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Beyond the Meadow's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Composition | #27 | 4.217 | 4.217 |
| Overall | #30 | 4.109 | 4.109 |
| Impression | #32 | 4.109 | 4.109 |
| Creativity | #41 | 4.109 | 4.109 |
| Quality | #44 | 4.217 | 4.217 |
| Correlation to theme | #127 | 3.891 | 3.891 |
Ranked from 46 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
I approached 'In my world' from a fantasy perspective. The story premise is about a girl named Elara journeying through an enchanted meadow to discover a mountain that she must traverse to reach a beautiful sight. The main track ‘Beyond the Meadow’ conveys her journey through discovery and emotional connection to this land, as she finds it becomes 'her own' to explore. I orchestration to convey the grandness/wonder of it.
Along the way, she encounters various challenges and magical creatures that test her courage and resolve. ‘Weathering Trail’ conveys the more intense and difficult parts of her journey, representing the obstacles she faces and the determination required to overcome them. Instead of say a darker boss or action theme, I kept the tone focused on exploration and adventure.
I'm really happy with what I got to in the time I had. I struggled finding an idea for the first half of the jam, but found a four chord progression to base the song off of. Having that base I was happy with made it a lot easier to add detail, vary it, etc. If I had more time, I'd want to expand, especially towards the climax at the end and polish dynamics.
Message from the artist
Thanks for stopping by! I had a lot of fun writing this. Any constructive feedback would be greatly appreciated, but hope you enjoy the music! It's been great seeing as many submissions as I've been able to get to too, and how supportive people are of each other's music.
EDIT: Thanks all for the feedback so far! It's helpful to know what works and what to change. I'm really honored by all of the kind words here, especially because of how impressive many of the submissions are. It's so cool to see how different people's approaches are, even in the same genre.
Seems the melody and cohesiveness may have gotten lost with variation and more spontaneous writing. I like writing that way to be organic, especially on a film, and I'm glad that seems to be creating interesting bits, but I may have overshot here. This project has given me many ideas I want to explore or refine for my next work, so I appreciate all the insights!
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
'Beyond the Meadow' takes place in a fantasy area that the player privately adventures through, as their 'world.'
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/wtlo/sets/beyond-the-meadow
Number of tracks2
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
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Comments
This is really charming, reminds me of those fantasy open world games with the orchestral magical feel. Great work!
Thank you!! ^^
This soundtrack is filled with so much wonder and charm! Everything complements each other really well, with each section bouncing ideas of one another to create a beautiful listening experience. Your piano and chord writing in particular really stood out to me and have given me some newfound inspiration for my own compositions as well. This was a wonderful submission. Thx for sharing!
Thank you so much!! I'm a big fan of cynax for piano writing, I'd definitely check him out! Really means a lot to hear it's a source of inspiration for you ^^
Really loved the flows of the orchestra... it is beautiful and its really giving soooo strong fantasy adventure vibes like Genshin Impact, The legends of zelda, final fantasy. all the instruments in the orchestra feels soo natural. idk how you make it but it is a GREAT WORK!
This is such a lovely comment, thank you!! ^^
i can feel the wind blowing through my hair as i listen to this ost. charming and beautiful! immense ghibili vibes no doubt. good stuff!!
This made me happy, thank you!! ^^
Mmmmmmm I could eat up this atmosphere all day… beautiful work!
Hehe, thank you so much!! ^^
really majestic orchestration, although it's not tied together by clear motifs, the composition feels very intentional, almost like it was scored to a cutscene that doesn't exist. great work!
Thanks a lot!! Neat perspective on intention, and I do like film writing, so that's really cool to hear it came across to you that way ^^
Wowow, it begins really good with this piano and orchestra!! The rich harmony, interesting harmonic rhythms and georgous orchestrations really impressed me! The story you tell is rich and dynamic, a really good submission!
Thank you!!! Harmony was a big focus, so I'm glad to hear ^^
It is very beautiful and super high quality! It felt a lot like a fantasia sort of arrangement where the music is meant o coincide with very specific actions taking place in a cartoon which is a really cool style!
Very kind, thank you ^^ I do like film writing, so it's cool to look at it that way!
I really enjoyed the texture created by the piano, celeste, and harp passing the accompaniment around. While most of the track uses string, woodwind, and tuned percussion, I think the horn features bring a very fitting sense of the mountain's grandness. In the second track, I liked the use of the low strings as a contrast to the mostly high instrumentation. It makes me wonder if pitching the strings lower in the first track would have made the piece a little cleaner. (Or maybe it wouldn't, I'm not much of a mixer!). Overall, your soundtrack was great at conveying a sense of whimsy and fantasy. Well done!
Great suggestion! I remember letting the high strings be loud to have the melody stand out, but I can see left room in the low end. I felt the piece could've been more clear, so that's good for me to keep in mind. That's good to know about the horn. Glad you enjoyed! ^^
Heh... Beautiful and very cute orchestration, beckoning you into its world full of wonder and fantasy. I especially liked the sharp and expressive parts! Cool, dude! (I dream to learn to make orchestrations as cool as yours someday. Heh)
Thanks!
Glad you like it, that's super kind ^^thank you so much!!
The strings really made this feel ethereal. The orchestration is complex and I can tell a lot of thought went into this. Great work!
That means a ton, after seeing your orchestration work. Thank you so much!!
The orchestration is cheerful and feels like out of Studio Ghilbi. The layering gives a nice majestic feel to the track as well, the orchestration feels high quality. I imagine it must have been a lot of fun to compose this, and maybe a little bit stressful there is a lot of work done here. This was a nice listen, Great work!
