(Be warned of the long post)

I was actually going through my MATRIX songs, when I thought hmm... I wonder what my older music sounded like...

Okay... I will admit that my older music is not that great, but I actually learned quite a few things from my older music. One thing right away is how I do my mixing and mastering. A lot of my older music from 2016 and 2017 (early 2017) tended to be very bad and clipped a lot. I was a different person then, so I have changed.

However, there was a couple of playlist that really got me thinking: Simplistic and Tales from Touhou (early songs). I noticed something that really caught my eye that I forgot about. I have done away with a lot of my presets that I have (and they just sit there in my LMMS/FLM libraries). There was actually one moment where I thought I could try to remake some of the Simplistic songs. Of course, that would be very difficult because of the style differences, but what is really stopping me is the fact that I have actually gotten hate from my older music. I get it. My older music sucks, but maybe I can try to remake them.

I also noticed a few places where my usual style made drastic shifts. One of those times was when I found out about a limiter later in 2017. The problem was that I started to abuse the limiter (there we go, I admitted doing overcompression). I forgot when I started to stray away from the limiter (I think it was Making a New Life). However, there were quite a few songs I loved making and still like from 2017, one of them being Plasma Sword, which was a collab with @TheFantasticZ that I will always remember to this day. Which reminds me, I believe I have done more collabs with TheFantasticZ than any other person, but I am not really sure.

There was a time where I tried to make stuff I am either not used to or never made before (this was called New Things). There were two tracks that I particularly liked... The Big Boom and Making a New Life. I believe that these songs (albeit mostly crap) actually helped me in the long run.

I think that whole "drastic shift" to my current style all start in Making a New Life and Lost in Space was that big boost for me to my current style. Even though my current style is a bit different than my 2018 style, I still believe that parts of my 2018 self is still there. In my opinion, I really do not want to completely let go of my 2018 components yet because I still believe that I can improve on even my recent stuff. Is there really a difference in my Lost in Space style and style?

I have actually had quite a few people tell me how much I have changed in just this calendar year alone, so imagine how much I have changed since 2017 (or even 2016). I have much quite a big leap this year, and I am planning to make a bigger leap next in 2020.

Anyways, just wanted to put this out there because I felt like everybody should look back at there older works and see how far we have gotten from our younger selves.

Personally, I see why a lot of the time that there are not a lot of people who want to listen to my music (also, the time and of the week I usually choose is a big factor, I think). However, I do want projects like these to get featured (even though this one is just on popular audio). Early in March 2017, I had made a big mistake on a song project (a lot of you who have known me may know which song I am talking about). I don't want any of those songs to get featured, because that eaves a bad reputation on my part. I have changed A LOT on how I make music since 2017, so anybody who has not heard my music since (let's say) Operation: G.A.M.E.S.C.A.P.E. or Last Stage may not recognize my new style. Those who have may notice how much I have changed since then.

In my opinion, I think any musician can change in how they music, so I always believe in many people in that they can always make great music and be amazing musicians.

Main Topic: 350 Songs

So... Earlier today, I uploaded my 350th song, which means that my 400th song is coming up soon (I hope... I don't know when exactly...).

You can listen to it here: Spooky DnB

Topic One: Old Challenge, New Song

You know those songs that you start and you put them off and somehow randomly finish almost a year later? That is kind of what happened here. I challenged myself way back in January this year to do a 10-melody song.

I had the following rules:

1. You must use the melody only once, expect for the first melody.
2. You must not do any drops.
3. Each melody MUST be at least 16 measures long.
4. You can add stuff onto a melody, but not use melodies already used beforehand.

I think I did okay. You can check that song out here: Ten

Topic Two: Halloween 2019

Okay... I already have three songs made for Halloween this year as part of the Newgrounds Spooktacular.

You can check out those songs below:

• The Haunted Dimension (made for the Newgrounds Spooktacular)
• Spooky Haunting
• Spooky DnB (350th song)

I am not planning on making a fourth Halloween song this year, so I should go ahead and take a short break.

It has been quite a couple busy months for me, but everything should be completely okay!

Topic One: Halloween Spooktacular 2019

I am just going straight into my main topic and start off with Halloween. I did not want to miss this chance since I had already made a song this past October, called Spooky Space.

This year, for the Newgrounds Spooktacular 2019, I decided to make The Haunted Dimension. It is a lot more intense, and it is also more on the horror side than on the spooky side.

https://soundcloud.com/realgdjk/the-haunted-dimension

Topic Two: First Big Room

I decided to make my first big room song! Go check out Turn it UP! and be sure to let me know what you think! I have been listening to both bass house and big room lately, so I have been wanting to create both for quite some time.

Topic Three: Request for Touhou covers

I guess I can start doing this again, so PM me any Touhou songs and I should be able to make cover as many as I can! (I am hoping to finally get to 50 total Touhou covers... which is A LOT!)

Main Topic: Lost in Space

This is my main focus for music for the next couple months or so. I have planned 3 more chapters, and I AM FINALLY FINISHED! (Just to be clear... I already have 17 chapters, so add 3... that makes 20!)

Topic One: Monthly Supporter

I know it is a bit late to announce it now, but (apparently) I had gotten monthly supporter status. I am still trying to figure out my new name. I want to finally rename myself RealGDJK like I have on a lot of other sites.

Topic Two: NGADM/NGUAC Thoughts/Reflections

I did not make either this year, but I would like to put in my two cents about both.

Thoughts and Reflections on NGUAC 2019

I know how I made it in last year, but I bet my main problem was the repetition. I will have to worry about the repetition next year.

Thoughts and Reflections on NGADM 2019

I was selected to be one of the Tier 2 Backup people. I used the same entry for both competitions, so I do not know anything else to say about that. I thought it was a good idea to do backups (even though I did not fill in).

Topic Three: Current Song Projects

Finally... we get to what I (or we... depending on how many people) have been working on.

In Progress

Lost in Space Chapter 18: Final Moments

This is the second collaboration with @HenyxNATO for Lost in Space and our second collaboration overall. We have no set deadline for this, but we are planning on finished this around the end of this month.

Adventurous (NGRMC 2019)

Yes... I am entering the second NGRMC this year. I have learned a lot from the first NGRMC, so I am hoping to apply what I learned into this year's NGRMC. However, instead of making an electronic song, I am planning on making something along the line of a orchestral hybrid.

Planned

Lost in Space Chapters 19 and 20

I am just putting these here (and in one spot) because I have already announced them in this post. After the 20th chapter of the song is finished, all that is left is to do the story and all should be set!

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).