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Don Gi - Mothers Guidance (OST 7)'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Impression | #8 | 4.317 | 4.317 |
| Overall | #12 | 4.248 | 4.248 |
| Composition | #15 | 4.365 | 4.365 |
| Quality | #28 | 4.286 | 4.286 |
| Correlation to theme | #36 | 4.175 | 4.175 |
| Creativity | #47 | 4.095 | 4.095 |
Ranked from 63 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
OST Game Jam 7
sc: https://soundcloud.com/don-gi-651191075/mothers-guidance-ost7
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Genre: Fantasy, Orchestral, Hard Loopable
DAW: FL STUDIO 21
Runtime: 3:46
Theme: Ephermal moments make permanent memories
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The game narrative was simplified to fit the scene at hand:
" Within her lies an intimate memory that she holds dear. A mothers tune, sung to her daughter while dancing among the bubbles. The ineffable joy stored within these memories drive her to explore an unforgivingly bitter world. A journey of self-discovery, tolerance, and understanding."
3D Platformer, abilities based on discovering new melodies hidden within her own memories. Power of the voice, song, a lot of melodic/angelic sound design envisioned.
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Used various kontakt libraries:
Stradivari Violin - Solo Violin
Jade Orchestra - Percussion, Women Choir,
Stock Kontakt - String Ens, Choir Ens, Glockenspeil, Grand Piano
(Other misc stuff I forgot)
I used granular synthesis and vocodex mod to create some of the blips and bubbles.
Inspired by Square Enix games and prods.
altered cover bg by https://www.instagram.com/kawaakar._/
Message from the artist
Looking forward to hearing your feedback! :)
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
I tried to add a narrative to the scene provided at that specific moment. We see a familial figure and a little girl holding hands, basked in ocean refractions and surrounded by child-like crayon drawings. This was a memory, a very cherished memory, in the world of the little girl's mind. In this unforgettable moment I envisioned them dancing and singing in folkish waltz style. As they sung and danced, bubbles fluttered by, the ocean sang in harmony, all creating an iffeable experience to imagine.
I took a very literal approach to incorporating these elements with forceful bubbly sound design, ethnic east asian instruments, and the idea of ocean "waves" into the volume/reverb automation. I wanted my track to breathe, move, and expand upon the idea of falling deeper into the scene. Momentum progressively builds through each section, signaling growth and excitement towards the exploration at hand. Instruments clash and exchange as moving parts flow and flutter around the listener to provide nice ear candy.
Certain sections were relatively calm, while others bursted in various dynamic instrumentation. I wanted to replicate the feeling of nostalgia within the melody, so having it repeat multiple times allowed it to grow as more instruments were added into arrangement. The instrument selection also morphed through the sections to replicate familarity. The closer she got to the real memory, the closer the instrumentation got to more worldly/east asian influences based on her garment/envisioned background.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/don-gi-651191075/mothers-guidance-ost7
Number of tracks1
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
Any non-commercial project
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Comments
So captivating, so moving, so appealing. Absolutely in love. Thank you for sharing this beautiful piece of music <3
LOVED THIS SO MUCH!! There's so much beauty and comfort packed in here. Each layer of sounds added even more depth and wonder on top of each other, and the choice of instruments makes it EVEN BETTER. The chords were hugging my ears man. Amazing work!!!!!
I really enjoy your use of traditional east asian instruments. It was something i also came up with, but haven't been able to implement. Something else that i really, really liked were those electronic sound effects. It really gave everything one more layer in my opinion!
Your explanation of how your composition fits the theme is everything! I love it when the orchestration goes hand in hand with the them in such a unique way and the song is so good on top of all that!
Incredible job!
The combination of string music and electronic music is very novel, and you manage to blend the two perfectly. That's wonderful!
I liked this one quite a lot. It did some really interesting stuff with the voices. You'll have to get some actual singers! Heh.
Since you like folky stuff, I definitely recommend using a few live instruments to develop that spirit further. It really adds this extra element to the soul, when you're there with the wood and hide of a frame drum, or the gut strings on a lyre. Or your own voice, making some errors, but then also harmonizing in unusual ways.
IMHO, the cheapest way to do this is to use a Shure SM57 - a kind of old school beater microphone that is known for being very accurate. Accuracy and cheap is great for folk music because it's flat. You could buy two so that you can produce a stereo image. Two of those with a Scarlet 2i2 is my setup. You can also fake the stereo image by reproducing the track and putting a delay, or using some plugins that will also spoof a stereo image.
I definitely think you'd get a lot out of using real instruments, and that it's more in reach that you might think. At least, I was stuck in the trap of thinking I had to make my music digitally, and that live performance was reserved for high buck stuff. Not the case at all.
That topic aside, really good work. I hope to hear more from you!
new dead cells track??
Oh my! The glitch effects mixed with the bubble sound in the background fit very well with the other instruments. And the vocal is just so nice to hear *_* Great work! ❤
Beautiful submission! Everything comes together so well, between the East Asian instruments, and the harmonies--love the balance between accoustic and orchestral pallete. Production quality is amazing too. The sound is so natural, and carries the melody very well. I'd agree with other feedback on having a contrasting theme or variation, maybe faster and lower, but definitely using a lot of the elements you already have because it's such a rich sound. Wonderful job!!
Thank you!! Definitely will work on that in future compositions, took a very one dimensional approach in this comp with the melody & sections so I kinda just followed it and repeated it, def would've sounded better with a diff section in the beginning or somewhere in the middle for contrast. I appreciate the feedback!
