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Imperfect Reflection's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #15 | 3.917 | 3.917 |
| Overall | #32 | 3.729 | 3.729 |
| Impression | #35 | 3.750 | 3.750 |
| Quality | #38 | 3.708 | 3.708 |
| Composition | #59 | 3.542 | 3.542 |
Ranked from 24 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Message from the artist
Hope you enjoy my submission !
How is it "palindromic" : the musical base/the tracks are stricly symmetrical and mirrored from the center of the whole track, the two halfs of the track aren't using the exact same instruments for more variety, and to fit with the game concept.
What is the game : I imagined a 2D sidescroller (going from left to right), separated in different sections.
There would be a mirror at the end of the level making you explore an alternate version of the level (more sinister and darker) in the opposite direction with different details (think Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde on NES except done better hopefully lol).
Genre : Prog Rock / Metal
Inspirations : Fates Warning / Dream Theater / killer7 / No More Heroes
Instruments used :
- Epiphone Alex Lifeson Signature
- Fender Jazz Bass Geddy Lee Signature
- Sire Marcus Miller V7 Fretless
- Tech21 YYZ Geddy Lee Pedal
Software :
- Studio One 6 Pro
- NeuralDSP (Archetype Petrucci/Gojira, Darkglass Ultra)
Cover made by me
Difficulty
Make a piece that has the same musical notes both forwards and backwards but doesn’t have to be an identical recording.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/valerian-dubois/imperfect-reflection
Number of tracks1
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Comments
wow... AMAZING!! I absolutely loved it and I really enjoyed listening to it! The first minute I was thinking: "Where is the progressive rock or metal??" And then the drop kick in. The drums were PERFECT and the guitars where really nice too.
About the game you are trying to express I think it fits really well and that you made great job.
I think it's one of the most creative pieces I've heard so far and I think you deserve at least top 10!
Amazing job! :)
Thank you so much for the very nice comment, it means a lot !
The progressive bands that I'm into (such as Rush, Fates Warning or Opeth for example) tend to have those calm intros before building up progressively their structure, which is something that I really love in their epic songs (and tried to bring in my composition to have more variety, and create more contrast so that the heavy part has a bit more impact). I also really like how those bands bring subtle complexity in their songs with time signatures changes and non usual arrangements, which is also something that I tried to emulate in my track (with each main section having a different time signature and the changes in the arrangements in the second half) to bring in more depth.
Anyway, thanks a lot for the comment (and as for the top 10, only time will tell) !
Completely agarre with you! Also, I really like your musical taste ;)
Great instrumental work, really solid listening experience.
Thanks a lot !
Wow, that guitar sounds great! Drums are also doing amazing work. Love the mixing and built up of energy done through the score. Nice one!
Thank you very much !
Drums sounds are ModoDrums and Krihm Drums (this one has a free version to use with Kontakt7 in case you're interested).
O-O
this... now, this was a moment
congrats, gave me chills
Thanks a lot, glad that you appreciated it that much !
I loved how varied the track was it never got boring and was very high quality!
The way the guitar sounded far away gave the song a lot of depth that I liked!
Thanks a lot for your comment, I wanted this time to write a single track with multiple interesting sections to listen to instead of the usual formula of one main idea per track that I did before, so I'm glad that this came across in the final result (and that you appreciated it too of course) !
this was really good! I liked it a lot! Amazing job!
Thanks a lot !
Really good. I know from experience that solo rock / metal productions are a load of work, so I'm really impressed that this was made in such short time! I'm very much in love with the prog nature of it. Really really good!
I didn't realise at first the use of fretless bass, but indeed that makes it even more impressive!
Thanks a lot for your comment !
I can confirm that it took a lot of time to learn each part onward and backward and get decent takes (notably with the solo bridging the two parts in one direction and in the other) but glad that the effort was noticed !
Fortunately since I wrote the guitar and bass parts in MIDI initially, I could easily reverse them and see if they worked backwards instead of spending time recording them and having a weak backwards result (still a long process, but more efficient).
Also yeah, recording fretless is always very nice, the Sire bass having very similar scale length and dimensions of my preferred Jazz Bass helps with hitting the right notes without thinking much about it because of muscle memory, so it's pretty smooth on that end.
Anyway, glad that you liked it !
This is SO COOL!!!! One of my favorites submissions! The metal section surprised me a bit because I initially hadn't read what you wrote. But it works very well as a continuation of the first part of the song. Loved it! Excellent work!!
Thanks a lot for your kind comment, glad that you liked it so much !
Initially I was going to keep it pretty consistent across both ends of the track, but then I thought having variety by bringing differences in the second part with heavier instruments would work pretty nicely (I did put a break at the middle between the two parts to not make the transition too jarring).
This is also how the concept of the game imagined here came to be, to illustrate that "Imperfect Reflection" between the two sides and making it the key gameplay feature of this imaginary game.
Anyway, glad that you listened to my track !
Picture reminded me kind of on "Take on me" by Aha. Quite the journey you've taken us throughout this song. Might to look some of your used gear up. The Gojira Neural DSP might be something, as well as the Alex Lifeson LP. I need do commend your playing. Getting to hear a cleanly played Guitar is one thing, the other having also a fretless bass played so well. Great job!
Thanks a lot (the cover looks a lot like now that I think of it haha) !
The NeuralDSP suite of amps is really great for this sort of stuff, I don't know if you play guitar but you can get free trials for all their amps and there should be a sale soon enough (not sponsored by the way, but I should think about it since I end up talking about them in these jams quite often enough).
As for the Epiphone Alex Lifeson LP, it is also really great, a bit expensive if you're not planning to use a Floyd Rose often enough and/or not a huge Rush fanboy but I love it and it fits right along my Geddy Lee Jazz Bass (if you're looking to get one, there was a previous version with a piezo for acoustic sounds that can sometimes be found on the used market). Also the fretless Sire that I used is also really nice, very affordable and has a lot of tonal options, so I can recommend it too if you're into that sort of stuff.
That was quite a lot of gear rambling so anyway, glad that you liked my track !
Pretty much appreciate the info. I'm a retired guitarist and might be interested to get back to it and should definitely look into the Neural DSP stuff. Thou I played a Strandberg I kind of Ignored all the Ampsimulations.
I might also look into the basses you've named. The fretless sounded pretty sweet and affordable and tonal versatile sound like the perfect combination :D
Very cool submisison, like the differences in dynamics and odd time signature, very unique. good job.
Thanks a lot !
I liked that you used real instruments. Sounds good!
Thanks, glad that you enjoyed it (it was quite a bit time consuming between writing the base tracks and recording them after as precisely as possible, but I'm glad that it was appreciated) !
Nice guitars and bass. I really like that drum rhythm in the middle. Nice work!
Thanks a lot for the comment (guess I might be doing something right with the percussions since you ended up commenting on that too in the previous jams) !
That reflection moment is epic! I love how everything gets heavier and more intense. It fits the image too haha. Love this!
Thanks a lot !
Mmm jazzy. I could definitely see the sidescroller as taking place in a rainy city at night. Loved the instrument choices, very different from other submissions.
Thanks a lot for your comment !
I indeed thought of something like a city at night for the moody theming of the track (didn't settle exclusively for a precise theme since I had several ideas in mind and I wasn't sure which one to choose to fit the concept of the game and the style of the track), glad that you appreciated the instrumentation too !
I really like your fretless bass playing and dig the prog-rock elements!
Thank you very much for your comment, glad that you liked it !