, sometimes I think, well, I guess it's nice that I know my way around some of these toys just well enough to be able to put together some of what's in my head. A lot of people wouldn't even go that far, I guess. And in the case of this song, it is kind of neat to take something that's been in my head for practically all of my life and finally jot it down. I haven't yet decided if this version sounds better than the one in my head, but it doesn't sound markedly worse, so I guess I'll take it.
And now to cast it into an endless purgatory by hitting that submit button.
Rock on.
This is my entry for the Express Yourself music contest being held by the Furry Musicians group. I wasn't actually making it for the contest at first but I wrapped it up in, frankly, record time, after just about a day's work so I figured, couldn't hurt, then I'll feel like I did something and can more easily justify never doing anything in the future.
You get a bonus point for explaining your motivation, and I seek to find out if you can actually be deducted points by sharing too much motivation.
Motivation
The song is meant to harken back to classic platformer video games. To put it another way, I wanted it to sound 1994 as hell. The title is chosen because it sounds to me like it'd be a late-game area's soundtrack, the kind of area where as a kid you're like, oh crap, I've never been this far before and my bedtime's in 30 minutes and this game doesn't save, CRAP. That is, at least if it is in fact a platformer, because on further reflection, this would be either a later level in a platformer, or the first level in a space shooter. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. Whatever the case, if this IS a platforming level you can bet it's probably very sparkly, rather challenging, with an abundance of the color purple. This is a purple song. Possibly jade-green but most likely purple.
This tune is perhaps the longest-running song I've been harboring in my head, starting somewhere over 20 years ago. In particular, the guitar section which comes in at 0:32 is what stands out the most. That melody has been in my head for almost all of my life. A lot of the music I do starts as me misinterpreting/misremembering a tune I heard in an existing song. And that, in theory, was where this one came from, because I think it all started at my babysitter's house when her kids were playing on the Sega Genesis, playing in a game in a cavernous level. And at first I was going to explain that this song was 8-year-old me's interpretation of what I was hearing, and nearly-31-year-old-me's memory of a memory. I once heard the saying that when you recall something, you don't remember the thing, you remember the last time you remembered it, the truth getting more faded as time goes on. But now, something else is coming back to me. I'm starting to wonder if this song actually came from a dream I had about that level that I saw at their house. I don't remember my dreams usually but when I do, they're very vivid and very emotionally overwhelming. And often enough, they involve music.
Why is this important? Because I consider myself to me at my emotional peak when I'm asleep and dreaming, where my heavily guarded shield of cynicism that most of you know as, well me, is inactive and I'm free to explore my earnest desires in an environment insolated from the ridicule and heartbreak I associate with real life. And this tune that may of come from said dreams is a lot like other songs from video games or similar media that I love because it has an expression of being from another world, or rather, the uncertain plunge into a new, enchanted world with entirely new beings living completely separate lives from what we know in the real world. And that touches on something very important within me, that I imagine a number of you can relate to, which is this childlike desire to be taken from this world and settle into some kind of new, unearthly world with exotic, intelligent, possibly cute and fuzzy denizens, where you may find a warmth and affection and acceptance that eluded you in real life. So a song like this represents the journey to that destination, the challenges that come with it, and the underlying hopefulness that maybe someday you make it there. This likely explains my preference of animated media over live action, it explains my enjoyment of certain properties, like say, Undertale, that by all accounts would appear to be the complete antithesis of who I am and what I'm into, and perhaps more than anything, explains why I continue to partake in furry/anthro art despite my well-documented frustration, disenchantment, and at times outright rage toward the fandom at large.
That's a lot of wishy washy nonsense for a song that'd probably be considered pretty amateurish by most metrics but nonetheless that is, in a nutshell, the inspiration.
-Technical Stuff-
Since it's meant to sound like classic game music, I did what I could not to over-produce it, making the most of what's there. I'm not gonna say I completely committed to making it sound like an authentic video game track from the time period because well, I didn't, but I did at least try to make it seem sort of feasible. I'd also settle for "retro-themed video game made in 2018 with the enhancements that come with it." I do love to layer, perhaps more than I should given my capabilities, and there are definitely spots where it was tempting to throw in some other bells and whistles but I decided to go for a less-is-more approach here, utilizing sounds that sound fuller by themselves without having to stack too much on top of each other.
Most of this was done on my Yahama PSR EW...something or other keyboard, it's the $500 one, look it up. As mentioned earlier, the melody which comes in at the 32-second mark was done on my Ibanez electric guitar, played mostly clean, save for the reverb pedal, and played into my Loop Station pedal so I could export it onto the computer. All of it was then mixed in crummy ol' Audacity. Fact is, I don't know jack about music production. Hell, I don't know jack about music, I can tell you that the first two strings on my guitar are E and then A, and then after that, god only knows. I just tinker around until something happens. What ultimately comes out is only ever gonna be as good as my instincts, which are questionable at best.
