- [[track:nicer-links|Nicer links]] + [[Nicer links]]

1 files changed, 17 insertions, 17 deletions

diff --git a/album/homestuck-vol-8.yaml b/album/homestuck-vol-8.yaml
index c9d8f7f6..465cf61a 100644
--- a/album/homestuck-vol-8.yaml
+++ b/album/homestuck-vol-8.yaml
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ Commentary: |-
 
     There was a certain difficulty in making "Calamity" really work for me. I had a couple of different sounds I was attempting all at once, each working on their own but sort of fighting for control when mashed together. The introduction and conclusion of the song using a theme from [[track:walk-stab-walk-r-and-e|"Walk-Stab-Walk"]] needed to be really punchy, while I really needed the middle of the song to glide, and the connecting bits with the chanting needed to build and build in tension. There are a lot of different sounds in the song's palette, the most difficult of which to utilize was the enormous saw synth that dominates the middle. Getting that thing to be grand without utterly overpowering the rest of the song was incredibly difficult.
 
-    Overall I was really satisfied with how much excitement there is in this song. It's got a big simple melody but it doesn't outstay its welcome. As the album opener, it sets up the stakes and excitement of Homestuck without sort of beating the point into you by lasting too long. I think of it as a cousin to [[track:sburban-jungle|"Sburban Jungle"]] or at least another song approached in that dramatic, electronic way.
+    Overall I was really satisfied with how much excitement there is in this song. It's got a big simple melody but it doesn't outstay its welcome. As the album opener, it sets up the stakes and excitement of Homestuck without sort of beating the point into you by lasting too long. I think of it as a cousin to [["Sburban Jungle"]] or at least another song approached in that dramatic, electronic way.
 
     The countdown sample is from a NASA recording, I believe it's the launch of Apollo 11.
 
@@ -206,9 +206,9 @@ MIDI Project Files:
 Commentary: |-
     <i>Malcolm Brown:</i> (composer, "original commentary", via [[media:misc/commentary-collection.txt|early commentary collection]])
 
-    Alas poor Vriska. This scene stood out quite a bit from the Scrapbook Near-end-of-act Scratch-a-thon as being yet more humility to Vriska as a character - first hinted at during John's talk with her around the whole 'lifdoff' time (which is also why most of the song is taken from [[track:lifdoff|lifdoff]].)
+    Alas poor Vriska. This scene stood out quite a bit from the Scrapbook Near-end-of-act Scratch-a-thon as being yet more humility to Vriska as a character - first hinted at during John's talk with her around the whole 'lifdoff' time (which is also why most of the song is taken from [[lifdoff]].)
 
-    The idea was to create something vaguely romantic and a bit tragic for the whole 'd8' thing. I used lifdoff as a starting point because that's become my sort of unofficial 'John' theme - It's quite light and goofy but reasonably heroic and fantastical. [[track:showtime-original-mix|Showtime]] shows up at around 2:17, shortly followed by a slightly modified lift from [[track:death-of-the-lusii|Death of the Lusii]] (as mentioned previously in this topic). After that it slides into an additionally modified version of [[track:ruins|Ruins]]/[[track:awakening|Awakening]] for reasons that are hopefully obvious and also because I like that tune
+    The idea was to create something vaguely romantic and a bit tragic for the whole 'd8' thing. I used lifdoff as a starting point because that's become my sort of unofficial 'John' theme - It's quite light and goofy but reasonably heroic and fantastical. [[track:showtime-original-mix|Showtime]] shows up at around 2:17, shortly followed by a slightly modified lift from [[Death of the Lusii]] (as mentioned previously in this topic). After that it slides into an additionally modified version of [[track:ruins|Ruins]]/[[Awakening]] for reasons that are hopefully obvious and also because I like that tune
 
     The main reason I made this is because Vriska's had a but few moments when she wasn't terrorizing everybody and generally acting the huge bitch. Add to this the whole 'fat vriska' thing, and the very bombastic music she's had thus far... It was nice to give her last bit of humility a soundtrack.
 
