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BLUE's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Correlation to theme | #2 | 4.548 | 4.548 |
| Overall | #13 | 4.245 | 4.245 |
| Composition | #18 | 4.339 | 4.339 |
| Quality | #25 | 4.306 | 4.306 |
| Impression | #30 | 4.113 | 4.113 |
| Creativity | #88 | 3.919 | 3.919 |
Ranked from 62 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- Gorgeous textures in this work-- the overall sense of space is very apparent. I quite like how you choose instruments overall in your submission. The piano on "BLUE" is really nice, and it blends very well with the melodic style you've chosen, giving everything an expansive feel that succeeds quite well. Building ensembles for a theme like this can often be challenging, and I think you've mostly navigated that challenge throughout. Perhaps the only place where I felt the instrumentation choice was a bit uninspired was in WAVE-- I get *why* you would choose steel drums, but I think it runs the risk of being a bit cliche to use them like this, especially against your other writing and instrumentation choices which are fantastic. Having said that, this is a great track to showcase that you absolutely can pull off (with panache!) the "ocean steel drum" sound, even if I think your other tracks are more impressive. I did feel like the trumpet line in particular, but almost the whole mix as well of "DIVE" could use just a touch more reverb to give it a sense of space-- it feels very dry as-is. The material of the track is quite good and has a wonderful soaring quality that I very much appreciate-- the wind arpeggios that sit above everything are a very nice touch. FLOW was delightful. I loved the staccato synth voice sounds, which were enhanced by their synth-ness in a way that I think is rare and also really neat to hear. It can sometimes be a challenge to work with instrumental tones like that but here it sounds effortless and is an utter delight. Thanks for the interesting harmonic stuff in SINK, which I thought was a really fun and thoughtful composition that fit into the overall whole quite nicely. I enjoyed the section with the portamento lead too-- it provided a nice contrast to the rest of the track and really elevated the whole thing. I would encourage you to write genuine endings for your tracks rather than relying on fade-outs, as I find that doing so really forces one as a composer to create a complete statement with the track, and it is surprising how doing so can affect things that come before the ending. I myself have written many "fade outs" and listening to them now, I wish I hadn't, because "landing the plane" is more satisfying for the listener and really would have been better for me as a composer. The more aggressive writing in DEEP is nicely handled-- the constant dynamic nature of the track gives the whole thing interest and I really liked what you did with it!
Description
In this OST, the story centers around a woman and takes place in the ocean of her mind. The game is intended to be a story-driven exploration/collector adventure game. I was very inspired by both the image and prompt themes and have created a soundtrack that encapsulates both, with themes of introspection and a vast array of internal emotions in the setting of a beautiful ocean-set world. I invite you to read along in the track descriptions while listening. Please enjoy!
1 BLUE: This track serves as the opening title sequence and opening theme for the game. The game opens with her falling through the sky and eventually crashing into the cerulean ocean. She is now back in the sea of thoughts and memories and is not sure how to escape. Drifting slowly downward in the clear blue water, she realizes that she has a chest tightness as if she was holding her breath, but she wasn’t inhaling the water either. She looks at her hands and feet and realizes that she sees the limbs of a child and realizes that she is wearing the pink kimono her grandmother gave her when she was young. Looking around, she starts to see things moving through the water, hazy at first, but then they become more clear. She recognizes a goldfish swimming by as one from her childhood. Swimming and eventually finding a bed of sea grass, she notices sprouting from the sand the sunflower she watered every day from the seeds she found in a field by her house. Countless memories appear in the ocean and the scene becomes filled with vibrancy. In the distance, though, she notices indistinct shadowy figures with red eyes darting back and forth just out of clarity. She feels calm, but cannot shake the feeling that something isn’t quite right. For the time being, she rests in the soft seagrass as the opening sequence fades into the title screen. In this track, I tried to capture the serenity of floating calmly in an azure ocean through various pads and a lot of reverb on the main piano melody. To get a more natural flow, I also refrained from exclusively using a strict metronome and performed the piano in large takes. I also introduced the feeling of contented worry in the middle section to represent the complex emotions the main character has.
