I make beats, metal, samples, patches, dnb, original game soundtracks, RVC voice models, and Russian/ English translation covers. Follow for monthly music producer freebies! Рада помочь русскоговорящим. Семплы вложены в ссылках вниз)))
Hey guys, me again. Just a drive-by update on how everything is going since the predatory loan and everything else happened.
Well, I have a way to contact the outside world again. Your donations have saved me. My car still needs work, but it's looking like I'll still have a roof over my head by the end of this!
I won't @ everyone for the 3rd time, but thank you so much! Very soon, maybe even in a month, I can mark this as complete, and start worrying about NEW problems!
What all has happened since?
Well, my birthday came and went with little ceremony. Luckily I like it that way. I grew a few more grey hairs and lost some weight, but I'm doing okay!
I haven't had time for music, but I have been stealing a few hours here and there to work on my book.
It's a production help resource which will release on Gumroad for free.
It promises to be a serious undertaking.
ETA to be determined, but if anyone wants to beta-read or assist in translating to Russian, I'm open. You will receive copious amounts of credit.
So far I've written over 50 pages across multiple topics, including:
hardware
plugins
common ills
motivation
mix issues
mastering
scams
streaming hacks
starting capital
sales
distribution
licensing
savings
social media dos and don'ts
investments
Basically, everything you need to start your music career off right.
I even wrote on how to get paid to play video games, for those who can't afford the serious expenses a music career typically demands. You know -- distro, licensing, interfaces, microphones, plugins, the next doo-dads.
I even plan to go over ALL of my essential plugins, which could be a masterclass in itself.
It goes without saying, it's not just comprehensive. It's a lot to unpack.
I still have some cutting to do, which is hard.
Every day seems to bring with it another bright idea, which I guess is to be expected when you're me.
But this is crazy. I'm legit sitting here cramming 20 years of music experience into one book.
You'll be heartened to know I'm keeping up with a to-do list. As the sum of my whole career, my magnum opus of music producer tips, I very much intend to get this done.
And I haven't forgotten about my other projects. I still need to upload some covers and remixes to Gumroad, but things are falling into place.
When I resume working on music, I'll circle back to my Free Metal Drums with a freshly minted selection of Paiste cymbal samples. Debating whether to release them as an update or a separate pack. It's getting rather large.
I also have a few plugin announcements I will more than likely append in the comments some time later. Please comment "AAAAAAA" if interested, and I will @ you when the time comes.
I wasn't expecting much response, if at all to my last post. Well, I was wrong. I don't even know what to say besides, thank you.
For anyone who doesn't know what happened, the last few months leading up to this have been a shitshow.
TLDR version: I bought a used car in October, moved apartments, lost my job in December, bailed my sister and family out of rent trouble over Christmas, and I've been door dashing for cash ever since. I can thank my girlfriend for that, since Dasher wasn't accepting drivers in our area. She's been awesome.
Anyway, I was strapped, but I was making it. The next couple months were working on music, trying to get my girlfriend and myself moved in together. Had to help her a few times, and she helped me some others. Looked like I had some time to breathe for a while, and then, car trouble happened.
Wasn't something I could fix, so I took the car to Midas and got shafted. The repair was supposed to be $600-800, but it ended up being $1800 bucks. I had to take out a predatory loan to get my car back.
That loan would become like $5600 if I couldn't pay it in 100 days.
I thought I could handle it if I knuckled down. I'd just have to cut expenses, quit music for a few months, door dash up the money, and limp my (still not fixed) car along until I could get it to someone who wasn't a complete crook.
Then my phone died.
Without my phone, I couldn't pay bills or really, anything. I was completely fucked. So, I asked for help.
I expected nothing, but you guys delivered.
Now, including my savings, we're about 70% of the way to knocking this out. That's ludicrous to me.
Seriously, I don't think I deserve how much you've helped me. I couldn't believe it at first. I screamed. I cried.
