WALT RIBEIRO Tumblr

I arranged Aha “Take On Me” backwards note-for-note. You can only hear it if you play the video backwards.

i’m sort of tired today and have no energy to use capital letters right now. i just want to type and say hello without thinking too hard. anyway, today was a good day, first day of the new year is done. not that it means anything - because it’s all symbolic. like, if you have an idea that you want to take a risk on, then you can start it on june 20th just as easily as starting it on january 1st.

but going back to why today was a good day - i’m able to edit my audio and video footage in just a few hours rather than the weeks and months that it took me before. so i’m working faster and better every day. the muscles are starting to come back, and things are picking up again.

one thing i like is that the passion never died inside of me. i still thought about the orchestra everyday. and it killed me when i couldn't write.

Today I uploaded my first recording in years. And I spent hours making thumbnails because there were so many to make - soundcloud, youtube, patreon, tumblr, twitter, and more.

In re-entering this world again, I’m reminded about how hard I worked years ago. It probably looked so simple from the outside, but there was so much goin on each week.

When I wasn’t arranging, recording, or uploading, then I was writing comments, making thumbnails, editing videos, and selling sheet music for live performances.

It’s all such a blur, and life comes at you fast when you have to redo it all over again from scratch. Making thumbnails tonight reminded me and woke me up fast.

I spent this week relearning my software. It’s been a lot - things like multicam clips, audio editing, and even basic media asset management. This has been a great week - I’m feeling better, and my edits are becoming faster and more accurate. It’s all been a lot of fun - I’m slowly getting back in the zone.

I was talking on Twitter that I forget how fast I used to work. My schedule used to be every Friday, and I was spitting out arrangements in my sleep. I can’t be too hard on myself though, because I’m hungry to keep improving and becoming efficient again.

The last thing I need to do tonight is the credits reel, so that the performers get their names in the videos. Below is a template that I made for it. I think it would fit perfectly underneath the “subscribe” end card.

I need to build my MP3 and MIDI store again. There’s no time to be sad about losing everything - all I want to do right now is just put everything behind me and get it all back. All of it. 

Recovering from a brain injury is quite bizarre. In this screenshot are all the video edits I’ve done, but I never labeled the videos correctly. I remember that my head hurt so bad that I just threw everything together and then never revisited them. It’s like I tossed everything into a giant box with no labels.

So many unreleased pieces - Undertale, Minecraft, SNSD, Originals, and so much more. Not sure when I’ll upload them all, but I’m working hard. I even find a song and scream “I don’t even remember recording this!”.

Next Steps

Thanks for everyone’s support after last night’s blog post. So where do I go from here? Well, as I mentioned, I have about 50 un-released string quartet arrangements since 2015. Cover songs, originals, sheet music, MIDI files, and all that good stuff.

Above is a GIF of me conducting one of the pieces. This are 4 of the best string players in Philadelphia. As for the release schedule, I would like to release new content every week again, just like the good ‘ol days. But I’m rusty on that - in fact, I’ve almost missed my blogging deadline for the 2nd day in a row!

So I have to relearn blogging, video editing, writing music, and get my store back up and running again. I guess the Holiday season is as good of a time as any to hunker down and do that. Not like I have any temptations to go outside, since everything is shut down.

I’ve gotten a few questions about my desire to build this back up again - and let me just say, that as hard as I worked in 2014, I’m twice as hungry now.

Hi everyone. I uploaded a video yesterday explaining why I’ve been gone.

The reason is that I was hit by a car in Los Angeles, and I couldn’t say anything because there was a serious court case going on. I was on a scooter riding to Tay Zonday’s and Rhett and Link’s studio house warming (studio warming?) and that’s when the car swerved into my lane.

I suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury that gave me vertigo, tinnitus, hyperacusis, scar tissue in my neck, depression, unemployment, disability, debt, and almost anything you could imagine.

I even lost my Tumblr username for a few years. Apparently if you don’t blog for a year then Tumblr releases your username, Which is unfortunate, especially if you spend 3 years in recovery so that you can blog again.

So that’s that.

What’s next?

Well I missed you all immensely. I want to write music every day again. I want to grow this orchestra. And I want to keep making stuff and get back to the momentum that I had.