2 DIVE: As the game opens, you see the woman, appearing as herself as a child, looking up to the sun’s rays shining through the water. She swims upward and eventually reaches the surface where she sees bright blue skies and a calm sea. Expecting to breathe, she still is not able to and feels the uncomfortable weight on her chest still. She then sees a small boat that she remembers from bath time as a child. She climbs on board and rests. In the distance she sees something floating in the water. She picks up the oars and slowly makes her way to the object when she realizes it is the yellow crayon that she recognized as her favorite crayon color. The crayon was enormous though. She lifted it on board and it stood upright in the center of the boat. Nearby, she also found her favorite pink blanket, so she hung it up on the crayon to act as a sail. The gameplay then opens to the ocean surface which serves as the overworld for the game. The boat becomes her dive boat with which she can travel to different areas of the ocean to dive into the various locations. In the overworld, she can collect items that represent memories which she can use for further boat customization, and thoughts that she can use as items with various effects through her adventure. This track was written with an adventurous vibe in 6/8: classic sea-faring track characteristics. I got creative with sound effects and instrument plug-ins to create the illusion of moving from underwater to above the surface to help connect it to the other tracks that are mostly based underwater.
3 WAVE: After collecting some items, the woman notices another boat in the distance. On board is a small man who looks suspiciously like a doll that she remembers once having. As the other boat approached, the small man waved (yes, that kind of wave) at her enthusiastically. He drifted up next to her boat and she realized it WAS her doll. He was always a comfort for her when she was little and she was happy to see a familiar face. He explained that he also was a collector of thoughts and memories in order to help keep them safe (but he also favored some ideas and memories over others) so he offered to make a deal that he would trade his wares with those that the woman had collected. After bartering, they bid farewell and he sailed off into the horizon. This short theme is intended to be the shop theme for the game and is a nice reprieve whenever the doll shopkeeper drifts by.
4 FLOW: After exploring the surface, the woman finds a shallow coral reef that she decides to explore first. The sun is high in the sky casting radiant gleams that shimmer through the shallow water and highlight the vibrancy of the reef teeming with life. She dives in and swims with the fish, turtles, and jellyfish. Having fun, she feels the weight on her chest ease slightly. She then notices a bright blue glowing object floating ahead. Seeing this bright glow sparks a memory of a feeling inside that she can’t remember the origin of. It feels warm and cozy, but sad at the same time. Following the glow, it takes her through the reef until she finally catches it. When she holds it in her hands, she remembers parts of her life as an adult. She sees herself crying and staring out the window, not feeling able to move. She can’t remember anything else and the memory fades. She notices other similar glows far in the distance and she realizes that these are key pieces of information and that maybe they will help her return to her life from the depths of her mind. This leads to a key gameplay element in that she has to navigate through the different areas in the ocean to collect the glowing memories. In this track, I wanted a fun but serene groove to explore this first benign area. To help give the song a ~flow~ vibe, I used gentle and overall soft instrumentation, used simple diatonic harmonies, and I automated a lot of panning to gently sway back and forth.
