DusK's Blog

Composer, VGM remixer, and doer of other stuff.

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Hey, all! I recently revisited my Tequatl the Sunless fight conceptual re-score with improved sound design and composition. Take a listen. :)

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Original song name: "This Day Aria, Part 1", "This Day Aria, Part 2" Show: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Original composer: Daniel Ingram Vocals: Britt McKillip and Kathleen Barr

Follow me on • SoundCloud: http://www.soundcloud.com/itstartsatdusk • Bandcamp: http://itstartsatdusk.bandcamp.com • Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/itstartsatdusk • Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/duskmusic

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Ah, "This Day Aria". A classic favorite among the fandom, and one of the more difficult -- and rewarding -- covers I've done. Remastering this to be up to my current production standards has been on my mind for a very long time.

This one is a strong contender for the tentative setlist for TrotCon 2020, so if you wanna see me play it, be sure to bug them about it!

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So, I've been working on a little project as of late: Basically, I'm getting things set up to possibly do a live show of my MLP:FiM metal covers at TrotCon 2020. Nothing is set in stone yet, but I'm prepping anyway.

A big part of that prep work is to rework the covers I've done over the past 7 years, and tweaking them to my current production standards. And I figured I should probably start with the track that really started all of this in the first place.

Over the next few months, I'll be releasing remastered versions of many of my MLP covers. As for the setlist for this hypothetical metal show... who knows? Keep an eye out though. ;)

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New remix that I forgot to post on Tumblr! Here’s my take on “Wizard of Storms” from Guild Wars 2: Super Adventure Box. When Hashel was recruiting people for a new album for Super Adventure Box, I knew I had to do something for it. The end result is bombastic symphonic metal arrangement reminiscent of a final battle and new adventures. You can check out the full album of remixes from Pixel Mixers here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/ei67u98a16as7gd/Pixel+Mixers+-+Try+Hard+and+Tribulations+%5BGW2+Super+Adventure+Box%5D.zip

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With Open Arms, 2019

It’s been a while since I’ve made one of these year-end posts, so here goes.

2018 was a year from hell for me, easily the worst year of my entire life, on a personal and professional level. As a result, the entire year was a constant struggle to maintain myself in the face of betrayal, dishonesty, emotional abuse, duplicitous association, and personal failure, and that fight looks like it’ll continue into 2019.

But 2019, unlike 2018, is something I have solid plans for. It’s a redirection of focus; not just an attempt to please others, as I have been trying to do for the past few years, but getting back to making music for myself.

In that effort, I plan to unveil a new original music project in the early part of 2019, with an expected full album release later in the year.

I’ll also be working more on remixes and covers, and attempting to revive Heroes of Tyria -- something I was originally planning on doing this year before it all went to hell in February.

A special thanks to everyone who has been supportive of me throughout the year; the people that commented with well-wishes on my metal cover of “Flawless”, the people that passed around my Sea of Thieves remix, and especially my friends who were a constant stream of direct support throughout the year.

2019 is the year I fight back -- in every sense of the phrase.

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Yeah! I’m still here!

As some of you might know, I’ve been fighting a really bad bout with suicidal depression since the beginning of the year. I’m finally bouncing back thanks to a healthy dose of rest, refocusing, and people that care about me, so I can bring myself to do music again.

And this shanty, well, it just grabbed me.

I actually got the idea for this remix while sailing. The event was over, and “Summon the Megalodon” hit when I started randomly doing shanties on the in-game hurdy-gurdy. I don’t know why it hit me then instead of weeks ago, but it did.

The track ended up feeling like a battle story to me; I could see the reflection of Merrick’s campfire tale in the movements. It starts with a voyage, an epic battle, and then… a turn for the terrifying worse, as Merrick struggles to escape, making his way to a solitary beach in the middle of the night, legs taken by the Hungering One.

This has also taught me that it takes WAAAAY longer for me to do these remixes than it used to, thanks to a busy work schedule, so these remixes will likely be few and far between for a while. But I have quite a few ideas lined up, so hopefully I can get back into a good routine of releases again.

