So I decided to cave and make a music myspace. I'm going to continue networking and getting my stuff out on a bunch of websites and hopefully get my songs more attention.... when i stop being lazy.

http://www.myspace.com/gregorymannmusi c

Yes, my last name is not Aaron. Aaron is my middle name. Stop calling me Greg Aaron lol. My username was made a long time ago and there's nothing I can do about it. Just call me Greg :P (not that it's a big deal)

House!

In other news, I'm making a house track, i submitted a preview loop. I don't know how this will come out, I'm totally new at this lol. I'm going the generic route with the sound of it but I'm trying to put some good songwriting in here.

I'm trying to make progressive house and I'm kinda clueless here as I don't listen to it very much. Anyway here's what I have now, more will come later when I get rid of this writer's block.

LINKZORZ

This will probably never happen again... #1 Score Rank

Edit 2/15/09: Well fuck, the 0 bombers got me in full force and lowered it to 4.30. No more chance of top 5. Good job guys, now go fuck yourselves. I don't care anymore.

A little late to be making this post I guess, but whatever.

In 2009 I want to:
1: Learn flash and start submitting to the portal
2: Get better at drawing and learn to ink and color properly and cleanly
3: Sell commissions of my art
4: Get to know Logic like the back of my hand
5: Make songs of the following genres:
.....a: any combination of
..........I Ambient trance
..........II Progressive trance
..........III Uplifting trance
.....b: Downtempo (been dying to try this)
.....c: Ambient (I want to make epic soundscapes!!!)
.....d: Big beat (I DON'T CARE THAT IT'S BEEN DEAD FOR NEARLY 10 YEARS... if you don't know what this is it's breakbeats like drum n bass but signifigantly slower and MASSIVELY superior, uses a lot of sampling/splicing/glitching, acid sounds, faptastic goodness, used in chase scenes in action movies tl;dr listen to the chemical brothers and the crystal method, their OLD stuff plz kthxbai)
.....e : some kind of house or some variation
.....f: Drum n bass MAYBE... (I'VE EPIC FAILED EVERY TIME I'VE TRIED)
6: Possibly compile an EP of some sort
7: Get a job that doesn't suck and save up as much as I can
8: Meet more people and make new friends
9: Find someone special :3

I'd like to thank everyone who supported me and voted my song The Voice of the Rain into best of the week. Especially F-777, you're awesome :D Probably wouldn't have got it without your help promoting it. I'm really humbled by the response so far, I was expecting some hate for having an ambient song at the top spot but so far everyone's been really cool!

Now that I have the ability to make front page posts.... I have been wanting this for a long long time >:3 But I'm not gonna make this post about me. I'd like to take the chance to promote some really great independent music I've discovered.

IF THIS IS TL;DR, JUST WATCH THE VIDEOS. THE INFORMATION IS IF YOU'RE CURIOUS ABOUT THE ARTIST. BETTER YET READ THE INFORMATION WHILE WATCHING THE VIDEOS :]

I went to an M83 concert recently (amazing) and the opening band was School of Seven Bells. Some of the most unique, entrancing, and beautiful music I've ever heard. Their debut album Alpinisms is high on my list of best albums of 2008. It was started as a side project by the bassist of Secret Machines, Benjamin Curtis, and features the vocal harmonies of twins Alejandra Deheza and Claudia Deheza. If I had to describe it I would say it's a mixture of indie/psychadelic/ambient/electronica with a bit of a middle eastern vibe. I know that sounds completely ridiculous, just watch the youtube video below and you'll see :P

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The second artist I've found out about recently is Ultraform. Ultraform aka Fabian Kempe is a hard trance producer from Stockholm Sweeden. I found out about him because he did an amazing remix of a Talla 2XLC song (who I also recently became a fan of) I was not a big fan of hard trance, I hated on it a bit until I heard him. Completely changed my view on the genre. His music is the most intense electronica I've ever heard, yet it manages to be hauntingly melodic and beautiful. I especially like it because of the acid and psy influences. He created a record label, Fools Forest and I hope it takes him places. He's very talented and deserves a lot more recognition than he's getting. You can download his album Sense Your Mind or order a CD copy here.

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I hope you enjoy these two artists as much as I do :] They need the support.

Also, thanks again for the best of the week spot, my next song will likely be for the December MAC.

