Round 2 of the Newgrounds Audio Deathmatch ends on Monday, and I have just finished uploading my piece for this round.

It is called A Night in the Attic, and for it, I drew inspiration from Seán's workshop and attic. The working title of this piece, as I mentioned a few posts back, was Dusty Chests.

This piece has not only scared Seán out of his five wits -- it has also scared me, too, because while making this piece, I was so distressed or terrified after half an hour working on vocals, recordings or whatever else was needed. The sound effects that I threw in kinda didn't help the fear either. Is it safe to say that this is my darkest piece yet?...

Like with Oceans Wide, I felt for quite a while that there wasn't an end in sight, until Saturday/Sunday. All in all it was an experience -- one I don't think I'll forget in a while, and one I don't want to relive in a while, for fear of giving myself and other people nightmares.

I hope you enjoy the piece.... or otherwise, that the piece touches you in some way, shape or form. Happy listening!

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With this out of the way, I'll be handling judging for the NGAUC as soon as I am able. My body is tired and my spirit is weary. Today's been a long day.

When I started posting music online altogether in 2010, all I had was Audacity and a phone mic -- which, at the time, recorded in really horrible-sounding .3gp files. I didn't understand the need for a studio, or even the idea of making music the way I do now.

When I started posting music on Newgrounds in 2011, I had nothing but a laptop and an integrated PC mic. I also had the demo version of FL Studio, only for it to become the Signature Bundle by the grace of a friend.

I remember posting this picture in early 2013 when I had a few more belongings to my name, notably a bodhrán and a set of bells.

I was still browsing the "Show NG your instrument" thread and I decided to share what I had -- and I couldn't deny that it felt like so little. Regardless, this was a time when songs like Terre des Hommes Libres and Journey to Stonyhurst were churned out, and it proved to be a bit of an uplift compared to what I previously had.

Someone did tell me on the forums that he trusted that as time passed I would have access to better instruments and gear in general, and be able to churn out better stuff. I didn't see how it would happen, nor did I imagine it happening, but I trusted it would. In the interim, I tried to make do with what little I had.

Somewhere along the line the HP in the picture above gave up the ghost, and I wound up with a rickety, eight-year-old Acer laptop with missing keys, broken screen hinges and a Celeron processor. It was, quite literally, falling apart. But from it came Sleep Wrapped in Love and Chant de l'Éveil -- the latter was my audition for this year's Newgrounds Audio Deatmhatch (NGADM). While I am glad the song got attention for having improved production quality compared to works from previous years, I still look back and wonder how on earth I ever actually had the patience to finish it.

A year and a half later (since the picture above)...

With help from people here and there -- my friends, and most especially my fiancé, I have now progressed to this. Much of the description of my hardware can be found here.

Again, I never imagined that I would come to this stage. It happened, bit by bit, with a lot of help from friends along the way.

I really want to thank every single one of my friends who has helped me get to this point, be it in getting hardware or software, or teaching me mixing tips, or giving me recommendations for certain types of configurations, etc., etc. (you know who you are). Some of them may perhaps never read this.

This post is for all of you musicians who are starting out, or who have been doing your craft for a long time but feel you have been stagnating in some way, shape or form.

A lot of us don't start out with a full array of gear. Even with an old, dilapidated computer, you can do great things. Still, there may be times where you feel small and/or intimidated, or even wondering how you may get from point A to point B in your musical journey. But trust in your friends, and trust in God -- in the right time, and with the help of Providence and your friends, things do improve, and you can reach greater heights. There is hope for every musician, and I mean every musician.

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The NGADM Round 2 piece is coming along okay, and is now at its final length. I have recording, instrument layering and mixing left to do. The structure of it is done. I am also writing an accompanying story for this piece, for those among you who would like to read something while the piece is playing. We have till this coming Monday, and I've got to chip at it where I can.

Once again, all the best to everyone taking part.

I also extend my best wishes to those who are taking part in the final round of the NG Audio Underdogs Contest (NGAUC). You have done well to come this far, and I look forward to listening and judging when it is time for me to do so.

The results of Round 1 of the Newgrounds Audio Deathmatch were announced at night-time last night.

By my time it was Tuesday, early in the morning. I slept for a good few hours, only to be shaken from a deep sleep by Seán at around 2:00 a.m., to be told that I made it through. I was relieved. And I couldn't contain my excitement after that, that I only went back to bed at around 3:00...

Incidentally, I also noticed that Oceans Wide made it to Featured Audio on the bottom of the page for a time, which caused a spike in the listens and downloads. I cannot say how or why it came there, but I'm pleased. At this point I don't know where to begin and sometimes whom to thank, so thanks for everything, you know who you are. For the listens, for the reviews, for the downloads, for the company (especially during that agonising wait), for well... everything.

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Round 2 has me pitted against SoundChris + Hitokirito. According to SoundChris, only one of them is doing the composing for this round. Predicting which one is half the battle won.

Some of you may be wondering what I'm working on. All I can say is that I have a codename for this project, and it's called Dusty Chests. It may turn out to be something else entirely -- who knows?