Thank you, not just for the donations, but the front page news, the kind words, advice, reviews and … everything.
Just, thank you.
This stuff messed me up so bad, I couldn't think straight. I didn't even get to the part about how all this happened right before my birthday. I dunno, felt too dramatic I guess.
Well, if not for you guys, my birthday would have totally sucked, but I had a nice, low-key celebration this weekend. I sat with my girlfriend, had a steak grilled cheese burrito from Taco Bell, a single beer, and watched a couple episodes of Xena: S3E12, The Bitter Suite, and S2E4 Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.
It was a nice, chill $20 wind-down, and none of it would be possible without you.
So, happy Dirty 30 to me, and thank you so much to everyone who has helped me get through it, including but not limited to:
And many more people who have shown interest, downloaded my sample packs, or sent kind words.
Even for those of you who can't donate, thank you. I was feeling really alone and hopeless. This whole experience has made me realize, I have a lot more friends than I think!
Plans for the future and other updates
Firstly, if you've checked on me and I haven't replied, feel free to bump. I've gotten back to most everyone since I've been away, but sometimes I accidentally leave something on read, especially if I get interrupted while typing a reply.
I still have to get my car fixed, since Midas didn't even solve the original issue, but financially speaking, I can probably afford to return to collabs, samples and sample instruments in May. That's about a month and a half away.
I've been working on a music production help compendium whenever I'm stuck at home. I plan to release it on Gumroad when I've cleaned up the headers and organized a little better. Right now it's like 30 pages and hard to navigate.
I also released a remix I did before all this happened over on YouTube.
I planned to record the vocals myself, get a cover license, and post it here, but for obvious reasons, that didn't happen. The end result is good enough, some of y'all might dig it anyway. When I get back into the saddle, I'll put this on a maybe list.
Thanks to your help, I have a semi-working phone, so my Venmo, CashApp, and PayPal are accessible. If you wanted to donate before but were waiting on that, send me a DM!
Ko-fi and Gumroad stuff -- I'll be keeping the former up to date to reflect any new donations or surprises, including any cash I can pull up myself.
I think it's only fair to do that; I don't expect everyone else to drag me out of this financial ditch.
I also wanted to note: Gumroad takes a commission fee from any sales; the best thing to do on there is choose a product you want to donate on, then download the rest for free.
I have some plans for new downloads, like unreleased demos and tracks that I can't post to NG for copyright reasons. Please remind me to do that, because I probably will forget.
Anyway, thanks again.
I literally couldn't do this without you, at least not without eating peas for two months straight and stressing out about having to eat peas. I was sitting here wondering how I was going to afford gas, take phone calls and use Map Quest for my appointments, or handle 24 months of payments if I couldn't get this loan paid off in the next 100 days. I can't express how much you've saved my ass. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.
Thank you so, so much. If there's ever anything I can do to return the favor, just say the word.
Hey guys, me again. I got a problem. A two thousand dollar problem.
Basically, my phone is broken, and my car is falling apart. I got a loan to pay off repairs, but I have to pay it off quick, before the $1800 dollars I took out takes on double in interest.
My savings are wiped. My budget is FUBAR. I don't make any real money on my projects here, so for the time being, I'm on hiatus. Meanwhile I'm working shifts job searching, doing tasks and late night food delivery. I feel stuck.
Ordinarily I wouldn't ask for help, but this blows. I have so many projects to do, deadlines I was supposed to meet, and I can't! From the time I get up, to the time I go to bed, I'm trying to pay these bills.
So, as embarrassed as I am to say this, if you like my work and want to see me continue soon, please consider a donation!
Currently my Paypal is defunct, but Ko-fi and Gumroad are live. The latter even has lots of free goodies for you, if you're a music producer.
I also have Venmo, PayPal, CashApp, and Square. DM for details. I'll have to get my phone fixed to access them, so it might take me about a week to accept those payments.
I really hate asking for money, so please only donate if you think my work (music, samples, and virtual instruments) is worth it!
