From 14e5d5065f594b671a42c3031f7f1dd33d6f2696 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "(quasar) nebula" Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2022 08:39:47 -0400 Subject: bring over Niklink's album additions! --- album/7th-gate-project.yaml | 185 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 185 insertions(+) create mode 100644 album/7th-gate-project.yaml (limited to 'album/7th-gate-project.yaml') diff --git a/album/7th-gate-project.yaml b/album/7th-gate-project.yaml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f01f92f --- /dev/null +++ b/album/7th-gate-project.yaml @@ -0,0 +1,185 @@ +Album: 7th Gate Project +Artists: +- Catboss +Date: April 21, 2012 +Date Added: February 3, 2022 +URLs: +- https://soundcloud.com/catbossstudio/sets/7th-gate-project +Cover Artists: +- Homestuck +Color: '#00fcf8' +Groups: +- Fandom +Commentary: "Catboss:\nThe “Seventh Gate Project” - as I like to call it -\ + \ is something I have been planning for a while now. At least like half a month,\ + \ I’d say. I started it for more or less the same reason I started this blogthing\ + \ - I mentioned that I felt that my music was gaining a sort of “direction” to\ + \ it, and I guess this project is basically to see where it’s going, and to develop\ + \ my own style. \n\nThis project will involve remixing (at least) the four kid’s\ + \ Land Themes, along with adding my own touches to it. Whether I will do the troll\ + \ Land Themes or not, we’ll see. I don’t want to make any particular commitment\ + \ to that yet because that means another 12 songs, and I wasn’t intending for\ + \ this project to take too long. Plus I’ll have to use mainly original stuff since\ + \ with the exception of [[track:phaze-and-blood|Pulse and Haze]], none of the\ + \ trolls lands have official themes. \n\nMaybe I’ll just do it as an on-and-off\ + \ thing after I’m done with the 4 lands.\n\n(commentary redux)\nCompleted\ + \ around June 2011, the 7th Gate Project was a series of remixes of songs from\ + \ webcomic and internet sensation Homestuck.\n\nThese remixes were done in an\ + \ attempt to find my own \"sound,\" as it were, and they have contributed greatly\ + \ to my growth as a musician. Recent developments in the comic have also led me\ + \ to consider extending this project; it will be interesting to see how far my\ + \ ability has developed since a year ago.\n\nEnjoy!\n\nNiklink:\n(Technically\ + \ speaking, this release doesn't have any actual cover artwork. These songs were\ + \ posted to Soundcloud as a \"set\", which is what is being counted as a release\ + \ here, and the set displays the artwork of the first song, so I am going with\ + \ that as a sort of placeholder. However I would be remiss if I did not mention\ + \ that on skaia.net, which has hosted a copy of this album for many many years,\ + \ this release is represented by slightly modified artwork:)\n" +--- +Track: Through the Seventh Gate ~Land of Wind and Shade~ +Duration: '4:33' +URLs: +- https://soundcloud.com/catbossstudio/through-the-seventh-gate-lowas?in=catbossstudio/sets/7th-gate-project +Cover Artists: +- Homestuck +Referenced Tracks: +- Warhammer of Zillyhoo +- track:doctor +Commentary: "Catboss:\n(original commentary)\n“Through the Seventh Gate\ + \ ~Land of Wind and Shade~” is a song that contains many things that I am a complete\ + \ sucker for. Soaring string melodies? Check. Piano solo with lots of reverb?\ + \ Check. Chorus? (I know it’s synthesized eh who cares) Check. Running notes,\ + \ lots of them? Check. Dramatic piano octaves? Check. Mash them all together with\ + \ a bunch of windy sounds and you get this.\n\nOne odd thing though is I’m using\ + \ a Battery preset meant for dance songs. I, uh\ndon’t actually like dance that\ + \ much\nso it’s a bit of an oddity that I actually use it a lot. \nI guess you\ + \ would describe this song as a weird mishmash of dance-electronic-orchestral\ + \ stuff.\n\nWhich is cool. I think I would quite like that, actually. I would\ + \ definitely like to fiddle around more with electronic stuff though\n\nAlso,\ + \ I find that this song is weak in the bass, which isn’t really a weakness for\ + \ this particular song but is more one of my weaknesses in general. So yes note\ + \ to self: improve.