Fantastic read, Step. As a nonmusician who is very musically curious, it's stories like yours that give me a real peek into the music making world.
Of course, it's also fun to watch the king of text wall text wall himself.
Hey! My name's Stephan Wells, and I'm a musician, mixing engineer, programmer, proofreader, gamer, aspiring game developer, audio moderator, and former host of the NGADM. Thanks to Youkos for the user image and profile icon!
Stephan Wells
@Step
Age 29, Male
Student
Utrecht University
Malta
Joined on 11/4/07
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Comments
LOL, glad you enjoyed reading it and thanks for stopping by.
Just a heads up, the latest NGADM is under way at the moment in case you're interested in checking some of it out. As always there are tons of quality tracks!
Yes! I'm aware. In fact, I considered doing a stats post like last year and ran the group stage scores in a spreadsheet. But the judging was too consistent and noncontroversial that there weren't many interesting things to say about :)
So that must mean the judges are agreeing with their scores haha. Good sign :p.
Nice to hear from you again mate.
Why are you so good? I Know, coz piano playah! I no play anything, I suck music! GRRR!
You don't need to play an instrument to make music. Not with today's tools!
Thanks though :3.
This was worth taking a good couple hours out of my day. Man the Harmony of Heroes thing seems pretty sweet. And I definitely like people who can leave walls of texts like that. People like that leave the best reviews.
Walls of text are awesome ^_^.
Thanks for reading! And I'm glad you checked out Harmony of Heroes. I'm hugely passionate about that project and can't wait until its release.
You will always be Supersteph54 to me. LULZ
How did I never hear "Sanctuary"? I just downloaded the heck out of that track. :D
Your comments about Geometry Dash remind me that I was in Gamestop the other day and heard music from Newgrounds playing in the background of some game. I don't remember who's music it was, but it certainly excited me.
I'll be honest, reading your post does depress me some because I'm reading success after success, and I reflect on my own musical journey (or life journey as a whole) and it's just been a great big pile of pain and failure- mainly because of psychological issues that really make it hard to do anything productively, even when working with skills that I excel at.
I'm glad that I met you, Step, and that you've been friendly to me and inspirational. Maybe one day I'll accomplish something too. For now at least I can help other people on their musical journeys.
For some reason I felt like Monster Hunter would be mentioned somewhere in this post.
"You will always be Supersteph54 to me. LULZ"
Nuuu. I hate that name haha.
"How did I never hear "Sanctuary"? I just downloaded the heck out of that track. :D"
You know, it may be pretty old but I'm still quite proud of that track.
"Your comments about Geometry Dash remind me that I was in Gamestop the other day and heard music from Newgrounds playing in the background of some game. I don't remember who's music it was, but it certainly excited me."
That is awesome. There is some crazy talent on this website.
"I'll be honest, reading your post does depress me some because I'm reading success after success, and I reflect on my own musical journey (or life journey as a whole) and it's just been a great big pile of pain and failure- mainly because of psychological issues that really make it hard to do anything productively, even when working with skills that I excel at."
For what it's worth, as you know I think your music is sweet! Never give up. I still have a very long way to go, but I made it this far only through determination and a constant inclination towards improving.
"I'm glad that I met you, Step, and that you've been friendly to me and inspirational. Maybe one day I'll accomplish something too. For now at least I can help other people on their musical journeys."
Your reviews and support have been awesome, I can't thank you enough ^_^.
"For some reason I felt like Monster Hunter would be mentioned somewhere in this post."
It is mentioned indirectly. My longest song ever is a medley of various Monster Hunter melodies, and I linked to it somewhere in that wall of text :p. Monster Hunter was mostly separate from my music but thanks to it I got to know someone who introduced me to Darren, the director for Harmony of a Hunter and Harmony of Heroes.
"For what it's worth, as you know I think your music is sweet! Never give up. I still have a very long way to go, but I made it this far only through determination and a constant inclination towards improving."
I'm only aware that you like one of my songs, haha.
I won't give up. My problem, though, is that I'm not always able to work hard, due to health problems. Sometimes I can do quite literally nothing.
I heard more than just that one piece of music, although that was a while ago. I'd be up for reviewing another one of your pieces if I find the time actually! Do you have any recommendations?
I would love that! Um, I guess I'll recommend "The Valley of Apples and Hope" since it got relatively little attention.