5 SINK: The woman explores many areas in the vast ocean and recovers many memories, both pleasant and unpleasant, but all leading her closer to remembering how she ended up stranded in the ocean of her mind. One of the last locations to explore was in an area of the ocean that is stormy and littered with sharp rocks. When she has collected enough memories and thoughts, she is able to fortify her ship well enough to traverse the treacherous narrow passageways. This theme plays when she makes the dive and finds herself in sunken ruins. The shadowy figures were now numerous and darting very close by. She was now able to make out the shapes a little better because they were so close, and they looked like ghostly swordfish and squids. Each time they swam near, she could feel her heart beating faster, her stomach tighten, and her throat close up in a fearful panic. She deduced that these creatures must represent her emotions of fear and anxiety. She wondered why they were so densely populated in this location. Using many positive thoughts and memories that she collected throughout her journey, she was able to fend off the enemies that were starting to make attacks at her. Making her way through the ruins, she finds the last glowing object, but this one is much larger than the others and is a grisly crimson color. When she reached out to grab it, suddenly a deep and dark memory was unlocked and she was filled with horror. She remembered being a little girl wearing the pink kimono, coloring with her yellow crayon, with her blanket and her doll, and sitting in a dark room alone for hours waiting for her mother to return. Her mother would often lock her in that dark room for hours, hungry and waiting often through the night before her mother would return. One day, her mother did not return and she was left for 3 days alone in the dark room before her grandmother found her emaciated and sickly. It was at this time in her life when she learned that, in order to survive, she had to retreat into her own mind to protect her from the harsh realities of the real world. She never saw her mother again, but through the rest of her childhood and into adulthood, she would occasionally involuntarily fall into the ocean of her mind. As a protective measure, her memories were dispersed to shield her from the pain of her traumatic childhood. This track uses more synthesized instruments to demonstrate that the main character is getting out of touch with herself and the fear and anxiety is making it difficult to remain calm. The strong kick drum is meant to represent the heart palpitations she feels.
6 DEEP: Now having collected the majority of her memories, she was desperate to return to the real world. She could not figure out why she was still stuck in the mind ocean. Suddenly the sky darkened in the distance in a direction she had not ventured before and a large glow emerged from the sea. There must have been one last memory that she needed to collect, but she now could feel the shadowy bad emotions growing in number and were traveling closer than they dared before. She knew that going to collect the last memory would force her to face something terrible. Going to the area of dark skies and glowing water, she made one last dive. Swimming deep through the dark and murky water, she felt low rumbling vibrations through the water and noticed that in the dark below, it seemed there was something big with bright red eyes swimming rapidly toward her. She deftly propelled herself to the side and the creature streamed past her. She could then see more clearly that it was a large shadowy sea serpent that made her heart sink and almost completely immobilized her. This sea serpent was the embodiment of the trauma she suffered and has never been able to face before now. This time was different though, there was one more memory that she knew that was more important than her fear of the snake. Using everything she had learned and collected throughout her journey, she fought the snake head-on with a newfound bravery. After a long duel, she eventually vanquished the beast. The last memory appeared before her and glowed a brilliant blue. Tired, but with her head held high, she reached out for the memory. This track is the final boss theme for the game. Using tropes from other water villains (like low double basses playing neighboring tones from Jaws, as an example), I created an epic battle theme fit for the serpent. I tried to encapsulate the emotions that the main character would be feeling in this situation, starting with mystery and fear, leading to dread, then determination. When the violin melody emerges, it has an element of courage to it that wavers with stabs of anxiety, and these emotions all intermix throughout the battle, until finally there is a somber resolution.
7 BREATHE: Grasping the final blue glowing memory, she suddenly felt all her worries and fears wash away. She heard the sound of a crying baby. Her own baby. She remembers that she is now a mother and the intense fear of turning out like her own mother is what had cast her into the ocean at the start of the game. But now she had faced the trauma and finally would be able to move on with her life. The shadowy figures were darting away far in the distance and she could feel the tightness in her chest lifting. She felt more serene than ever before. Every muscle in her body was finally able to relax after so many years of visceral anxiety. She was able to let go. She closed her eyes and started floating upward toward the surface. A blue light shone brightly from the surface and she felt nothing but desire to go toward the blue. When she emerged from the water, she was finally able to breathe, and there she was no longer in the ocean. In her arms was her newborn daughter. She knew then that the ocean would always be there, but never again would she be cast in involuntarily. Finally, it was time to start living.
Message from the artist
Thank you for choosing to listen to my soundtrack! I’ve been wanting to write an ocean soundtrack for a while and I am so glad that this is the venue in which I get to share with all of you. Please enjoy!