I'm by no means abandoning my free music, magazine, or sample projects. Just taking a very unwanted break!
Thanks to those of you who have supported me so far. I wouldn't be here without you. Hope to see you soon with better news and more free music producer stuff!
Heya guys! I'm back from dying with the flu (still coughing but pretending it's fine). Just wanted to drop some updates.
It's been a really busy week! All the projects from last time around are still going, and I have some new ones! Expect new singles.
First is probably going to be an olskool hip-hop single with @VariableGR, depending on when we drop. Those of you who like my rap will be pleased. We got some intimate, low-fidelity depression flow on the way.
I have a few surprises in store behind that. Got a cover of APT (that one song that's half K-pop and half Bruno Mars lmao), a sick remix of Ya Soshla S Uma (t.A.T.u) and another for Sacrifice (also t.A.T.u.). Basically, I have a little cash set aside for licenses, and I don't mind spending it, lol.
Also got a slap-house track by the name of Taco Body Boat Bitch -- since I enjoyed the last track I did so much, plus a ton of demos I'm working on behind that.
Last slap-house for reference:
I've been recording vocals and bass all week. So if you don't see me, I'm compiling takes lmao.
In other news, Legend of Korra fandub is going swimmingly. I just finished sound engineering for episode 8, season one, and cleaning up the background audio for another engineer for episode 10. May or may not have some new sound work from JT424 as well, TBD, but I'll be returning as an engineer in season 2 of LOKFD for sure. (see Odysee for current episodes)
Waiting on some of my collabs to kick off -- that or inspiration to hit me like a truck. Beyond that, I'm still plugging away at cymbals and samples to eventually throw up on Gumroad. Also have/had the pleasure of working with @Troisnyx and @Whirlguy respectively on not one but TWO big-time productions for Newgrounds' 30th Anniversary! Keep your eyes peeled and your ears unclogged for that.
My own 30th anniversary is coming up next month, so I don't see myself slowing down. How about you? What are you up to this week?
Hey guys, me again. Just updating where I've been the past couple days, which is... in bed, actually.
See, I caught the flu. Which is so weird to me btw, because I never really paid attention to flu before. Last time I had it -- symptomatically at least, I was like 9, and I was over it in a few days with a dry cough, stuffy nose, and sore inner ears. That was it.
Well this year, shit knocked me flat on my ass. Laid in bed the first 4 days straight staring at the ceiling, wishing I could fall asleep. I couldn't because the fever had me writhing like a wiggle worm. I flipped, I flopped, I coughed, I cried for mommy, I prayed, even jokingly asked my gf if she'd hack into my Newgrounds and let everyone know if and when I died before I finally went to the doctor. I thought I had pneumonia, it was so fucking awful.
I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Worse than covid. Here's how I think I caught it.
You guys know I only touch grass a few times a week for social obligations, bills and chill, right? Well, remember that wedding with the 20 pound cheese-cake I mentioned last post? (And I do mean cheese-cake btw; it was 20 pounds of cheese.) There were like 100 people there, all crammed into the bottom floor of a quirky little venue called the Sunstroke House.
We were practically walking on top of one another, and my anti-social ass was about to die. I don't like most people for one reason: small talk, and tons of boring, useless information. If it's not about improving your life, music, tech, making actual friends, or some really autistic special interest type shit, leave me out of it.
Still, I'm not an asshole. I can't stay put, and I like to make people laugh. So, I flitted around that wedding like a social butterfly on crack, trying to make the best of it. Loooots of exposure to people's mouth breath. Yay.
My girlfriend and I were there for about three hours and took a bunch of food home. Think charcuterie meats, cheeses, fruits. You know, the kind of stuff everyone is touching with their bare hands not to spill on the floor, because the tongs are so damn inconvenient. And I spent most of the time eating with my hands and sipping wine mixed with koolaid.
