Ray Krislianggi

Hey! Haven't seen you in quite a while, but this year has been pretty surreal for me. I've built my own studio, made my first ever original MV for 'DASH', made some instrumentals for external projects, quadrupled the number of anisong covers on streaming services with Anime Piano Library Vol.2 and The Sounds of "A Silent Voice", just recently recorded and mixed a live winds band, and there are lots of things that I don't keep at the top of my head right now.

2024 will be the year where I expand much more into music streaming platforms and full-scale music production for both anime & Vocaloid covers, as well as original songs. I'll also still be doing piano arrangements but it might be in a different video style than usual.

I'll get back to you shortly for some huge announcements and updates. Something really exciting is coming in January 2024 and beyond. There are so many things to talk about but I can't tell you just yet.

Have a happy and warm Christmas!

2 years ago | [YT] | 24

Ray Krislianggi

The Sounds of "A Silent Voice" is now live!

Listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/2J8xg5t026g9VYzsVxbLIT?si=t…

Listen on Apple Music: music.apple.com/us/album/the-sounds-of-a-silent-vo…

This album / EP is a collection of my covers & remakes of the most iconic soundtracks from the critically acclaimed anime film "A Silent Voice". All of them were either partially or entirely remade from the ones on my YouTube channel. None of the sounds from the original soundtracks were used / sampled.

Tracklist:
1. lvs
2. lit
3. heart beat
4. svg
5. slt
6. lit(var) - Piano Version
7. lit - Piano ASMR Version

Kensuke Ushio, the composer of the soundtracks, used 3-letter identification codes for the songs to be shown to the film producers. Only two title codes' meanings have been confirmed, the first one is "htb" which stands for (and is the shorter version of) "heart beat", the second one is "lit" which stands for "light". "lit(var)" remains the most iconic and the most important piece in the film, because it's played during the movie's conclusion and goal, which is Shouya reaching the "light".

2 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 24

Ray Krislianggi

Anime Piano Library, Vol. 2 is finally coming to digital music platforms starting April 4th 2023!

Pre-save on Spotify here! distrokid.com/hyperfollow/raykrislianggi/anime-pia…

Watch the trailer here: https://youtu.be/h7-rzyN463E

The tracklist includes:

01. Sutekimeppou (Monogatari Series)

02. Platinum Disco (Monogatari Series)

03. SPARK-AGAIN (Fire Force)

04. Utauyo!! MIRACLE (K-On!!)

05. Futari no Kimochi no Honto no Himitsu (Kill Me Baby)

06. Nisemono (Monogatari Series)

07. Ready to (BNA: Brand New Animal)

08. ANIMA (SAO: Alicization - War of Underworld)

09. Bravely You (Charlotte)

10. Theme of Violet Evergarden (Violet Evergarden)


All of them were completely remastered for this release and thus should sound much clearer than their YouTube counterparts.

If you're not seeing your favourite cover(s) in this album, don't worry, so many more will be released throughout 2023. In fact, most of my covers will be on digital services by this year, so it's very likely that your favourites would end up there!

2 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 16

Ray Krislianggi

Hey everyone, hope you're all doing well!
This is gonna be pretty long, but I promise you that it's worth a read.

I've been away from YouTube for so long. There are so many things that I'm either working on or want to work on, yet there's only so much time, so I've been trying to do things one at a time. Coincidentally, most of those things are outside of what I usually post on YouTube. I've been expanding my scope of expertise way beyond making anime & Vocaloid piano covers & arrangements. I've been doing piano covers for so long (13 years that is!) that I craved self-growth in other areas that I also love, and it finally came to fruition.

In a nutshell: I just finished building my own studio room to produce, arrange, mix, and master music, got my dream studio monitors, I've been working on original songs in multiple genres, made instrumental music for clients, and the exciting one is that I'm working with a game company to make soundtracks for them! Although it's still in very early development, so it won't come out in the near future.

