It's all happening

Okay so the year has absolutely flown by! It's been such a large one for me, and I now stand just a month out from completing my Bachelor of Audio. I'm an audio engineer! It feels so cool even just reflecting on when I first started messing around with production and electronic composition almost five years ago, all the little milestones in between, and just taking a moment to acknowledge the trajectory I've pushed myself towards by pursuing a career in something I love.

So I haven't done a blog since September let alone an update, I also haven't been keeping my Jbox socials that up to date either. But that's because so much has been going on. Time to tell you what's been taking up all my time / what I've been up to.

Firstly, I've been doing all the sound for a game since June. Sol Ensis is a whimsical adventure game about a young knight who is way too keen to save the world. The project is close to the polishing stages and it's currently around 116 total audio assets that I've made so far. What I do have to show you today though, is an insight into the types of music I've been creating for it:

This project has seriously pushed my genre boundaries and has tested my production & technical ability. Not only is this the first time I have composed and produced Classical-fantasy music, but the task of making digitally arranged orchestral instruments sound real is not an easy process at all. I don't claim that I've been able to mimic an actual orchestra, as I've definitely put my own creative vision into the soundtrack; but it's just been so damn rewarding and I'm really proud that I've been able to tackle this challenge. I feel like it has also improved my songwriting drastically and the elements I've learnt have started to weave into my Jbox productions.

Along with a number of musical pieces for the soundtrack: I've recorded a large variety of ambience tracks, and created sound-effects ranging from different surface footsteps to sword swings and imaginative things with magical properties. To implement all of this into the game, along with teaching myself the basics of the coding language C#, I've learnt an entirely new DAW, FMOD:

I'll have more info and cool stuff about Sol Ensis real soon, along with releasing a full soundtrack on streaming platforms.

Jbox has still been going super well, albeit a bit quiet on the online presence since bringing out Desire. Along with working on new original tracks, I've written and submitted a grant application to record and release a debut EP with a music video and launch show in the next few years. I've also actually started collaborating with some talented and emerging acts which is super exciting so I'll keep you posted with that as well.

Since my blog on networking and going to workshops etc, I've still been doing a lot of that too! I've begun an internship on the production team at 4ZZZ radio, which has been an amazing experience so far, and recently an Industry Connect talk on kick-starter projects for musicians and the government-funded grant opportunities that are available to us.

There's definitely more to come this year, but just as a little outlook into the short future: In 2018 I will have graduated from my audio degree and one of the main likely plans for next year, is that I'll undertake a music degree where I'll be able to focus pretty much full-time on developing Jbox towards the next big step. I'm talking songwriting, production quality, a new live show and just more and more involved in the music industry overall. So excited.

Chat soon,

Lachy :)