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A jam submission

ᚡᚨᛁᛏᛏᛁᚱ ᛁ ᚾᛊᚦᚱ | Spirits in the NorthView project page

Music written for IMPRESSIONS Composing Jam: Ambience #1 hosted by KaleOverlord.
Submitted by tommy.max.brian — 5 hours, 33 minutes before the deadline
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ᚡᚨᛁᛏᛏᛁᚱ ᛁ ᚾᛊᚦᚱ | Spirits in the North's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Mixing Quality#34.1334.133
Correlation to Theme#44.2674.267
Overall#44.0804.080
Overall Uniqueness#54.1334.133
Composing Quality#64.0004.000
Listenability#73.8673.867

Ranked from 15 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Link to Streaming Service
https://soundcloud.com/tommy_max_brian/sets/spirits-in-the-north?si=3d7372d959134cc888935e1f16c32cd9&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Description
My chosen theme is "Spirits in the North".

Working on this project, I tried to create an atmosphere inspired by ancient Nordic cultures and shamanic practices. The music is a synthesis of ethnic, ritual and historical elements of early medieval European and Scandinavian traditions.

The pieces include ethnic instruments such as traditional drums and shamanic percussion, fiddle and nyckelharpa, jaw harp, hunting horns and flutes, as well as folk vocals.

The concept also revolves around the idea of reconnecting with nature and place through sound, so the works utilise ambient sounds and sound design for a more immersive experience.

01. Sólmóðr (eng. "The Sun's Wrath")
Northern Landscape. Fields and mountains. War.
Cultural and historical reconnection with ancestors.

02. Vættirdans (eng. "The Spirit Dance")
Shamanic ritual. Rhythms that put you into a trance.
Dances of forest spirits. Fear.

03. Skógarkveðr (eng. "Whispers Of The Forest")
The Song of the Forest. Reconnecting with nature and your own body.

The spirits of the north haunt throughout the journey.
Spirits of the war dead, spirits of the forest, spirits who come to the sound of rituals.

Screenshot of DAW
https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjk4OTE5OS8xNzg4NjA0OS5qcGc=/original/g%2B2mX3.jpg
https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjk4OTE5OS8xNzg4NjA1MC5qcGc=/original/tsDB22.jpg
https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjk4OTE5OS8xNzg4NjEzNi5qcGc=/original/UAWLiJ.jpg

Description of Setup (Optional)
Ableton 12, kontakt instrumnets, Omnisphere.
Some vocal samples, some "voices" shitty recording on my phone.
FabFilter Pro Q3, Limiters. Many reverb plugins (Ableton, H-Reverb by Waves etc.)
NX panner and some Izotope Ozone things.

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Comments

Submitted

The quality of this was all really good, I think you did an excellent job with this. Enjoyed everything a lot!

HostSubmitted

Cool to have some Wardruna-like tracks.

Loved the jaw harp and drum. Very cool.

Track 1:

This one works so well and is very listenable. I think the sound effects for ambience I might have put some extra reverb on so that they sound like they're coming from farther away than the music, as if they are echos of battles fought long ago. Very cool idea.

Track 2:

This one is epic. I love the voices. The correlation to theme is extra-on point here, and I'm the host telling you that. The instrument combination that comes in at 1:09 is really awesome. Definitely getting a Wardruna vibe here! 

The second part is really good too. It really makes me feel like I'm getting amped up for battle.

Track 3:

This one maybe gets a little bit repetitive with the repeated voice, like you can still have the ostinato but maybe it needs to be mixed in and its dynamics need to be a little bit more modulated. Overall it's still really good work.

Fantastic entry, very well done! :)

Submitted(+1)

Really enjoyed it, quality work and varied. A mix of ethnics field sounds. It's like watching a historical film.

Submitted(+1)

Hey! I did a review of your entry via video. I posted it on the Jam discord but appreciate everyone might not be on there. Here's the video timestamp for your entry: https://youtu.be/1-aLhBdNCKE?t=12445

Submitted

Great texture, well done.  very well mix too

Submitted

These are all amazing in their own ways, but Vættirdans is definitely the standout to me with the jaw harp. The rain and the slight breathing are perfect for the ambience as well, and the ramping of the drums towards the end is fantastic. But all of these have such unique elements to them that you've made work incredibly well!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

The repeating voices on Skógarkveðr work really well to set the vibe for the track, only track I think I've ever heard with that sort of repeating Ah vocalisation as a pedal tone is Obsession by Army Of Love, but it works even better on this with the other elements with it 

Really Immaculate production and vibes throughout, stellar work!

Impeccable vibes.  The jaw harp sound in track two is such a perfect incorporation of the instrument. The ASMR-like incorporation of vox and sound effects add a great amount of texture. 

Submitted

Heavy on the magic stuff right here. The crows! The Vocals and the use of 'field recordings' make for great witchy vibes. All 3 are great. but the rainy bass of Vættirdans is my favorite. Trip inducing music. Congrats!