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glotch
i'm just chilling with the guac from my chip hat

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Joined on 3/1/21

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glotch's News

Posted by glotch - December 6th, 2021


One year ago, on December 6th, 2020, I published my first "full length" song to YouTube, called Jesus Pizza. (I put "full length" in quotes because it's only a minute long.) I had dabbled in music a little bit in the months leading up to that, but Jesus Pizza was when I decided to start dedicating some more time to the hobby. Granted, I didn't start actually producing things regularly until February, but I still consider this as the true start.


With that said, I figured I'd make a post about some of the things that I've noticed and did during this time, because why not?


Changing Toolsets

When I first started back in December-February, there were two main tools that I was using: LMMS and FamiTracker. LMMS was fine and dandy, but something about it always just felt slightly clunky, and I could never tell what it was. It has the huge advantage of being FOSS though, so I think it's a great tool to start out on. As for FamiTracker, I still enjoy the ease of workflow I can get using a tracker, and I enjoy the sounds of the NES, but I've stopped using it over the past few months, as I felt that the sounds that I wanted were getting harder and harder to achieve. I've been considering finding another tracker to use for more diverse chiptune, as that's still something I would like to make going forward.


Now I've more or less switched over to Ableton Live. I really like Ableton because it feels like most stuff just kind of works the way I need it to. Here's the thing, though: I really only chose Ableton because I got the Lite edition for free at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. The big limitation that the Lite edition brings is that you can only have a maximum of 8 tracks. Luckily this hasn't been an issue, but in the event that it does, I'll have to seriously consider what I want to do if I'm going to end up buying music software. I ought to try out the FL demo again sometime to see how it works, but for now I'll stick with Ableton.


Stuff I've Learned

Probably the most valuable skill I've learned (and am still continuing to develop) is how to create my own synth sounds using Vital. While I'm still not good enough at it to get precisely the sounds I'm looking for every time, I really like the sense of control over my own work that doing it myself gives me.


However, I've also learned that there's a lot of value to be had in using presets. As said before, I can't get precisely the sound I'm looking for, but the fact that I'm doing it DIY means my sounds end up being very synthy most of the time, which isn't something I necessarily want in everything I make. For that reason, I'm trying to rediscover the magic of presets. That brings me to my next topic...


Self-Improvement

When I look back on Jesus Pizza and compare it to what I make now, I've definitely improved, which is awesome. However, sometimes it just feels like I've stagnated, and that I haven't made anything that truly pushes my limits in a while. One of the big strategies I'm starting to realize that I need to employ is that I need to get outside prompts. It seems like my songs that I feel are most unique are inspired by or based off of something else. Cases in point: Salami, Blue Cavern, and Scrapped Bumper Music. I'm extremely proud of what I did in all of these songs, and they were all directly inspired by some other piece of media.


On that similar note: as much as comparing myself to others all the time is an unhealthy mindset, it's also where I can get the drive to improve so I can make some cool shit. Just this weekend, I replayed the game OneShot, and it really reminded me why I want to keep improving everything I do. It's so unique, inventive, and polished, it made me think "God, I want to make something that amazing." Like this track, for example. It conveys so much emotion and atmosphere! That's the level where I want to be at, not just with my music, but with my programming efforts as well.


As of now, I think the stuff I make is alright, but it's nowhere near that level. Of course, the bitter truth is that I won't just be able to pull a track like that out of my ass tomorrow. But hopefully as I keep working at this music hobby, I'll be able to get to a level where I can do that. With that said...


Things That I Feel Like I Should Be Good At By Now But Am Not

  • Mixing: For some reason, I still haven't felt like I've gotten the hang of mixing stuff at all. It feels like something's always either too quiet or too loud or clipping or maybe the whole song is clipping! Hell, I still don't even really know what mastering is. Are those topics even related? I should probably start looking into that, huh...
  • Dynamic-y things: What do I mean by that? Well, so far I feel like my songs aren't super dynamic. Hardly climactic swells or particularly quiet moments are to be found, and I feel like that's probably something I need to at least try.


Conclusion

I honestly felt like this post would be a lot more carefully structured than it ended up being, but it ended up being a bit of a thought dump about my current creative process, which I suppose is alright. In any case, I hope this gave you an interesting insight into the mind of a teenage amateur musician. This was probably more valuable as a self-reflection exercise for me than it was a blog post for general consumption, but regardless, if you have any thoughts about what I've written here, let me know!


