Tom changed my username from Supersteph54 to Step. The story behind the username 'Step' is a long one which I don't feel like telling now but whatever the case, it's leagues better than Supersteph54.

Thanks a lot to Tom for being awesome and changing it in the space of a few minutes.

Harmony of a Hunter: 101% Run has just released the first preview. Harmony of a Hunter is a fan-made remix album, intended as a tribute to the Metroid franchise. That handy link over there is the first preview of the album, check it out!

Sorry to make a new newspost so soon but this album thread right here deserves some exposure. Basically Harmony of a Hunter 101% Run is a remix album; a fan-made tribute towards the Metroid franchise. 101% actually expands on the original Harmony of a Hunter album which you can find more info on in the above link.

If you're interested in remixing Metroid music then just post your best works in the thread. A wide variety of genres is accepted, and some Newgrounds artists such as PeterSatera, SBB, Echo and myself are already involved in the album.

So yeah, check it out!

New track! CHECK IT OUT. Hopefully it's one of the more Moroccan-sounding songs you've heard in a while.

Obligatory colourful screenshot.

Uncanny.

Be prepared for a long story.

As some of you may know, I'm nearly entirely deaf from one ear. It started off when I was about 3 or 4... my mum noticed me always switching the phone to my left ear because I couldn't hear much with my right ear. She knew I suffered badly from ear infections in my right ear (I even had pus coming out of my ear at some points) so thinking they may have been the cause, she took me to an ENT specialist, who confirmed this suspicion.

He did a hearing test for me, where you have to wear headphones, listen to tones being played at different pitches/volumes in each separate ear and press a button when you hear a sound. His results concluded roughly a 55% hearing loss in my right ear.

Now I presume throughout my childhood my right ear's hearing loss remained fairly constant at 55%. However, when I was 11-12, I started to get more into music. I never really liked music in my younger years but all of a sudden I started to love it. I began making music eventually, and listening to it more and more on headphones at a fairly loud volume. When I was in the van, or in the break, or waiting for lessons to start in the morning, or in a free period... I'd always listen to music. Headphones are known for causing hearing loss, but more on that later.

Nearly 3 weeks ago I started feeling an odd sensation in my ear. I felt as though I was in a plane that was landing and no yawning was able to get rid of the feeling. I started hearing everything a little more muffled than usual and it was really irritating. I scheduled an appointment to an ear specialist who was going to see me after the weekend (it was Friday at the time if I remember correctly) but I couldn't stand it any more so I just went to the regular doctor for a check-up.

He told me I had quite a lot of catarrh in my right ear and said that it's no wonder I heard everything muffled. He then prescribed two weeks of a tablets. That was cool with me. Tablets were hard to swallow but whatever, they did the job perfectly.

The following Monday, I went to the ear specialist. He did another ear test and to my dismay he said that since my last hearing test in 2004 my hearing has worsened. My left ear's hearing went down by about 5% as far as I know, and my right ear went from 55% hearing loss to 70% hearing loss.

This made me think; what if I'm starting to go deaf? Going deaf is pretty high on my "terrible things to happen to me" list. Music is a massive part of my life and I love making music more than any other hobby. Gaming's fun, writing/reading books is also great, programming/maths is something I enjoy too, but making music is just incredible. Going deaf would be horrible.

The specialist told me that the more hearing loss an ear has, the more it's prone to getting even more hearing loss. He also thinks that the culprit to my hearing loss was my constant usage of headphones. He said that it's very likely that listening to music on headphones for such a large amount of time may have affected my ears, and told me to stop using headphones or at the very least keep them at a very low volume.

To be honest I'm very much inclined to believe him because I used headphones for at least 2 hours per day on average. I had it at a pretty loud volume (not as loud as most teenagers but still loud enough to faintly hear what I'm listening to while I have my headphones on). So this is a message to whoever uses headphones a lot - stop. Speakers are a great alternative when you're listening to music (or making it if you're a musician). If you do use headphones, keep them low enough to hear a car's engine or the fan of your tower. Losing your hearing is not worth it.