I'm not sure why the koolaid part is important, but let's get to the point. There's your big exposure.
A couple days after, I'm sick AF, in the bed, lungs hurting and thinking I'm about to die. Like, my lungs are full of mucus that looks like Jacob's coat of many colors. My eyes feel like I dunked them in talcum powder. My head hurts, and I can't breathe without coughing up shit. It takes me a few days to realize all the unwashed hands I must have figuratively put in my mouth at the wedding, and then the covid precaution flashbacks hit.
When I tell you I calculated that incubation period back to that day, cried, and promptly decided I never wanted to go outside again, I did, lol. I'm still sick, and it's been like a week. I got sick, came home and got my roommate sick, my girlfriend got sick from taking me to the doctor, and I'd be surprised if the dog and the cat aren't sick lol. It's really contagious.
Basically, it's been so bad I'm only now getting to my mails and notifications properly. In the next few days I expect to be back to work on normal projects. Just wanted to share that this flu shit is something else. Take whatever precautions you need until the season is over -- and be prepared to be stuck in bed for a few days if you get it!
Trivia: The type I caught is Flu A, which can be passed to humans from birds, pigs, and of course other humans. Don't go touching any strange birds or pigs, and cook your chicken/bacon nice and thorough. Those are also vectors of disease, even if the animal doesn't look sick!
Hey guys, me again. What's new? Well, a lot lol, but I've been doing the usual, keeping the lights on, updating sample packs. Had a rough start to the year, but the Christmas/New Year festivities were a nice break, and I recently went to a wedding where the cake was a GIANT stack of cheese wheels, so that was cool.
Biggest news so far, if you checked my last post, we're officially live on Gumroad, aka the new home for all my personal freebies.
This means ADREANALINE, ADR3-N's Free Metal Drums, CTK-2400 Keys, and CTK-2400 Drums are the freshest, prettiest, and most up to date they've ever been. If you need crazy percussion and lo-fi keys, look no further.
Everything is pay-what-you-want. You can use the product page as a donate button if you really want to make my day, share my page, or request updates from my support email for any new content :)
PS: Big thanks to everyone who has checked out my stuff. You know who you are. I hope you have as much fun with my projects as I did making them!
Now, with my shameless self-promo out of the way, time for the real show!
I'll try to get through this month's freebies on a low character budget. After like 4 years of doing these lists, you'd think I'd have settled on a good format, but here we are lol. Anyway, without further ado:
This might be the coolest thing I've seen in months. A FREE 80's piano emulator and it's only 9 MB? Yes please.
This ain't your mama's keys -- she probably lost those -- but look at this cute little GUI! If that doesn't scream COP THIS PLUGIN, I don't know what will. Besides the YT demo.
This is sort of an honorable mention, but I use converters all the time for my more obscure sampling needs. There are plenty of these around the web, but I like this one because it doesn't short-link you to potentially malicious sites with every click!
Limitation: won't do extremely long audio, like 10 hour sleep meditations. Idk why you'd sample that much audio anyway, though.
Any sound engineer would be stoked to have another few gigs of nature sounds in their pocket, but if that isn't your gig, you could try making 432 hz healing frequency binaural beats with forest ambiance. You know, you do you.
Had enough of perfectly good free pianos killing your vibes? Don't feel like routing FX to bastardize them into a bit-crushed mess of detuned trash? Don't worry. Bad Piano has you covered. With varying degrees of badness, this granular bad boi will put out all (or most of) the gross panini plinks you could ever need.
A bass amp that serves as the perfect introduction to Audio Assault's Amp/Bass Locker suites. I'm not a fan of amp lockers, but I've been in love with AA since the late, great GrindMachine amp sim, back before 64 bit plugins were the norm. That's a LONG time, but they've only gotten better with age. If you need a pro sound on a budget, this is where I'd put my money -- or lack thereof!
Note: Grind Machine II succeeded GrindMachine. The former is pretty hard to find on the Light Side of the Force. Of the two, I prefer GM1 for its raw, ugly djent tones.