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
I covered this in depth in the description of the individual tracks, but in short, the entire story of my game is set to both the prompt “Inside My World” and the image prompt. The main character is both the young girl and the human-shaped bubble from the image and the entire story takes place exclusively inside her mind which is represented as an ocean, taking inspiration from the image. To convey the theme of “Inside My World” musically, I tried to write themes that are very reflective and flowing using reverby/watery piano. I also tried to use voices and choir as a thematic instrument in multiple tracks to remind how personal this soundtrack’s music is. Many strategies were used to get a “water” sound to the music including lots of reverb, increasing low end EQ, writing with flowy strings, and using pads that evoke the sense of floating weightlessly in the water. All in all, the entirety of the soundtrack is written to perfectly encapsulate the themes.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/user-639826435/sets/blue
Number of tracks7
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
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Comments
Absolutely stellar stuff! Really enjoyed all the tracks, except maybe FLOW felt a bit out of place to me compared to others, but that's just because I've heard a lot of uplifting commercial music on tv with the same style/vibe here in Finland (so no else will feel probably the same 😄 ).
The different styles/vibes you use on the tracks really helps "set the mood" for the different parts/areas of the game, with DIVE bringing me straight to the Limsa Lominsa from FF XIV with nautical vibes.
I don't know if you have listened to Nightwish, but SINK compositionally really gives me a lot of the same great "dance" feels that some of their stuff has (absolutely meant this as a compliment, not a criticism).
Likewise Deep brings me right back to playing a PS2 game with the orchestration/arrangement. I don't know if you have played Onimusha: Dawn Of Dreams before, but the feels/vibes you managed to evoke here really makes me feel like I'm playing the again.
Now i feel i have to try and crunch more tracks on the next jam, but probably not on the same quality level 😅.
Really good job on these!
I really appreciate your thoughts and feedback! I definitely was aware when compositing FLOW that I was using a very “loved” (aka sometimes overused) chord progression which certainly had the potential to make it sound like other songs. I was feeling some creative block before starting that track and so I pulled from what I knew. I’m actually not familiar with Nightwish or Onimusha, but I will certainly be checking them out! Thank you so much for listening and for offering your thoughts!
High quality from start to finish, with a good amount of variety sprinkled throughout. Not much to say here in critique, this is a very well-thought out, complete soundtrack that touches on a broad range of emotions. "DEEP" is an excellent final boss theme! You are a very talented composer, nice job overall!
This is such a kind comment that made me smile really big! Thank you so much for listening and for sharing your thoughts!
I'm so in love with your world and your art ! You're such a great artist!
The piano theme in BLUE is so peaceful and beautiful, I love it ! The sound design in the beginning of DIVE is very good too and the percussion match perfectly with the melody you use!
The harmony in DEEP work so well it's incredible !
Again great for this work !
Thank you so much for listening and for leaving this comment! You picked out some of my favorite tracks as well. I’m glad that the time and love I spent on them was enjoyed!
Awesome soundtrack, from beginning to end !
There's great variety in the tracks coupled with awesome instrumentation and arrangements, all serving a well written and thought-out synopsis.
Some tracks (which are also my favourites, coincidentally or not) reminded of other tracks I really like, which is great when they can paint some situations in my head independently of the story explanations :
- WAVE reminded me of the Melee Island Theme from Monkey Island
- The vocals of FLOW reminded me of Tetris Effect with the vocals sounds mapped to the player's inputs (maybe the glow in your story could leave some sparks behind that would emit those sounds when collected ?)
- The strings of SINK reminded of the strings at 53s in Freeze Up from Ninja Gaiden on Xbox (it took me a while to find in the back of my head where the familarity of the strings in your track came from)
- Finally, the intensity and orchestration and DEEP made me think of the MGS : Peace Walker theme (fitting for a battle against a snake)
Anyway, fantastic stuff I enjoyed it a lot, so congrats for your work !
Ooh I like your idea of having interactive music elements with the vocal effects from the glowing memories when they are collected! I am so glad that these tracks resonated with you! I am not familiar with the Freeze Up track - I’m going to look into that! Thank you so much for your attentive listening and for sharing these thoughts - I greatly appreciate it!