But all that said, and definitely not proof-read, I feel content with this. I'm cautiously confident in saying it doesn't sound quite like my other stuff up to now, which is cool. In my moments of lucidity, sometimes I think, well, I guess it's nice that I know my way around some of these toys just well enough to be able to put together some of what's in my head. A lot of people wouldn't even go that far, I guess. And in the case of this song, it is kind of neat to take something that's been in my head for practically all of my life and finally jot it down. I haven't yet decided if this version sounds better than the one in my head, but it doesn't sound markedly worse, so I guess I'll take it.
And now to cast it into an endless purgatory by hitting that submit button.
Rock on.
Category Music / Game Music
Species Unspecified / Any
Gender Any
Size 120 x 120px
Listed in Folders
Funnily, I got an old school videogame vibe from this before even reading the description. You did pretty well! Kind of reminds me of menu music I've heard from an old DOS game I can't remember.
Thanks for listening, that's the one part of the song that wasn't done on the keyboard, and was actually done on my guitar, with help from the reverb pedal. It's meant to be the song's 'high point' so to speak, so I was careful not to make anything else in the track sound like it, allowing it to stand out more. The rest of the song is essentially built around those 16 seconds.
Welp! I think I'm going to follow you to keep tabs on these songs for sure. This is super Sonic Adventure-y! Which is a little later than 1994, but it still gives off that early platformer vibe. I think what gives off that Sonic vibe is the guitar. It has a little bit of Live and Learn/City Escape in there. Since you said it's been stuck in your head, here's the relevant part!
But you mentioned it was a cavernous level, so that's not quite it maybe. I wonder what that could've been.
Thank you for including the words (NSFW) cock vore in your commissions post, or I wouldn't have stumbled into your music gallery.
But you mentioned it was a cavernous level, so that's not quite it maybe. I wonder what that could've been.
Thank you for including the words (NSFW) cock vore in your commissions post, or I wouldn't have stumbled into your music gallery.
Thought on this some.
Mystic Cavern Zone has a similar synth and is a cavern level on the genesis. Notably, it's the 2 player theme. You mentioned "kids" were playing it, so they might've been in the versus mode. It's also purple.
Another contender would be Marble Hill Zone. But I think that's a little bit less of a match. But who knows!
Mystic Cavern Zone has a similar synth and is a cavern level on the genesis. Notably, it's the 2 player theme. You mentioned "kids" were playing it, so they might've been in the versus mode. It's also purple.
Another contender would be Marble Hill Zone. But I think that's a little bit less of a match. But who knows!
Thanks again for the listen. I'm not sure how much more music I'm gonna make time to make since right now I'm diving head first into a multi-year plan to emigrate out of the country which, at least in the immediate future, is poised to take up a lot of my time. That coupled with my overwhelming feelings of despair don't pair well for making the kind of music I like to make. But we'll see what happens, I still like to strum on my guitar when I walk by, just not sure if the effort of mixing a whole song is on the near horizon. But there's a handful of others in the gallery. My most recent one "True Happiness" which I wrote for yet another wrestling character is, in my opinion, my best one so far. They should all be in their own folder.
And also, yes, I wondered if that was the one and only reason you came across me. First time I've publicly acknowledged a willingness for such things, here, though the only actual art of that type I've uploaded anywhere is on e621.
Per your points about the song itself, while that first song's vocal melody definitely sounds similar I know that's a far later game than whatever inspired me. I think Mystic Cavern is the level in question but whenever I've tried to listen through it I never hear anything that sounds similar enough. As I said in the description, as time goes on I wonder more and more if it's actually a tune that my brain made up in a dream about the level, itself. I listened to a ton of songs in the early Sonic games and never found something that I can solidly say is the thing that did it. Just that, pretty sure Mystic Cavern is the muse. And yes, I did think to check the versus version as I knew those were different and I remember preferring that version of the music, but it's still not too similar.
I'll probably never know and whatever it was, it wasn't enough to get me into the list of contenders for the music contest but, it was a nice little way to spend a day I suppose.
And also, yes, I wondered if that was the one and only reason you came across me. First time I've publicly acknowledged a willingness for such things, here, though the only actual art of that type I've uploaded anywhere is on e621.
Per your points about the song itself, while that first song's vocal melody definitely sounds similar I know that's a far later game than whatever inspired me. I think Mystic Cavern is the level in question but whenever I've tried to listen through it I never hear anything that sounds similar enough. As I said in the description, as time goes on I wonder more and more if it's actually a tune that my brain made up in a dream about the level, itself. I listened to a ton of songs in the early Sonic games and never found something that I can solidly say is the thing that did it. Just that, pretty sure Mystic Cavern is the muse. And yes, I did think to check the versus version as I knew those were different and I remember preferring that version of the music, but it's still not too similar.
I'll probably never know and whatever it was, it wasn't enough to get me into the list of contenders for the music contest but, it was a nice little way to spend a day I suppose.
Hope you can succeed in your plan! I can certainly understand that feeling.
Ah! The mystery continues. Man, if I happen on a very similar song again, I'll comment back. I find stuff like this amusing and memorable.
Ah! The mystery continues. Man, if I happen on a very similar song again, I'll comment back. I find stuff like this amusing and memorable.
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