(April 23rd, 2025)
hello hi I have been involved with a lot of music compilations this April. I've long been hoping to blog more often so I thought I'd write down my thoughts from my participation in each, both as a way to provide some insight into the production process for the curious and as a way to introduce the compilations in question to anybody who might not have seen them.
Pretty much all these releases pertain to the BMS (Be-Music Source) community in some shape or form. One of the most difficult parts of BMS as a hobby is that there's no easy way to explain what it is but for the unaware it can basically be summed up as "free file format people use to release playable rhythm game songs in a gameplay format that's usually like IIDX but also isn't IIDX" or something
BE-MUSIC Special Selection is a series of yearly compilations I organize that compiles the music from BMS files submitted to the small-to-medium-sized BMS events that took place that year. For many different logistical reasons I'm not able to include every single BMS, but in general I try to pick out a tracklist that both flows well and showcases as much of the community's activity as I can within reason. The recent release turned out much larger than the last two releases in this series - in fact, at 135 tracks it's the largest compilation I've ever organized. The rate of responses to the requests was very high, and I'm thankful to everyone who took the time to send in their tracks. This is also the first time I've managed to release the compilation before the next GdbG was released, which has been the schedule I've always aspired to have because it's more accurate to the chronological order of the original BMS events... except this was also actually the first year an event was included that took place after BOF. Well, I'd like to stay on this schedule in future years regardless.
I've been organizing these compilations for multiple years now, and with it each year comes a new workload of mastering. Every time I'm pushing myself to improve my mastering technique and try and make the tracks sound as clean as possible, but it's tricky work. I started learning to master other artists' tracks specifically because of this series, and in the past I've quite often ended up feeling like there were various things I could have handled better. However, with this release I'm actually very satisfied with my work overall! I've been exploring different approaches, and recently I've been getting accustomed to using soothe2 more often, which I find helps a lot. So, I'll continue to try and improve my mastering every year.
I am a little sad I didn't have time to make anything for the remixes / extended mixes section this time. The four tracks in the bonus disc might be feeling a little lonely... But at the same time, there's already so much music included from across the game length versions! So I think even a tiny bonus disc is fine.
Besides the audio side of the compilation, there is a sabun package with new patterns for the BMS of many of the included songs. A lot of the patterns are ultra-insane Stella-level patterns for the dedicated 7K gamers out there, but there's also some 5K patterns from 茨木童子の腕 to try, and for the 14K players, marquee made an impressive amount of full 14K spreads. (RykSeb contributed a 14K pattern as well.) I often lament the feeling that even in the BMS scene itself, a BMS file's lifespan in the public cultural memory can fade away very quickly if it's not a high-ranking BOF entry or if it doesn't end up on a difficulty table somewhere. My hope is always that these compilations can provide new ways to extend the memory of these works, whether it be through including the music in the compilation itself or by giving pattern makers a venue to release new patterns for these songs that people can play.
I released a 8-track-long free V/A compilation with my friends (and some guests) on the netlabel Attract Mode ON! This compilation has been a long time in the making but kept falling by the wayside due to other priorities, so I'm really glad to finally have it out. I handled organization and mastering, and I was happy to be able to include both an array of original tracks and some tracks originating from BMS files as well. Unkraut Mädchen and Blockswing were both underground sleeper hits from BOF:NT, and Emelia's VIII-XIV/Vertebramorph got a super intense extended mix that I'm proud to say I helped give reason to be produced. On the originals side, the ROMpler hooks in BZ's calm instrumental track are beautiful, Kudomu's dark atmosphere is as drowningly eerie as ever, Lollipop got to do an upbeat jazz-trio fusion track I've never heard him try before... dandeless' contribution, cryogenesis, has been previously included on her album from last year, which is all just as excellent as her tune here.
My own track, 1077 Sound System, was made under the Du Vel Mat Te pseudonym, where I deliberately limit myself to only using loops and audio clips as audio sources (except techおかき from GroundbreakinG BOF:ET, where I broke from the format to do a self-remix). The goal of these tracks is always just to have fun throwing together random samples I have on my hard drive that I wouldn't otherwise use, but here I learned the hard way that if I'm going to try to make something clubby-sounding I need to start IMMEDIATELY with finding a strong kick sample or else I am going to die. This time, I was not smart and ended up having to work around some random awkwardly layered drumloops, and I felt like it was a constant uphill battle to try and make the mix sound properly "full"... Cutting up the bass into the melody I had in my head was also time consuming, but that's life when you can't use a sampler channel.
In conclusion, production was troubled. If I recall I think the tail end of the work was done in a haze while in-between grinding out playing through the story mode in vivid/stasis. Unfortunately my loop-combining technique ultimately can not hold a candle to Locked Out.
Furthermore, a 2-minute-long cut of 1077 Sound System also exists, so I'd like to make a BMS file of it eventually. As for Attract Mode ON as a label, who knows what's in store. I'd love to host more compilations but I think it will be a little while before I have the time to organize anything to release on there.
I was invited to participate in this year's GroundbreakinG compilation with my BMS track ZWSP, and so an extended mix was produced.
