hybyrn

8@3 was the first somewhat serious project that I started with my friend Darren. We both went into the project wanting to just make shoegaze, that was the goal. I'm not really sure what we were inspired in but I know at this point I had been getting into the genre a bit of time (shoutout jacholis) and Darren had been too, I know he was inspired by a multitude of bands like slowdive, mbv, and the Pixies (who aren't shoegaze but still a bit inspiration for him). At this point I had been using Fl Studio to produce just random one off songs, and I wasn't really good at it. I didn't know much music theory, or even much around my DAW, just surface level knowledge on how things worked. The first song that he and I made was TOC1N INTERCEPT, we were going for this analog radio kind of vibe the entire time, the reason honestly just being because we thought it sounded cool. There's probably a bigger conversation to be had about the general obsession that younger generations have with analog sounds, but I'll save that I don't have anything nuanced to say. TOC1N INTERCEPT was made in 1 night in a discord call, and the process generally involved darren running the show and telling me what notes to put where. He recorded all the guitar through his phone microphone and sent them to me through videos on discord, which I would convert and put into the project. We had some guitar layers running on loop through the song and my contribution was running everything through whatever plugins I had remembered existed (I think I used primarily FL's hardcore). The rest of time was spent programming a basic drum beat over the entire thing, and gathering sound effects and audio clips to place over the song in order to try and hone into that "analog" vibe. One audio clip I remember him recording was one of his dad watching sports on the television, which you can hear if you listen closely enough in the song. With me not really knowing much of anything at this point, Darren definitely dictated the music making process, especially in the piano roll (what the hell is a note!!!!). By the time the instrumental was made we reached the terrible dilemma that we did not know how to sing. At this point in time we did really like the instrumental, and really did want to "bring it home" with the vocals, unfortunately I was the one to sing terribly on the track in the end. The lyrics were written either entirely or mostly by Darren too, he had the idea to make them sort of like text messages? I forget the exact thinking. At the end of the day we uploaded the track and sent it out to our friends (shoutout ryan). Honestly while we both now really hate the song, like it is just terrible please do not listen it sort of holds a special place in at least my heart being the first 8@3 song (only a little bit though).

I forget the exact amount of time we waited but I don't think the gap was that large between TOC1N INTERCEPT and KNELL. What's really important here is that either in the process of creating KNELL or even the first song we sort of outlined a REALLY rough idea for a concept album, if we kept making songs. The whole premise would be that the narrative would follow the story of a car radio that was left trashed after the car got into a crash. I think at least for me this like basic idea was the main thing I had in mind whenever I would write lyrics (not often) or even just while making a song. KNELL honestly I think we both look back on sort of fondly, the process of making the song was mostly the same, Darren did the guitar and also handled me being incompetent at any sort of basic music theory and I programmed drums, and put effects on instruments and vocals. I think something that we found really cool at the time was OTT on the piano creating like this dip in the volume, sort of like a delay effect I'm not really sure. No idea why it did this but it sounded cool. By the time the instrumental was finished (not mixed because I literally didn't know what an eq was (only half lying)) it was time to get vocals on the track. This time instead of getting one of us to put vocals on the song Darren got his friend (and I think we've grown closer since then but I didn't really know him that well) Aidan to sing on our track. Aidan is actually an insane singer, again I think this song was also done within one night over discord, so by the time the instrumental was done we got Aidan into the call for him to sing on it. We sort of just sent the instrumental over and gave him time to write lyrics and record his vocals (also on a phone) while we sort of just talked (we were really helpful). It was genuinely mindblowing hearing what he sent back to us, I have my issues with KNELL and they're all just related to the instrumental I definitely would do things differently now, but Aidan's vocals were actually amazing. With a grand total of two songs made, we could confidently say that this was our favorite. The song was fully made and we put did the ususal thing of putting it on soundcloud and youtube and sending it to our friends (I think they liked this one a little bit better because someone who could sing was actually on it). We also had the intent of putting it on Spotify, and that was a whole process because of the free distributor we used taking a month to put out the song. This was the first song I think any of us had put on Spotify and it was definitely cool to see. I really don't have any more to say about KNELL tbh... At one point we had someone who like had some connections with like these big playlists with thousands of saves put KNELL on there, and it was cool to see how many people listened from that so shoutout him. He also became the person who we would distribute songs with, he was the "manager" of another one of our friends, Ina, who also did music. I didn't know her at the time and I think got to know throughout the course of that year (2024).