Before I end this post: hearty congrats to those who made it through, and hearty congrats all round to those who did something for Round 1 -- I raise my glass to you brave and talented men! (I think it safe to say so anyway...)

IT'S DONE.

I started on Tuesday the 5th and ended today, the 16th -- with a few breaks in between, due to tiredness, tight chests, and Windows 8 being a general pain in the rear. On the Audio Forums I mentioned that Windows 8 gave me THREE BLOOMING BSODS IN ONE HOUR when I was running FL Studio. In addition, there are MIDI controller problems when I run FL on Windows 8 -- so I did this piece in a rather flustered manner, with two operating system changes in between: Windows 7 to Windows 8, and back to Windows 7.

But all of that would probably go over your head by now, so I leave you with this.

My Round 1 submission is called Oceans Wide. I hope you all enjoy it.

All the best to everyone taking part. Now I know the deadline is tomorrow, so between this evening and tomorrow I expect a lot of people will be posting submissions. In fact, at the time of writing, only two of us in Group O (myself included) have posted submissions. I look forward to hearing whatever comes up. Now with regards to my own song..... I did my best with the composition and mixing. Seán was not only patient in having me use his computer, but also told me that once a piece is done, it's best to leave it as done. I could go tweaking it for eternity and never be satisfied, and since for all intents and purposes the deadline is tomorrow, I'd best not do it.

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NGADM aside, with Seán's help, I've started a bit of a gamer's collection. Not much, but it's a start, I suppose.

There are games in all these platforms that I enjoy, and it took Seán and me a few months, but it's coming along quite nicely. At the time these photos were taken I was playing Kingdom Hearts II, in anticipation for Kingdom Hearts II.5, which is coming out in Europe this December. These photos, that you see above, are top-middle-bottom shots of a storage solution... in my bedroom. I'm slowly turning into a geek. (In Seán's room you would instead find loads and loads of books, and tall bookcases to go with them.)

The PlayStation 3 came bundled together with my phone, and over time, Seán bought the Super Nintendo, PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 for the nostalgia. The PlayStation Portable was gifted to me by a friend from my university chaplaincy, and the Game Boy Colour and Game Boy Advance were passed on to me by a friend of a friend, cleaned and put back to good use.

To read about how this collection came together, here's the Tumblr post on it.

Seán isn't much of a console gamer; his preferred platform is the PC, so while I content myself with the titles I have in the photos, he plays vintage games, or remakes thereof. Oh, and the occasional Star Trek game. On occasion Seán and I try to compete with each other playing Super Mario Bros., but that's about the only multiplayer title you'll find in my room. If there's anything we want to play together otherwise, we take turns. Or if it involves Kingdom Hearts or anything similar, Seán just... watches me play and asks me many questions (as any observer to a game would). I do enjoy it. ^_^

Now, I am going to take my week-long break from making music, because like others, I am going to need it.

To begin, I received news today that I have been selected to participate in the Newgrounds Audio Deathmatch, along with 63 others. My group, in particular, has me going against @Jimmypig, @ChronoNomad and @Guylee.

The highest scorer from this group gets to top 16, and this is going to be possibly my toughest contest yet. At any rate, I'll take this news as stoically as I can, and chip away at the song over the next two weeks. I have Kingdom Hearts, LocoRoco, a bit of Star Trek and various other things on Spotify playing in the background at different points of the day -- hopefully I may draw some inspiration.

Congrats to everyone who made it, and to everyone who decided to take a shot in the dark and audition -- it's a very brave thing to do.

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I recently hit 300 fans -- I think it was yesterday -- and it's lovely to have reached another small milestone. ^_^

It may not be much, but I'd like to put in a quick thank-you to everyone who has stood by me thus far. Thanks for the support, for the mixing advice, everything.

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Before I call it a day and decide on a piece of music to work on, I have a little something I'd like to share with all of you. You will likely not see this elsewhere.

Let's just say, despite being of Indian descent, I never wore a sari in my entire life... until not too long ago. Seán and I were invited to a wedding -- and in preparation for it, I was lost on what dress to wear (like any woman). So Seán suggested a sari, because he thought I'd look good in one -- and we spent goodness knows how long browsing catalogues, looking for the right one.

After three sessions with an Indian friend of Seán's, I was finally able to dress myself up in one. While I admit I do like how it looks, I will flat out say it's a pain to wear and walk in.

(*shakes fist at images not aligning to the centre*)

Alright. That's it. Tonight is celebration night; I shall not procrastinate for the next thirteen days. I'm looking forward to sharing my Round 1 song with you when it is complete!

Question 1: Are you taking part in this year's Newgrounds Audio Deathmatch?

Yes, I believe I am, and I auditioned for it. We'll see what happens. I'm just in it to see how I can overcome after having suffered so big a loss.

Question 2: Are you taking part in Game Jam 10?

That, I don't know. It depends on what I've got going on this weekend. While I have been known to participate in the midst of moving house just two years ago, I may not be able to do the same this time. I've got a weekend planned with friends, and whether I take part depends on what materialises.

