Kain Nobel's Music Videos

[Kain Nobel]

Hello and good day everybody!

Doing some spontaneous and unplanned work.

(I'm not supposed to be doing ANYTHING right now. I should be sleeping but I can't sleep.)

Re-Recording in Progress

My latest practice session started about 12 hours ago and now, in a blurred daze of activity, I'm sitting here realizing I just re-recorded the entirety of one of the tracks. I have been in the process of mixing and editing it (again.) I feel like a possessed man on autopilot; what just happened?

Now that I've turned everything off, ahhh sweet silence! (My ears are ringing but I'm feeling good about it all. I'll return to this Tuesday when I have fresh ears and see if anything else needs to be done.)

Let me back up a little and just explain : "Lightning Strikes!" had a soft deadline (January 1st, 2023) and a hard deadline (February 28th, 2023). Well, obviously, I decided to publish it on the January 1st as-is. Not so much to rush the work, but because I'm looking for work (see: inflation). I didn't want to come back in a year or two and be like "Oh yeah, here you go, I almost forgot I finished this, sorry, busy with work, yadda yadda. Enjoy!"

I wanted to release it while it was still fresh, especially if inflation goes up a million percent and I never have time ever again in my life to do anything.

No deadlines set yet for reissue. I just do this when I can. I wasn't even planning on re-recording it yet (but apparently I am.)

Reviewing Analytics

EDIT : I just added the statistics to the spoiler below. Large image.

Statistics

Analytics is more of a personal matter, but I've been reviewing and trying to interpret some of the data for insights on what works and what doesn't.

I had much lower expectations from the jump. Not because I'm a bad musician (nor am I the GOAT) but because it's not like I'm Eminem or Metallica or even an active YouTuber. This is just a hobby. I'm not doing much to promote the album, or even to monetize it. More of a social experiment than anything.

(Next time will be a little more serious. Just a little. I'll probably publish it to more streaming platforms, monetize it, go on a short promotional campaign, etc.)

To be fair, in some instances I don't know how to make heads or tails of listener sentiment based on these statistics alone. I see good views, good likes (moreso on SoundCloud than YouTube) but I'm actually surprised how good some tracks are doing. I'm especially surprised people in Uzbekistan like the music so much, that's pretty cool. What is it about my music that would make it popular with people of Uzbekistan?

Anybody from Uzbekistan who has traced me to this forum and may be reading this post, I greet you with a friendly "Hello" and thank you very much for your support and interest. If I purchase a NextPro plan on SoundCloud I'll be personally saying hello and thank you to some of these wonderful people.

Another strange anomaly with analytics; videos that are popular on YouTube have a lower viewer duration than videos that don't chart very high. If a video isn't charting high, but it has a high 90 percentile view duration, while the ones that are charting high have low viewer duration, this is something that confuses me a bit. I understand though, even stuff I like and enjoy I'm not always going to watch to the end. You could have the best music video, documentary or comedy skit I've watched all month, there is still a slim chance I may only make it partially through it. (Doesn't mean I like ya any less, just people are very busy including myself.)

Practicing Brand New Material

Yes, I have been practicing a little bit of the material for the next EP. The difficulty and challenge has been ramped up, but that's only because I'm forcing myself out of the comfortable confines of my usual techniques and playing style. I'd like to pull of a good Dave Mustaine impression but I can only be me, thus far. I am who I am, even in the writing. I need to develop better solos and shred some shit. IMO, the solos are good, but they still don't shred. Meh.

Nevertheless, this is not a friendly album (for me). It is an act of torture and damnation. I probably won't record anything until June. Practice has been difficult.

If this winds up being too much, I'll cancel, write a new album and follow the KISS principle (Keep it Simple, Stupid!) Besides, some of my best stuff is the simpler stuff; people seem to enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.