Redline's Monthly Composing Challenge #4

Hosted by Kristoff Red

143

Ratings

Overview Submissions Results

Screenshots Submission feed

A jam submission

Ya Like Jazz? (for RMCC Jam #4)View project page

A jazzy song made for Redline's 4th Monthly Composing Challenge.

Submitted by PAP3RG4MER — 20 hours, 7 minutes before the deadline

Add to collection

Play soundtrack

Ya Like Jazz? (for RMCC Jam #4)'s itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
Overall	#5	3.644	3.644
Mixing	#5	3.778	3.778
Vibe	#5	3.889	3.889
Challenge	#6	3.778	3.778
Composition	#9	3.444	3.444
Creativity	#13	3.333	3.333

Ranked from 9 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Title
Ya Like Jazz?

Description
Ya Like Jazz? is the theme of a character who sees themselves as a charmer--whether it's true or not. I didn't have a lot of time to work on this, so it was probably done in a total of 8 hours or so. This is also the first jazzy song I've made, and I took inspiration from video game songs such as Ghost Fight (Toby Fox), Fawful’s Theme (Yoko Shimomura), and In the Dark (from the VTSOM/TWDAK soundtracks).

As for song structure, I organized the song into two main sections: section A (first 40 seconds) contains the main melody, then section B is a piano solo. After that, section A plays again while overlapping with section B. To make the song jazzy, I tried to apply a swing rhythm and play around with dissonance a little bit (without spamming).

It would help a lot to have feedback on how I could've filled out the song more and made it more jazzy. As I said, this is my first jazz piece, so it'd be nice to have some advice for future tracks I make like this.

Plugins used
Alchemy, Vinyl Crackles Generator (Sample Science Plugin)

Link(s) to your submission
https://soundcloud.com/pap3rg4mer/ya-like-jazz

Leave a comment

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.

Comments

Fox and Lion GamesSubmitted1 year ago

I dig this song man! I think you got the jazziness in there for sure! I can kinda see it being the background music in an old noir detective film, you can almost smell the cigarette smoke in the air lol Great piece!

Submitted

Afternoon Ambiance

PAP3RG4MERDeveloper1 year ago(+1)

Thank you! Detective Jazzyman is on the case lol

Fox and Lion GamesSubmitted1 year ago

lol

Kristoff RedHostSubmitted1 year ago

ah yes even more homework to give

Another song that's lacking dynamics, fiddle around with velocity to accent certain beats etc next time, without it every single note is on the same velocity and it's kinda bad... it's not a hard thing to fix but makes a huge difference

Chromaticism is not jazz, it's just chromaticism... not jazz... If you listen to other jazz songs you realise it's not always chromatic playing, in fact it's usually diatonic chords with some extra spice. Here it's more just putting flats in for the sake of being there and it doesn't quite give the jazz sound (for me at least).

For mixing, all the instruments are way too loud, they shouldn't be on the same volume, the vinyl lofi effect idk is annoying at least for me.

The bass and the melody are both playing a completely different rythm (if I'm not mistaken), which would be fine if intentional (polyrythms) but it doesn't sound like it was. This creates a lot of chaos.

Submitted

Redline's RMCC Submissions

PAP3RG4MERDeveloper1 year ago

You’re right about the bass and melody, I made the rhythms kind of different as an attempt at filling out the song more, but listening back I think I also failed to quantize the swing notes properly, which makes them sound a little...off. Thanks for the detailed feedback, I clearly have a lot to learn, but knowing what specifically to focus on helps a lot :)

myCatsNameSubmitted1 year ago

Strong composition, strong Toby Fox hints. IDK if the song would improve by "filling it out more" - as is it makes sense to the ear, it's easy to follow and could drop into a game soundtrack. Experimenting with the bassline would be my try - rhythmic variations or a walking bass section.

Submitted

In An Unlikely Alley

PAP3RG4MERDeveloper1 year ago

Yeah I probably could’ve tried to do more with the bass lol, I’ll keep that in mind next time I try making jazzy music. Thanks for listening!

SelkioneSubmitted1 year ago

Very good! And very jazzy!

I have the impression that the bass and percussion play very slightly behind the piano and percussion. It's almost nothing, but it adds that firmly rooted-in-the-tempo feel that's so characteristic of jazz. It's great that you did that. It's subtle but it adds a lot.

Submitted

Selkione 🎵 - The Ascension Path

PAP3RG4MERDeveloper1 year ago

Thank you! I tried to make the bass and the little hi-hats into the foundation of the song, I’m glad to hear they set the mood appropriately :)

JofesSubmitted1 year ago

The record scratch adds a lot of atmosphere to the song and I liked how the piano sounded almost old. Gives the song and old timey vibe.

Submitted

PAP3RG4MERDeveloper1 year ago

Thank you, that’s what I was aiming for :)

RmezziSubmitted1 year ago

I really like the melody and the vibe of the song. That walking bass slaps man good job.

PAP3RG4MERDeveloper1 year ago

Thanks!

purpleskkySubmitted1 year ago (1 edit)

Unique sounding song - I think the charmer idea fits it well. Having some more ornamentation/variation in the repeats of the melody as the tensions swells would make it more jazz sounding to me. I especially liked the end where there was two melody lines going at once.

Submitted

PAP3RG4MERDeveloper1 year ago

Thank you! I definitely felt an emptiness in the track at some parts but ended up with what I’ve decided to call “jazz paralysis”: knowing I should add more -> not knowing what to add -> 404 muses not found -> realizing time is short, -> brief moment of panic -> ultimately making zero changes 😎 On the bright side, good feedback helps me learn more about jazz :)

DuncanHiggins1 year ago

This is so cool! I can hear the Toby Fox influence with the upright double bass. The vinyl crackles give it a nice vintage quality and the piano line was very bluesy. The swing rhythm was well done and the brushed snare is a good choice for instrumentation.

I think you did a really good job, especially considering this is your first time making a jazzy track. The only thing I can think of to make it a bit more jazzy would be to have a section with more experimental chords with more extensions and maybe some borrowed chords. Overall you did a really good job Paper!

PAP3RG4MERDeveloper1 year ago(+1)

Thank you!

kettlemugSubmitted1 year ago

the bass and melody are great! this definitely reminds me of toby fox's work :)

Submitted

Kettle's RMCC stuff

PAP3RG4MERDeveloper1 year ago

Thanks! :)