\n\nThat’s enough ramblin’ from me.\n\n(commentary redux)\n\ + The Heir of Breath enters the Tower of the Tempest...\n\nAlthough many seem to\ + \ prefer [[track:through-the-seventh-gate-land-of-frost-and-frogs|Land of Frost\ + \ and Frogs]] more, this is my personal favorite from the set. For one, it strays\ + \ furthest from the source material. For another, I experimented much more heavily\ + \ with dynamic changes in this song, and I'm honestly quite happy with the outcome!" +--- +Track: Through the Seventh Gate ~Land of Heat and Clockwork~ +Duration: '4:36' +URLs: +- https://soundcloud.com/catbossstudio/through-the-seventh-gate-lohac?in=catbossstudio/sets/7th-gate-project +Cover Artists: +- Homestuck +Referenced Tracks: +- Tribal Ebonpyre +- track:beatdown-strider-style +- track:atomyk-ebonpyre +Commentary: |- + Catboss: + (original commentary) + Sometimes songs come to me more or less fully formed - this was the case for [[track:through-the-seventh-gate-land-of-wind-and-shade|LOWAS]]; some fidelity is lost in the transition from imagination to audio, but that song is more or less how I imagine it. + + Other times, though, I have far less to work with. In this case all I had was the opening and a rough idea of where I wanted the song to go. Dave is the perennial coolkid so I figured the Seventh Gate song for LOHAC would be far more casual than [[track:through-the-seventh-gate-land-of-wind-and-shade|LOWAS]]. Sort of a “herp derp gonna waltz in and slaughter the denizen all cool-like”, but other than that I didn’t have anything else. So I don’t really do my own thing like I did for [[track:through-the-seventh-gate-land-of-wind-and-shade|LOWAS]], barring some improvisation on the bass (I like bass solos). Later there was [[Tribal Ebonpyre]], because I was using bongos already anyway. + + So yes. + + It’s also a tribute to Castlevania music, to an extent. + + I also have a heck of a lot more percussion in this song than I otherwise would have; 1x drum kit, 1x sample set full of metallic-ish sounds, and bongos. I would have added record scratches too (it’s Dave after all) if I had satisfactory ones, but I don’t. Not now, anyway. If I ever revise this song I might find some and add them in. + + Key changes: there are 2. The second one, I think, actually works out better than the first despite the fact that I never intended for it to be there. + + Annnnd finally we end with a simple drum riff and a fadeout. That’s all folks! I’ll probably work on [[track:through-the-seventh-gate-land-of-light-and-rain|LOLAR]] next. + + (commentary redux) + The Knight of Time enters the Forge of Flame... + + This song was heavily inspired by the music of the Castlevania series. More specifically, I tried to emulate the style of one particular song - "Empty Tome," from Order of Ecclesia. I think it's possibly one of my favorite songs from the series! +--- +Track: Through the Seventh Gate ~Land of Light and Rain~ +Duration: '4:36' +URLs: +- https://soundcloud.com/catbossstudio/through-the-seventh-gate-lolar?in=catbossstudio/sets/7th-gate-project +Cover Artists: +- Homestuck +Referenced Tracks: +- track:endless-climb +- Black Rose / Green Sun +Commentary: |- + Catboss: + (original commentary) + Slow songs are NOT my forte. Welp. + + In any case this song demonstrates the things I like to do with slow songs - ramp up the reverb and delay, strings, background vocals. Orchestral percussion. Lots and lots of long notes. Music-box-ish ending (and even an interlude!). + + This was supposed to be ambient-ish, and vaguely creepy. I actually quite like the opening! I tried to give it a sort of underwater alien feel because Rose’s denizen did kill everything in the water after all. So yeah. On the other hand, I think it ended up sort of relaxing instead. Welp konec0 what are you doing. + + It’s not as if final dungeons can’t have relaxing themes though. + + Also: Now I’m wondering if I should have added rain sound effects. + + Oh I remembered something else: I keep feeling like I have to get over my aversion to weird minor keys, so I decided to do this one in C# minor. Riiiight at the very end though I gave up; the music-box-ish part at the end was done in D minor and then I just transposed it down. I’m lazy, whatcha gonna do about it. + + Anyway that’s about it for this one. + + Next up is [[track:through-the-seventh-gate-land-of-frost-and-frogs|LOFAF]]!