Amazing OST! It was fun reading each description while listening to the tracks, I could visualize the story as it unfolded. I could feel the apprehensions and anxiety building through the tracks until Breathe's final, reflective breath. It made me breathe too lol.
I’m so glad you chose to read the descriptions while listening. Thank you so much for spending the time to embrace my story and for leaving this comment - I appreciate you!
This is one heck of an OST I really must say. You've completely covered all the emotions here, and you've got a full-on proper story to go with it as well. That first track for me especially was sensational actually. Wonderful stuff, bravo!
Thank you so much for listening! Conveying the emotions of the story in the music was a challenge I strived for in this OST in particular so I’m glad that you could feel many of the emotions being conveyed. I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts!
Hey, I remember you from the Spring Tune Jam! How's it going? OK this should be good...
Yeah I don't what else I can say that hasn't already been said about this submission. Its Great! The compositions, the production, the game idea, etc. are all fantastic! I usually try to give at least one piece of constructive criticism, but all I can think of are nitpicks like I thought the lead horn was a little too loud in DIVE and...that's it??? This was a wonderful submission.
Great work!
Hey! Good to see you in this jam too! Thank you so much for listening and sharing your thoughts! I appreciate the constructive feedback - I agree with you and now know how to fix that for the future! Your soundtrack is on my list to listen to and rate by the end of the rating period - I’m looking forward to it! Thank you so much, once again!
OK this one was basically 5s all around with a 4 on impression. GG.
Concept is a creative use of theme and the music captures it really well. A tip of the hat for keeping your titles on-brand as well. If I booted up a 3d game matching your description (I get Wind Waker-y vibes myself) and heard this soundtrack it would not disappoint.
Favorite track here was probably FLOW.
Thank you so much for listening and for sharing your thoughts. Your score is very generous - thank you! I’m so surprised that I didn’t actually have Wind Waker in mind while making this, but now that you say it, I think that style would work really well for the game I imagined! I really appreciate you taking the time to leave this thoughtful comment!
A bit late, but here I am! Let's dive in, shall we? ;)
1) BLUE - Ahh... Immediately I recall why you are my favorite. The quality is always astounding. I also really love how I can read along with the text and have it be perfectly timed. As soon as I read "In the distance, though, she notices indistinct shadowy figures with red eyes darting back and forth just out of clarity", the part at 1:10 started playing a bit more ominously. Do you actually time that stuff? It almost has to be! And the piano full of reverb together with the vocals and such just sound heavenly.
2) DIVE - You definitely nailed that adventurous vibe you were going for! And the underwater plus out of water sound effects work perfectly in tandem with it. And I am starting to like the story more and more too :D
3) WAVE - Before I read it, I thought "this must be a shop theme"! I am still lost as to what makes a shop theme a shop theme, but I am noticing more and more that everyone around me knows exactly what makes it so xD. A short song so now and then is also a welcome change. And the story is really cute, I love this "seeing objects from memories" theme you've got going here.
4) FLOW - I love the vocals here! I immediately felt like the animals were humming alongside me (though they are clearly human voices). It gave it a really cute and hopeful vibe. One of my favorites so far :)
5) SINK - Wow, really cool how you switched to a darker setting. Reading the story that became quite dark suddenly matched the song well. It feels like enemies are approaching, like time is running out, but at the same time... like you will make it. Depressing yet hopeful. Really weird how you always nail those vibes!
6) DEEP - Forget what I said, this one is my favorite so far! I absolutely love this. Again, the text fitted perfectly - "suddenly the sky darkened in the distance" at 0:12 and "using everything she had learned and collected throughout her journey, she fought the snake head-on with a newfound bravery" at 0:35. I love the melodies all the way from 1:24 to 1:39, I love your chord progressions, I love the deep bass, I love the little jittering at 0:34 and 1:58, I just love this one :D
7) BREATHE - Fuck man, your last songs always hit so hard... Or should I say, they hit so deep. The story is simple and so perfect for this soundtrack, you always pull this off. You could have named this TEAR, cause that would be more accurate with our situation here (oh, and that would be in line with the 4-letter thing you've got going). Really awesome!