@@ -236,11 +236,11 @@ Commentary: |-
 
     <b>THE TRACK</b>
 
-    It's primarily [[track:lifdoff|"lifdoff"]], which I started using a sort of personal theme of John. Other slight inspirations for this track are ["Anthem Part 2"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-EHT3N5sOI) from The Truman Show and a little 8it of the music of Little 8ig Adventure (primarily the use of woodwinds/percussion).
+    It's primarily [["lifdoff"]], which I started using a sort of personal theme of John. Other slight inspirations for this track are ["Anthem Part 2"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-EHT3N5sOI) from The Truman Show and a little 8it of the music of Little 8ig Adventure (primarily the use of woodwinds/percussion).
 
     It starts off with a simple lightened lifdoff, which carries it for a while.  The percussion at 1:09 was fun to sequence - It's mostly just a collection of taiko samples from the EWQL play library that are quite fun to work with, particularly some the articulation (The 'roll' you hear is one of 'em). What I think works quite well is the power of the Taikos with the lightness of the woodwinds - Gives it quite an emotional punch.
 
-    1:33 is almost directly L8A inspired (The layering of the woodwind melody on 8rass I'm sure I got from there).  At this point we're 8uilding up to play the [[track:death-of-the-lusii|'Death of the Lusii]]/[[track:awakening|Awakening']] 8it with a sort of alternate chord progression, but we sneak in a [[track:showtime-original-mix|Showtime]] reference around 2:16.
+    1:33 is almost directly L8A inspired (The layering of the woodwind melody on 8rass I'm sure I got from there).  At this point we're 8uilding up to play the [['Death of the Lusii]]/[[Awakening']] 8it with a sort of alternate chord progression, but we sneak in a [[track:showtime-original-mix|Showtime]] reference around 2:16.
 
     2:26 is meant to directly correlated to These Two panels and is a reference to this track.
 
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ Commentary: |-
 
     Overall there's quite a 8it I like about this one. The Percussion doesn't vary much, which lets it down I think (It's 8asically just the same loop for most of the song, something I'm hilariously guilty of in most everything I make :p) but it did the jo8 in giving Vriska a good sendoff.
 
-    Oh yeah - The reason it doesn't use any of [[track:vriskas-theme|Vriska's theme]] is because I find that theme a 8it........ All over the place ::::p Don't get me wrong, it's a cool 8it of music, 8ut I don't find it as easy to play a8out with than other tracks.  8lame my laziness!
+    Oh yeah - The reason it doesn't use any of [[Vriska's theme]] is because I find that theme a 8it........ All over the place ::::p Don't get me wrong, it's a cool 8it of music, 8ut I don't find it as easy to play a8out with than other tracks.  8lame my laziness!
 
     I also fully suspect I missed some '8's somewhere........ This stuff's harder than it looks.  God help me if I try to commentary another gorram Terezi track ::::p
 ---
@@ -397,9 +397,9 @@ Commentary: |-
 
     The [[album:squiddles|Squiddles]] album gets no love. There, I said it. I've mentioned before how awesome it is and how dramatically it has undersold compared to the rest of our material, but apparently everyone is too terrified of its My Little Pony meets Cthulu approach to give it a shot. Trust me, you'll like it more than you think you will.
 
-    Anyway, one of the most surprising tracks on that particular album is [[track:ocean-stars|"Ocean Stars"]], a peaceful, mysterious little ditty imagined by Mark with a nautical theme in mind. I thought it had a beautiful little structure, and I guess the song must have stuck with me because at some point I found myself playing its chords over and over on my keyboard faster and faster until I was sure it would make for a great little indie rock inspired track. So I did just that.
+    Anyway, one of the most surprising tracks on that particular album is [["Ocean Stars"]], a peaceful, mysterious little ditty imagined by Mark with a nautical theme in mind. I thought it had a beautiful little structure, and I guess the song must have stuck with me because at some point I found myself playing its chords over and over on my keyboard faster and faster until I was sure it would make for a great little indie rock inspired track. So I did just that.
 