I honestly forget what happened next chronologly, but I know slowly over the course of time I put in more hours producing (nothing crazy), and became somewhat competent at using the DAW, or at least after switching to Ableton I think I left FL still not really getting it. One day I ended up going back to the original files that Darren had sent while we were making TOC1N INTERCEPT and actually remaking it. It was around a year after I want to say? Probably a bit less than that but the new Intercept was completely different and definitely felt good to revisit. I ended up singing on that one and doing a slightly better job (i knew what a note was at this point). That one we also put on Spotify using a photo a friend of ours took of his car (shoutout Chris). I'm unsure how Darren feels about Intercept, since he did most of the heavy lifting for the new track a year prior when he wrote the guitar part, but I think he does like the solo he did at the end (it was sick i agree). For a new part that we added I played the rhytym guitar for since I had been learning for a few months and darren as I said did a lead over it. (I started on my dad's acoustic that he didn't play but then Darren gifted me his old telecaster which I am endlessly grateful for like free guitar what love u darren) I think I also just have some issues with the mixing on Intercept, everything feels sort of muddy and rushed out there, so if I still have the files for the project (if they didn't randomly disappear) then I'll probably go back to it with more knowledge. The last song we "released", released being in quotes since as of now it is only out on youtube is called EVP. We made the instrumental for EVP multiple months before we released it. It was originally recorded in FL, and I think we were both pretty proud of it at the time, but then again didn't have anyone to sing on it. I think we intended to get Aidan again ? But that never happened I think stuff just coming up. After a crazy amount of time we reopened the project one day (I transferred it over to ableton) and added to it. Around a month later we were able to get someone to sing on the song, which was Ina and she did an amazing job. (She did take like a month to get to it though can't believe this wow /j). We never released it on Spotify because of something to do with wanting to get a deal or something with tiktok that Ina's manager was talking about, also Ina would be credited on this song.

As of now we also have another unreleased song that we lowkey need to get back to it has been so long, we both really like the instrumental on it and we got our previously mentioned friend Ryan to sing on this one (we just need to rerecord vocals oops). Maybe if I'm not lazy I'll upload a demo onto here but for now that one goes unheard except by those in our circle. It does sort of feel like we're on pause and not really for any crazy reasons, I know I don't really have any outstanding ideas and I'm definitely a bit harder on myself when it comes to making music now. Honestly I also want to break free of the premonition of shoegaze, I don't want to make a song trying to fit some kind of formula and make something reflective of the people who were a part in making it. Which I suppose our influences are at least a little bit a part of us, so maybe it'll still sound the same. But I hope not !! Hope we make something cool. ALSO for the unreleased song I forgot to say, we added a new member. Our friend Neil is an INSANE drummer, genuinely such a talented person and we got him to drum on the song Ryan sung on. He also went crazy, and it's sort of "official" that any new songs we make would have Neil on them drumming (if he's free love u neil). For 8@3 new music coming soon maybe possibly. (5/3/2025)

KRONE is not my personal music project, but a band that my friends created a few years ago. Slowly over time I became the person who would help them record and mainly mix their tracks. I think here I like to think there is a general improvement that can be seen throughout the tracks, I almost knew what I was doing on the most recent one (I Wait). I take a backseat in terms of creative influence over KRONE but I do enjoy the opportunity to mix tracks, and I've loved just learning new things that has to do with mixing. It feels so subjective and in a way that makes it interesting to me as I start to learn what a "good mix" is from a "bad mix". I'm not qualified enough yet so give me 6 years and I might write further on the topic. Shoutout KRONE shoutout the band I just said the same thing twice lov u all

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