Also, I like that you chose for capitalized sea-words, all 4 letters long except the last. It makes it both consistent as well as easy for me to explain what song I am discussing :).
I am not gonna lie, listening to your songs is always both a blessing and a curse - I usually think that my songs don't sound so bad until I listen to yours! The difference in quality is just so big. Don't worry, I am not giving up - on the contrary, I'll use your songs as inspiration. Just know that you are exactly who I want to be like (in terms of music skills of course ;).
Until next time!
Gosh, thank you so much for taking the time to listen and leave such an in-depth and thoughtful comment! Regarding the timing of the music with the story, I of course hoped that it would line up as people are reading, if it lined up perfectly for you, that was mostly coincidence! I agree with you about still being unsure about what exactly makes a shop theme, but I’ve noticed that laid-back Latin-inspired grooves are one way to capture the feeling! I really appreciate your notes about DEEP especially since I spent the majority of my time, proportionally, on this track. The jittery sound was actually kind of an accident as I was playing around with automating the high-shelf frequency of the high violin part and I thought it would sound cool as a lead in to the big orchestral hit.
I think it is very natural to compare yourself to other people (I’ve done it countless times in this jam. Even your soundtrack with the smooth adaptive elements in your first track as it smoothly transitions between locations is something that I thought to myself “why didn’t I think of that?”). I think that these jams and this community create such a special opportunity to learn and grow compositionally. Before you look too far ahead, I think it’s always nice to look backward and see how far you’ve come every once in a while. When I listen to my first OST Comp jam submission from the Story of Seasons jam, I can definitely tell the difference in quality compared to now. I can certainly say the same for your music - you have made tremendous leaps forward since the time we started joining the same music jams. Keep going! I’ll be rooting for you all along the way!
Thank you once again, as always, for your support!
Well, well... time for one of the most fascinating publications of this jam...
To begin with, you're crazy. Only a person with good experience can perfectly fit the soundtrack into his detailed story (And I am incredibly surprised by the size and fascination of your story)!
BLUE - Heh... An ambient piano with a choir that sounds like a violin? Cool! I feel the underwater intro... It's like I'm slowly waking up...
DAVE - I'm awake! And everything sounds so beautiful! In this track you can hear the soul, an incredible flow of positivity and a sense of discovery of something new! ... and then dive again...
WAVE - Heh... I love the sound of this song. It's like I'm being given a break)
FLOW - BEAUTIFUL VOICES. (... as well as my favorite rattles). For some reason, I imagined swimming with dolphins on coral reefs (And then I read the description of the track and realized that you were perfectly able to convey these feelings). A small "blackout" at 1:30 sounded like I was given a second to listen to a submarine
SINK - DRUM TIME! ...and also a little magic)
DEEP - We went down deep... I feel the danger... And the epicness of what is happening! There is a sense of confrontation and the fact that all the most valuable things are at stake...
BREATHE - The End? It was beautiful :_)
Your entire soundtrack sounds like the perfect accompaniment for the most vivid scenes from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas... And I love it.
Thanks for the most beautiful 14 minutes of this jam, heh)
P.S. Do you write stories? You're good at making up fairy tales)
Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to listen to my music and then write such a thoughtful comment! Your close listening picked up on many subtle elements that I was trying to convey in the tracks (for example the dark section at 1:30 in FLOW). I have dabbled in story-writing, but I often find myself most motivated to do so when I get to write the story musically as well. Having the music and the narrative helped inform details about each other, details of the story had to be included in the music, and vice versa. I am glad listening to my soundtrack was a good experience! Once again, I really appreciate you taking the time to listen!
This was truly amazing to listen to, wow!! BLUE is one of the coolest things I've heard so far in terms of imagery and atmosphere, and it reflected your description of the track perfectly. I love it so much that I had to listen to it a few more times. And speaking of descriptions, the story you've created is so fleshed out and detailed, I wish I could see this as a fully developed game!! I got pretty emotional just by reading while listening to each track... lol. The amount of orchestration you do within the jam period is truly insane, I gotta know your composing process. Really, really amazing work!!!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to listen and to leave such a thoughtful comment! I appreciate you reading the story I wrote - I try to let my music speak for itself, but since I had such a specific idea for the game story, I wanted to share it with others!
