Alright, so I didn't prepare any questions, but I wanted to ask you about your latest release 'FM Moduteknix'. Well, first and foremost, how'd you come up with the name?

I was thinking of "frequency modulation". I was also thinking "FM" and modulation so it's kind of redundant. [laughs]

So it's like 2 things of the same meaning?

So you mentioned Yasuhisa Watanabe. Tell me about him: what works in particular do you feel most inspires you other than the name?

That's fire! I like that! So when I listened to some of the songs off of FM Moduteknix, what comes to mind, I hear a lot of JRPG and MMO kind of vibes with the music. Would you say that's something you think about when you make your music?

Yeah! When I think of making music I mostly think about RPGs but really like the background sound design and textures. When I add textures to songs, I typically get them from JRPG games or games I've played before like Touhou, Dragonball FighterZ, BlazBlue. So when you hear background vocals or sound effects on FM Moduteknix they're typically coming from those games and all that. I just let them sit back in the mix of the song and let it play. It makes it feel like there's something happening in the world that I'm creating or a world I've already experienced and I'm just sharing it. This is basically how I'm hearing the games that, you know?

So you're just capturing your experience and presenting it from the perspective of what you're hearing or seeing?

Yeah, and I feel like that's what music is about, you know? You're just putting out what you're hearing out in the world.

So do you have a target audience or is it more an introspective pursuit when you're making music?

It's a personal exercise. I see the "Amiga Demo Scene", older individuals, or like people from Japan that just do it for the love of making music in general. It's like.. you find an audience.. it could be 15 years later, it could be now, it could be anybody or no one at all. But it's okay. That's the beautiful thing about music. It's going to find somebody somewhere. You'll find your tribe.

I like that. You have a very mature attitude when it comes to making music. Some people get caught up on trying to be known, it sounds like you're more into the fact that you want to express yourself and then if somebody connects with it  then it's just a plus. The real gem is making music and discovering yourself.

Yeah! That's the most fun thing about it. I literally had songs where I contemplated the quality of them as a composer because at the time they sounded amazing because it was a different time for me. So I'd listen back and think: "I'm not too confident in this." I'd have second thoughts.

So you considered that you had grown since the first time you worked on these songs?

Yeah, I've definitely grown. I mean.. in terms of music composition, I barely started. But seeing how music is presented and performed, I could totally learn from this project. It's the first project ever that I wanted to take seriously. It was where I learned to encapsulate moods and moments, and capture a scene. Most of things I did in the project I captured in real time so it was basically performed. 

Could you describe your DAW of choice that you use to program your music?

I use Renoise. It's very capable. I'd encourage anyone to use it if you're into composing tracks and to limit yourself to understand the effects and techniques of the software. I think Renoise is a good middle ground for trying to understand song composition.

In the case of Renoise, it's pretty bare.  But from what I hear in your music, it's actually quite dynamic. So would you say you have to innovate more on the particular music making resource? 

Yes.

Do you feel like there are moments where you hit the wall or do you still try to figure out what you can do from there? Or is it just something that you have to be content with because of what is available?

Oh no, it's very capable. Whatever you could do in a studio grade DAW you can still do in Renoise, but you have to set it up yourself and I think that's a big pro in my opinion because you actually know what is going on under the hood compared to studio DAWs. Like you can just hit a button and it's "doing" it, but you don't know what's going on. And that's [important] about music, you have to hear what's going on. You gotta find a way to bring out your thoughts, ideas, and experiences with the tools you are given, but if you don't know what's you're doing then what's the point?

That's a good point! Actually, I wanted to get back to something regarding the project specifically: is there a standalone track  (at least in this season) that you really like when you revisit the project? Could you tell us about that song and the process of it?

The song that taught me the most is 'Silver Bullet'. That song is very fun. I played that song so many times. That's one song where I didn't lose any confidence. I didn't have any doubts. It was something I enjoyed from the beginning. It was a song where I thought: "I want to DJ this song." But we're not there yet so... Some of the songs in there are definitely songs I would DJ, but I haven't performed it yet.

Well, that's something to look forward to then. It seems like you were gonna go in that direction anyays during the music making process. Regarding the project, I personally enjoyed listening to it. There were a lot of surprising moments in it. So now in this point in time, after releasing the project, has there been anything you look back on that you feel you would do differently? What is your perspective on the project in post-release?

I feel like there could have been more cohesion. I could've focused on a specific feel more. I think they all have a similar feel towards the end which was intentional, but I'd say more cohesion.. But it was fun, nonetheless. It was a lot of songs that I had to cut out because as I said before confidence is key. You have to have confidence to put the songs out there still.

I agree. So as for the songs that you cut, will they ever see the light of day or do you plan to keep them for reference? Do you plan on repurposing any of them in the future?

I think there's always growth and developing your ear and skills. Even if you don't release that song, it's fine. It's going to find it's way back in some way, shape or form.

Absolutely! So.. the music is out now.. what are you looking to do in this particular season? Do you have anything in the works currently that you're working on?

Nice! Good choice! [laughter] Well, before we close, what brought you to this genre in particular?

When you listen to music, you realize much of it is pretty much jazz. I wouldn't say all music is jazz, but great music is jazz. Much of the sounds that I love the instrumtal performances and dynamics drives me to pay attention to jazz more. Once you listen to music you like, or at least for me, I like a lot of video game music and you realize that a lot of it has jazz motifs. I start to look at the interviews of video game composers and what they're talking about and I realize that they're inspired by a lot of old jazz musicians. I mean, at the end of the day, those jazz artists were creating a sound that is very monumental to this day. It's a pillar in all forms of new genres.

I find that your interest in jazz and your previous work quite interesting because I am excited to see what that will sound like in the future. So, big ups to you taking on a new frontier in music and challenging yourself and allowing this to mold your perspective on the genre.

That's what music is about! It's about developing and learning! We wouldn't have the music we're having today if we weren't doing that.

Did you want to include anything else you want to address?

Shout out to my friends who were the first to hear it!