July started with a bang. The back half slowed down quite a bit with a mini vacation and just trying to catch up on taking care of household things. On the plus side, I'm a bit more caught up on that stuff now.
Also had a major breakthrough with one of the commissions I've been working on. I'd get a song like 90% done and then we'd have severe communication issues with what he wanted. He kept saying that he wanted the songs to be more intense, but never enjoying the extra intensity that I put into the tracks. It got incredibly frustrating going back and forth over days and weeks.
It turns out that he was asking for "intense [tense, suspenseful, anticipation]" and I was providing "intense [energetic, bombastic]"... basically the opposite thing that was asked for.
Glad we are better calibrated now and I can knock out the last song in the project this upcoming week. Will be good to get that taken care of.
I still have a handful of songs in a partially-completed state, but I have some really fun ones to share this month!
Looks like Patreon changed how they manage file attachments again so all these can be found in the shared drive <3
Little Things - This was my submission to Volume 31 of the Two Hour Album Challenge. The theme was Desire and I didn't have a ton of ideas for it. I ended up with the desire to find joy in the little things again. I like this one a lot.
Solemn Calm - In preparation for the Two Hour Album Challenge, I did a practice stream and honestly this song kinda rules too. Definitely a different kind of vibe, but I'm really pleased with the buildup and release halfway through.
Touch Grass - Before I left on vacation I started a chill piano piece on stream. Over the next few days I put together this really lovely arrangement for something I wrote ages ago that's been rolling around in my head for a while.
Pocket Playground OST, Coin Collect - I love how this track came together. I built so many ripping solos for this track. I kind of want to release an alternative version whenever I get the album out there.
Pocket Playground OST, Lobby - This is the track that the client and I have been going back and forth on for several months. He kept wanting more intensity in the ending and I kept going in the wrong direction. Once we calibrated our language, we were able to get it knocked out in a few days.
Plans for August
Getting back into the swing of things. I have been saying it for months, but I'm finally making decent progress on commissions again. This constant back and forth has been sapping a lot of my motivation to work on personal projects and I am hopeful that once I finish all these commissioned songs I can start focusing on personal stuff more.
Oh! I've also been working on the How To Write A Song in Two Hours book again! It's been a lot of fun to chip away at it. It's maybe 30% of the way done? Once I get the whole book written I'll definitely share a draft of it here :)
Thank You!
It's been a rough year, but I'm glad to have your support. I hope that you are doing OK out there. Much love your way. I'm off to donate for the kitties <3
-b