Aftermath..... *dust settles*

I didn't know quite what to expect when I pressed "upload" on the video titled "Erutan - Raindancer ~ CD now available". All the little things that went through my head....Would people like the previews? Would they laugh at my choice of a stage name? Would I get enough of a return to make up for what I spent making this CD? Repair and replace my broken equipment?

Over the last few weeks there has been both negative and positive in relatively equal balance, and it definitely has been a learning experience.

One of the things I appreciated most was that no one blinked twice at my stage name, Erutan, and that was what I was worried about the most!

I've loved all the messages I've recieved this week about first impressions of the CD. It's a little strange though... I got so used to them being "mine alone" that it's almost bittersweet to think that they're out in the world now....going places I will never travel, within the minds (and iPods!) of others. Out of my reach. Bittersweet or not, I adore receiving messages about people's thoughts on the songs! Especially in depth ones!

One of the biggest downfalls to this last year is that I was working so hard on recording...that I didn't get in the simple maintenance practice of my instruments and voice. Recording isn't practice, and if you're doing only that, your skills begin to slip. That is certainly the case with me at the moment. Everything feels rusty, especially my violin playing. Plus I haven't had time in two years to just sit down and compose. I haven' t written anything new in a long time because I haven't had the time to do so. Now, with the CD being done, everyone seems to be calling in favors...but I just want to take a break from the hubbub, practice, get my skills back up to par, do a lot of reading, and write some new songs.

I've actually already written most of the songs for the next album. Most of them are more than 5 years old just like Raindancer's songs. I also want to write and add in some completely new ones as well. One of the songs I'm most wanting to share is the song I wrote when the Twin Towers were hit in 2001. It's one of my favorites, but it was too dark to put on Raindancer.

I also have many covers planned for next year, plus another few Stella Voci projects, but these things will have to be worked around the practicing and recording for the next album. Let's hope I can get a nice number of covers up even so!

Ahhh....I'm sure I'll have a lot more interesting things to say closer to New Years! ^w^;
So Happy Holidays everyone!!! Thanks again to everyone who got my album, take care of my babies, and forgive me for any shipping issues that resulted from my n00bish-ness.

Luv you <3

~Kate

Taste testing Sakuma Drops!

So, I recently ordered some of Japan's fabled Sakma Drop candies to try! There weren't a whole lot of "reviews" on these candies online so I thought I'd do a little taste test blog :D For those who dont know Sakuma Drops have been made in Japan for over 100 years, starting with fruit flavors (as seen on Grave of the Fireflies) and branching out to many different sweet and savory flavors. They are supposed to accurately replicate the flavor of various foods from different regions of Japan.

I ordered four flavors: Moe Sweet Milk (from Akihabara), Yaki Curry (from Mojiko), Choco Banana Crepe (Harajuku), and Takoyaki (Osaka).

I'll start with the Moe Sweet Milk:

Starts off very sweet with a slight coconut flavor, starts to really taste like sweet milk after a few minutes. Definitely a strict candy though!

Next the Yaki-Curry:

Starts off sweet like a candy with salty soy sauce hints. Deepens into a delicious sweet/salty taste with smoky overtones. I never really taste anything resembling curry, but it's a nice taste.

Next the Takoyaki:

Tastes only slightly sweet at first, then immediately gets smoky flavored. I taste kombu (japanese seaweed) after a minute and the drop gets sweeter. Another minute brings salt into it. A very understated taste, pleasant but not something I'll get again ^w^;

Next the Choco Banana Crepe:

Tastes immediately of bananas and chocolate, very accurate! After a few minutes starts to taste slightly like salted nuts. Quite delicious!

Overall the candies are smooth, subtle, and tasty, and I can tell the ingredients are good ^^ I'll be ordering new flavors at some point in the near future!