So anyway, I stopped using headphones nearly entirely from then on - I just used them on rare occasions when I wanted to hear how a song of mine sounded in a different sound system. My time at school got a whole lot more boring from then on but I plan on downloading some books on my eBook and reading them at school when I have nothing to do, to pass the time.

After 2 weeks of those tablets, my hearing cleared completely and I was perfectly fine. Now, however, a few days after stopping the dosage, the irritation and slightly muffled hearing came back again. I had to go over to the doctor again and he told me that it's not a good idea to take the tablets he initially prescribed for a long amount of time because they can cause some side effects. He prescribed more tablets for me which I've got to take for six months.

So now, along with the fact that my hearing worsened (and may still be worsening), the catarrh probably came back when I thought I was rid of it and even though I don't like taking tablets much, I've got to take them daily for another six months (along with a nasal spray I have to use twice every day in the morning and evening).

Even though the doctor assured me that there isn't anything to worry about and there are always many more ways of getting rid of my ear problem, this has made me absolutely terrified of losing my hearing for good. I can't imagine life without hearing. I'd be deprived of nearly all of my hobbies, including gaming and of course, making/listening to music.

I've considered getting a hearing aid for my defective right ear (the one with 70% hearing loss), not because I actually need it since I can hear people speaking fairly well, but because I want to hear more. I don't want to have to ask people to repeat often since I didn't hear properly. I want multi-directional hearing - to be able to know where a sound is coming from. I don't want to have to stay at a particular place in class (front-right) just so that I can hear the teacher perfectly. I think a hearing aid might fix all these things.

That said, my parents said that sound through a hearing aid is different and the doctor told me that there isn't any need for a hearing aid right now, even though it's a possibility in the future.

Whatever the case, that ends my bigass depressing story. Hopefully my hearing won't get any worse.

Rate it. On a scale from one to sexy.

My song Sanctuary is doing really well. In around two weeks it surpassed 150 favourites, 7,000 listens and nearly reached 40 reviews. Nearly 30 new people favourited me as an artist since then, bringing my count up to very close to 180 fans.

That's just fantastic. Thanks to the kind souls who made all that happen, but more than that, I've got to thank all the people who have generously offered me support/feedback/assistance regarding my music. Mostly off the top of my head (and in no particular order), here's a long list of the some of the more notable of such people:

- SBB
- UltimateCJ64
- Spysociety
- Birdinator99
- camoshark
- SCTE3
- BrokenDeck
- Echo
- Decibel
- ToastedToastyToast
- DeadEndWorldStudios
- Blackhole12
- plasticmanticor
- Sawdust
- snowstormfir
- Fro
- Tzunami
- Computer112
- PeterSatera
- DJ-Chilvan
- samulis
- Soapbubble
- eatmeatleet
- RogerBK
- FightingSeraph
- XsakuX
- Crystalsky
- SkyeWintrest
- Tomppaah
- EagleGuard
- BowserThedestructive
- WilhelmTheVampire
- BXXN
- XwaynecoltX
- GronmonSE
- lpfann2
- Darrenkerwin

And of course, all the people from the RRC certainly deserve a mention, along with all the people who have kindly added me to their favourite artists list (and put up with my occasional PM's announcing a new song), and anyone else I am inevitably forgetting.

I do make it a habit to make newsposts like these often, since I want to show that I think all the support/feedback I'm getting is excellent. I'd say keep it coming but I don't want to sound like an asshole :3. But yeah, thanks!

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/469873

Check out my new song. It's probably one of my best submissions!

Also, screenshot. No colour-coding this time :c.
http://i43.tinypic.com/2eezxcn.jpg

And here's a screenshot of one of the string staccato patterns which took me AGES to make. Every note and note velocity was humanised. Every. Single. One.
http://i43.tinypic.com/fbm78n.jpg

Edit:

OK GUYS. Just wanted to mention that SBB did a massive three-account review on Sanctuary.

Seriously stuff like that deserves to be put in a picture frame and hung on a wall. But the least you can do is check out his stuff!

http://sbb.newgrounds.com/audio

Edit 2:

Check it out. Camoshark and I did a collab!

East/West Quantum Leap Stormdrum 2 and East/West Quantum Leap Ra are now part of the arsenal.