What is XR?

XR or Extended Reality is an emerging umbrella term for all the immersive technologies. The ones we already have today—augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) plus those that are still to be created. All immersive technologies extend the reality we experience by either blending the virtual and “real” worlds or by creating a fully immersive audio-visual experience. Recent research revealed that more than 60% of respondents believed XR will be mainstream in the next five years. Forbes, Bloomberg and Globe News Wire projecting the XR Industry will exceed $200 billion by the end of 2022, $400 billion by 2025 and $1 trillion by 2030.

To get a better picture of what XR looks like, let’s watch the reel below to see some of the ways that XR has been used in music and entertainment:

Who is Metronix?

My name is LJ MTX and I’m a Digital Musician from Northern Virginia. For over 20 years I have traveled the world performing my craft as a vocalist, music producer and DJ. For many years I was living the dream of an unsigned independent artist by breaking music charts with my own songs and remixes, winning awards as a DJ, headlining festivals, selling out events in my hometown and performing for sold out crowds of over 20,000 people in legendary arenas. Trouble was that despite my success I was unable to escape my traumatic past. My demons eventually caught up with me and haunted me until I hit bottom and I lost everything. 

Years later after when I was close to giving up on music completely I landed an opportunity to not only teach my craft to Gen Z youth, but to become a mentor for aspiring young artists like Dylan Steele aka DJ Amplitude. My experience with him helped me rediscover my love for music and was the inspiration that led to the spiritual awakening and physical transformation I needed to completely reinvent myself as an artist and as a person. 

For the past several years I have been working towards a full reemergence as the entity known as Metronix: a Cyberpunk Superhero who uses his music as a platform to seek out, unite and to heal trauma survivors like me who struggle with their mental health. Metronix calls out to those people in need thru the stories told in my reimagined style of electronic music. It applies elements of my favorite styles of Electronica, Electronic Dance Music (EDM), Synth Wave, Rock and Hip Hop. 

Imagine that in a different timeline in the multiverse Daft Punk collaborated with Linkin Park on the legendary robotic duo’s masterpiece: Tron Legacy Soundtrack and you’ll be very close to the Metronix sound. 

Every note played, every lyric written and every melody sung is played by my hands and channeled by my heart and soul. It is music that I’ve designed to evoke pure emotion from those who experience it in hopes that it will inspire them to discover their passion.

By supporting this campaign you will help me create the first piece of my very own Metaverse called the Metronix Universe in a fully immersive XR experience. The Metronix Universe will unite survivors of trauma who struggle with their mental health from across the globe in a community where they can heal, discover their purpose and unlock their own superpowers.

The Music

This campaign is built around the first original music release from Metronix called: Origins: Chapter 1. It is a 3-track EP that contributors to this campaign will have first access to the music and will see all three songs brought to life in a fully immersive XR experience.

Song 1: Slow Descent

This song is about my personal battles with depression and suicide. It’s a very difficult conundrum when you are in so much pain that you want to end it all, but know you can’t because there are people in your life who love and depend on you. If ending my life means I will cause my family and friends indescribable pain and sadness, so the solution is that I must endure more pain. 

Song 2: Antihero

“The world needs a hero, But there’s a devil inside…” An unlikely hero who could have easily become the villain emerges in a dystopian world to help rescue humanity from certain destruction.

Song 3: Arpland

Arpland is about how my soul mate helped me find myself after I hit rock bottom. My life partner and I have been inseparable since the moment we met more than six years ago. The “end of the journey” refers to the journey of self discovery which has enabled me to find my voice and share it with the world. This song is dedicated to the resilient people out there who know what it’s like to overcome adversity. This song is dedicated to those who wake up every day and refuse to quit despite the obstacles in their path. Let’s make a miracle, and fly.

Why We Want To Make an XR Music Video

When I play video games and watch movies with lots of great CGI, I frequently imagine myself being a character in the story. The version of XR we will be using is powered by Unreal Engine 5, which is the same rendering engine used to map the vast digital environments for some popular video games like Fortnite, Gears of War and Mass Effect.

XR technology uses similar components of VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality) without the need for a clunky VR head set or a special AR rendering device. Instead XR uses extremely fine pixel LED panels assembled into a stage, or what I like to refer to as "the construct" where a physical person exists while the digital environment is rendered around the person in both digital and physical space at the same time without the need for green screens or post production CGI. The coolest part about it is that as the subject I will be able to interact with the digital environment and other elements in real time, as opposed to filming with green screen where I would have to pretend that Rocket Raccoon is standing in front of me trying to blow my flarking head off, whereas XR allows me to toss an EMP directly at him just in time to disable his krutackin laser cannon and fly away in my Milano. 

Take a moment to let that sink in...

I teamed up with Atlanta-based Music Matters Productions on August 3, 2021 and filmed our pilot using the XR staging with an Unreal Engine template and it looked great, but barely scratched the surface of what is possible. To unlock the full capabilities of XR will be teaming up with Disguise, who will be designing a unique interactive environment for each song. 

What We Need & What You Get

Our goal is to raise $18,000.

Cost Breakdown:

• XR Designer = $15,000
• Cutting and Printing of Vinyl Records = $2000
• IndieGogo Fees (5%) = $900

Perks include:

• XR NFT Drop Event Access
• Digital Album Pre-release
• Signed Album Vinyl
• Metronix NFT Collectible
• XR Video NFT
• Cameo in Video

How else can you help? 

Maybe you know people who would be down to support a resilient human being who refuses to quit no matter how hard things get, and is committed to building a massive global community designed to help a lot of people in need. If so, please share this campaign. 

And be sure to follow the team on social media:

Metronix Universe FB Group

IG @thisismetronix

FB @thisismetronix

IG @musicmattersproductions

FB @musicmattersproductions

IG @disguise_one

Thank you so much for taking a look at my campaign and for your support!

- LJ and The Metronix Team