Thanks for the kind words! Lot of fun, but definitely tight to add detail in before the deadline ^^' Glad you enjoyed!
Nice work! Little bit confusing orchestration from time to time. So many things happening at once, but overall pleasing sounding)
That's helpful to know! Glad you enjoyed it!
Nice work! Little bit confusing orchestration from time to time. So many things happening at once, but overall pleasing sounding)
This peaked my interest right from the get-go! Super engaging pieces! Love the energy throughout! Wonderful arranging and composing, well done!
So glad to hear that, thank you for the kind words! :)
I REALLY like your tracks! It really fits the theme with the orchestral parts! Well done!
Hey thank you so much, really appreciate that ^^
Words can not describe how good this is. I've always wondered how those harp rolls are created cause they add such an elegant touch to the piece.
Thank you!! That's very kind ^^
For harp rolls, I like to start with an arpegio that fits with or complements the harmony, in a very short span. There's a lot you can do with them, and they often come out sounding more complex than the writing them.
These tutorials really helped me:
Alex moukala: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqNm26RBwUY
Zack Heyde: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqNm26RBwUY
You are a goat for dropping the sauce on this stuff because I could never find tutorials for this and I could never get the harp rolls to sound how I would envision in my head so I just wouldn't add them. with these I can hopefully start implementing them into my future pieces because so many of my favorite pieces of all time have them. Thanks again for this!
Oh, so glad that’s helpful for you! Of course! It can definitely make a big difference. Best of luck with your runs ^^
Beautiful pieces! So many colors and tints. I close my eyes while listening to them and the melody shows me a beautiful magical world I don't want to leave :)
There are quite a lot of motifs in both tracks that I would love to listen to as separate tracks within this OST to have them unfolded and telling even more about the story:)
Love the sound, the mix, the composition with all the variations, the ambience, the magic that the music transfers as it goes :)
Hey thank you, that's so kind of you!! ^^
I'd definitely love to expand things out, and possibly revisit this ost, so it means a lot to hear about having ideas in separate tracks!
Immediately I'm getting such a strong whimsical feel from this, and it's largely thanks to your incredible piano and harp writing, and you you so tastefully bring in other instruments to carry the melody a few notes before passing it back, just sending everything around and around in Beyond The Meadow, while supporting it with these gorgeous string lines that make this song feel so incredibly rich! The use of space and rests make your ideas so much more impactful, because you have such constant flowing ideas that when you give us the audience a chance to breath and reflect it lets us take in everything you've just shown us, before bringing us right back!
Weathering Trail does more of the same, but this time with an underlying feeling of stress that you convey excellently through your use of rhythm in the low strings section, while maintaining these beautiful piano lines!! The use of woodwinds especially in this one stands out for how well it adds to everything else, you use them to support just the right things in my opinion, well done!
I’m so glad to hear all that, thank you for the kind words, wow!! I wanted to go for something more animated, so I’m really glad there was enough room to breathe throughout the tracks.
I’ve been playing around with a similar orchestration to Weathering Trail for a few years, and I really like using clarinets and flutes for it. I’m glad you felt that was a supportive element! ^^
Beautiful, beautiful arrangements! I love how clear the Japanese influences are with really nice chord inversions, 4 and 5 stacks (if im hearing right), great dynamics and expression in each of the instruments. In that sphere of Japanese composers, I personally try to study Keiichi Okabe + Monaca Studio's and early FF compositions and I know how intensive it can be to study those styles. I can feel your love and appreciation for this genre and I know you've definitely worked your butt off to replicate this delicate style. One of the main components I think you've gotten down really well were the string programming, it really sells the FF melody building, and the overall structure through your articulations/expressions.
My small feedback is that some of the solo instruments, such as the Harp in Track 2, are a bit too loud in some parts. Also, I feel like the string dynamics in the beginning of Beyond The Meadow could've been held longer to help ground the beginning phrases.
(Also, what string library are you using? Definitely going to get it no matter the cost, I need to stop using stock kontakt for inst. ensembles ;-;)
This was such an ineffable listen and I appreciate your craft wholeheartedly! Looking forward to hearing more.
Also saw you referenced final symphony and cynax so I know you're tapped in >:)
Hehe >:) grinning to see another tapped in composer
Thank you!!! Wow. Again I don't know what to say to you and everyone honestly for engaging with my music, and all the kind words. Those inspirations have so much to teach (and great recs, huge NieR score fan btw!), so it's all humbling and surreal to have learned enough to receive this feedback. So seriously, thank you and everyone else!!
Great suggestions on dynamics! Intro is a great idea, I do think longer could've improved the structure, so I'll try that out for my future compositions! And the strings you heard is the ensemble patch from Berlin Strings (big Orchestral Tools fan!). Great sketching tool.
As far as a mini spiel on it: I'm not as familiar with other string libaries tbh. There's great yt reviews from Anne Katherin Dern, Christopher Siu, and Alex Heppelman's OT demos (amazing Totoro one!) and his pros/cons lists is excellent. There is a 40% student discount for all OT products, as they can be expensive, but for me has been a great investment. I normally use Berlin Symphonic Strings for cinematic/film and Metropolis Ark 1 (cheff's kiss*) for action sequences these days. Berlin Orchestra has brass/perc/etc too if you want to sample other instruments, (only Berlin Strings has the ensemble that I like, but also the main woodwinds.
I can go on awhile ^^', so please dm if you, or for anyone reading, are new to OT's Sine Player and want tips!!
I'll probably pass out for the night, but took a peak at your music and it's really impressive! I look forward giving fuller feedback to you and others some time later tomorrow I hope!