So it's been... 2 months since I submitted a song? Damn. Well, I try to make these things, but I end up giving up just after starting. I'm getting really close to the sound I want now, downloaded like a million plug ins and I'm finally getting really good at EQing.

Well I'd really like you guys to take a look at this following list, and tell me if you hear anything you like. I really want to share my music with Newgrounds, but it will be a while until I complete something :(

I: Pre-Windstorm (I had just bought Logic)

1: time signature experiment I don't know what this is, just me fooling around with different time signatures and stuff :P
2: untitled slow march
I really like this one, but I think it's really boring as is. I tried to improvise a melody, but I'm not too good at keyboard. Although I can see it turning into something cool, i just don't see HOW.

II: Post Dream Addiction [Trance Mix] (I felt like I had to live up to my last two songs and I was constantly discouraged by my attempts)

3: melodic trance attempt #1 This one I was really proud of the stereo kick build, I felt like I had come up with something original. I had this weird feeling that I heard this exact progression before... I realized that I had BASICALLY copied Pulstate's One Wish (OriginalMix) ALMOST exactly. Unintentionally. I guess it was just sitting in my subconscious. What really freaked me out is that I used the exact same notes too O_o Only the progression is slightly off. I had to instantly abandon that one after that discovery.
4: house/blues fusion?
Probably my most original song yet. :P A fusion between House and Blues. Completely unintentional, but I went for it XD
5: appleey trance
Some crappy trance 'jingle' i guess you'd call it, sounds like something from an apple commercial. I like the bass though.
6: melodic trance attempt #2
I really like the progression in this one. The arp is a little bit annoying, and I ran out of ideas.

III: In college (even though i'm in art school, and I thought I'd have no time to make music, I've come up with my best stuff so far here. Maybe it's the creative environment) :P

7a: melodic trance attempt #3 main part
My best trance so far, no question. I actually started this one after #5, but I totally redid it, and redid the bass and percussion several days later. I'm pretty unhappy with the sound, it's really messy :/ I actually cleaned it up a lot from what it was like >> I really over did it on the percussion too. I'm very happy with the progression.
7b: melodic trance attempt #3 initial buildup
Since I did the main part of the song first, I decided I'd go back to the start. This kind of feels like a different song though, but I think it can fit. Ran out of ideas again...
8: ambient piece
My first attempt at ambient :) I was feeling really contemplative and I was playing around with my keyboard so I came up with this. Needs a lot of work.
9: deep trance attempt #1 edit: (updated 10/12)
I got a rush of inspiration today, so I ran to my computer to start making something. It came out totally different (but better) :o I definitely feel like I'm getting the hang of this :) I made this relatively easily and quickly, with a good amount of control. I ran out of ideas, but I just started this today so I'll probably get back into it. I've also gotten pretty good at EQ. This one's definitely going to be a full length song, along with 7.

If you have any suggestions, please post! that's why I'm putting this here! Tell me what you like/don't like and it will be taken into consideration :)

I've submitted another song, Dream Addiction [Trance Mix]. I put loads of time and effort into it so I'd appreciate it if you took a listen :) Most of all I did it to gain experience, get around my software better, and try out new ideas. Basically I did it for practice but then ended up polishing it off and attempting to perfect it. But what I'm unhappy about is the fact that I didn't feel it was really me... I don't think I like doing remixes to be honest. I had some serious creative blocks making this, and honestly it just felt like a chore. When I finally brought it together though, I was so happy, I thought I might not finish altogether. Somehow I found the inspiration.

I think I am going to make one more song this summer. I'm going to make this the best one ever. I'm going to put everything I've got into it. I'm going to try to meet my ridiculous expectations of myself for once. This could be hit or miss. But it is coming.

After that don't expect to hear songs from me until late 2008-2009. Have a doodle.