Anyway, it feels good to be making music again. Thanks for checking this track out, and see you on the seas!

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This is the one about friendship.

Recently, I've been going through the darkest period of my life. I ended up in a really deep depression about two months ago, and was contemplating suicide. I felt like everything that I did was a burden on others. This was made even worse when the person I thought was my best friend chose that time to say and do things so hurtful that I nearly followed through.

But through all of this, I've experienced an abundant amount of love and support. My real friends made themselves known, and I'm eternally grateful to them for continuing to be there as I fight my way through this depression.

It's been a long road, and I have longer still to go. Maybe this is just another recent up moment and I'll come crashing down again tomorrow. But for now, I can finally do something I haven't been able to emotionally handle for a long time; make music.

So with this cover, I mark what I hope is a return to my path of musicianship, as well as a dedication to the people that have shown me that I'm loved.

With all your flaws, dents, and quirks, a real friend will never abandon you.

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Heroes of Tyria is back!

This time around, I composed a theme for Gaheron Frostfire, a charr warrior scarred by tragedy, yet renewed in purpose. Want a shot at a theme for your own character? Click here to apply at the Guild Wars 2 forum!

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On workflow, burnout, and substance

Earlier this year, I announced that I would be doing a small track every day, taking the sort of sketch-a-day or daily warmup concept visual artists use and applying it to music.

Turns out, yeah, that’s not for me. I ended up looking at it as more of a chore than anything, because I wasn’t writing from genuine inspiration, and what I was putting out lacked substance.

So I’ve decided to scrap that little project. However, I’m still looking to be making a lot of music.

I have a few projects lined up this year for VGM remixes and other assorted fan music, and I’ve rebooted my Heroes of Tyria project over at the Guild Wars 2 forum.

Here’s to a productive 2018!

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2017: The Year Off

2017 was a pretty interesting year. For the beginning part of it, I saw a lot of accomplishment. The biggest moment -- easily -- was rounding out the metal cover soundtrack to Super Adventure Box for ArenaNet to put into Guild Wars 2.

After that, though... it dropped off quick. I slipped into a pretty deep depression trigger by personal issues that I'm still dealing with today.

2017 ended up being kind of a year off for me because of that.

For the most part, though, I've regrouped. I've decided to renew my focus on video game music composition, and additionally, will be keeping my drive alive with a sort of "sketch a day" for music.

Expect a lot of music from me in the coming year. I hope you'll enjoy it.

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Woah, a bunch of stuff has been happening!

So, I kinda fell off the grid about a month ago, and I figured I’d go ahead and just make a blog post about it instead of making whoever might be watching wonder.

For starters, I’m a homeowner now. And let me tell you, buying a house without a realtor is stressful as hell. But I did it and saved bank on commission, so there’s that. Still taking care of the fallout from that, but it’s not as hectic.

Other personal life stuff has also been sucking up all of my attention, though nothing I can really make public.

On the music side of things: Speeding Towards Adventures dropped! I’m immensely proud of the OC ReMix community for banding together and putting out a fantastic tribute to my favorite blue hedgehog, and of course there was no way I could stay out of it. You can listen to my track, “Hedgehog Elimination Engine”, by clicking here.

As for the future, I still have a lot to take care of, but after nearly two months of not touching a DAW, I’m finally back to making music. And now that I don’t live with roommates, I can finally start doing vocals again. A lot of vocals. Expect the vast majority of stuff released in the immediate future to have vocals. Sorrynotsorry.

As for what those new releases will be: Expect a cover from one of my favorite shows, a soothing take on an upbeat song from an undersung JRPG, a punk take on a very popular JRPG track, and some “fresh” vocals on a remix of a song from one of my favorite games.

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Trainers! A new day has dawned in Pokémon GO with Generation II, and I decided to celebrate with my own personal take on how I would have done the nighttime music for the walking/overworld scenario.