Play soundtrack
Spooky Tune Jam 2023's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Jam Theme | #4 | 4.439 | 4.636 |
| Accompaniment | #5 | 4.352 | 4.545 |
| Overall | #6 | 4.294 | 4.485 |
| Melody | #7 | 4.091 | 4.273 |
Ranked from 11 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Explicit Content
No
Methodology
I work with Ableton Live, but the DAW is not very important. I wrote the harmony first, then the rhythmic patterns. Once the base was solid, I wrote the melody to highlight the important dissonances existing in the harmony. The final step was orchestration : I chose instruments I like (strings, choir, vibraphone, glockenspiel, harp, harpsichord, percussions, ... ).
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
Amazing.
This tune combines so many musical techniques so effectively to create the Halloween boss fight aesthetic: dissonance, irregular time signatures, ascending modulations, etc. With every consecutive listen of this tune, you discover something new.
Well done.
The beginning and end of this piece have a very magical quality to them that make me think of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. But then the Halloween timpani and harpsichord hit at 0:28. The theremin is a great touch to really sell it on the theme. And then when the drums enter, the full boss fight takes over! I felt myself wanting more of the intense part and for the battle to last a little longer. The ending definitely leaves me with a spooky and uneasy feeling which is also effective for the theme. Great work and thank you for sharing!
I like how you managed to get every halloween instrument in there, harpsichord, theremin, xylophone. It felt like a cross between Nightmare Before Christmas and Hollow Knight's Grimm battles. It's great.
Always a good day when somebody manages to sneak Dies Irae into anything! This track put a big smile on my face throughout, from the meter changes to the instrumentation to the drop after the climax. It sounds very classy, not overproduced or overcompressed, very acoustic and elegant. Great job!
I'm so glad someone noticed the Dies Irae :D Now my day is starting great ! Thank you for your comment :)
Wow! What an arrangement!
All the instruments and orchestration scream "spooky"!
Big Danny Elfman influence I guess.
It's just splendid. I listened to it several times because I felt the meter was strange (3x4/4 + 5/4), it adds that uneasy, unstable aspect perfect for a spooky boss.
There's a lot of good stuff in your composition. The intro sets the mood right away, and the build-up is fantastic.
In short, it's all good.
One small point for improvement would be the panning: the double bass pizzicato is too far to the right. For headphone listening, having the bass off-center unbalances the mix.
What do you think? But as the French say: ça déchire!
Hey, thank you for your kind comment.
I grew up watching un bunch of Tim Burton movies so yeah, Danny Elfman is a strong influence here, especially in the vocal part I think.
You got it with the time signature ! To be precise, it's a 4 + 4 + 5 + 4 structure (the 3rd bar being divided as 3 + 2) to match the accents of the harmony.
I totally agree with you about the panning. I did not spend much time on the mixing part, and I went with the default settings fors the strings panning. Will try enhancing that next time :)
This is amazing! I absolutely love the instrumentation!
At first I wasn't really sure how this fit into the boss battle theme, but as it went on it became so abundantly clear. When I hear this song I especially thing of a 2.5D platformer boss battle kinda vibe, I think this would fit perfectly in that kinda game.
One thing I think this song really displays well is skillful use of dynamics and balance. One thing I personally have trouble with is making my percussion feel like it does enough, while also making it not way too loud. I think this song is a great example of having quiet percussion that does its job perfectly.
Amazing work, and Happy Halloween!
Thank you for your heartwarming comment, I really appreciate it.
I can tell percussions are really diffficult to set right. Their dynamics and harmonic content make it one of the hardest elements to mix in my opinion, especially in orchestral settings where the amount of reverb drastically changes how the percussions interact with other instruments.
I found that cutting the low end with an EQ is often a good thing. Volume automation also is a useful tool.
Oh wow you know I never had thought of how reverb can affect mixing! That's wild. Thanks for the advice with the EQ, I just recently learned about that kinda stuff and I'm sure it will be super useful.