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Thank you for such awesome feedback!

I was pretty excited to get the takes that I did not having much experience with the instrument, it took an embarrassingly high number of attempts just to get these parts down lol. I'm hoping as time goes on, and with a LOT more practice, the melody parts I write can develop a little more and gain that direction. Or at the very least go beyond the small phrases that fit the structure of the piece. 

Thanks a ton for listening :)

Thanks a ton for the feedback!

As much as I liked how much contrast this piece had, I'd probably agree that some low-mids could be reduced a bit in the pads.

Thank you much for listening :)

Thank you!! And thanks for listening :)

Appreciate the feedback - thanks a ton for listening :)

This was a cool piece to listen to! Not really in my wheelhouse, but I see the appeal!

I really like how you applied the rule-breaking component to this - I think it really helps keep the momentum going, and I enjoyed trying to count beats/tempos in the different sections. I also found that the contrast between the sections was really solid!

Some others have already mentioned some of the repetition with the higher pitched melody, and I would probably agree to an extent. I don't dislike the idea of repetition in some sections (as my submissions has quite a bit of that lol), but I think it could've helped if some of those sections were not stretched out quite as much as they were, IMO.

The section at ~ 3:35 was probably my personal favorite because it was such a nice contrast to the faster paced sections preceding it. I think I would've wanted the buildup to go right into this section instead of dropping down and building up again. Maybe that's a genre thing that I'm unaware of, but I think this would've been something I'd do to better introduce a contrasting section that's as cool as yours was, but also still maintain a level of repetition in the lead parts. Hopefully that makes sense!

Thanks for sharing, and keep up the great work :)

There were quite a few instances in this piece that almost completely subverted my expectations.

At first I wasn't entirely sure how this percussion was going to mesh with the rest of the mix, but it was actually one of the biggest components that I enjoyed. I also liked how it didn't just build and build, but some parts were taken away and reintroduced at certain sections. I think I personally might've delayed the entrance of those elements just a little bit longer at the beginning so that it comes in with some of the other instruments you used, but that's nit-picky.

I was also pleasantly surprised by some of the harmony you used - it was different and gave the piece a brief change in tone, but it was also very tasteful and kept me intrigued throughout its entirety.

Thanks for sharing such a solid piece of music - keep up the good work :)

Ughhh :/

I thought I was pretty thorough at adjusting levels in the mix to avoid these kind of issues, but apparently not. I'll look through again in the future and hopefully fix any other instances.

Appreciate you listening though - and thanks for the feedback :)

I really like the vibe you're going for - they're fun to listen to and I think the melody is solid.

A peace of feedback that I have for this would be I felt the drums were a little overbearing on the melody, so bringing the drums down a little bit might help it stand out. Additionally, I would've liked to have heard some of your ideas fleshed out a bit beyond these 30-ish second pieces.

Other than that, I enjoyed what you created. Hopefully we'll get to hear more of your work in longer pieces in the future. Keep up the good work :)

Ayy thanks a ton! That's definitely a vibe I was thinking about when putting these together.

Thanks a ton for listening, and congrats on your placement! :)

I think if you would've said you only used real flutes in your comment on my submission, I would believe you.

To my ears it seemed like there was a pretty consistent tone from one section to another. I heard a slight difference about 1:20 onward where the flute started to play longer notes with a little less tremolo or grace notes, but I figured that was done intentionally as part of the section changing. I may be completely wrong, but that was my initial thoughts. Honestly, I really had to listen hard to see if there truly was a difference if any, and that's coming from someone who's sat next to flute players in concert bands for several years.

As for the rest of the piece, I would say the vibe/atmosphere accurately captures what you set out to create. At the very least, it feels authentic. There's such a nice mesh of traditional Japanese-sounding instruments with a choir that gives it this holy, otherworldly sound. I imagined this piece as something that would be playing for somebody being guided to and joining this religious/ceremonial event.

I enjoyed this piece enough to listen to it multiple times, which I think gives away at least what I'm marking down for Listen-ability. Thanks for sharing this, and keep up the amazing work :)

Thanks a ton for all the feedback!

I agree with all the notes here, especially the ones that pertain to the flutes. I did actually try playing these by hand, but I'll definitely try experimenting more with the velocity. The note about overlapping notes might actually work really well with this piece.

I did consider adding in another part in the first piece to occupy the lower frequencies, but couldn't put something together that 1) I was happy with; and 2) didn't clutter the mix. So I decided against it for this submission and hoped that the drums + center guitar part could fill that space, but I'll give it another go in the next jam.

I'll be sure to give your submission a peek later today to compare. Thank you for listening :)

Thank you!! Any comment left here is still greatly appreciated!

Thanks a ton for listening! :)

Thanks a ton - appreciate it! :)

Garageband users rise up!! o7

That's great to hear!

Thank you much for your comment, and thanks for taking a listen to my submission :)

Yeah, my goal for this jam was to have guitar tracks that weren't muddy (a problem I've had in the past). It's possible I've over-corrected that a little bit- hopefully I can get somewhere in between in the next jam.

Thanks for listening :)

Thanks for your comment!

That's a good suggestion, I'll see if I can address that in the next jam.

Thank you for listening :)

This is the kind of feedback I was hoping for with these pieces. I'm glad you found some things you liked, and other things you feel I can improve on. I'll try these out on the material I didn't get to for Kale's next jam.

Thank you much for listening :)

This definitely helps! Thanks for the clarification!