Very beautiful! Excellent use of the violin and string stabs to convey a sense of adventure. Also, the breakdown with the futuristic high hats into the singing was just beautiful and a joy to listen to. I'll always love the combination of futuristic sounds paired with orchestral instruments because it reminds me of Final Fantasy 13 which is one of my favorite OSTs of all time. It's funny I had a version of my submission with a very similar mix of orchestral instruments and futuristic-sounding instruments but I ended up scrapping it due to it not sounding like it fit the picture theme well. Anyways, such a great submission!
Thank you!!! Listened to a bunch of FF tracks so I totally get you, futuristic sfx + traditional/ethnic instruments is always satisfying. I get you on the direction part, kinda had to get it to fit later on so I was just staring at the picture for a while. Would love to hear that direction if you go with it in future submissions, still think you did it really well nonetheless!
if you are interested in what they sounded like, here's a private SC link to them. Lemme know what you think of them if you decide to give them a listen. link: https://soundcloud.com/riku-ito-56520983/sets/v1-1/s-hh8NCteZjRc?si=4b1564bf32ec...
Checked them out, love them completely: Definitely hear the FF stuff (13 or 14) esp with the build up, def with the flute runs! It feels a lot busier than the stuff in Tides of Fate, big fan of both directions but im definitely biased towards these just for the filtered percussions, synths, and long delays;
Also what's the perc at 0:24 in Battle? I've been trying to re-create metal-y tone stuff by processing anvil hits and it never sounds good
Thanks. The metal sound is called a Steel Plate. It was included in my EastWest educational plan (which is 20 dollars a month) in the Symphonic Orchestra Percussion pack. I really liked how it paired with the Bass Drums as well. It surprised me with how much impact and energy it adds when paired with something low-frequency so it was a cool find in my percussion kit.
One detail I find in your composition, which is not common in many others, is the presence of a clear and specific musical theme (the solo violin). I must say that this greatly aids in characterizing the protagonist and is a definite plus! The background details and textures are also beautiful. The only suggestion I have is to seek more variations in terms of orchestration: maybe you could pass the violin theme to different instruments. At one point, the voice doubles it, but it would have been very effective to introduce other sections and make more distinct changes (perhaps some woodwinds). The exchanges between the A theme of the violin and the B theme of the piano, which avoid repetitiveness, are well done. On point!
Thank you for the feedback! I probably should have added more instruments to lead/accompany but I think my memory and ram exploded so I just went with what I had. It was less of a traditional orchestra and basically just a mash of string instruments + high timbre woodwinds in the background. Near 2:30 I have the mandolin play it too, but its mostly just the solo violin again. My programming skills with horns and woodwinds are definitely lackluster, so I once I experiment with them more I'll definitely look towards something like Miyazaki's work for section arrangement!
You can tell that you study orchestration because you have a good ability to write for orchestra. Writing for symphonic ensembles is always a bit more complex, but I don't think it's necessary. Your type of ensemble works precisely because it's smaller, in my opinion. Consider it as an exercise; if you have the time, I would suggest experimenting (even if you don't have to publish it) with winds in addition to what you've written. I think it could work 😊
Mothers Guidance - You really hit it hard with the Square Enix/SquareSoft vibes with your own style mixed in, nice and full, when those vocals came in at 2:40 it already tells me you were possibly inspired by Nier Replicant, at least how the line sounded, while the main melody after sounds more Automata. Really good and varied!
Amazing work!
I have indeed been playing and listening to a lot of Replicant and Automata... Really inspired by dynamic/layered tracks so I was gonna flesh out the idea to have 3 tracks:
Definitely gonna do this next jam (hopefully)
I actually really like some of these 1 track submissions more than the super long ones. The amount of depth and quality in this single song was AMAZING. Definitely nailed those Square Enix vibes. Gives me a mix of Nier Automata and FinalFantasy 10-14 feels. Even though the song was dynamic, you never lost sight of the purpose too. Really well done!
Thank you!! Definitely hit the nail on the head with those inspos, those were basically all of my references. As much as I like this one track, I would've loved if I did more for the jam !!!
Awesome work! Im a fan of your composition/writing skills. At no point did I get ear fatigue listened to your track. You did a great job keeping the track interesting all the way through :)
If i had to give one minor piece of constructive criticism I thought that the percussion/congo sounds could've benefit from accenting certain notes/playing around with the velocities (could also be a compression thing as well).
Thanks for the feedback!!! Definitely needed to work on my percussion programming, compression def didnt help the dynamic range but I mostly layered multiple hits rather than changed the velocity
Great work! Beautiful composition, melodies, mixing. Those acoustic and electronic percussion parts work perfectly together. Wery inspiring track =)
Very complex track. You mixed a lot of instruments together a lot of interesting ways. Great job!
Amazing work! Has a lot of soul and narrative depth. Can really feel the world and the moments you created in your story. Love how the song is constantly moving, so dynamic.
Thank you, really wanted to keep it dynamic since I was afraid the melody would get a tad bit boring, really happy you felt that way!
Incredible production and mixing all round on this track. I love the how well the orchestration melds with both the acoustic and electronic percussion. The sound design of the bubbles and bleeps is fantastic - I’m a big fan of granular synths!! Fantastic work!
Wow this has a really full sound that sounds quite professional. I love the revererated melody, especially in the repeats where the harmony shifts slightly and the melody goes in a different direction. The pop sounds and bubble-like piano instruments are really cool and add great imagery. The strings and choir work so well together. I think your music choice fit the theme image so perfectly! Wonderful job and thank you for sharing!
One song. One masterpiece. Said everything that needed to be said. WOW. Aside from having great production, it's also creative. Great storytelling in the track and I really enjoy the bubbly sound design, each part flows nicely into the other. It's probably THE best single-track submission I've heard from this jam.
Thank you!!! Wanted to fit the narrative as it developed into my brain (slowly). I was striving for at least 3 songs but I dedicated one day and a sleep-deprived brain to it. Being sleep-deprived probably helped though...