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Troisnyx
Soundsmith, artist, and writer. Known for self-backing choir. Especially love drumming.
If you'd like to work with me, send enquiries via DM or my email at mail@troisnyx.co.uk
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Annette Walker @Troisnyx

Age 32, she/they

Music Director

Lancashire, UK

Joined on 6/26/11

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Hitting yet another low

Posted by Troisnyx - January 26th, 2014


I have hit yet another period where all I can ever churn out are works in progress; almost never finished works. I have begun recording Dance in the Emerald Forest, but I haven't had much luck putting it together or continuing.

As such, I'll be releasing another Work in Progress and Reject Reel over the next week or two.

I don't know what will inspire me to continue from here on out. T_T This is a time where I dream of a finished debut album, where I dream of going live, but haven't got the means to do anything. Someone very dear to me suggested that I go on Kickstarter, but I don't know what I can offer in recompense that will be of use to anyone...... I feel as though my musicianship is in shambles.


Comments

Sounds like a lack of confidence to me, to be honest. Alone on Newgrounds over 200 people believe that you make great music and they believe in your talent - so you should be able to believe in yourself too. If anything, working on different things will hone your crafts even more. Take your time and don't stress yourself out over finishing a song. Remember, that music is something that you love and enjoy. Keeping that in mind, you dreams will become reality, I am sure.

Thank you for encouraging me.

I don't doubt my musical ability -- if anything, I'm just overwhelmed at the amount of works in progress I have, the deep desires and what I believe my music is capable of achieving -- and because I'm relativlely unknown, as opposed to musicians with successful Kickstarters *cough*Erutan*cough*, I don't even know how any one of these will be able to support my efforts on a deeper level.

I say this because the Bandcamp I've been running has not had much support, except from one or two people.

How can you say the word "project" and treat it like some exercise? Projects are serious stuff. You always need to work on only one project at a time, keep it organized, put as much effort into as needed to make it of highest possible quality. Worry about all aspects related to it: costumes, instruments, composing, camera work, recording equipment, post-recording video and audio editing, movements/performance, introductory speech at the beginning, concluding speech at the end. You need to write to-do lists, the screen play of the entire performance, the whole project plan, represented by actions sorted in order in which they have to be carried out (what action is required for what other actions). You must never deviate to other projects, not rest until the current task is finished. This process should reach into infinity. If all humanity does this, we all will reach God, and that's the purpose of existence.

Well...there were some ideas from your last reel that I thought were potential winners, so I think another reel of creative snippets sounds interesting still. The first track on your current reel was magic.

Since you mentioned it to me last time: any progress guitar-wise?

I don't really know what to say here in terms of motivation...but know that I'm still eagerly awaiting 'Singing to the Heavens' and I continue to cherish the tracks I bought from your Bandcamp collection. In fact, the player I take with me when I'm out has a meagre size limit but I always remember to keep your tracks on it, haha. It would feel empty without the Troisnyx stuff, y'know?

To make a person (who cannot sing to save his life) mouth along to the words of your songs is musicianship in my books. Therefore, to say it's in tatters / shambles is something I disagree with. You have skill and talent that's bound to get noticed one day. Just keep at it, friend, and know that I'll be there to support your musical pursuit / journey. It'll come together beautifully, I'm sure.

If you do choose to go the Kickstarter route, do let me know of course. And if my paragraphs of attempted cheering-up hold any inspiration in them...hurray! :D

-Potent

It'd be depressing if I don't get to finish many of the pieces in Reel 1 or Reel 2, for that matter. Deep in my heart, I want them done so badly... so far, I only got to finish 'The Fitting Room' and 'The Stormy East' (or, Where the Sun Rises First)

I haven't progressed much with the guitar -- one of my strings looks like it's about to snap.

Thing is, as far as the Kickstarter is concerned, I'm toying with the idea, but I'm just not sure how to go about it... I'm fairly unknown, and considering every project I have tried to set up has ended in nothing but failure thus far, I'm not entirely convinced that I'll succeed with this one.

If I had a penny for everything that I have started and have yet to finish, I would be rather wealthy. There are tons of little things I have composed that I will not allow to see the light of day until I can figure out how to flesh it out into something that constitutes an entire song. You have a gift. There are 258 people here who believe the same. And I see that number rise steadily.