If I can dig up my old PC, I may upload GM 1 and 2 to Dump. I got them for free during their promotional periods, after which they retailed for a whopping $7. They were and are my favorite amp sims besides Trivium's (not free) AmpKnob sims, Emissary with NadIR, and Sigma. I've been waiting to see if AA will ever add the GM series to Amp Locker, but I haven't seen any signs they might since 2019.
Btw, if you click on "Emissary", you'll be transported to igniteamps.com, where yet MORE metal production freebies await you. Ignite STILL has a LOT of products up after over 10 years! How freaking awesome is that?!
Cymatics is a name that needs no introduction. Everyone has heard of them. Almost everyone has used them. For the price of a little bit of email marketing spam, you too can have dope drums. I mean, Dope Drums. Ba dum tiss.
If you don't use sforzando or another sfz player, this isn't for you. If you do, this is nice little browse. Korg users will be pleased to find a small section catering specifically to patches you can load directly into your keyboard, including a realistic grand! Those who can't afford Kontakt guitars can take a stab at a section of sfz guitar patches!
@Dieswyx has a bite sized cutie for you to try on! 2 MB. If you're strapped for space, you can't beat it!
Description: The violet sounds are back, this time the Prototype has finally escaped... I wonder who could be its first victim. 😈
Make powerful and aggressive bassline patterns, soft and energic melodies, or warm and slow harmonies with over 100 sounds that comes in this delicious and versatile pack, made for you to have fun, and it's free (only on Newgrounds)!!! come get it till it's hot!!!!!
Keeping things short and sweet for, reasons -- specifically to get back working on the projects at the bottom of my last post asap. I'll finish out here with some minor personal updates and a nod to our lovely sponsors!
FPS nerd alert, @MATRVG and I have put out not one but two LOTR-Trilogy-length Call of Duty walkthroughs! They are FINISHED!
Yes, you read that right. Americans will use anything but the metric system, to say nothing of what we'll do for entertainment. Ba dum tiss.
Why am I so excited? Because this isn't just any no-commentary walkthrough! It's a labor of love.
See, Cold War and Black Ops 6 have taken on quite a few RPG elements: collectibles, multiple endings, and lots of dialogue trees for our silent protagonists Bell and Case. This makes the games fun to play, not so much to watch -- unless the streamer narrates every line of dialogue, and that itself can be annoying if you aren't a fan of said streamer.
Otherwise, when you need to grab a drink or look down to scratch your rapidly progressing gamer leg, you have to pause... But we've fixed that!
Now, @Matrvg's channel is the ONLY place you can enjoy the ENTIRETY of Black Ops 5 and 6 without pausing to wipe.
Thanks to his amazing dedication, masterful editing, and a LOT of voice acting from yours truly, every line of dialogue is FULLY VOICED.
This means that instead of staring holes into the screen as you watch Bell, Belikov, Mason, and Case progress through the missions as silent protagonists, you can glance away to grab your gamer fuel of choice. No more spilling hot coffee all over your brand-new keyboard!
You can watch them here. (Embedded Playlists)
Cold War
Black Ops 6
So, how did we do it?
Obviously, Matt is the star of the show. He screen-recorded both games in their entirety, made subtitles, and wrote detailed scripts for each. These were then voice acted by me, converted with the same models I made for my music (or upon request from samples), then edited over the resulting recording in post.
Seriously I can't hype him or these projects enough. His edits are SO unobtrusive, you would think we had modded the games -- and I wish we could have -- because I had so much fun!
I can't wait for our next projects together, with the F-Gents crew. Just. So. Much. Awesome! And because I enjoy this kind of work so much, I'm gonna say this now: if you have a parody and you need seamless, quality voice acting, hit me up!