I would be happy to share my process! BLUE was the first track I wrote and I didn't really have anything in mind before I started other than I really wanted to convey a sense of being underwater in a serene blue environment, so I spent a decent amount of time working on the pads and atmosphere before the piano, which largely started as improvisation, was added. I think I had images of Finding Nemo in my mind while creating the atmosphere I was going for. Afterward, I knew I would have limited time during the week because of my work schedule, so I decided to tackle what I knew would be the most time-consuming production which was DEEP. By completing my two biggest tracks first (and FLOW third), I knew that I would also have plenty of time to leave and come back to them with fresh ears after a couple days so I could really fine-tune them. For the majority of my later projects, I had specific references of other video game water music that I was listening to on repeat since the beginning of the jam to get a feel for the types of compositional tricks that make up a "water" sound. Then for most of the tracks, I took a melody-first approach and filled in the accompaniment after to match the mood and style I was shooting for based on the story elements that I had in mind. I have lots of recordings on my phone of me singing different variations of the melodies before I settled on what became the final versions. :) I'm not a purist when it comes to selection of orchestral instrumentation - my philosophy is that if I have the capability to combine any instruments together, I might as well choose whichever ones fit the needs of my project and the emotions I'm trying to convey. My tracks always start with 10 instruments or so that I think would fit the vibe I'm going for and then I get partway and think "Oh, I need a high-register instrument to fill in the gaps for this melody, maybe a flute would work?", for example. Then as that continues it often snowballs into many additional instruments. I think this is an area of my composition that I could improve in the future, for purposes of time efficiency and acoustic space economy. Then again, I also operate under the mantra that if it sounds good and I like it, then chances are other people might feel the same, whether it is "proper composition" or not. I always seem to still be writing my last track on the final day before the submission is due so SINK (the last track I wrote) maybe didn't get as much revision love as my other tracks, but I think it turned out far better than I was expecting it to!
This was fun typing out my process. I hope I answered what you were curious about. Thank you so much once again for your support!
Thanks for sharing your process in such detail!! (and sorry for such a late reply, I haven't been on here for a while... lol)
It's pretty cool to see what things you prioritize in your process, and how you organize your tasks based on that. I also try to choose instruments and voices based on what would suit the subject matter the best, but I think my subconscious always wants to stick with traditional sounds that I'm used to, so I'm working on breaking that habit. I really struggle with time efficiency, so I'm definitely going to try out some of your approaches next time! Thanks again for sharing!
I recognize this person!
You had my favorite entry in the spring tune jam with Sentient Circuitry!
I knew going in that this was going to be high quality and I was proven right! This is a fantastic entry! My favorite would have to be FLOW! It just feels so happy and I live the whistle that plays behind everything it is so moving!
I think it is a top 3 song in the entire jam for me as of now!
Incredible job!
I am so honored that I was able to create a track that you enjoy so much! FLOW was really fun for me to write and just has a serene feel-good quality in my opinion. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen and to write a comment on my submission as well as on every other submission too! You are certainly appreciated by many people in this jam!
Oooh I love the atmosphere! Good instruments too! And the cover art is really great!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to check out my music!
Really loved reading through the track descriptions as I listened :)
Thank you for reading the story! I know it came out a little longer than I thought, but hopefully it was synergistic with the music.
First track blew me away! really nice use of space and ambience.
Thank you so much! That was the first track I made and spent lots of extra time on it to make sure it hit just right. I appreciate you listening and leaving a comment!
I don't know how you did it or were you got your samples, but boy is this sound track magical! I would listen to it over and over again! So good. Flow and Blue were my favorite songs as they had the most feeling and evoked a great sense of wonder and magic to me. Really great job on the orchestration. Just amazing! They all fit the theme very well. By far the best sounding music I have yet listened to for the Jam! Such emotion and feeling you were able to capture with each song. Outstanding work.