MY SONG WINDSTORM IS ON THE FRONT PAGE! MY LIFE IS COMPLETE! (well not really)

Holy shit are you serious? Thank you Rucklo!!! (or whoever put this there) So THIS is why I came home to 105 votes, 949 listens, and 72 downloads. Why didn't anyone tell me, how long has it been there? And this is why the score is so low compared to my others... I was starting to think I failed :( I don't even care about the score anymore! I was clutching at straws and desperately hoping for getting on to the Best Of The Week list, even though I really thought there was a very slim chance that would ever happen to me. But this is just as good, even though it probably doesn't get as much attention here. But I think it's getting quite enough for me :3

<3 U Newgrounds

<edit>New song is nearing completion. I'm still struggling with it. I also got the flash trial, so you'll see some nooby submissions from me, and one for clockday. (Didn't feel like making a new news post)</edit>

<UBER EDIT> Finished the remix, still haven't tried out flash D: </UBER EDIT>

Here is my latest song, Windstorm. I delayed posting this because I thought it might negatively impact my score, and I was crossing my fingers and hoping for best of the week, like there's a chance in hell I'll get it anyway... But the score has dropped to 4.21 so I figure I'll stop trying. I've been whoring it everywhere lol. I am really happy that this song got an enormously larger response than any of my other ones, and lots of people are checking out my other music too! I'm getting a few reviews for stuff I did last year. I found out reviewing other people's songs, which I hadn't really been doing, is a great way to get your own songs discovered.

I'm really busy this summer working and everything... I'm a cashier lol... I hate my job. But the people I work with are awesome, and a lot of them are friends from school or new people I've met. So I don't really have that much free time to make audio.

I've been trying to put more energy into my music, I want to make something so fucking intense it will blow the windows out of your house. I'm talking ZeRo-BaSs, city block leveling intense. But I don't really mean massive UNCEUNCEUNCE intense, I mean something that will just deeply move people. I've really fallen in love with huge buildups, I have to put one of those in a future song. I really want to pour emotion into my songs but that's the hardest part. I'm pretty much a noob at that aspect. I'll keep working on it.

I think my next song might be a remix, I'm starting a list of ones I might want to try. One that caught my eye was F-777's Dream Addiction. I have no idea what I want to do with it specifically though, and I worry I might not have the originality to make it that much different than the original version. (wut?) Of course I worry about making a pile of shit compared to the original. That's guaranteed though, because F-777 rocks :D I'll ask his permission first if I decide to, BUT:
THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THIS WILL EVER HAPPEN. I AM VERY WELL KNOWN TO MAKE EMPTY PROMISES SO DON'T EXPECT ANYTHING. I may decide to remix another song. I might remake an old one of mine. Or I might get another wave of inspiration and create another original work. But whatever I do, I'm gonna take a week off or so from making this stuff, this is getting tiring kthxbai.

Finally, what are your thoughts about what I should do next? Should I...
A: Remix Dream Addiction like I said I would (any suggestions on style, tempo, etc...?)
B: Remix another song (tell me which you would like to hear)
C: Remix one of mine I fell short on
D: Create another original work (any style suggestions?)

Please comment, I value your input.

...really pisses me off sometimes.

So I don't know if you guys know, but I've really been obsessing over making music recently. I've been using Garageband to make it, which is the default program that comes on all macs now. It's really simple and stupid, but I'm good at milking it like people milk MS-Paint. I could come up with really excellent stuff, but it doesn't give me much memory to work with.

On that subject, check out my latest song, Enigmatic Automatic. I wasn't going to post it in a news post for fear of 0 bombers, because I was going for best of the week by getting all my contacts to vote 5 on it (lol). I didn't really expect to, and they've been finding me anyway, so screw it.

I just got Logic Express 8 today, which is the stripped down version of Logic Studio 8. Still, the user manual is over 1,000 pages long. (The one on my computer, not a book) <edit>I found a "getting started" manual that's only 111 pages long</edit> This is some intense shit. I'm used to learning stuff right away and just jumping in- I'm an instant gratification kind of guy. It usually just comes to me. I don't fucking read manuals. I learn best by one on one instruction, trial and error, and hands on experience.

I don't have anyone to teach me, but I'm getting this book (pictured below). I've heard it goes really slow and assumes that you know absolutely nothing at all in the first place. I'd rather learn at my own pace, but oh well. I don't want to develop bad habits and I want to know this software like the back of my hand. I'll just have to tough it out.

However, in the meantime ideas are coming to me left and right and I don't know what to freaking do with them. I guess I'll just keep using Garageband for the moment, and the fact that I have this awesome software and I'm using that shit is downright INFURIATING. Though I do have a soft spot for Garageband :3 Kind of like a crippled puppy that came scratching at your door in the middle of the night.

So if anyone reads this who has Logic, PM me, I'd like your help D: (though no one reads this and 99% of audio makers here have FL Studio...)