-    This song takes its cues most heavily from ["Regatta de Blanc"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN-nXWHkVpA) by the Police and [[track:life-in-technicolor|"Life in Technicolor"]] by Coldplay - the meditatively simple rock backup is accompanied by a huge chorus of wordless vocals provided by countless overdubs of [[artist:tavia-morra|Tavia]] and myself. These middle voices are bookended by the twinkling bell sounds in the high range and the rumbling drums and guitar in the low range to make for a very full mix that really surprised me with its depth. I threw in some slowed-down bubble sounds (the same samples from [[track:mister-bowman-tells-you-about-the-squiddles|"Mister Bowman Tells You About the Squiddles"]]) to create the ocean ambiance, something I'd really gotten the chance to hear on a scuba dive I'd done over the summer.
+    This song takes its cues most heavily from ["Regatta de Blanc"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN-nXWHkVpA) by the Police and [["Life in Technicolor"]] by Coldplay - the meditatively simple rock backup is accompanied by a huge chorus of wordless vocals provided by countless overdubs of [[artist:tavia-morra|Tavia]] and myself. These middle voices are bookended by the twinkling bell sounds in the high range and the rumbling drums and guitar in the low range to make for a very full mix that really surprised me with its depth. I threw in some slowed-down bubble sounds (the same samples from [["Mister Bowman Tells You About the Squiddles"]]) to create the ocean ambiance, something I'd really gotten the chance to hear on a scuba dive I'd done over the summer.
 
     This is another example of a song that has the "just right" feeling about its length. I could probably have easily repeated the vocals endlessly as though I was attempting to induce transcendental meditation - it would probably have had the same effect as ["Hey Jude"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_MjCqQoLLA) or any number of other great songs. Owing though to my sense that this album was going to be a long one (my contributions alone come out to more than 20 minutes of music) I decided to capitalize on having achieved the harmony and just let it end when its thought was fully expressed, not unlike the original composition by Mark.
 
@@ -434,7 +434,7 @@ Commentary: |-
 
     The track also pulls a lot from actual rock music - the Roxy Music track ["Street Life"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_dTFdRAvN0) was a big cue here, and the start-stop structure on the second chorus was really inspired by Tally Hall's track ["Greener"](https://youtu.be/8sV1EOJQTEI) of which the effect can only be described in exotic dance. I really wanted to pull out the stops on this one and make it catchy as hell, but apparently the [[track:ocean-stars-falling|two]] [[track:davesprite|tracks]] book-ending it on Volume 8 steal its thunder.
 
-    What more can be said about it? This is about as totally poppy (or perhaps J-poppy) as I get. Compared to stuff like [[track:greenhouse|"Greenhouse"]] and [[track:squiddle-samba|"Squiddle Samba"]] this track is right up my alley. It in contrast with some of the other stuff that I've made appearing on the very same album (the minimalist piece [[track:gust-of-heir|"Gust of Heir"]] which I collaborated on with [[artist:james-dever|James Dever]] comes to mind) you'll see that I can go just as far in the saccharine direction as I can into the abstract. For me range has always been an asset I've felt was important to nurture, so with Volume 8 I set the pace for my work ethic on [[album:ithaca|Ithaca]] in terms of never settling to have "found my sound" no matter how well any one idea works.
+    What more can be said about it? This is about as totally poppy (or perhaps J-poppy) as I get. Compared to stuff like [["Greenhouse"]] and [["Squiddle Samba"]] this track is right up my alley. It in contrast with some of the other stuff that I've made appearing on the very same album (the minimalist piece [["Gust of Heir"]] which I collaborated on with [[artist:james-dever|James Dever]] comes to mind) you'll see that I can go just as far in the saccharine direction as I can into the abstract. For me range has always been an asset I've felt was important to nurture, so with Volume 8 I set the pace for my work ethic on [[album:ithaca|Ithaca]] in terms of never settling to have "found my sound" no matter how well any one idea works.
 
     <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> ([Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music](https://youtu.be/85VXWZTg-vo?t=1849), adapted to text, 7/20/2024)
 
@@ -525,7 +525,7 @@ Commentary: |-
 
     Uh oh, [[artist:erik-scheele|Jit]] and I showed up to the album with the same song idea. That's like two girls showing up the party in the same dress. Awkward! Good thing for Jit and I that, like the two girls in that famous scenario, we each have our own swagga and wear those dresses like the hot young messes we are. Wow, don't quote me on that.
 
