Play soundtrack
Bubble Girl (バブル がる)'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #301 | 3.474 | 3.474 |
| Correlation to theme | #322 | 3.421 | 3.421 |
| Quality | #436 | 3.158 | 3.158 |
| Overall | #459 | 3.158 | 3.158 |
| Impression | #506 | 2.947 | 2.947 |
| Composition | #552 | 2.789 | 2.789 |
Ranked from 19 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
Genre and themes: Nostalgic, melancholy, mysterious, mellow
Sparkle and Sink is a track for exploring the underwater world. It is a longer track featuring a familiar melody throughout the song. The song was made with arpeggio synths. One main synth throughout the song, and then occasionally other synths to change around the sound.
Nemutai is a song featuring a vocaloid voice, acting as the creatures and sirens of the sea. They call out, almost sounding like words, but are barely recognizable. The voices of the sirens blend with the ocean's ambience and calm to create a more chilling effect. Nemutai means "I'm sleepy" in Japanese or an expression for being annoyed about being tired. Weary sailors at sea were more likely to be victim to the mermaid sirens, as the folktales say.
This track proved to give the most challenge, since I have never used a vocaloid plug-in before. I had some mixing and mastering issues as well in the final track on my side, since I am still learning how to make finished tracks sound decent.
I used Reason 11 and Alter/Ego ALYS Base vocaloid plug-in. I used numerous instruments and plug-ins in Reason 11's library.
Message from the artist
I hope you enjoy the songs! I wish I created more songs for this jam. The theme is lovely and I was able to find inspiration in the oceanic theming. I really hope to participate in the next OST jam. I thoroughly enjoyed participating in the Crunchtime #3 Jam a couple months ago. I look forward to look at everyone's submissions as well!
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
The bubbly, popping, quick rhythms of the synths represent the bubbles and ocean currents. The dampened and slightly muffled instruments give the impression that they are underwater, and then that the character is also underwater. A little bit of echo adds to the vast space of the sea.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/apocalypse-garden/sets/bubble-girl
Number of tracks2
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
Any non-commercial project
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
I love that atmosphere on the edge of chiptune, synth madness and soothing ambient, heh)
Thanks!
I liked the synths you used as well as the vocal synth! I do think the first track was rather long considering there wasn't much change happening. It felt a little stagnant and could have used more dynamic changes like a shift in the instruments or something of that caliber for how long it is.
Alter Ego isn't Vocaloid tho. It is a vocal synth, but not Vocaloid. Vocaloid is a seperate program.
The actual Vocaloid software is pretty expensive. 😅 Alter/Ego was more accessible to try out. When I think the term "vocaloid" I think of songs that use vocal synths, but technically that is right.
Very creative to use a Vocaloid this way! It's the first time I see it used in here and it's a great idea! Great first ambient track, I enjoyed it! Nice entry!
Thank you!! 😃 I wanted to have themes of Japanese culture involved in the soundtrack, so Vocaloid and vocal synths came to mind when thinking of the music side. I'm glad you enjoyed it and thank you for the feedback too!
Hi there! :D
Gave both tracks a listen. Your sound was definitely not something I was expecting, but that was a good thing! Both tracks are minimalistic when it comes to instrumentation but are very moving when it comes to pitches and rhythms. Also, I like the tonal ambiguity within both tracks, particularly with "Nemutai Bubble Girl OST" one. The structure and melodic aspects of both works felt weaker than most (or what is typical when correlating a theme to a any specific track from a game), but that's not too much of an issue. Wish there was more material to listen to/further develop what you have here, but overall it's pretty good!
Thank you for the feedback and musical analysis!! :) I wanted something engaging yet mellow, so I tried to have a lot of movement in the tracks. The movement was to give that "bubbling up" effect too. I hadn't realized that there was distinct tonal ambiguity in "Nemutai", so that's a good catch on that. I will try to add more structure to the new soundtrack songs I do in the future. I had the same or similar notes to give the feel of a leitmotif.
I do too! I wish I composed more songs for the soundtrack, since I loved the theme for this one. I felt inspired by it. I originally planned on adding a folk song and a city pop song. I wrote out and translated lyrics, but I was running short on time.
Love how wide it sounds! Big fan of how you used delay to fill up the space, sounds really underwater-like too! Like how you added vocaloid, very unique in the comp! A little feedback on it would to add more vol control there, also couldn't shake it out my head that it was Puppycat (prob the same voicebank) singing...
Good work!
Puppycat uses Oliver as the voice. And this is definitely not Oliver singing.
I appreciate the feedback! Glad that the underwater aspect came across. Volume control was something I could've worked on a little more. In the original mix it sounds fine, but when rendered, the vocal synth sounds a bit too loud compared to the rest in my opinion. Ironically, when uploaded to Soundcloud, it neutralized a lot of the levels, so the vocals seem to blend in better in my opinion.
I haven't watched Bee and Puppycat so I had no idea! Looks like a nice show, so I might get around to watching it. ☺️
I liked your approach, very original way to made the music sound aquatic. It's also really nice to listen a submission with vocaloid, her vocals really captured myself and took me to an unknown marine place. Great work!
Thank you!! I'm glad it did! It was something more experimental with the vocaloid; I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Happy that it immersed you to an underwater land 🌊🌊
The vocaloid sound was deeply enchanting to listen to! Superb work
Thank you so much!! It was my first time adding vocaloid to a song, and I'm glad that the siren-like effect came across!
Sparkle and Sink tickled my brain LMAO
LOOOL nice, I kept that song on in the background while I was doing stuff and my brain just went "mmm brrrr"
I really enjoyed Nemutai, it has a unique magic and charm.
Glad you did! :) I tried to make it somewhat mystical.