New Stella Voci Members, Copyright Success, etc

Hi guys!! It's been a while!!
Sorry for not updating in forever, I do appreciate those of you who read my blog! *hugs u*

Well, the Stella Voci auditions are over with, and as I kinda was afraid of, there were quite a few feelings hurt from the results....I wish I knew how I could have done this differently so that no one would have gotten hurt because of it...>_> I wish I could have impressed on them that this wasn't really a singing competition per se...more of a search for certain voice types. With no way to explain what I was looking for, I couldn't specify this in the audition in advance...I probably will never judge anything again as I'm too involved with my large circle on youtube to risk the precious friendships I've worked so hard to build.
The one really good thing that came out of it was knowledge of many amazing singers I'd never even known about. Many of which are of record-deal talent! Some of the best singers were not accepted into Stella Voci because of their star quality, their voices beautifully demanding the listeners attention instead of blending with others. Only time will tell if I've made the right choices, but I think the sound of the next project will be beautiful, balanced, and ethereal...even more so than Stella's first song (if that's possible xD) Which is great since we're going to be singing something from the Lord of the Rings!

In other news, my tough talking boyfriend has coerced the copyright office into giving us info on all my songs! We should be getting the paperwork and registrations starting in January! This means album release is a DEFINITE for late spring! A YEAR later than I wanted, but there wasn't much I could do about it was there? >w< Oh well, at least things are finally moving for me!

Thankyou all for patiently staying with me during all this, I know it was getting annoying hearing about the numerous delays and excuses for them...and believe me no one was more annoyed than I was! Anyways DIGITAL CUPCAKES FOR ALL! Drink something alcoholic in celebration okies? I know I will!! >w<

~Kate <3

oh GAWD more updates TwT

Hey guys, I've got quite a bit to say since last time ^w^;;;

First off, I'm sure a bunch of you remember my angry little blog concerning one ocremix-judge's off-the-record harsh critique of my Aerith's Theme. Well all the support you guys gave at the time made me really happy and at peace with it....however my submission of Rose of May hadn't gone though yet at the time...
After almost half a year, I was very surprised to notice it had not only gotten passed but received rave reviews from the judges in general xD Read here: xD

http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01859/

The techinical problems that the track had were fixed by my friend who is very knowledgable with sound production, so she brought the levels up and did a few other things ^_^ Thanks!
So...I guess I am an ocremixer officially now. ^w^;;; I knew I had sworn off from ever dealing with the site, but...I guess now I will submit the rest xD eh heh...

Okay update two, and this is quite a blow for me >_>
My songs are still not showing up the copyright records. They say that my songs are protected from the day they arrive...but when I called and asked, they could only find 4 songs on the internal database...FOUR out of THIRTEEN. These are songs I sent almost a year ago! They did however cash the checks...the robbers! They say that the wait is 18 months now for a copyright sent by mail >_>
The problem is...If I released the album...and some company decided to steal the songs, all they'd have to do is file electronically and they'd have legal copyrights before me...TwT
So I must at least have all my songs showing in the database before the release...and that might not be till next year guys >_> Plus the CD replication companies won't print the CD unless the songs are showing in the public records and I have the written registration letter for each song from the Goverment to show them....I AM THOROUGHLY PISSED ABOUT THIS! I totally sent the songs in enough time....TwT Right now I am afraid people are going to be really disgusted with me and this whole project....so...I'm going to go ahead and finish...and then I'm getting right back to my video game covers again which brings me to my next update:

Tifa's Theme lyrics are all done! Lol actually they've been done for two months xD I know it's been a big request and I'm very happy I'll be able to put it out soon! I'm having JoyStickies (grand prize winner of my AMV contest) make the video, and it will be put out as a celebration cover for when I hit 10,000 subs! xD which won't be long at the rate things are going O.O...

I had a strange problem though! I had finished the lyrics mostly two months ago, and had just brought them back up to finish...I did so...and then I wanted to check online at the other Tifa's Theme fan-lyrics online to double check that there were no similarities. Imagine my horror when I found a lyric that had been posted just days ago that started with the SAME first line >w<>_> this was 100 percent coincidence TwT But I was sooo relieved when she was really nice about it..she even had requested I sing the theme just a few weeks ago as a lyrical collab with her (I had forgotten about this TwT) and when I said I already had written lyrics and suggested that she write her own and sing them, she really did so and did a great job!
We just happened to have a similar good idea for that first verse xD
But wow, I never had that happen before...in JoyStickies' words...it made me headdesk >w<
I will post a link to her lyrics with the cover I put out so you can enjoy her lovely lyrics as well ^_^

Hmm that might be all I have for now ^w^;;;
thanks for reading as usual!
~Kate <33

My cd will be done next month!

Wow, guys...