But what I mentioned above isn't the whole story. I want to grow as a person, but I would NEVER wish to grow out of anime and music because those 2 things have shaped so much of my life. With that in mind, I've got some exciting updates and announcements for you tomorrow, I hope you're ready! 👀

So apologies for the long absence, and for those of you who have been following my growth and supporting me throughout the years, I can't thank you enough 💙. Going forward, I hope I can involve the community more through YouTube posts, polls, and shorts for more chill content. Cheers~

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2 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 28

Ray Krislianggi

2020 has been a pretty wild year. For most of us, this is the first time in our lives that we're forced to stay indoors to protect ourselves and the people around us. For me personally, the situation led to massive project delays and cancellations due to acute shortages of PC parts for my new workstation, which is why I had been quiet for the most part of Q4 2020.

But despite all that, I reached significant milestones.
2020 was the year that I released my first piano cover album. 2020 was the year that I broke through 20,000 subscribers. 2020 was the year that I first worked on a real music project outside of YouTube. 2020 was the year when I utilized DAW for full music production for the first time. 2020 was... chaotic at best, but there are still bright sides despite all that.

Yes, 2020 is now a "was". It's part of history. May better days lie ahead of us. Speaking of better days ahead, I already started working on Winter 2021 anime songs so those are coming, and boy we might have one of the most epic seasons in anime.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2021 everyone!
Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay musical~

Quick question: do you gain or lose weight during the pandemic? I'm one of the few who lost weight significantly, lol.

5 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 57

Ray Krislianggi

After over a month of vacuum, I'm back with brand new and fresh visual aesthetics but the same arrangement style you've known (and hopefully love) from me!

Where have I been? I had been waiting for PC components to arrive until last week, and had been planning to build an all-new workstation since March 2020 because my old PC was already on its last leg. The acute shortages of CPUs and GPUs due to covid, mainly AMD's Ryzen 5000 series CPUs and RX 6000 series GPUs caused production delays. The software I use for editing (VEGAS Pro) is known to work exceptionally well only on AMD GPUs, but shortages were expected to continue into 2021, so I ultimately opted for Nvidia instead, which was thankfully in stock near me. Not ideal, but still a massive improvement nonetheless.

So far so good, with projects which usually took 180 minutes to render, now only takes around 25 minutes. VEGAS still needs to work on its constant crashing every minute tho -__- , but I digress. Anyways, I'm back~

-----

Here's my piano cover of LiSA's "Homura" from Kimetsu mo Yaiba Movie: Infinity Train, which was composed by Yuki Kajiura.

https://youtu.be/XRbfF_tkNsw

It's such a sad yet powerful song. Unlike my other covers, this isn't played in a fixed tempo to avoid stiffness. Fun trivia about those two people, LiSA performed Yui's version of "Ichiban no Takaramono" from Angel Beats, while Yuki Kajiura composed Madoka Magica OSTs along with other epic anime soundtracks.

My new visual aesthetics is about 3D space, so you'll see digital elements floating but treated as if they're physical objects that's really there. Oh and there's lyrics now, so go ahead and sing along, don't mind your neighbors!

5 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 32

Ray Krislianggi

Hi~ this post is important and it's gonna be long, but bear with me.

Some of you might know that last month, my tutorial video of "Senjougahara Tore" from Monogatari Series got a copyright strike and was taken down. It's one of my arrangements which YouTube thought was the original song that I simply reuploaded (because it's too similar to the original). It happens quite a few times on this channel. It was then resolved and the video is up and running again. Things are doing well and I shouldn't encounter something similar to that again, amiright? Nope.

Earlier today, my cover of "Suteki Meppou" got the turn. I already couldn't make revenue from it since the day it's uploaded (because, you guessed it, YouTube thought that it's a reupload of the original song). I put up with that, but now I got a strike and I already sent a counter notification to the copyright owner (in this case it's Sony Music Entertainment Japan).

It's weird receiving these strikes because the video doesn't use any of the original music. Use of the original material is actually allowed to an extent if it falls under 'fair use', which is why channels can make anime reviews and commentaries with copyrighted visuals and background music. Cover songs should be protected by fair use, otherwise cover song channels won't thrive, or even exist.

