Meet Ransom | Pryderi System

NICKNAME:

Sometimes people shorten it to ‘Ran’.. he’s not really that happy with it.

PRONOUNS:

He/Him

AGE:

Teenager/Young Adult, he isn’t that interested in pinning it down.

BIRTHDAY:

November 6th

JOINED SYSTEM IN:

2020

TRIVIA:

* Makes sure we go on a walk every day

* Much, much less shy than his brothers

* Loves music (listening and creating!)

* Favorite bands: TWRP & Ninja Sex Party

It’s not easy being the only dog in a ‘house’ of cats, sometimes. I learned real quick to ignore all the little digs at dogs. Is it a cat thing? I know they love me, and I guess I’m lucky that I can tell that kind of thing, just because we’re all inside the same headspace together and all.

Rhodri would be the first one to tell you I’m the one who said we should make videos. I know he thought about it for sure, but I don’t think they would’ve done it without me. There’s kinda a lot of stuff we wouldn’t’ve done without me, really, I think. And a lot more stuff we’re gonna do because I’m here! Just wait! I guess I just don’t worry as much about what random strangers think about us. I mean, after all, only we get to define who we are, what we are, and if we’re real, so I don’t see why it should matter so much what people think, especially if they don’t even know us. We know we’re real no matter what. And I really don’t get why it matters if anybody thinks we’re ‘weird’. Isn’t everybody weird? The cool people are weird, anyway.

It’s not like we even have to look like the body to get out there and do stuff now anyway. There’s all this stuff we can do to go out there and still look mostly like ourselves! Cool, right?

I’m not the only one who wants to get out there and perform, but maybe I’m the one who’ll actually admit it. I just feel like we have a voice, and it should be out there. If you don’t see yourself reflected out there, maybe you put yourself out there instead, you know? Maybe you’ll be the reflection for someone else you’ll never even know. Besides… what if you can only find the people who like your kind of weird if you put yourself out there for them to find? Doesn’t it hurt to keep all that stuff you wanna make just inside all the time, and never make it, never show it to anyone? I think so.

I was super psyched for the videos at first, like just the videos, and then Rho started filming. I mean, it was easier for him to get his face, it’s more human, the rest of us.. it’s just harder, I guess. It was sure harder to get one together for me, at least, and it’s not perfect. I know the little guy didn’t think he’d like doing videos, he was only doing it to humor me I guess, but after he tried it.. I mean, he’d put it off and everything, and then he wouldn’t wanna quit once he got going! Same with streaming, now. He does it all the time, and he actually likes it! You’d never guess how much it scared him at first! I’m glad, I’m glad he likes it and isn’t just doing it for me. I wouldn’t want him to do it if it was only for me. I want him to do it because it’s something he needs, too. But I had to find something else to do while I waited to get a face for the world to see and everything, right? What I wanted to do was music, I guess on some level, I’ve always wanted to from the second I got here, but I didn’t know where to start.

Then Rhodri found this Loopcloud thing, and hey, you don’t have to know how to like, use the complicated programs or play an instrument, you can just put music together! That’s cool and all, and I still use it, I mean, it gives me a place to start, you know, but really? I wanna make it all myself. Gets tricky sometimes. I mean, I just want to make the music, I guess I’m not super patient. That’s probably not a great thing, and I know I get frustrated when I’m working on it and it’s just not coming together fast enough because something’s wrong, or I feel stuck, but we all have to share time, so it just feels like you gotta make the most of what you get, you know? It’s still super cool I’ve been able to make the music for our trailer and videos and everything, I want to do other music, stuff that’s got a beat and all, not just this background stuff, but I’m still happy doing it behind the scenes. At least I get a few cooler projects in when I can! I didn’t expect to be cool being being the scenes, just like he didn’t expect to enjoy being on camera, so I guess we’re all learning, all the time.

Things change all the time, of course. Right now, I’m the music guy and the second on camera guy, and I think that’s a pretty cool place to be, actually.

A relentless optimist, system cheerleader, and the most challenging and enthusiastic working partner anybody could have. He's nearly as opposite to me as anybody really could be, and I suppose it's a bit of a miracle we get along. He's made me confront a lot of things, he pushes me a lot, and it can be very frustrating, but at the end of the day, somehow I can't help but like him anyway.

– Rhodri

Everything Ransom gets into brings change. It's a scary thing, more for some of us than others, but overall, I think the changes so far have been good. We've done a lot because of him, and I think some of the challenges have been good for us. We don't always agree, and sometimes he pushes too hard, but it's true that sometimes, we need the pushing.

– Skye

he a doggy. we didn't have any doggies before. cats are more better but for a doggy he is okay. he listen to a lot of musics.

