XaiJu
Approaching Nirvana

Approaching Nirvana

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Approaching Nirvana posts

July Song Poll #2 - Emotion

Hey Everyone!

On the last poll, you voted for an Anjuna-style trance track (similar to Above & Beyond/Ilan Bluestone, like Madeira). What kind of emotion do you want for the song? - Vote below!

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Also - the last 2 were house and trance so September's poll will probably be be...

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New Release - Flutter

The May Patreon song is finished and it's now named "Flutter". This song releases June 26th - Artwork, 320kbps MP3, and 24-Bit Wave File are attached!

Huge thanks to all of you and to all the people on Twitch for helping me out with this one :)

If you've missed any releases from Patreon, you can download them in the Release Archives. And if you haven't already, View Post

Monthly Patreon DJ Mix

Hey Everyone,

I'm a little over a year into Patreon and I want to start adjusting some of the benefits for the tiers to ensure that you're getting good content for the amount you're contributing. This month is my first step in doing this. So let's talk about something I've been thinking about for awhile - A Monthly Patreon Mix.

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Here are my ideas:

  • The first few Monthl...

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July Song Poll #1 - Genre

I'm almost finished with the May song, so let's get some info on what type of song we're going to write next month! Options below :)

- Andrew

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Branches - WIP Week 4

Hey Everyone,

Yesterday was the final stream on the May song and from a creative standpoint it's basically finished. There's still a lot left to do on my side (1 more FX pass, pre-drop fill, mixing, mastering, etc).

Here are some final thoughts:

  • The 2 sections of the songs (intro/verses and the breaks/builds/drops) feel very different. It could end up being a good thing to have that contrast...

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Branches - WIP Week 3

Hey Everyone,

Yesterday, I streamed the 3rd session for this song. Before the stream I had 2 sessions to focus on sound design of the build, drop, and drop drums. During the stream I mainly focused on FX to tie each section together. Here are some thoughts after yesterday's session.

  • I'm really liking the sound of the drop and build, but the intro/verse sections don't really stand up to that.
  • ...

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Branches - WIP Week 2

Hey Everyone,

Wednesday was the 2nd session for the May song and I think we've got a solid direction to properly finish the song. Here are some notes and thoughts:

  • Before Wednesday, I spent some time on adjusting the chords to integrate the feel of the original high piano melody without busying the song up.
  • In the verse section on stream I focused on making subtle adjustments like ambient...

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New Release - Moving Mountains

This is the finished version of the song sketch from Apr 11. This song releases May 29th - Artwork, 320kbps MP3, and 24-Bit Wave File are attached!

If you've missed any release from Patreon, you can download them in the Release Archives.

Thanks as always for your support and have a great wee...

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Branches - WIP Week 1

Hey Everyone,

Yesterday, I did the first session for May's song. You voted for an uplifting, piano house style song (Here Again/You style) and I set out to write that on stream. If you missed the stream, you can watch the Twitch VOD. Here's some thoughts:

  • I was trying to for emotions similar to Fade Away to evoke the uplifting feels and while I think this is close, I might revisit the chords, not ...

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Song Sketch #12 - Cycles

Everything moves in cycles... combining some future bounce ideas w/ progressive house ...  - Download attached!

- Andrew

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What's a "Song Sketch?"  - A rough sketch of a song idea from a ~1 hour studio session, sometimes more. These are very rough and I may or may not revisit these ideas.

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May Patreon Song - Poll #2

Hey Everyone!

Since the last poll was a tie between Melodic Dubstep and Piano House, I chose Piano House because it's been awhile since I've written that.

For this poll, you're going to decide what the emotion/tone of the song will be. I'll be streaming a few sessions from this next month on Twitch - Most likely starting ne...

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Song Sketch #11 - Europa

Piano chords and chill vibes. Really like this one, but it sounds a bit too familiar ... Download attached!

- Andrew

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What's a "Song Sketch?"  - A rough sketch of a song idea from a ~1 hour studio session, sometimes more. These are very rough and I may or may not revisit these ideas.

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New Release - By My Side

About a year ago I wrote a "Antigua" & last year ANimals and up were able to download the instrumental. Since then I've been looking for vocals.

Well - since January of this year, I've been working with Soundr and she did an amazing job! I had a chance to polish the final version of the song the last few weeks and it's titled "...

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May Patreon Song - Poll #1

On the 1st week of May, I'll be starting another Patreon-voted song on stream. This 1st poll is about what type of song to write. Options below!

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I'll to be doing these Patreon-focused songs every other month - I think it's a good pace that I can keep up without falling behind on my other projects. During the rest of April, you'll be voting on various aspects of the song and determining exactly what we're writing about in May.

- Andrew...

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Song Sketch #10 - Moving Mountains

Started out with Mount Olympus as inspiration and ended up with this. Really like this one - might finish it ... Download attached!