I'm really almost there xD I'm thinking if I keep all the deadlines that I'll be done recording the songs around the 23rd or the following week on the 30th (if I add a 13th song to the group)

After that will be the whirlwind of mastering, CD replication services, and hasty website building.
Dunno how long that will take, but I'm going to make sure it doesn't take too long! O.o After all, the hard part will be over ^0^

Mastering means I take my tracks to a pro sound engineer and have him make everything the same volume and create the 'master' which is the CD that all the replications will be made from.

The replication service will make the discs, print all the booklets and covers, and wrap everything in shiny celophane xD
I'm worried that too many people won't want the physical album in favor of downloads, but I'm putting a lot of love into the booklet's art so I hope some of you will try to get the actual thing ^0^;; pleeease?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A FEW THINGS~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) there will be 13 songs on the album.

2) I will be releasing my performer/stage name along with the CD ^_^
I won't be using my real name or katethegreat19.

3) I have no plans currently to sell the album on itunes, because along with CD baby (the company that gets me on itunes) they will take 60 percent of my earnings. O.o So I'll be selling it on my website so that I can keep more of my income >_>

4) The album only will contain songs I've written and composed the melody for, so no covers and nothing you've ever heard before ^_^ (er...except for the cover of Scarborough Fair, but that's the only one and that's hundreds of years old so it's public domain ^_^ lol)

5) After it's release I will go back to doing the game and anime covers again ^0^
I miss them!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*hugs* and I hope to have something to show you guys really soon!!
~Kate <3

OH NO!!! >w<

OMG >w<
Well, this was a real upsetting surprise....

I have heard from several sources that youtube is now removing cover songs from it's site!!! Many have already been taken down (even with disclaimers)....and...well....as making cover songs is my main 'job' on youtube, this worries me quite bit! O.O If they thought I was a big enough offender, I could even have my account deleted! And there's no appeal system as there is no way to actually contact youtube.

But even the removal of one video/cover is terrible...I don't get subscribers everyday just from random searches, I get them because my videos are spread out on thousands of accounts as favorites, featured videos, etc. and that's why people see them...so if I lose a video, it's like losing a very long branch that took a very long time to grow....T-T

I'm stumped...I thought that making covers was perfectly legal as long as I was making no money that that it was all my own performances...but maybe that's breaking a law that I didn't know about. I can see the record company's point of view in this...they lose money if someone makes a cover song that gets more attention than their actual product. It's a valid worry of the record company, and a valid worry of the whole music biz, as their stock has already dropped considerably in the last 10 years due to readily available CD burners, and nowadays mp3 'sharing' ^w^ As I'm about to (try to) start a career as a recording artist, these very things will soon become valid worries of my own.

But....I believe going after people that make non-profit covers....is attacking the wrong people. However, since this may affect me pretty soon, I have to prepare!

I'll be making a full list of my contacts this week, leaving out no one, and if something bad does happen, I'll be contacting everyone on that list from a new account! T-T

Just a heads up from me...just in case!

*hugs tightly anyone that reads this*

~katethegreat19 ^w^

foam enables sooner album release!!! O.o plus other stuff ^_^

LOL it's true!!
Now that the room is soundproof, I can now record during the day and the night. Currently I am recording up to 6 hours a day! ^0^ Two album songs are now nearing completion after only a week. It's truly amazing!!! I feel very free. When I am done with the album and back to covers for a while, imagine how many I'll be releasing? ^0^ I'm very excited!!

The only problem with the new studio is that the air gets gross and stuffy very fast >w<
I have to walk out of there every 30 minutes or I'd suffocate for sure...or suffer brain damage at least! ^w^

I've been looking harshly at the songs on this album. I wrote all of them almost 2-4 years ago. I've written many songs and sets of lyrics since then, and my lyric writing has definitely improved. I'm worried that since many people are used to my youtube work, they won't like the lyrics of these older original songs. They were written by a younger me that hadn't really mastered her craft yet. The melodies however are some of my best work. I'm really excited to release them for no other reason than that.

Also, I want to release a Celtic/Renaissance album later this year as well. I spent much of my teenage years playing in a professional Celtic/Renaissance band, and I have a deep love of the
music!!!! ^0^ So that should be amazingly fun to do!

Okies...nothing too deep to say in this blog, just some updates!!! ^_^
talk to you all soon!!
~katethegreat19 ^0^