Roger that!
How didn't I notice this post until now?
Anyway, it was an enjoyable read, and I even found a couple tracks o' yours I hadn't listened to before :D
You have a very motivational story indeed. When I listen to your oldest compositions, and compare them to how your music sounds now, it gives me hope that maybe I'll be able to make something worth listening to someday as well XD
Really glad you liked reading it! I enjoyed writing it.
How long have you been making music for? Is the first track you have on Newgrounds your first ever piece of music?
Well, I've played the piano for five and a half year now (before that I had barely even touched an instrument), which means I've been composing somewhat seriously for 4 years. The first track I uploaded on Newgrounds is probably about 2 years old, so it's not nearly my first. I might actually upload the first serious track I've ever made today, now that I think about it (I actually have the original recording, with all its charming errors, somewhere on my computer). I'll be back to post another comment after I've uploaded it (I've meant to do so for a while).
I keep every single track I've ever made on my Newgrounds profile. I've considered taking them down sometimes but I've been advised not to since it's pretty cool to have a representation of your full evolution and maturing as an artist all in one portfolio, and in hindsight I agree. It can get annoying to get reviews on your old tracks now and again though haha.
Oh God...
Well, here is my first song ever, in case you're interested (at least I've improved some since then XD).
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/588658
(I know how it feels to get reviews on older songs. I've been uploading some lately, as I haven't had time to make new ones, but I still get tons of reviews :D I'm actually glad I get them though :3)
Haha, I guess reviews are nice, but I do get a "why are you reviewing this and not one of my newer tracks ;_;" feeling whenever I see a new review (often even a FAVOURABLE one) on an old and crappy track of mine.
That first song of yours is... actually much better than I expected. You clearly had more knowledge on music theory at the time than I did when I first started making music. You had the concept of a chord progression nailed already, and even had some pretty decent melodies to boot!
So you must've made that when you were 15. When I was 15 I was still making this crap :3.
Lol, I actually think you're track is faaar better than mine :p
You also knew more about production and percussion back then than I know now XD
As soon as I get out of the army I'll try to focus more on DAWs, mixing and such :3
Hahha, Buoy must've gotten a bit on your nerves then, considering how many old tracks of yours have been hit with reviews from him XD
FYI I had absolutely no knowledge of music theory when I made my first song (I don't even think I knew the names of the chords), and my theory is still lacking. I simply ripped off the chords used in "River Flows in You" :3
:OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Your*
Grammar nazi aside, Buoy said he'd review all of my old tracks and I agreed to it. It was actually pretty funny and informative seeing what he thought about them :3.
Trust me, I think your knowledge of theory was far greater than mine at the time. I had NO idea what I was doing. Funniest part was how in the author's comments of that link I sent, I said that I made a change to a "minor key" but little did I know that the whole track was in a minor key...
Ah well! At least we can both say we improved so much since then haha.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How could I make such a horrible grammatical mistake D':
*procedes to take own life*
I am deeply disappoint.
I loved reading this. I felt like I could relate in so many ways. Man, I remember when I first started making music back in '09, and I came across your music and was impressed. You were 14 I think, because I remember the disbelief when I saw your age in your profile, and I said to myself damn, this kid has got talent! I knew you would go somewhere. I know how it is with life getting too busy for making music. Sadly, I had to give it up because I just didn't have time anymore. I never learned how to play piano, so it just took too long to make songs by clicking around FL Studio's piano roll. It’s reading things like this though that make me smile, and bring me back to the gold old days. It has only been 5 years, but so much has changed! I too look forward to listening to what you make in the future.
Wow, josielemmings! I haven't seen you around in so long. It's a real shame that you quit music since you were good at it. Life does get in the way a lot, so I see where you're coming from. Ultimatums suck though; do get back into it if you find the time.
Thanks for stopping by :3.
JKSSN
So many text. DAMN YOU STEP!
You made me read everything because you don't have a tl;dr! >:C
In all seriousness though, you really have an interesting story toward your music career.
Really motivational. :3
I'll be here waiting for more music from you!
Who knows, if I get older and manage to learn how to program some games, we could collab and make a rhythm game! huehuehue
Step
Hahaha, no TL;DR indeed. Get rekt.
But yeah it's cool that you read it all! A rhythm game would indeed be cool!