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.
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.
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).
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!
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.
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).
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).
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.
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.
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