-    Anyway, while [[track:frog-forager|"Frog Forager"]] is almost immediate in its "aw man, yeah, it's THIS kind of tune" factor for avid listeners of Homestuck music, my ditty "Frog Hunt" seems to hit a lot of people out of left field. Maybe it's because I was busy surprising myself with this one as well.
+    Anyway, while [["Frog Forager"]] is almost immediate in its "aw man, yeah, it's THIS kind of tune" factor for avid listeners of Homestuck music, my ditty "Frog Hunt" seems to hit a lot of people out of left field. Maybe it's because I was busy surprising myself with this one as well.
 
     I've mentioned Weather Report a few times as an influence, and while I can't bring even a fraction of that band's musicianship to my work, I really attempted to bring their sense of atmosphere to the piece. There's a lot of elements thrown in there - the wacky time signature (17/8 if I recall correctly), the meandering syncopated piano, the funk breaks, all that latin percussion, plus a pile of odd sound effects. I threw in some frog ambiance using some really odd synthesizers and a toy accordion as well.
 
@@ -646,7 +646,7 @@ Commentary: |-
 
     <b>Concept</b>
 
-    The idea behind this guy was something similar to the traditional idea of some HS songs being about movement ([[track:descend|"Descend"]], [[flash:1668|"Ascend"]], [[track:upward-movement-dave-owns|"Upward Movement"]]), so in this case it's 4 things moving, together as one.  It was becoming reasonably clear that post-scratch, we'd be separating The beta kids up a bit, and ideally, once the dust settled, they would all meet up again - This track's effectively the kids overcoming whatever barriers in their way to unite.
+    The idea behind this guy was something similar to the traditional idea of some HS songs being about movement ([["Descend"]], [[flash:1668|"Ascend"]], [[track:upward-movement-dave-owns|"Upward Movement"]]), so in this case it's 4 things moving, together as one.  It was becoming reasonably clear that post-scratch, we'd be separating The beta kids up a bit, and ideally, once the dust settled, they would all meet up again - This track's effectively the kids overcoming whatever barriers in their way to unite.
 
     That was the original idea, anyway.
 
@@ -716,7 +716,7 @@ Commentary: |-
 
     <i>(Before talking about this song, Hilary talks about her other song, [[track:ace-of-trump]], with those sections transcribed on that song's page.)</i>
 
-    Um, my other song, Homefree. This one's got less to it, like [laughter] my first goal of this song was actually for me to learn how-how to use a program called Fruity Loops Studio, um... 'cuz, up until this point all of my music had been done with a program called Melody Assistant, and in some ways I really love Melody Assistant like, I have this whole sound database to it that makes it really have an incredibly authentic sound to the instruments but, on the other side of the spectrum it has very little synth options, which, whi-which is really the direction that the MS Paint Adventures music team has moved in, um. So I was like alright alright, let's learn how to synth a bit. Um, and so, in some ways um, Homefree draws a lot from a song I wrote AGES and ages ago, it was a song called [[track:shooting-star|Shooting Star]] which, I mean i-it was kind of basically supposed to sound like an anime opening and it did but i-it... it was missing something. Like, it was very mor— it was more of in a minor key and it was slower, and so I was like, alright. Well first things first I'm gonna try and get this up to, what was it the tempo of [incomprehensible] I don't know how you say that. It's an opening of an anime that you may or may not have heard that just is really high energy and I was like 'Okay, so, if I wanna have a high energy song I probably should try and make it sound about this fast' [laughter].
+    Um, my other song, Homefree. This one's got less to it, like [laughter] my first goal of this song was actually for me to learn how-how to use a program called Fruity Loops Studio, um... 'cuz, up until this point all of my music had been done with a program called Melody Assistant, and in some ways I really love Melody Assistant like, I have this whole sound database to it that makes it really have an incredibly authentic sound to the instruments but, on the other side of the spectrum it has very little synth options, which, whi-which is really the direction that the MS Paint Adventures music team has moved in, um. So I was like alright alright, let's learn how to synth a bit. Um, and so, in some ways um, Homefree draws a lot from a song I wrote AGES and ages ago, it was a song called [[Shooting Star]] which, I mean i-it was kind of basically supposed to sound like an anime opening and it did but i-it... it was missing something. Like, it was very mor— it was more of in a minor key and it was slower, and so I was like, alright. Well first things first I'm gonna try and get this up to, what was it the tempo of [incomprehensible] I don't know how you say that. It's an opening of an anime that you may or may not have heard that just is really high energy and I was like 'Okay, so, if I wanna have a high energy song I probably should try and make it sound about this fast' [laughter].
 