Thanks for reading! (assuming anyone actually read down this far hehe)


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Posted by glotch - November 15th, 2021


After almost a whole month, I finally got around to finishing another song to upload on Newgrounds. Life's been moving fast, and in the blink of an eye, it had been 3 weeks since I last uploaded here and I still had this new song sitting on the backburner, just waiting to be completed. I didn't really know where to take it, but it also didn't feel like there was many good ending points, but I managed to wrap it up. I hope you guys enjoy this one, and sorry for the absence!



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Posted by glotch - October 11th, 2021


Remember when You reposted in the wrong neighborhood was the hot new meme on the block? Well, I made a mashup back in early 2017 around that time called "You Reposted In The Wrong Windows 95", and jesus christ it was terrible. I slapped some sound clips in a video editor and said "this is good", and added earrape at the end for good measure. It was offbeat mush that for some reason had more likes than dislikes among the few who watched it.


For this reason, I remastered it recently, trying to add a bit more of a spin to it. I don't think it's the best thing I've ever created, especially since I suffered from major tunnel vision on this one, but I felt like I needed to get something out there to replace the old video. Also, now I know that I really like the Windows 98 startup sound as a sample. Hope you guys enjoy it! (Also, I guess I've tentatively established a schedule of bi-weekly music? Not necessarily by conscious effort but it just is that way now)



Posted by glotch - September 20th, 2021


Hi again! School's beginning to pick up a bit, but I still have free time. My main block recently has been a lack of ideas, but after playing Deltarune Ch. 2 I just had to make something, so here's a loop I made. I hope you like it! It's inspired by video game cavern type music.

Side note: I have headphones that work again! No more pathetically wearing one earphone for me!

Also, belated thanks for 10 fans! That's pretty cool!


Posted by glotch - August 30th, 2021


Hi again!

New song, new newspost! The new song is pretty short, but I like the way it turned out. Tell me what you think! (Also if you know a better genre to put this in please tell me)

In some previous newsposts I told you guys how my wireless headphones broke and my cheap wired headphones were breaking. Well, now the bridge between the earphones on the wired headphones doesn't even work at all!! So now I can only listen to audio through one ear, which means no panning for me! Maybe I should do some more FamiTracker for a while to keep my stuff in mono.


Also, school starts in a few days. I may or may not have less free time to do stuff, but I'll try to keep making music and/or other things on the regular.


Thanks for reading, see ya!


Posted by glotch - August 18th, 2021


Hello! I made a new song again, inspired by the thumb piano I have in my room that's been forever out of tune. The song doesn't actually reflect that, but trust me it was.

I've also changed the license for most of my songs to Creative Commons with Attribution, meaning you can use it as long as you give credit and it's not commercial (you'll have to bring that up with me personally if you want to do that). The only exceptions are the songs I've made for specific pieces of media (Bowl Party OST and LCD Lullaby as of now). So if you use any of my songs for something cool, tell me about it!


1

Posted by glotch - August 16th, 2021


Well, after a few weeks of waiting, I can finally announce that I... didn't meet the mark for NGUAC. That sucks, but there's always next year! Plus it was a good reminder that there's always room for improvement! Good luck to everyone who did make it!


Gonna start a new song regardless so stay tuned for that.


p.s. belated public thanks to @ScarecrowArts for gifting me supporter status. I didn't want to make a news post that was just that but it's also been an awkwardly long time now so idk


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Posted by glotch - August 1st, 2021


Hello again! Here's another chiptune that I started 1.5 weeks ago but didn't bother to finish until today. Hope you like it though, I'm really proud of it, even with its rough edges. The VRC6 expansion is really becoming an old reliable to me, but maybe I could try out some of the other expansions in FamiTracker soon if I can figure out how to use them. I'd like to use the DPCM track to add drums, but it's a lot of trouble to get the samples volume balanced. However, now that I've relented and edited a chiptune in Audacity, I think I can relent and manually balance the DPCM with the rest of the song if I do use it. Pretty soon I think I might try out some 16-bit chiptune like SNES or Genesis to see what kind of new sounds I can get out of them.