This extended mix turned out being on the ambitious side. This was for the following reasons:
I was originally still only shooting for 7-8 minutes, so I was surprised when it ended up going over even that... Ultimately, I was actually completely unsure how the final track would be received. The hardkick section in particular was far outside my comfort zone and I ended up finishing it so close to deadline that I couldn't mix it attentively. But I was very relieved when the new sections played during the livestream and the chat seemed to enjoy them! I will note that in the original self-master the screech in the hardkick section was way too piercing and I think the way Puru mastered it made it work a lot better, so I'm grateful for that. And for anybody who does have trouble with length, it should be easily possible to stitch together a version that's truer to the original track structure by simply cutting out measures 117-228.
Although I was super excited to see reception was positive, I don't think I'll make track this long again any time soon, at least not for a compilation. It's fun as an occasional novelty but I could see it getting to be a problem if it became a regular occurence, or if too many people started doing it. There'd have to be day-long release streams!!
Anyway, I've only been talking about my own track, but there are 46 whole others, too! I love Iustitia, especially. There's also lots of techno this time in general, not just ZWSP. Secretly I had been hoping for The Rebellious Recept and Ensa but figured that there between them and ZWSP there would probably be only one at max. But all three were included, which was a happy surprise! I was also glad to see more melodically-focused instrumentals included this time, such as nenuphar, Cleddyf and loneliness.
Besides the music, I want to say I'm a fan of the shiny RGB-coded album art this time around, designed by Landscaper. If I had known ahead of time ZWSP was going to be featured on the green disc, would I have instead made it a mashup with The Green Baron...? ... No, I think I absolutely would not have done that.
If all goes well, I'm hoping to organize one more project this year. I have no idea how it will turn out but I'm really excited to work on it... I think it will be a while before information about that starts springing up, though. In the mean time, thank you as always to everyone who follows my works, plays my BMS files and posts impressions on them, etc. I hope everyone is having fun with the recent developments in the BMS community; time spent on arcane internet hobbies is time well spent.
- H.
hello hi I have been involved with a lot of music compilations this April. I've long been hoping to blog more often so I thought I'd write down my thoughts from my participation in each, both as a way to provide some insight into the production process for the curious and as a way to introduce the compilations in question to anybody who might not have seen them.
Pretty much all these releases pertain to the BMS (Be-Music Source) community in some shape or form. One of the most difficult parts of BMS as a hobby is that there's no easy way to explain what it is but for the unaware it can basically be summed up as "free file format people use to release playable rhythm game songs in a gameplay format that's usually like IIDX but also isn't IIDX" or something
BE-MUSIC Special Selection 2024
BE-MUSIC Special Selection is a series of yearly compilations I organize that compiles the music from BMS files submitted to the small-to-medium-sized BMS events that took place that year. For many different logistical reasons I'm not able to include every single BMS, but in general I try to pick out a tracklist that both flows well and showcases as much of the community's activity as I can within reason. The recent release turned out much larger than the last two releases in this series - in fact, at 135 tracks it's the largest compilation I've ever organized. The rate of responses to the requests was very high, and I'm thankful to everyone who took the time to send in their tracks. This is also the first time I've managed to release the compilation before the next GdbG was released, which has been the schedule I've always aspired to have because it's more accurate to the chronological order of the original BMS events... except this was also actually the first year an event was included that took place after BOF. Well, I'd like to stay on this schedule in future years regardless.
I've been organizing these compilations for multiple years now, and with it each year comes a new workload of mastering. Every time I'm pushing myself to improve my mastering technique and try and make the tracks sound as clean as possible, but it's tricky work. I started learning to master other artists' tracks specifically because of this series, and in the past I've quite often ended up feeling like there were various things I could have handled better. However, with this release I'm actually very satisfied with my work overall! I've been exploring different approaches, and recently I've been getting accustomed to using soothe2 more often, which I find helps a lot. So, I'll continue to try and improve my mastering every year.
I am a little sad I didn't have time to make anything for the remixes / extended mixes section this time. The four tracks in the bonus disc might be feeling a little lonely... But at the same time, there's already so much music included from across the game length versions! So I think even a tiny bonus disc is fine.
Besides the audio side of the compilation, there is a sabun package with new patterns for the BMS of many of the included songs. A lot of the patterns are ultra-insane Stella-level patterns for the dedicated 7K gamers out there, but there's also some 5K patterns from 茨木童子の腕 to try, and for the 14K players, marquee made an impressive amount of full 14K spreads. (RykSeb contributed a 14K pattern as well.) I often lament the feeling that even in the BMS scene itself, a BMS file's lifespan in the public cultural memory can fade away very quickly if it's not a high-ranking BOF entry or if it doesn't end up on a difficulty table somewhere. My hope is always that these compilations can provide new ways to extend the memory of these works, whether it be through including the music in the compilation itself or by giving pattern makers a venue to release new patterns for these songs that people can play.
