...My headset only arrived in the mail this morning, when it was too late for me to submit anything to the AIM contest.

The NGMT is almost over, the Game Jam is taking place during the exam prep period, and the NGADM is taking place at a time when I won't be able to write songs.

Why does this have to happen to me... All I wanted was to write one song!

I might as well disappear, if this is what circumstances want me to do.

I imagine some of you, if not many of you, have missed this. Here is my music showreel. :D
Six songs in all, some of which you may be familiar with. At any rate, I'm glad to share this with all of you.

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My exams begin on 1 July and end on 4 July. Prayers and good thoughts, please!

On that note, I have had a near-perfect run of the Legal Practice Course, and I'm truly grateful.

Because my exams are fast approaching, I am sitting the NGMT, the NGADM and the Game Jam out. If I don't get my headset within the next day or two, I am also sitting out the AIM Contest.

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On a side note, one of my very personal sketches is up. I'm warning you, I say it's very personal for a reason. If you'd like to peek into it, here it is.

This is about the recording session I had on 30 May (see my previous news post for what the occasion was). The videos have all been converted to WMV, and I am now in editing stage. For some reason, Windows Movie Maker either doesn't recognise my source files, or thinks I have no more space left (when I have MUCH, MUCH MORE than that).

At any rate, if you'd like to take a look at all the takes, I've embedded the playlist for your perusal. In hindsight, I really enjoyed the dance takes, but I will humbly admit I wasn't the best on the bodhran. The dancing wore me out that I was especially bad in the last two drum recordings I did...

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I will NOT be taking part in the NGMT until:

1) my headset woes are settled. All three headsets I have, two of which I use as fail-safes, are not working. I've ordered a new one and I am waiting for it to be sent to me in the mail.
2) two song commissions and my submission for the AIM contest are finished.

Given the fact that my final exams are in the first week of July, I may not even be taking part at all. Regardless of what happens, I will pray, hope and look ahead.

Hey everyone. I'll be doing a very special video recording tomorrow. There are two occasions I celebrate tomorrow -- it'll be the feast day of St Joan of Arc, one of the saints I look up to very much, and it will have also been my mother's birthday. Both are occasions I hold very dear to my heart.

What the recording is all about, I can't tell yet, but I hope that 1) whatever the weather, it'll turn out okay, and that 2) I may not be too much of a nuisance to my neighbours and the people passing by, doing this. At any rate, I hope and trust that you'll all enjoy it.

That being said, what with editing, file converting and possibly boosting the bass frequencies, I hope I may be able to get it up tomorrow evening.

EDIT 31.05.2013: I haven't begun editing yet, but from my stash of recordings from yesterday, here's a sneak peek.

EDIT 02.06.2013: I still haven't begun editing yet (I'll need to convert these files and screen-capture sections of it and then assemble them into an MV). However: if you'd like to see all the takes for this video, see them all here!

To begin...

I'm really, really very sorry that I didn't get to finish Surrexit Dominus vere on time. Some of you may know that I was planning to finish it by 19 May (Pentecost Sunday), but I never got to. I was planning to make this a piece of three parts -- tuneset, bodhran solo, tuneset (ending with Surrexit). : ( I got caught up in a lot of things over the past two months.

That being said, I have begun re-recording Surrexit. I'm not sure when it'll be out, but I promise, I'll let all of you hear the finished version.

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If you're wondering when I'm submitting my AIM Contest entry, it'll likely be within June.

Reason being: there are two major songs I'm working on. Won't tell what yet, let alone what they're for -- you'll know when they are announced. I'd like to get those out of the way first before concentrating on my AIM entry.

This'll likely mean I don't get to enter the Triathlon, but never mind -- I gain some and I lose some.

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Unrelated news: I'm quite surprised at how the UK fared at this year's Eurovision. Bonnie Tyler got 19th AND did better than France! Ireland scored last and the other team that pretty much ripped off the tin whistle idea -- Denmark -- was first! What is this madness?

That being said: I have a new song to add to my all-time favourite playlist now. Friends, presenting the best use of dynamics, buildup, vocal inflexions, instrumentation and backing I've ever heard in this contest: Eg A Lif by Eythor Ingi.

The last I posted about Eurovision over here, I was commenting on how full of epic win the Russian entry was last year. I speak, of course, about Buranovskiye Babushki. I recommend that you see for yourselves just how adorable those grannies are.

But this year, Ireland's Ryan Dolan... or rather, his team -- takes the cake.

The team have got ALL the drums I can play and want to play the most -- bodhrans, taiko, bass drums. And I'm not even going to mention that Colm Farrell (one of the bodhran players) is eye candy like many others say. My eyes were fixated on the drumming throughout.