Also, update on the headphone situation for anyone who cares: The right earphone broke off too, so now I'm using a pair of headphones where neither of the earphones actually go on my ear because they're dangling on the wires. Nothing to do with the song, just thought it would be funny to mention.


Posted by glotch - July 22nd, 2021


Hi again! Hope you guys are doing well this morning. This will just be another update/thought dump that I guess I'm just doing every few weeks now.


A few days ago I published a new chiptune that I had no idea what to name, but I think it sounds good anyway so it doesn't really matter. Check it out!


I also made my first movie submission for the Animated Bumper Collab for the upcoming 2nd round of Summer Animation Jams. I'm really happy that I was able to contribute something to a collab here. It's stop motion too, since I have no art skills, but I tried to do something interesting with the tools that I had, that being a bedroom and a crappy cell phone camera.

I made a different stop-mo bumper before this one, but I didn't publish it because there were some technical and execution issues that made me reluctant to post it. I'll probably upload it to my YouTube channel or something later, and maybe I'll upload the music I made for it to Newgrounds, but it is a pretty simple tune so idk.


Outside of NG, I recently made an FNF mod that adds Wii Remote support, and you play the game by tilting and twisting the remote, inspired by this BBS thread. It was kind of a pain to get working, and will probably be a huge pain to install for most people since you have to use an unsigned driver, but there's not really anything I can do about that unfortunately. Check it out on GameBanana or GitHub and tell me what you think!


Thought dump time:

A few days ago I choked on some water and accidentally spit it out, and I guess some accidentally got on my good wireless headphones, because now they just make electric buzzing and zapping noises instead of actually playing audio. I think I might upload the sound to Freesound, because it almost exactly matches the stereotype for "broken electronic device".


This is gonna make music making a little harder for me because now I'm using these cheap wired headphones that a. have a left earphone that still works fine but is now literally hanging by the wires and b. has a partly broken wire so sometimes I have to readjust the wire to get it working and also I think it messes with volume balancing somehow?? It's certainly different than the wireless ones and I'm not sure if it's more or less accurate in reference to anyone else. I certainly won't stop making music because of this but I'll need to take that into account.


Speaking of making music, if anyone wants to collab for whatever reason, just PM me. I can't guarantee that I'll accept, but it would be cool to meet new people and make something cool with someone else.


Thanks for reading this far! Hope you all have a good day.

ps. thanks for 6 fans!


1

Posted by glotch - June 30th, 2021


Hi!


I put out a new song today, and I figured I'd use this chance to promote that, plus talk about some other random stuff I've been thinking about.



First off, my chiptune kick is continuing along, in no small part thanks to Fearofdark. This guy is so unbelievably cracked at chiptune that it makes me want to start up FamiTracker every time I listen to his songs. "There'll Always Be Next Year" is for sure my favorite right now. I've pretty much made it my end goal to make a song on that level in literally any capacity. Take a listen to see what I mean. I also need to find some more chiptune artists, because it's probably not healthy for him to be my only influence in this field lol.



Secondly: I got scouted in the Audio Portal! (Thanks @offi-DtrGuo-cial!) I was really excited when that happened, because now it feels like I'm officially a Musical Artist™. Despite the fact that I've been making music for almost 8 months now (!!) it feels like I'm still not really... doing it yet, if you know what I mean. It still sort of feels like I'm just plunking notes into Ableton or FamiTracker and saying "Hey guys! Look at me, I know what I'm doing, I promise!!" I don't know if that feeling will ever go away, but it has been getting better lately as I feel myself improving a lot. Either way, it's pretty cool to not be buried in the Undiscovered section anymore.


(also, I know that scouting is more of a "this person doesn't upload stolen music" label than any kind of marker of quality, but oh well)


Thirdly: I finally listened to Cloudbusting by Kate Bush yesterday. It's not really related to anything I just said, but I've been thinking about it a lot because man it's a good song. It's both unique sounding and impactful, and you should go listen to it right now. I found it through Neil Cicierega's mashup of it and California Gurlz, which is both hilarious and cursed. The Wikipedia article about the guy who inspired the song was certainly something to read about. Highly recommended if you want to go down a bit of a Wikipedia rabbit hole.


Anyway, there's some stuff that I felt like ranting about. Thanks for sitting through it. Have a great rest of your day!


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