– Teo

In the time that Ransom has been with us, we have seen some profound change in our lives, and while that is quite difficult for some of us, change can be a very good and necessary thing. He has brought an energy to us that was not there before, and while I am aware that sometimes his enthusiasm is frightening to some of us, it has seemed to be, overall, therapeutic. However, he is still quite new and young, and I feel he is still growing into the level of responsibility he desires to have.

– Finn

A Note:

All comments about individual members of Pryderi System, made by other members of the system, are posted with the consent of the person being commented on… even if that permission comes with a rolling of eyes and a sigh, or a blush, sometimes.

Additional note: Teo does not use capital letters, and we respected his wishes to do as he usually does in text communication, allowing us only to capitalize his name, and write as he speaks, regardless of the grammatical correctness.

MUSIC BY RANSOM

SAZ ME

This was my first full piece – after I did the soundtrack for our channel trailer, that is! It’s all clips from Loopcloud (used with their licensing, Rhodri says to say), but I messed with a lot of it and changed it around. Believe it or not, I did this one before we even had a DAW and it’s all done entirely in the video editor Davinci Resolve, because I didn’t have another way to edit the thing together at the time. Kinda shows. Gonna redo this one, it’s definitely on my mind to do. Learned a lot and got way better tools since I did this! I still like the idea of picking real weird, random instruments to base a whole piece around, though… This one, all that main string line, that’s clips of a thing called a Sazbush. Hence the name of the song! (Rho won’t let me do one that’s all about the Cumbush… Well, he won’t let me title it anything fun, anyway!) I dunno what I might get into later, but it’s just a fun idea to me. Honestly, I just kinda love the whole idea of taking instruments that do not go with a dance beat and synth sounds and making it work. We’ll see what I can find next.

VIEW ON YOUTUBE!

Channel Trailer

So, this was technically the first thing I ever did. And boy do I wanna get in there and do something more to it sometime. It’s completely made of samples from Loopcloud (used with their license), and totally put together in Davinci Resolve, the video editor, cause we didn’t have a DAW yet. I can’t even imagine trying to do it again like that, now. But I did a lot of stuff that way back then, before we got Studio One. It’s not like it doesn’t work, but it doesn’t have all the little things you kinda want, like it’s harder to line stuff up right, and balance the sound and everything. Still, I dunno if I’d really change anything in the first half. But like how Rho wants to mess with the video for the second half, cause it’s not even really true, it’s not what turned out to be on the channel, just what we thought we’d have… I wanna mess with the music some, too. Not a lot, I don’t think, but there’s something kinda clunky about parts of it. We’ll get around to messing with it, probably a lot too much, at some point.

VIEW ON YOUTUBE!

Our Theme Song! (We Gotta Name The Thing Sometime)

So a looong time ago, before I was making music at all, we commissioned a guy on Fiverr (Max_Jpeg) to write us some stuff for our YouTube channel. This was one of them, and we ended up picking it for our theme song. Well, I say ‘this’.. that’s part of what you’re hearing. I got it in my head one day I wanted to make it like… more. Just something more. It wasn’t personalized anymore, y’know? Not now that I could do stuff to it! So I pulled it apart and pieced it together and changed all kinds of stuff that’s like, some of it is kinda not a big thing, some of it was huge (like changing keys!), and then I added a bunch of my own composition, like a second melody line. A harmony line? Sometimes it’s one or the other, really. It’s not that I didn’t like the original, I loved it, we all loved it, I just wanted to, I dunno, finish it. So I did! But now.. I’m thinking about seeing if Max will write some more.. I feel like it could be longer but I need more material and patching in the ‘holes’ would be real hard when I dunno what instruments he used or anything… and would it even be right if it wasn’t a collab all the way through? I dunno! But it’s still great right now. It’s kinda a shame in a way that it’s shortened and sped up for the intros to our vids. So here’s the whole thing!

COMING SOON - MINOR ADVENTURE

Coming up, real big project for us. Not just for me! You think that video that goes with Saz Me is cool? Wait till you see what Rho did for Minor Adventure! It’s awesome, you’ll see. Way bigger project, longer song, way, way more original composition by me. Good chunk of it is stuff I straight up made, this time, all based around a string melody line I pieced together with Loopcloud (used with their license, Rho says to say), with a few effects and drums from there, too. Took forever cause I had to keep taking breaks and stuff. Sharing time, you know? But also cause well, the video was a huge thing and Rhodri had to learn like a billion things just to get it done. But he’s cool like that.

VIEW ON YOUTUBE (SOON)!

Failing Better

Made this for HellBentBear’s channel – and for her birthday! Like Minor Adventure, it’s kinda a half and half deal, half Loopcloud (used with their license) and half all original me. Wasn’t easy to pick something that fit her style. It’s not my style! But I searched around for some inspo on Loopcloud, found the banjos and the rest just kinda fell into place. Quick fun little gift project, it was nice to pull something together so fast!

ART OF RANSOM