Play soundtrack
As the Fog Clears's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall Uniqueness | #6 | 4.071 | 4.214 |
| Listenability | #13 | 3.450 | 3.571 |
| Overall | #14 | 3.561 | 3.686 |
| Composing Quality | #16 | 3.381 | 3.500 |
| Correlation to Theme | #18 | 3.519 | 3.643 |
| Mixing Quality | #19 | 3.381 | 3.500 |
Ranked from 14 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Link to Streaming Service
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mniiSGV6A3M
Description
A little soundtrack inspired by nature and spirits.
I made the first track over the course of the week after work, and the last two tracks on Saturday.
As the Fog Clears
I wanted to make something naturalistic sounding so I tried to make use of acoustic instruments and my voice in the first track. Thats also me screeching like monkey. Other than that it's just kind of a jam sesh with bass (actually acoustic guitar), baritone uke, and a keyboard. This track I feel reflects the prompt image pretty well, and it evokes to me a scene on a mountain looking out at the horizon as the fog clears.
When Sprits Come Out to Play
I was hoping to make something fun and a little spooky with synths. It ended up being kinda jazzy and playful. With my inept abilities on the keys, I decided not to clean it up too much due to time (and I think it lends something kind of fun to the track).
To me this is a night scene about interacting with playful spirits.
Bioluminescence
This track started with me just playing around on acoustic with those chords and the percussive harmonic stuff on a delay. The synth elements came very quickly after that.
I imagine this is like a night scene with animals, deer, fish, and insects in a valley all with glowing bioluminescent features. I think there are elements that make me think of caves too.
And then I drew the picture with pen and took a picture of it edited it in Affinity Photo, and passed it through a posterize filter. I edited the video using Davinci Resolve.
Screenshot of DAW
https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjk4OTkxNi8xNzg4NDkxMC5wbmc=/original/6n9qGQ.png
https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjk4OTkxNi8xNzg4NDkwOS5wbmc=/original/RHEW9K.png
https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjk4OTkxNi8xNzg4NDkxMi5wbmc=/original/CAQSp1.png
Description of Setup (Optional)
Ableton, Casio CDP-235R Keyboard, Arturia Minifreak. Acoustic Guitar, Baritone Ukelele and voice through a Shure SM58. Decent Sampler Plugin with Casio PT-10 and DecenTron libraries.
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Comments
Before I continue with any of this, I just want to say this is great work and I critique as if I'm trying to develop a crop of professional composers with this jam.
As the Fog Clears
I love the chill sound. It's well mixed, and very relaxing.
I think it gets a little repetitive. I think this is one of the challenges of ambient music, is getting a structure in without making it too thematic, and simultaneously not making it too repetitive. I myself feel like I've developed a deeper appreciation for ambience this jam, because this was my big challenge.
I think for yours (and about many other entrants I've heard) is that I'd like more reverb to fill the space. We perceive large space with reverberation, and we perceive location with a few things, such as the time between the arrival of sound in one ear to the other, as well as the volume difference between ears. You can also imagine the physical impact that the obstruction of the head has, cutting off some of the highs.
One thing you can do is rub your fingers together with one hand on one side of your head, then plug that ear, and listen to how different the sound is in the other ear from an EQ perspective.
When the Spirits Come Out to Play
I like the opening, though I feel like it is maybe mixed a little bit murky/muddy. I think some of the stuff sounds a little bit like aimless improvisation (having done a loooot of aimless improvisation in my life lol). It still largely works and is cohesive, its just that some of it sounds a little thrown in there.
It still works and has a nice jazzy vibe.
Bioluminescence
I think my favorite so far, it feels the most balanced in the mix. The effect that it opens with I like quite a bit, especially because it is clean and balanced. Same with the little EP that comes in just a bit later. It fits in the space really well. The repetition of this progression I didn't find grating, but I think you could have paused and had a section with some contrast in this track so it isn't only an A section structure.
Great work, and I earnestly hope that my feedback helps, and I hope to see you next jam! :)
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=11673
I loved it! All the songs are good, but if I had to choose a better one, it would be Bioluminescence, it gave me exactly the vibe of the image and the theme.
As the Fog Clears
You have a great voice, and the vibes are amazing here. The plucky strings and the slight swing really adds this relaxed jazziness that I wasn't expecting from the beginning of the song, and the slow reveal as it progresses is fantastic. Of the three, this was easily my favorite.
When the Spirits Come Out To Play
I really liked the start of this one, and loved the introduction of the piano, but the piano ended up being so relaxed in the beat it ended up just sounding maybe a bit too off beat, at least for my taste. There was also another very high instrument playing along with it that was also on a slightly different beat, which I think exacerbated the problem for me. But the overall feeling was very playful and a fantastic followup from the first song.
Bioluminescence
Fantastic song, and I really loved the instrument choices for it. Honestly the only knock against it is that it ended when I wanted more!
Like pixies having a jazz night in some underground place in the woods. Really loved it!
This is very evocative! I'm glad I got the chance to stimulate your imagination. Thanks for taking the time to listen!!!
The first piece paints such a wonderful picture for me and creates a great vibe for the theme of this jam. To me it feels how I imagine fog clearing from an environment should feel. I especially liked how the instruments build up on top of each other and still contributed in an interesting way to the piece's idea. The instrumentation itself is soooo fitting for this piece as well!
While I like the idea that you were going for with the second piece, I don't feel the idea was fully developed, in my opinion. The backing chords make sense and are done well, but I'm not sure the off-tempo piano was the best choice for the lead part. I would love to hear an arrangement of this exact piece with some of the acoustic instruments heard in the first piece, with some of those lead lines a little more refined.
I thought the intro for the third piece is soooo good. The acoustic arrangement with the light synth in the background go really well together, and I feel the vibe you were going for is totally there. My only criticism for this piece is that I wish there was more.
Please remember these are only my opinions. Overall, I really enjoyed your submission! I hope someday you'll take some time and really try to flesh out those last two ideas like you did in the first piece, because I think they will benefit greatly from it. Thanks a ton for sharing this! :)
Hey, thank for taking the time to consider my compositions. I really appreciate it. I'm definitely the most proud of my first and third compositions, and I agree that the second piece is a little half baked, I kinda went for something different and I found the way it lilted and hesitated endearing after a bit. I think there may be better ways to express that in the tune than in the way I settled for. I may end up adapting some of these pieces for a personal project of mine, we'll see! I found your opinions to be really valuable, and it made my day to see someone engage with my work!
Since you made multiple tracks I'll write separately about each.
As the Fog Clears:
Really great almost meditative quality with the repeating layers under the leads
When Sprits Come Out to Play:
Have to say when the track started with the piano and big bit crushed synth I really felt like I was playing Celeste 😄, only thing I felt could use some tweaking was the repeating walking bass part that gets a bit boring after a while.
Bioluminescence:
The muted guitar strums with the delay was really cool, liked it a lot! But I felt it could've maybe ducked away a bit after the intro, since it steals the attention from everything else as it is now in the track (at least for me).
Enjoyed all the tracks but As the Fog Clears was probably favourite with its meditative feels. Especially liked all the little monkey voices moving around you recorded, really adds a lot to it (some of the shorter ones almost remind me of a seagull😁).
Great job on these!
Thanks so much for listening! This is really good constructive feedback, and I think you make some good points. Changing up the bass line on the second track would definitely give it a little more life, and I definitely get what you mean about the delayed harmonics. I appreciate your critical ear!