And now this reminds me...

These are times when I wonder at the simple bodhran playing I am able to do. I've long yearned to thunder rhythms of joy to many, many people. Yet there isn't much to my stage demeanour... unless you count childlike abandon, impromptu dancing and twirling as good stage demeanour. And I don't know if I have much of an audience either. I guess that can be fixed, but what's worse is that there's no one I can accompany (and no one who can accompany me). Bodhran players are rare in these parts, and because of this, I find myself rather out of place.

(P.S.: Triskele, I wish you were active on Newgrounds now.)

For those of you who don't know what it is: the Newgrounds Audio Deathmatch (NGADM) is a yearly knockout audio tournament between the best 32 composers of the year. Auditions will be held starting July and any user on the Audio Portal can join. For each round in the knockout tournament, participants have two weeks to come up with a brand new original song (any genre is welcome). The songs will be scored on their relative strengths and weaknesses.

It's the Audio Portal's biggest yearly highlight. Every song from every participant is given a rather detailed review, and considering it is known far and wide in the Audio Portal, you get quite a bit of recognition from it!

I landed third place in the 2012 NGADM, and it was quite the experience.

Now I know it's a bit early for me to spill out any thoughts on this year's NGADM, but I think it's right for me to say so beforehand.

Count me OUT of this year's NGADM.

Reason being: this'll be the period where I must get adjusted to the world of work, i.e. post-university life. The many preparations I may have to do might overwhelm me and take me away from the time I would otherwise use to finish my songs. In addition, I would like to concentrate on perfecting the songs I already have: Kingdom of Herts' debut album is projected for release this year, and I also have a personal debut album I'm working on.

However, I will likely be out for blood in the 2014 NGADM, so be warned!

Those of you looking to hear the WIP and Reject Reel for Peter Satera's NG Audio Portal group can now hear it right here. Comments will be much appreciated! Satera has put in a lot of comments himself -- but now I'd like to see what you can pick out, what you like and what needs improving. So take a stab at these songs! :D

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Side note, I made a Cathode Raybots boss. The difficulty level is 2.5. Tell me what you think!

I do hope to make a few more after today's exam paper. ^_^

I have three papers this week, all relatively heavy ones, but I guess that's one gets when he sits for the Law Society exams. At any rate, I am doing my best, for myself as well as to help others, and I look forward to sharing some new content (hopefully) when this exam's over. I do know that Merlyne, myself and the rest of Kingdom of Herts might be meeting after Friday 3 May for recordings, so I'm looking forward to that. <3

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PeterSatera has started a Facebook group for WIPS from the Audio Portal users. If you have any works in progress you'd like listened and reviewed speedily and thoroughly, this is an additional option to the Review Request Club and Work in Progress thread.

The idea behind this is to make a demo reel -- call it a reject reel or work in progress reel if you wish -- and have it showcased either on Soundcloud or YouTube in the style of a radio show, fading out where the unfinished track ends. Each reel will be scrutinised and each piece will be commented upon. The idea is also to constantly gain inspiration from other members and their reject/WIP reels, so in a sense, it helps us grow as composers.

If you have a reject/WIP reel that you'd like thoroughly reviewed, do feel free to join us on that FB group.

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I've been drawing a lot lately, mainly as relief from exam stress. In addition to the two drawings of the Flash game version of myself, I am currently working on a point commish for DreamForecast. On DeviantArt, I mean.

This is what it looks like so far, and the Muro stage is barely finished. When the time is right I would like to give it a good Photoshopping. If you have an unstable browser like I do, I advise you against watching Redraw to trace my strokes: it has crashed Firefox for me on slower processors and on faster ones. But long story short, that drawing is of one of DreamForecast's OCs, Pendleton.

After this drawing, I'm going to make use of layers a lot more. I've only recently learnt how each layer can bring out the foreground/background more, and that was after having made the mistake of drawing everything on the same layer several times...

Everyone, the cover of Sleep Wrapped in Love has scored THIRD PLACE in the Newgrounds Audio Portal 10th Anniversary Contest!!

Many thanks to all who listened, commented and reviewed! I'll be expecting reviews from the judges soon.

That having been said, congrats also to ForgottenDawn (1st), SineRider (2nd), SilverPoyozo (4th), SourJovis (5th) and jpbear (6th).
PLEASE LISTEN TO THEIR ENTRIES, THEY'RE AWESOME! Special place in my heart goes to SilverPoyozo for making a cover of Sea of Grass, one of my background music pieces.

It seems I've been racking up combos of 3rd place lately. Doesn't help that my stage name is TROISnyx... :P

In other news, I've got exams next week.
*groan*