Thank you so much for your kind comment! I wish I could share what the special sauce was, but most of this was either Logic presets or BBC orchestra instruments with a couple free sound effects I’ve found. I’m glad that the emotional depth was conveyed for you! I am so appreciative of you taking the time to listen to my music!
Your welcome. Aww the BBC. Yeah that is the set that I used as well. Very good! I just have not been able to get it to sound just right or at that point yet. :)
We gotta talk about how you got this mix to sound SO incredibly full. The music is just beautiful and really transported me to another place. Blue feels like I'm falling in slow motion into another dimension. The orchestral swells and dynamic range of your composition are absolutely insane. Then Dive is such an incredible "first area" theme. I could imagine a vibrant blue expanse to explore and meet interesting NPCs in. Love how the prod really brings you in and out of the water. Drums in the Wave track are such ear candy. And those mallet-like elements?? BROOOO. The drop in Flow?? BROOOOO! Also rocking with the love those gospel voices are getting in Sink, that is like one of my favorite logic sample packs to work with. The last two tracks are just...bro I can't it's too good :'-))
I wanna emphasize how impressed I am with the presence of your string pads throughout the tracks, they are mixed so fantastically. This soundtrack is my new favorite from the jam thus far. I cannot wait to see what you make next :D
Your comment made me so happy to read! I’m very glad you enjoyed all the tracks and you appreciated a lot of the things that I put a little extra attention into (like the gospel voices which were subtle, but I think were a nuance that helped color the emotion at that part in SINK). I am so appreciative of your thoughtful listening and for your comment - thank you!
wow that’s magical! The only word I could say is chapeau!
Thank you so much for listening!
Overall it's a very solid OST! The track I enjoyed the most by far is BLUE: how the music evolves in terms of energy, the harmony progressions, the melody. I felt completely transported in the world you have imagined for the soundtrack! Very impressive, well done!
Thank you so much for listening! Immersion is something that I really wanted to convey in this soundtrack and I’m glad my opening track was able to help you feel a part of the world I created! I appreciate your kind comment!
Really cool progression with these tracks! They really remind me of other soundtracks in a good way, I could totally see (hear?) these in a movie or an actual game.
Blue: really love how it morphs from the ambient, undefined intro to the clear piano melody, then adds some accompaniment
Dive: Great usage of sound effects, a really adventurous tune! Percussion gives the sound of gold coins clanking together which reminds me of treasure hunts and other lost childhood memories
Wave: keeping the energy pretty high with a sort of calmer "Under The Sea" vibe which fades nicely into...
Flow: We're getting a bit deeper now. It starts off a little menacing, but once the melody, especially the (steel guitar?) kicks in, that sense of coral reef exploration is made really clear. The choir reminded me a bit of the Moana soundtrack, but that could also just the atmosphere (or lack thereof haha) talking
Sink: Keeping up the energy, but adding a little hint of mystery
Deep: starts off with ambient sounds that trigger my Subnautica PTSD, and then goes right into a pretty dark melody which would fit right into Jaws, eventually breaking into something more hopeful, more in line with Pirates of the Caribbean for example, ending on a more strenous note; we're not out of the water yet...
Breathe: calm and beautiful. I'm a sucker for good piano, and this (as well as Blue) has some really nice piano in it. Ending on a breath, which makes sense for the title... If I were to nitpick, the breath sounding a little... interesting... but other than that, solid track
Overall, really good stuff!
Wow, I am so incredibly appreciative of your close listening and the time you spent to craft this feedback. I really like the comparisons you make as you did hit on some of my more explicit influences. I appreciate your nitpicking as I am also critical of my own work as a composer as well and I want to hear how I can improve! The breath sound in particular was a recording of myself and for the life of me I couldn’t get my inhale to not sound like an exhale. I had spent too much time on it so you heard what I eventually had to leave it as, but trust me that it was the best of about 40 different attempts! Thank you so much for listening and for your thoughts!