1.5k words across 6 entries.

7th Gate Project Listen on: SoundCloud

Catboss:

The "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.

This 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 Pulse and Haze, none of the trolls lands have official themes.

Maybe I'll just do it as an on-and-off thing after I'm done with the 4 lands.

(commentary redux)

Completed around June 2011, the 7th Gate Project was a series of remixes of songs from webcomic and internet sensation Homestuck.

These 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.

Enjoy!

Niklink: (wiki editor)

Technically speaking, this release doesn't have any actual cover artwork. 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:

Through the Seventh Gate ~Land of Wind and Shade~ Listen on: SoundCloud

Catboss:

(original commentary)

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.

One odd thing though is I'm using a Battery preset meant for dance songs. I, uh

don't actually like dance that much

so it's a bit of an oddity that I actually use it a lot.

I guess you would describe this song as a weird mishmash of dance-electronic-orchestral stuff.

Which is cool. I think I would quite like that, actually. I would definitely like to fiddle around more with electronic stuff though

Also, 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.

That's enough ramblin' from me.

(commentary redux)

The Heir of Breath enters the Tower of the Tempest...

Although many seem to prefer 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!

Through the Seventh Gate ~Land of Heat and Clockwork~ Listen on: SoundCloud

Catboss:

(original commentary)

Sometimes songs come to me more or less fully formed - this was the case for 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 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 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 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!

Through the Seventh Gate ~Land of Light and Rain~ Listen on: SoundCloud

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 LOFAF!... actually no. I think I'll let 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.

Through the Seventh Gate ~Land of Frost and Frogs~ Listen on: SoundCloud

Catboss:

(original commentary)

Remember when I said I'd sit on LOFAF for a bit? I lied.

okay not really

more 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

them's the breaks

ANYWAY.

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.

The original idea for this song was always to use Frost as a "backdrop" and then link it to other songs, but to be perfectly frank I wasn't expecting to use 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 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

Also: Dissension doesn't get remixed enough. Needs more luv~~

Let's see, where was I.

Sunsetter might seem like an odd choice really, but since its cousin Sunslammer (by Beatfox) was 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 Frost + 2 strife themes, which I think actually makes for a decent seventh-gate theme.

Stylistically I went for something between LOWAS and 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 LOWAS did. It was quite fun to compose.

Altogether it's a fun romp to end off the Seventh Gate Project, and I'm quite satisfied with it.

Now what to do next hmmmmmm

(commentary redux)

The Witch of Space enters the Glacier of Genesis...

I 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."