@User12261990 that’s probably the most freeing thing in the world, to be totally unburdened by needing to fit any mold at all

@jake.meredith_ the discord’s kinda quiet atm, if things start up again I’ll let you know!

But I definitely recommend going through Ivan’s whole catalog as Brasstracks he’s worked with some of my favorite writers and performers in the NY scene, just a really immaculate body of work!

Possibly one more but I wouldn’t be surprised if we get the full album on here before everyone else somehow. It’d be like some kind of “Patron exclusive” or something along those lines.

@uhmaybeidk ONE PIEEEEEEECE

Genuinely my all time favorite anime and possibly story of all time

Also Chris Sabat is like a legend in the voice actor world, truly responsible for an entire generation’s childhood comfort characters hahaha

@itsmichaelbain that’d be fun!

I know on the Brasstracks Discord we used to a thing called “Track for Track” where once a week we’d all post songs we were working on, and Ivan (the main guy from Brasstracks) as well as people in the discord would give feedback on the songs. It was a GREAT way to talk shop, be it production / mixing skills, arrangement work, or improving the pen game / lyricism of a record.

Then if the song one of us shared was good enough, Ivan would play an unreleased record of his (and he had some true GEMS, there’s one unreleased record he has with Jackson Lundy and Lizzy McAlpine that was so beautiful to hear).

Idk if Jon would ever do something like that because he probably wouldn’t have the time, but it would be fun to do that like that once every couple months if that were something he was down for.

@GabbyW0205 the older I get the more I realize that creativity shouldn’t be gatekept hahaha

We think only the biggest and best artists are the ones who are capable of changing lives, and while that’s true there’s nothing greater than the feeling of connection you get making something yourself, even if it’s not perfect.

@KjellyBean I had to give this a lot of thought before I could really give my feelings in writing so here we go!

I recently watched the anime film “Look Back” (it’s on Prime Video and is only like an hour long), about two manga artists who work together in high school on comics and then drift apart and go their separate ways (no spoilers beyond that lol). The final question the film poses to one of the main characters is “Why do you draw manga?” The answer, while not explicitly stated, is shown in visual flashbacks of the one character working together with her friend, and that friend smiling and giggling at the ideas they would come up with together just sitting in a room drawing cartoons.

THAT to me is the essence of why we make things. Creativity is born out of love, love for each other, love for self, love for the innate Beingness that really binds us and sews us all together. To create is to be as divinely inspired as the building blocks of life that wove us into this world, to tap into the somehow knowable unknown and become a conduit for something that might compel another to do or be something. For me personally, it’s to help me organize the chaos of the mind and heart and make it feel understood by myself and by others. That act of creation is offered by me as a personal tribute to God (or whatever you want to call the being that links us all together), as I believe I was granted that unique gift of perception and love for the specific mediums of both visual art and music by God.

So I’ll ask (even urge) anyone who wants to create something (even if it’s not art! it could be science or math or just genuine human connection!) to just go and do it. We’re all creators, who all have stories worth sharing. It taps into something so deeply human and divine, to take our separate walks of life and, if only for a moment, link them together into one.

@catkeleghan NOT THE SUSIE FROM ARKANSAS REFERENCE OMG

@Valcat1 I just missed the forum days of the internet by a few years and wasn't allowed to have an AIM account as a kid/teen, so I'm so glad something like this exists now, especially outside of even like a Reddit or Discord. Just nice to have something super basic and fun to chill with cool folks!

@Zeonder part of it is life / circumstance but I think the bigger part of it is just being a fan of people and appreciating what they’re bringing to the world creatively. One example: I was (still am I guess, it’s not as active as it was) a moderator on the Brasstracks discord and learned a ton from just listening and appreciating people’s work, and made connections by giving them the time and space to share what they’re working on and offer meaningful feedback toward it, all the while ALSO learning myself from sharing and feedback.

If you extend that sense of fandom y’all have for Jon or any other artist towards people either in this forum or other forums, eventually you’ll find your true community to rely on. That to me is more important any “fanbase” at the end of the day.

@catkeleghan “now everybody tryna hang around like awnings” was def a funny and good one hahaha

Also I feel like all of PPD was just one full bar hahaha

@KANTARELL YO WHAT!! Are you proficient in like Blender or Maya or something?! The hyper realism on this is craaaazy hahaha

You’ve got a great sense of rhythm in your programming, the drums had me nodding my head all throughout! You’ve also got a good intuition when it comes to arranging. I’d challenge you to do like real deep listening into some of your favorite records and really get a sense of the intricacies behind things, and then just really PLAY, paint and let the ideas fly on the blank canvas of your DAW. Try and reverse engineer some of the sounds that you really are gripped by, and you’ll find you learn a LOT from just attempting to do that. Once that happens, it’s like exercise, those muscles of arrangement and production will get stronger and more developed, till your reflexes almost feel intuitive!

Keep going, my friend! ️

@BeautifulMind gotta make sure you have a piece of marinated chicken and cheese for EACH chip, no more no less

It’s been so long since I’ve done anything a cappella related, I’d never seen this done before, that’s sick!

Also shoutout whoever’s doing the slick camerawork hahaha

@BeautifulMind dude this season of Traitors rules so much hahaha

@thesuperhero woah many questions hahaha! Thank you so much!

Produced and mixed most of everything except for I think one record, Kismet, which was mixed by friend Jimmy Meier. Album was mastered by Emerson Mancini, who did the mastering for GSP, they have great rates for independent artists looking to get stuff mastered!

My friend who’s credited as Crawford was the guy who did most of the guitar sounds you hear, with the exception of Marathon which I both used a Splice sample and guitars done by a guy named Youngteam.

Strings for Waiting on You and Best Thing were done by an NYC guy named Shaan Ramaprasad, it’s just him believe it or not! Listen-n-Love was done via MIDI by a guy named Brian Metolius.

Outside of that, most of the production is me or Crawford on digital instrument plugins between the two of us. I think that covers it all haha!

But I appreciate the nerding out, love talking shop like this. The next project I’m going for a more live feel, songs being written / arranged with other people in the room rather than solo produced in my bedroom like this was. Also gonna go under a stage name and keep the social posting anonymous, playing around with obscuring my face and letting the music speak for itself. Still working on it but I’m excited for the next go-around!

@jake.meredith_ also peep The Kount, those samples are also one time purchases usually and have a GREAT variety of sounds to sample

@Amariez10585 ha I’m blushing! I appreciate that thank you ️ I am single but not looking atm, there’s some life things with work and my living situation I’m sorting out before I jump back into the dating life lol

@jbellionnation YEEEEOOOO JBN IN THE BUILDING LETS GOOOO