- Andrew

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What's a "Song Sketch?"  - A rough sketch of a song idea from a ~1 hour studio session, sometimes more. These are very rough and I may or may not revisit these ideas.

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New Release - Bloom

Annnnd it's done! Artwork, 320kbps MP3, and 24-Bit Wave File are attached!

I've also updated the Release Archive. If you've missed any releases from the last year, you can download them there!

Expect a some more posts over the next few days and another poll for you to vote on soon. As always, thank you so much for your support. Have a great weekend and stay safe!

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Song Sketch #9 - Transcend

Piano chords and melodies combined with orchestral influences and epic progressive house - Trying to push through the noise... Download attached!

- Andrew

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What's a "Song Sketch?"  - A rough sketch of a song idea from a ~1 hour studio session. These are very rough and I may or may not revisit these ideas.

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Song Sketch #8 - Believe

Emotional Progressive House - time for something a bit more uplifting. Download attached!

- Andrew

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What's a "Song Sketch?"  - A rough sketch of a song idea from a ~1 hour studio session. These are very rough and I may or may not revisit these ideas.

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Naming Fresh Start - Poll

Hey everyone,

Vote below on what you want the name for the March Patreon song to be. The WIP title we had was Fresh Start but it was just temporary.

You can listen to the most recent version of the song here. 

- Andrew

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Song Sketch #7 - Restless

Progressive House but trancey? - Reminds me of Fortissimo a bit.

I've been trying to write uplifting or relaxing ideas in hopes that it might help you get through a tough day given what's going on in the world (and also for my own sanity, haha). But I think everything got to me over the last few days and I had to get this out ... Download attached!

- Andrew

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What's a "Song Sketch?"  - A rough sketch of a son...

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Song Sketch #6 - Days Past

Liquid DnB - Messing with bass and percussion ideas over my usual piano stuff ... Download attached!

- Andrew

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What's a "Song Sketch?"  - A rough sketch of a song idea from a ~1 hour studio session. These are very rough and I may or may not revisit these ideas.

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Fresh Start - WIP Week 5 (Session 2)

Yesterday was the final session on stream it's getting close to being done! You can watch the VOD here. Here are my notes after yesterday:

Good Stuff

  • I extended the arrangement - it's REALLY long, but I think it works.
  • Simplified the Verse percussions and adjusted the bass to match the kick.
  • I'm really happy with where the verses and drops ended ...

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Fresh Start - WIP Week 5 (Session 1)

I did an extra session on Monday this week and we made some great progress - you can watch the VOD on Twitch here. Some notes on the current version:

Good Stuff

  • I'm pretty happy with the verse percussion now.
  • Removing the arpeggio from the verse section really with the pacing of the song (before I think there were just too many elements in this section.
  • Added ext...

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Song Sketch #5 - Retrace

Future House idea, I guess? Haha - Download attached!

Stay safe and health!

- Andrew

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What's a "Song Sketch?"  - A rough sketch of a song idea from a ~1 hour studio session. These are very rough and I may or may not revisit these ideas.

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Song Sketch #4 - Return

Piano House - sounds kinda like Here Again? I dunno... Download attached!

- Andrew

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What's a "Song Sketch?"  - A rough sketch of a song idea from a ~1 hour studio session. These are very rough and I may or may not revisit these ideas.

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Fresh Start - WIP Week 4

This week, the song is really coming together! Hilariously, I just deleted the VOD when I was trying to grab the link for you to watch... sorry about that lol. But that's okay - the updates this week were small but I think they add up to a big difference.

The Good

  • Everything is coming together much better.
  • The bass has another layer that fills it out nicely.
  • Little intro BG FX help fill out a bit of the space and come in during other parts ...

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Song Sketch #3 - Burn

Future / Progressive House - Download attached!

- Andrew

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What's a "Song Sketch?"  - A rough sketch of a song idea from a ~1 hour studio session. These are very rough and I may or may not revisit these ideas.

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Fresh Start - WIP Week 3

Production VOD is up on Twitch. Overall, the song is really coming together - here are some thoughts on the current version:

The Good

  • The pacing is much better here and everything feels smoother and more coherent after initial FX were added.
  • The drums in the verse are good (not great). I like the live drum set feel but it's not exactly right.
  • The shortened intro ...

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Song Sketch #2 - Above

Piano session turned into an EDM song - Download attached!

- Andrew

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What's a "Song Sketch?"  - A rough sketch of a song idea from a ~1 hour studio session. These are very rough and I may or may not revisit these ideas.

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Fresh Start - WIP Week 2

Production session 2 VOD is up on Twitch, if you're interested! A few thoughts on this week's version:

  • I'm much happier with the drop drums now - there's still some work left to do on them, but they're generally in the right place.
  • There are a fair amount of sound design updates I made to the drop and I'm pretty happy with them. But I still have to make it sound much better wit...

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