If the copyright owner doesn't respond in 10 business days, the video will be automatically restored. If they acknowledged my rationale that the video doesn't reuse any of the original work and that it's a cover song, it will be restored. But there's also a chance that they don't approve my rationale for some reason, and the video won't be restored, or even worse, the channel might get terminated (this is the absolute worst scenario). Channels also get terminated if they have 3 active strikes within 3 months.

I'm telling you this to raise awareness that people who make cover songs on YouTube still experience this problem. One of the most frustrating things that can happen to you is when you put all of your skill, energy, and time into making something, only for it to be taken down eventually. I'm optimistic that the video will be restored, but having to experience this time and time again isn't a pleasant experience, and that looming thought of termination is my worst nightmare after almost 12 years of building the channel.

---

That aside though, while I've been quiet, I've actually been prepping for a change and something huge! My PC has been on its last leg for the past year and I'll be upgrading my system soon. I feel like what I can do with the visuals is very limited with my current system, and I've pushed its performance to its absolute limit, sometimes taking 3-4 days to make videos that would normally be done in 1-2 days. My next piano cover will be from a movie, it will have fresh visuals, and it will make its way into my 2nd cover album due to be released in December 2020 or January 2021!

So while some unpleasant things are happening, there are always so many things that I still want to do. YouTube's algorithm doesn't really pick up my videos. Only about 1 out of 100 videos I make is picked up by the algorithm, but that's the more reason why I should keep trying. I'm curious like that.

If you've reached this far, thank you. Have a great day, stay safe, stay healthy, and stay awesome~

5 years ago | [YT] | 60

Ray Krislianggi

I just recently rewatched and finished Kimi ni Todoke. I started watching the first three episodes when I was in high school, which means around 7 years ago, but switched to other anime because I thought that the show wasn't for me.

That is, until very recently, and I absolutely loved it! I had a sudden urge to give it a full go, and it's just what I needed. It never takes itself too seriously, no drama overload, it's overall just a lighthearted and sweet anime to watch. Both Sawako and Shouta can be really dense about their feelings to each other at times to the point where I scream internally while watching, but I'm glad that all works out in the end, and I end up wanting for more.

The weird thing is the more I grow, the more I appreciate high-school love stories, even if that kind of show usually doesn't have a strong plot or goal. I just really enjoy character interactions and how they live their lives.

Now I've almost finished rewatching Sukitte Ii na yo, and planning to rewatch Ao Haru Ride next. Those are also shows I started many years ago but hadn't finished. Do you have recommendations on similar shows to these three? I've watched many other slice of life / romance anime, but there might be hidden gems that I missed. Feel free to discuss in the comments!

5 years ago | [YT] | 61

Ray Krislianggi

Jujutsu Kaisen OP "Kaikai Kitan" by Eve piano arrangement is live at my other channel!

Have listen here: https://youtu.be/fUAB_UKjt8M

The song has a catchy bass line which I tried to transcribe into the arrangement. Its overall timing is also very unconventional. This would make for an interesting cover ;)

5 years ago | [YT] | 42

Ray Krislianggi

Am I the only one who "saves up" episodes of anime because it's so good that you don't want to see it end? It happens to me almost all the time! One of them is Chihayafuru. I got to the first half of season 2 but could never bring myself to finish it. I just want to believe that the characters stay that way forever. I'll be sure to finish it someday tho, it's a masterpiece.

Its main theme is the most underrated anime score, period. It deserves SO much more love, and so I made the piano arrangement a while back. I wasn't planning to do the tutorial video and music sheet anytime soon, that is, until some of you asked for it. I'm so glad that there are people who actually want to be able to play it.

The sheet needs a few more days to be licensed, but the visualization video is live at HiddenGemPiano channel! Watch watch~

Chihayafuru Main Theme (Piano Arrangement):
https://youtu.be/ddCRnxpaxQg

5 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 48