On another note, the Legend of Korra Fandub lives on
You can check out the episodes up to 6 and their versions on Google Drive, 5 on Odysee. Episode 4 is my baby. Episode 8 needs to come out soon! T_T
Besides that, I got a lot of other projects and the usual day-to-day, which reminds me -- I probably better get back to that. Trying to speak less words and do more things, lol.
I'd been meaning to make one of these for quite some time, like a few years. Suddenly the desire to knock it out in one go hit me like a truck. So, decisions were made this week, and you may notice some minor changes if you have copies of my products.
Changelog:
Take My Cymbals is now ADR3-N's Free Metal Drums. I figured this suited the sample pack contents better, even though the majority is cymbals!
New cymbals include Wuhan China, O-china, Dark China, and multiple crashes. The file size is a modest 310 MB zipped.
Adreanaline has received a major update. Includes new chords, drum loops, and construction kits. Strange new SFX added; blown metal pipes, a literal minke whale boing, and a broken FM radio. I recommend copying and replacing this version over your existing Adreanaline folders; the entire pack has been normalized to better suit modern sample pack conventions!
If you're new here, Adreanaline incorporates multiple hard genres and styles. I highly recommend it for anyone tired of their old trap and hip-hop cymbals, who needs unique, face-melting 808s, or who really likes Japanese kabuki/temple perc. You won't be disappointed.
Other Sample Pack Updates: Virtually no changes to Saudade Drums Remastered and CTK-2400 keys, except the project page is prettier, duplicate folders have been removed, and the README files are much more succinct.
We also have a new arrival!
Meet CTK-2400 Drums. This pint-sized library is perfect for channeling lo-fi virtuosos like Red and Method man. Its limitations are sure to stimulate your senses and may even inspire Ludacris when properly summoned. (See: Rap City Freestyle, Stung Pilot) Smells like "the 80's called, they want their synth drums back," and "is that memphis rap I hear banging from your mama's basement?"
In other words, it's an excellent choice for synthwave, olskool low-budget rap, and Nu Jack. Exceeds the utility of its parent instrument when paired with a velocity sensitive sampler.
PS: Setting this stuff up on Gumroad was so easy a caveman could do it. My only complaint is I need not one image but two for every project to look pretty. Otherwise I really like the interface. Now you can EASILY find my products, understand what I do, and donate if you like what you see, all in one!
I've also got a convenient little page for my mixing and mastering servicesbtw, which I have offered for a solid year now. It's $25 MAX. If you need an engineer that won't break the bank, hit me up!
Do yourself a favor and set up a Gumroad if you haven't already. I got a "sale" on one of my products before I even finished typing up this post. It works!
Other news: Now that I'm back, I have some (ok a lot of) goals!
Projects/Releases to come:
An issue of the music producer freebie mag around the 25th
An e-book on steering your indie music career in the right direction (drafting stage)
Multiple remixes and covers, midi projects, and so on
Ethnic percussion pack, outlining stage, to sample and record
That's just the big stuff I can remember. Suffice to say I got a LOT left to do! Wish me luck and plenty of ADHD med refills, haha.
Despite how labor-intensive these projects can be, I'll be sticking with a pay-what-you-want model for my sample packs and instruments. I truly believe it works. If you find value in them, help me keep it that way!
I wanted to stop and wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year while I had a minute.
Here's a picture for proof I'm not dead
I'll update later on where I've been (maybe), what I've been up to, and where I'm going with new projects and so on, but besides being back from hiatus and open for music/voice acting commissions, that's about it.
Love yall! Planning to start up the music production resource posts again soon. Expect some new tracks and voice acting to come!
Just updating. I'm on a brief hiatus music and magazine wise. I just went through a WHOLE lot of life changes in one go. For one, a nasty breakup and an urgent move, two, a new job washing dogs instead of dishes, and three, starting ADHD meds. I'm doing okay, just haven't had much time to settle down and get used to, well, living life!
I want you to know I haven't forgotten about all of you, and I do still have some projects set to roll out. I'm gonna be fine, pinky promise.