If a project you are working on isn't coming together, set it aside for some time. I can speak from experience that when I walked away from a composition and came back to it weeks, months or even years later, I had discovered the intention of the composition and working on it became easier.
My composition, Passion, I was stuck on for three months. When I came back to it, the notes I needed fell into place and I was able to finally complete it. It took a life of its own and didn't come close to following what I originally intended.

Finally, if your musicianship is in shambles, then mine is non-existent floating in an imaginary place of cacophonous sounds that only the crazy people believe exist.

I'm not sure what you mean by silence. If I expressed a delusive point of view which has nothing to do with reality and especially you (since I was guessing around, without knowing anything), then I need you to judge the foolishness of my comment, otherwise I'll never know that it's foolish (but I'm suspecting that).

Sorry about that; I was really beginning to feel quite miserable. : (

No, I wouldn't think your comment foolish -- I just didn't know how to progress is all. These are works that I want to see happen, but the continuing bit isn't coming to me whatsoever.

It's somewhat picked up in recent days, but I've had to force myself to do it.

After a certain point you just have to cut yourself off from your WIPs and move on. They are baggage that will drag you down. Got to keep moving forward. :)

Only thing is, these are beautiful-sounding WIPs, and I want them to come to fruition...

I think that life is pain, and pain is love. You have to love pain, and suffer, just like Jesus did for our sins.
If you want to achieve anything, you have to suffer miserable. That's life. And if you can no longer bear your cross, then God will help you bear it.

*nod* Thanks. <3 I've been so averse to suffering -- I hope I won't be as the days pass.

Maybe you could take a break?

When I get in a rut with writing or building/creating, i take a step back and let my mind recover a bit before going back into it.

I did contemplate it -- in fact, I thought of taking a week-long or two-week-long 'sabbatical' of sorts, but for some reason, I feel an inner nudge telling me to press on, and pierce through the proverbial stone wall. And I'm going to inevitably listen to music, whether I'm out and about, or indoors, and that makes me hunger to create something -- but I don't know what yet...

That was quite a diverse reel I listened to just now, lovely music in the works! You weren't kidding when you mentioned that they were beautiful, were you? :O

I'm looking forward to what you could conjure up with the track (if it's not a reject) around 8:42...that belongs as a theme or atmosphere for a tranquil RPG setting, like a village or something. As always, rain soundscapes always help to immerse one into a piece...very nice indeed.

They're looking like winners still, Troisnyx!

-Potent

Writer's block is a thing. Keep moving forward. You've got what it takes, this I do not doubt.

I have about a hundred digital WIP's and only about six that I have got to a finished state. I have hundreds of piano/mountain dulcimer/tinwhistle pieces I've never been able to finish, and only a handful that I have finished. I think that's pretty much normal.

Don't let the sales of your single get you down. Those three tracks show wonderful musical skill, ideas, singing... but the instruments and production quality are lacking. For example: Terre Des Hommes Libres seems to have way too much gain compression applied. The violin at the beginning of Asperges Me is awkward. There is an annoying background beep all throughout Asperges Me (smoke alarm with low battery, perhaps?). There is a lot of noise (or noise-removal noise artifacts) in all three pieces. These things probably discourage people from buying the music and putting the tracks on their super playlists.

I reiterate here: Your sense of musical composition is EXCELLENT.

Even if you had perfect instruments and perfect production, there is the matter of just who finds your music and just who thinks it is the type of music they would buy. There's a lot of random chance involved.

Not-quite-random-note: Erutan has top-notch mixing and production and all that. The one thing that I find lacking about Erutan is all her music sounds really similar. She has a sound and she does it well, but I wish she would vary the style a bit more. You, on the other hand, brandish a wide range of styles, and I think this gives you the ability to make albums that feel more like complete stories or a "variety pack", and not just a box full of nothing but green crayons. :)

Writer's block? Take a break, take a walk, look at some paintings, listen to some other music, read a book... explore places you haven't been. Perhaps that will help refresh your mind and give you new ideas. Maybe work on other pieces, or try to come up with something new, anything new. And, eventually, come back to the piece you really want to work on. Don't stress over it. But don't give up. As long as you're not under some contract with a deadline, there's no need to make your music quality suffer by rushing.

Bandcamp sales not going good? Take that as a challenge to improve.

Need more popularity? Take that as a challenge to improve, then advertise again.

Thanks. I'll keep trying.....

I'm due to go to Edinburgh on a day visit, and I hope and pray it may inspire me somehow. Plus, Seán, the friend who recorded the bodhrán solo for New Year's Day, he's a lyricist as well. Hopefully, something may come out of this.