Terrasphere
I released a 8-track-long free V/A compilation with my friends (and some guests) on the netlabel Attract Mode ON! This compilation has been a long time in the making but kept falling by the wayside due to other priorities, so I'm really glad to finally have it out. I handled organization and mastering, and I was happy to be able to include both an array of original tracks and some tracks originating from BMS files as well. Unkraut Mädchen and Blockswing were both underground sleeper hits from BOF:NT, and Emelia's VIII-XIV/Vertebramorph got a super intense extended mix that I'm proud to say I helped give reason to be produced. On the originals side, the ROMpler hooks in BZ's calm instrumental track are beautiful, Kudomu's dark atmosphere is as drowningly eerie as ever, Lollipop got to do an upbeat jazz-trio fusion track I've never heard him try before... dandeless' contribution, cryogenesis, has been previously included on her album from last year, which is all just as excellent as her tune here.
My own track, 1077 Sound System, was made under the Du Vel Mat Te pseudonym, where I deliberately limit myself to only using loops and audio clips as audio sources (except techおかき from GroundbreakinG BOF:ET, where I broke from the format to do a self-remix). The goal of these tracks is always just to have fun throwing together random samples I have on my hard drive that I wouldn't otherwise use, but here I learned the hard way that if I'm going to try to make something clubby-sounding I need to start IMMEDIATELY with finding a strong kick sample or else I am going to die. This time, I was not smart and ended up having to work around some random awkwardly layered drumloops, and I felt like it was a constant uphill battle to try and make the mix sound properly "full"... Cutting up the bass into the melody I had in my head was also time consuming, but that's life when you can't use a sampler channel.
In conclusion, production was troubled. If I recall I think the tail end of the work was done in a haze while in-between grinding out playing through the story mode in vivid/stasis. Unfortunately my loop-combining technique ultimately can not hold a candle to Locked Out.
Furthermore, a 2-minute-long cut of 1077 Sound System also exists, so I'd like to make a BMS file of it eventually. As for Attract Mode ON as a label, who knows what's in store. I'd love to host more compilations but I think it will be a little while before I have the time to organize anything to release on there.
GroundbreakinG BOF:TT
I was invited to participate in this year's GroundbreakinG compilation with my BMS track ZWSP, and so an extended mix was produced.
This extended mix turned out being on the ambitious side. This was for the following reasons:
- I would have had trouble fitting my extension ideas into the structure of the original BMS track, and thus it made the most sense to add an entirely new segment at the end. For example, I wanted to try having a section where the riff from the break in the original track plays over the techno beat, but it was something that I couldn't seamlessly fit into the original drop. I also wanted to have a tradionally clubby build-and-drop segment, but to me the way the original break eerily drones out into silence before the drop is an important part of the track's identity, so I didn't want to replace it.
- To be honest, on previous years, I've felt like I've had trouble extending my tracks in a way that would excite the audience. I have received positive feedback on my previous two GdbG entries (even techおかき which had extremely troubled production), and I'm grateful to hear that people have enjoyed them, but to me a large part of the appeal of debuting a track at a livestream event is the chance to entertain and astonish people. As a result of this personal dissatisfaction, this time I wanted to find a way to turn this straightforward techno track into something really over-the-top.
- The idea of a song named "Zero Width Space" taking up a relatively absurd amount of space was funny
- I just like acid and smoke detector kicks
I was originally still only shooting for 7-8 minutes, so I was surprised when it ended up going over even that... Ultimately, I was actually completely unsure how the final track would be received. The hardkick section in particular was far outside my comfort zone and I ended up finishing it so close to deadline that I couldn't mix it attentively. But I was very relieved when the new sections played during the livestream and the chat seemed to enjoy them! I will note that in the original self-master the screech in the hardkick section was way too piercing and I think the way Puru mastered it made it work a lot better, so I'm grateful for that. And for anybody who does have trouble with length, it should be easily possible to stitch together a version that's truer to the original track structure by simply cutting out measures 117-228.
Although I was super excited to see reception was positive, I don't think I'll make track this long again any time soon, at least not for a compilation. It's fun as an occasional novelty but I could see it getting to be a problem if it became a regular occurence, or if too many people started doing it. There'd have to be day-long release streams!!
Anyway, I've only been talking about my own track, but there are 46 whole others, too! I love Iustitia, especially. There's also lots of techno this time in general, not just ZWSP. Secretly I had been hoping for The Rebellious Recept and Ensa but figured that there between them and ZWSP there would probably be only one at max. But all three were included, which was a happy surprise! I was also glad to see more melodically-focused instrumentals included this time, such as nenuphar, Cleddyf and loneliness.
Besides the music, I want to say I'm a fan of the shiny RGB-coded album art this time around, designed by Landscaper. If I had known ahead of time ZWSP was going to be featured on the green disc, would I have instead made it a mashup with The Green Baron...? ... No, I think I absolutely would not have done that.
If all goes well, I'm hoping to organize one more project this year. I have no idea how it will turn out but I'm really excited to work on it... I think it will be a while before information about that starts springing up, though. In the mean time, thank you as always to everyone who follows my works, plays my BMS files and posts impressions on them, etc. I hope everyone is having fun with the recent developments in the BMS community; time spent on arcane internet hobbies is time well spent.
- H.