Question 3: Why the dearth of works?

I don't know if I'm subconsciously saving them for the Audio Deathmatch. Perhaps I am. I am still writing, though -- and if you'd like anything to read coming from me, kindly visit the Writing Forums.

Microsoft OneDrive made a complete hash of my backing up. Windows 7 was giving loads of trouble and the only way to go about it was to back up all files and reinstall the OS. So I backed them all up on OneDrive, knowing it to have been reliable in the past.

Guess what, bar one file (specifically, the music used in the NG film Mario Plays Flappy Bird), all my files -- including FL Studio projects, soundfonts, samples, all that I had worked so hard on making over the last three years -- all are now gone and unrecoverable.

Yes, that also means all the Kingdom of Herts stuff, the works in progress of classic songs including Propter Te, Terre des Hommes Libres etc.

Turns out that no matter how long was spent doing it, OneDrive just completely failed to sync them all.

I am now not touching OneDrive with the end of a blooming beanpole.

I felt I needed to get this out of my chest as a sort of unburdening to the musicians among us, for this has been on my mind over the past few days.

From my pictures and videos here on NG as well as on YouTube, I think you can all deduce that I am at least "ambiguously brown," and certainly not white. That's fine by me. : ) I happen to be of Indian descent.

Now, let me make it clear that I'm not the least bit bothered about ethnicities, or even taking pride in ethnic origins. I was raised a second (possibly third?) culture kid, partly by the choice of my parents and partly by my own preference. I have next to no attachment to my ancestry... I've long seen myself as my own person.

Some of you will have at least heard or seen me play the bodhrán -- that Irish frame drum -- and at least attempt to play it well. I'll still admit this is my favourite drum, and trad music from along this side of the world tends to really beckon to me.

Okay, you may say, no problem! We've had unlikely people playing unlikely instruments. We've had taiko drummers of all ethnicities. We've had Norah Jones, the daughter of Ravi Shankar, excel as a jazz singer. Where's the problem in that?

Well I recently had someone remind me to take pride in being Indian, like how he took pride in his own cultural heritage. He asked (probably out of curiosity) if I never took interest in traditional Indian music.

I said no, I never did (and truth be told, I never will. It's just not my thing, at all.) My heart isn't in it at all. My mother once asked out of curiosity if I would be interested in this kind of stuff; I said no.

To which he replied, just because you study one music form in your childhood doesn't mean you would wind up in it forever.

Honestly speaking, if I had not received the musical education I had received -- which was classical piano under the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music -- I wouldn't even have the musical skill I have today, let alone the style or the ethereal vocals. I wanted music that could be practical for me at all times. I sing in church, and I am an organist and percussionist whenever needed -- which basically doubles as the reason why I would want a classical education. As for my leaning towards British and Irish folk music... well, that comes with the territory, really. Plus the rules of tonality are almost similar, if not completely similar, to that which I had been taught. I picked up the bodhrán because a close friend of mine encouraged me to pick it up, in response to my complaints that I had urges to beat out a rhythm, but had no access to a drum.

As an artist, one expresses what is in one's heart. Yes, I'm probably going to raise a number of eyebrows coming out there with a bodhrán in a trad session in a pub, or a céilidh (a dance gathering), or somewhere else, just by being who I am. But I cannot let that hold me down. I'll never be English or Scottish or Irish or Breton by descent -- but in many ways I have gone against the grain of what I am expected to be, both musically and with regards to my ethnicity. Heaven knows if there are any dark-skinned bodhrán players out there. There are none on YouTube, at least none that I can see, apart from myself. Correct me if I'm wrong. But if I am correct, then let me be the first: there always has to be a first for everything.

Fact still remains that in my heart, I will always know that I'm not doing it for brownie points (pardon the pun!), or to attract people along the lines of "OH HEY LOOK AT HER SHE'S NOT IRISH BUT SHE CAN CERTAINLY ROCK IT" -- no, none of that. I do it because it's my passion, I love the mere sound of it, and I've been able to play and/or record personal stuff with it -- improvisations, hymns etc. A musician has to be passionate about what he plays in order to reach out to others in the deepest possible manner. This is my passion; I lean towards musical forms which are in no way associated with my presumed native culture at all.

I once confided in @Krash17 about the fact that I'm an unlikely bodhrán player, as well as my influences.

His response was simply: "Fight the power. Music is for everyone."

Tsukikanade is finally complete.

Oh it feels good to have an original submission actually dating to 2014 in my feeds. The loop started as a scribbling on a piece of paper just a few months ago. I thoroughly enjoyed making this, from sequencing to recording.

So can I say I'm out of my drought yet? I don't know. I hope this dry period will have an end in sight. This might just be the start.

There is a background story associated with Tsukikanade which I wrote a week or two back, contemplating what I was aiming to get across. You may download and read it here.

Hope you enjoy the music!

Tsukikanade and another secret audio submission are in progress. I am stoked to hear both of them.