     So, the opening of Homefree is basically the opening of Shooting Star and, then, then I started like, I was like you know, after you get past the opening it's not really good until you get to the ending and so I was like 'What else can I put in here?' and so I started putting down the [[track:homestuck-anthem|Homestuck theme]] just because it was easy and jumped to mind, and so, when that, when that really seemed to work I was like 'You know what? Let's throw in more bits of different Homestuck songs in there' like, after the um Homestuck theme, what really... what I think most people don't really notice is that the next part actually sounds like, like the like [[Sburban Jungle|Suburban Jungle]] like, it's-it's moved down about one note but it's like, Suburban Jungle is like [singing] and then, and then in Homefree it's [singing] y'know it's basically the same melody.
 
@@ -1035,7 +1035,7 @@ Commentary: |-
 
     Basically, heavily influenced by the Pink Panther theme ([You know the one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyZiIuMufTA&pp=ygUScGluayBwYW50aGVyIHRoZW1l)). While making this all I could imagine was a bizarre Andrew Hussie Elmer Fudd hunting 'Scwatches'...
 
-    More or less my first attempt to do something in this style. Also, surprisingly, most of it was played live on keyboard into the sequencer (not something I normally do) and then heavily quantized to fix my wonky playing. It gives it a <i>slightly</i> more organic feel, most noticeable on the chords during the [[track:explore|'Explore']] section at the end (Which may also owe a little bit to the Monkey Island soundtrack).
+    More or less my first attempt to do something in this style. Also, surprisingly, most of it was played live on keyboard into the sequencer (not something I normally do) and then heavily quantized to fix my wonky playing. It gives it a <i>slightly</i> more organic feel, most noticeable on the chords during the [['Explore']] section at the end (Which may also owe a little bit to the Monkey Island soundtrack).
 
     Basically a bit of music for [Andrew's huntin' of Scratch](https://www.homestuck.com/story/4056) shortly before the end of act. Included is the ["AAAAAHHH FUCKING WOLF!!"](https://www.homestuck.com/story/4063) moment for good measure (That was added after the first draft to [[artist:toby-fox|Rad's]] suggestion). There was even talk of getting some grumbly vocals from [[artist:andrew-hussie|the man 'imself]], but alas...
 
@@ -1143,7 +1143,7 @@ Referenced Tracks:
 Commentary: |-
     <i>Michael Guy Bowman:</i> (co-composer, via [[media:misc/commentary-collection.txt|early commentary collection]])
 
-    "Revered Return" began as a track called [[track:dirgeish|"Dirgeish"]], a .pxtone composition that [[artist:nick-smalley|Nick]] had completed some time ago but never managed to squeeze into an album. Because as a chip tune it had been long overlooked, I decided to take a whack at producing it in a different style for inclusion on Volume 8. I had been looking for a piece that would work as a rock tune, and "Dirgeish" really struck me because of the heavy involvement of drums, its steady pace, and dynamic structure.
+    "Revered Return" began as a track called [["Dirgeish"]], a .pxtone composition that [[artist:nick-smalley|Nick]] had completed some time ago but never managed to squeeze into an album. Because as a chip tune it had been long overlooked, I decided to take a whack at producing it in a different style for inclusion on Volume 8. I had been looking for a piece that would work as a rock tune, and "Dirgeish" really struck me because of the heavy involvement of drums, its steady pace, and dynamic structure.
 
