Hello! Welcome to my blog, Chromatic Dreamers. While “Nostalgia” is my stage name, I decided to go with my social media handle “Key2Nostalgia” as my artist/composer/producer name. Today, I’m announcing the release of my very first song, “Be Courageous”. The song is available on all platforms ^_^
The cover image is actually a photo I took back in September 2021 while I was on my way to band practice. I’ve always loved looking up at the sky, more so now that I barely go outside (I’ve been working from home since late 2018, and the pandemic only made me stay in more).
I remember looking up and being so amazed that this cloud looked like an exclamation mark (!) that I just had to stop and take some photos. I planned to use it for a band announcement, but never had the opportunity. I’m thankful that I finally get to pull it out of the archives as I boldly announce my new single ^_^ I’ll probably keep up the trend and use clouds for future songs as well.
The Making Of This Song
I was gifted FL Studio for Christmas 2022. They gave it to me so I would have something to record guitar with, but I saw it as so much more- a whole new world of possibilities! I spent a few days watching videos to familiarize myself with the software. I didn’t plan to write anything anytime soon as I had a few guitar covers I wanted to do first.
However, I got a spark of inspiration the first week of January. To combat all the secular songs that are blatant about their dark, depressing, and sinful themes, I wanted to write music that was bold about it’s pure, positive, and encouraging themes, music that portrayed light, hope, and peace [More about that on “My Music” page].
I initially planned to write a concept album with 7 songs, each song with a different genre and feeling, but centering around the theme of ‘seeking the light’. I wrote down some song titles, spent a couple days figuring out what concept I wanted for each song, along with chord progressions and song inspirations.
On January 7th, after bringing the Sabbath to a close, I started putting the ideas for all the songs in FL Studio. For this song, I really wanted to convey the feeling of going from dark to light, from fear to courage, and from struggle to victory. I didn’t want to be shy or subtle about the change either, cause I really love when I’m listening to a song and I’m like “how did we get here?”
I knew I wanted to utilize some Japanese progressions, and I also really wanted to incorporate modulation (key change) as I’ve been obsessed with them (check out my article with anime songs that use them). I definitely wanted to bring that encouraging feel I get from a lot of Digimon openings, as that’s the show that introduced me to Jmusic. I also drew inspiration from “Cry Baby” by Official Hige Dandism which was the opening theme for Tokyo Revengers, as it has many key changes throughout.
I came up with the full chord progression for this song the same night and I was in love, so I decided to just focus on this one song. The second day, I spent more time on the basslines, piano melodies, and some drum beats. It was missing something, so I also added trumpet for the final chorus to make it more triumphant. At that point, I figured I may even release it this week. The next couple days were just tweaking, adding a few more notes here and there, and adjusting the volumes and velocities.
Ultimately, from beginning to end was only 4 days. I didn’t expect or plan to be done with it so soon, and I’m sure I’ll look back and think of something I could have done differently, but it’s my first song, it’s never going to be ‘perfect’. There’s many things I’ll only learn with time and experience, so I didn’t want to spend ages on it. I also really wanted to release it on January 11, as that would be 1/11. It’s the ‘Start of Something New’~
My Goals & Future In Producing
Just like how I’ve been documenting my guitar journey from true beginner to intermediate, I also wanted to share my starting point as a composer/producer with you guys. I’ve always been someone to just put myself out there despite my flaws and weaknesses. But it’s with the mission to inspire others to do the same, thus the brand name, “Chromatic Dreamers”.
Don’t wait until your work is ‘perfect’ to release it. Your music will never be perfect and it’ll never please everyone. The small things you’re stressing about, other’s won’t really notice or care about. Just like how you’ll never get over stage freight if you’re never on stage, you’ll never get over the anxiety of releasing a song if you never release a song.
Pursue your dreams boldly. Don’t be ashamed of your work. Don’t fear negative comments or haters. ‘Be Courageous’ and put yourself out there. Only then can you really grow, build experience, make valuable connections, and get the feedback you need to truly grow as a musician, artist or producer.
This is my starting point, and I’m excited to see what my music will sound like in a year or two’s time…maybe even sooner as my lil cousin asked if I could make the music for a song she wrote, and my other friend with a degree in animation is eager to release a game this year, so I’m sure I’ll upgrade a lot faster than that 😀
Wish me luck~
Sincerely,
Nostalgia