… actually no. I think I’ll let [[track:through-the-seventh-gate-land-of-frost-and-frogs|LOFAF]] sit for a while, because I don’t really have any good ideas for it and I want it to be good. We’ll see. + + Meow! + + (commentary redux) + The Seer of Light enters the Sea of Silence... + + Slow songs are definitely not my forte. As such, Land of Light and Rain was the hardest of the four songs for me. I tried using sounds such as the bowed waterphone to create an unsettling atmosphere, but I think the song still ended up sounding too relaxed and even a little sluggish. + + Slow songs are definitely something I have to improve on. +--- +Track: Through the Seventh Gate ~Land of Frost and Frogs~ +Duration: '5:43' +URLs: +- https://soundcloud.com/catbossstudio/through-the-seventh-gate-lofaf?in=catbossstudio/sets/7th-gate-project +Cover Artists: +- Homestuck +Referenced Tracks: +- track:frost-vol6 +- track:dissension-original +- Sunsetter +Commentary: "Catboss:\n(original commentary)\nRemember when I said I’d\ + \ sit on LOFAF for a bit? I lied.\nokay not really\nmore like I got an idea, but\ + \ then I was going to do other stuff, but turns out it’s one of those ideas that\ + \ cripples your creative output unless you do it first, so yeah I was pretty much\ + \ forced to do it\nthem’s the breaks\n\nANYWAY.\n\n[[track:frost-vol6|Frost]]\ + \ is one of my favourite Homestuck songs. Go listen to it because it is fantastic.\ + \ I could probably leave it on loop all day and not get tired of it. It’s also\ + \ Jade’s land theme so there’s pretty much no way I wasn’t going to put it in\ + \ here.\n\nThe original idea for this song was always to use [[track:frost-vol6|Frost]]\ + \ as a “backdrop” and then link it to other songs, but to be perfectly frank I\ + \ wasn’t expecting to use [[track:dissension-original|Dissension]]. I was intending\ + \ to transition straight to [[Sunsetter]], but then I played a bunch of stuff\ + \ and was like “hey this sounds like a Homestuck song” and it turned out to be\ + \ [[track:dissension-original|Dissension]] so I used it. My subconscious is a\ + \ thief sometimes. Turned out for the better, really, it’s one of those happy\ + \ little coincidences that happen sometimes. =3\n\nAlso: [[track:dissension-original|Dissension]]\ + \ doesn’t get remixed enough. Needs more luv~~\n\nLet’s see, where was I.\n\n\ + [[Sunsetter]] might seem like an odd choice really, but since its cousin [[Sunslammer]]\ + \ (by [[artist:seth-peelle|Beatfox]]) was [[flash:3001|featured in the comic itself]]\ + \ it’s become more or less linked to Jade, despite the fact that [[Sunsetter]]\ + \ was originally supposed to be a Dave strife theme if I remember? And that is\ + \ why I chose it! Which makes [[track:frost-vol6|Frost]] + 2 strife themes, which\ + \ I think actually makes for a decent seventh-gate theme.\n\nStylistically I went\ + \ for something between [[track:through-the-seventh-gate-land-of-wind-and-shade|LOWAS]]\ + \ and [[track:through-the-seventh-gate-land-of-heat-and-clockwork|LOHAC]]. It’s\ + \ not as dynamic as the former in terms of… dynamics (-_-“) and tempo, but I went\ + \ for stylistic shifts instead; the sudden orchestral [[Sunsetter]] was completely\ + \ intentional though, as was the slower, more ambient ending. As a result this\ + \ actually ended up more complex than [[track:through-the-seventh-gate-land-of-wind-and-shade|LOWAS]]\ + \ did. It was quite fun to compose.\n\nAltogether it’s a fun romp to end off the\ + \ Seventh Gate Project, and I’m quite satisfied with it.\n\nNow what to do next\ + \ hmmmmmm\n\n(commentary redux)\nThe Witch of Space enters the Glacier\ + \ of Genesis... \n\nI really enjoyed pulling the sudden switch from what was\ + \ essentially house-inspired electronica to orchestral. I've used several more\ + \ times since, such as in [[Vodka Mutiny]] or Jackpot (Birthday Bash Mix). I'm not personally fond of the idea of pigeonholing\ + \ songs into genres, so making this song was a real treat for me; I like to think\ + \ of it as kind of genre-fluid, and that's interesting to me." -- cgit 1.3.0-6-gf8a5