     The unique challenge of arranging "Revered Return" was pinning down exactly what was what - "Dirgeish" had maximized use of its resources as an electronic composition, shifting instrumentation several times in ways that wouldn't translate to a rock context. I found myself in a very subjective position, kind of picking and choosing what things would stay in and what things would be changed, while overall trying to maintain the original structure of the song.
 
@@ -1371,7 +1371,7 @@ Commentary: |-
 
     So, like it or not, [[track:how-do-i-live-bunny-back-in-the-box-version|my signature song]] seems to be the country ballad made famous by a movie about how Nicolas Cage and John Cusack screw up absolutely everything and destroy the Las Vegas strip. Hence, for Volume 8, I decided to do a more serious version of "How Do I Live" that doesn't mortify me entirely.
 
-    I always had thought of [[track:how-do-i-live|"How Do I Live"]] as a breakup song, so as an anthem of dependency between generic 90's lovers I was underwhelmed. However, in Con Air it's meant to be the love theme of a woman whose husband serves in the military, giving the song a very different meaning. The stakes are not whether the singer's lover will stay or leave but whether they will live or die, a thought that is instantly more resonant for anyone who has been in love I think.
+    I always had thought of [["How Do I Live"]] as a breakup song, so as an anthem of dependency between generic 90's lovers I was underwhelmed. However, in Con Air it's meant to be the love theme of a woman whose husband serves in the military, giving the song a very different meaning. The stakes are not whether the singer's lover will stay or leave but whether they will live or die, a thought that is instantly more resonant for anyone who has been in love I think.
 
     The trick to this one for me was cutting out all the bullshit really - the ridiculous key change is removed and the drums are minimal to the extent of sounding like a funeral march. Rather than starting off with chipper little electric organs and keyboards, this version takes a cue from ["Purple Rain"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6Y1gohk5-A) and uses only electric guitar and vocals for the first minute. The vocals start off sounding a million miles away and are subtly brought closer and closer until the other instruments join in on the second verse.
 
@@ -1445,11 +1445,11 @@ Art Tags:
 Commentary: |-
     <i>Mark J. Hadley:</i> (composer, via [[media:misc/commentary-collection.txt|early commentary collection]])
 
-    Back when we knew Jade as just GG, I wrote the first part of Carefree Action as a possible upbeat strife theme for her. It never ended up getting used, but other people liked it, and eventually a remix of it ([[track:carefree-victory|Carefree Victory]]) made it into the comic. The original was pretty short, so I lengthened it so that I could eventually get it onto an album. Like [[track:sburban-reversal|Sburban Reversal]], I recommended it as a bonus track.
+    Back when we knew Jade as just GG, I wrote the first part of Carefree Action as a possible upbeat strife theme for her. It never ended up getting used, but other people liked it, and eventually a remix of it ([[Carefree Victory]]) made it into the comic. The original was pretty short, so I lengthened it so that I could eventually get it onto an album. Like [[Sburban Reversal]], I recommended it as a bonus track.
 
     <i>8bitkitten:</i> (track artist, [Tumblr](https://kitten-burrito.tumblr.com/post/11905462064), 10/25/2011)
 
-    Days before the release of *Homestuck Volume 8,* I lucked out and was offered the opportunity to make track art.  I chose “Carefree Action” and wound up with a cute 8-bit tune.  It’s a lighter version of [[track:carefree-victory|“Carefree Victory”]] from *[[album:homestuck-vol-4|Volume 4]]*. The 8-bit sound and peppiness of the song gave me the idea of Jade and Dave collecting frogs as they would coins in a video game.
+    Days before the release of *Homestuck Volume 8,* I lucked out and was offered the opportunity to make track art.  I chose “Carefree Action” and wound up with a cute 8-bit tune.  It’s a lighter version of [[“Carefree Victory”]] from *[[album:homestuck-vol-4|Volume 4]]*. The 8-bit sound and peppiness of the song gave me the idea of Jade and Dave collecting frogs as they would coins in a video game.
 
     <s>I have a hi-res image, but this is all I can post for now.</s>
 ---