I really liked what you made! I'm probably gonna be singing that melody from 'Mutant' to myself for the rest of the day. I also really liked your lyrics and choice of harmony throughout the submission.

Some food for thought - I felt that the vocals were a little difficult to hear at times. The rest of the instruments were a little overbearing, especially the bass + lower frequencies. Maybe try readjusting the volume of the instruments so that the vocals are a little more in front, imo. Additionally, I found myself adjusting the volume when each track started to get a consistent volume.

Thanks for sharing your work :)

Even though I'm not entirely sure where the farewell vibe comes into this piece, I felt that it was well done nonetheless. The vibe that I get the most from this is something between unsettling and foreboding - like something I would hear out of a cosmic horror story/game. That feeling for me was supported by the single-note synth line at the beginning, the harmony in the second half of the piece, as well as the image of the submission itself. I think if this was the vibe you were aiming for, then I'd say this was well executed.

With that being said, I'm not certain how the theme of this jam was utilized. My guess is that the text theme was used more-so than the image?

Thanks for sharing your submission, and keep up the good work :)

Welp, you got me to listen to this piece multiple times so I guess I know what I'm putting down for listenability ;)

I'm glad to see music being created with procedural components in mind. I think it'd be fitting for games like a walking simulator as you've mentioned. It's nice to have a little bit of variation if I'm exploring one place in multiple instances, or over one long period of time. I remember reading that No Man's Sky did something like this with their OST.

As for the piece itself, I feel that you've put something together that's solid and fulfills its purpose really well. It sets the vibe for a setting like the image in this submission, and lends itself well for other sounds/melodies/etc. to come in and give the listener (or the player) something unique to listen to.

Hopefully you continue experimenting with this tech - there's a lot of games that could benefit from this!

Thanks for sharing, and keep up the good work :)

Specific Equipment Used:

I had such a blast putting together this OST for your game! :)

The itch project for this game can be found here.

I really appreciate the offer - that's super kind of you, and I might take you up on it in the future. And thanks for listening :)

What stuck out to me the most had to be your excellent use of dynamics. For me this added a lot of depth and tastefulness that I did not expect from such a short piece. The phrasing in the oboe and violin parts are wonderful as well.

I only have a couple bits of feedback:

1.) I would suggest being careful with how high the violin & cello goes, as well as how low the contrabass goes. The reason I say this is because they are starting to reach the boundaries for their respective capabilities. I think if you were to have this recorded by live musicians (and I hope that does happen in the future, as it's a great experience!), it might be difficult to get those parts tracked depending on the individual players.

2.) I would've personally liked to have a seen a little more of a gradual decay at the very end of the piece. IMO, since you had quite a bit of time to spare, having the music fade out a bit before cutting off would have been a nice touch.

Just a few things to consider in the future! I really enjoyed your submission otherwise - keep up the good work :)

My only real criticism here is that I would've liked to have heard the piece tail off at the end instead of the rather abrupt ending. Outside of that, I really enjoyed the vibe you created.

Thanks for sharing this :)

Thank you!! And thanks for listening :)

I agree with everything you've said here.

I decided to experiment with the MuseScore instruments simply because I was curious what the end result would look like. While I'm happy with this submission as a composition, I do feel the instruments don't quite do it justice, as others have mentioned. Hopefully in the future I can track this with live musicians or better sounding virtual strings. But for now, lesson learned.

I appreciate your comment, and thanks for listening :)

Here are my notes as I listen to each:

Catharsis Sound:

I felt that it was a very sold introduction to the submission, and I especially liked how you incorporated a variety of instruments that were able to have a section to shine on their own. My only criticism is that there were some sections where the focus instrument was a couple dB too loud over the rest of the mix, IMO (ex. piano entrance at ~ 3:05). Outside of that, I really enjoyed this piece!

Monochrome:

The arpeggios used behind the melody set a good tone for this piece. The vibe I got from this was sort of a feeling of discovery, like the knight is exploring a new location for the first time and trying to learn everything about it. I thought the melody used in the first half of the piece was complimentary with the instruments behind it. For whatever reason, the piano felt a little out of place for me in the piece. Maybe use the same melody, but on a synth that has some contrasting timbre to those used in the background?

Roses are Red, Beasts are Blue:

To me, something about this piece felt like the introduction of big bad guy. I think it was a combination of the marching beat and the dark melody in the keys. My only criticism here is to be careful of having too many instruments in the low end of the mix as, IMO, it started to get a little difficult to distinguish between some of the instruments.

Chime of the Ouroboros:

This piece feels. like the music that might lead up to the fight with the big bad guy, like something I'd hear out of an old RPG as the player gets closer to the final boss. The similar marching beat as before gives me similar vibes, but the added bells give a sense of the player being summoned to the person ringing them. Excellent!!

Overall, I really enjoyed this submission. Each track fulfilled a purpose and added something to the story being told. I had very few real criticisms while listening to these, and they are more so just my opinion on mixing/arranging.

Thanks a ton for sharing this, and keep up the great work :)

Thank you! And thanks for listening :)

It's good to know that multiple people have the same observation about those instruments - glad I'm not crazy! Hopefully in the future I'll find ways to fill the arrangement a little better.

Thanks for letting me know, and thank you for listening :)

Thanks a ton!! And thank you for listening :)

I absolutely don't mind at all! Listening back, I would probably agree that a couple more parts might help, especially in the second section.

Thanks for listening and giving your feedback :)

Thank you!! And thanks for listening :)

Thanks a ton! And thank you for listening :)

Thank you for listening!! :)

I'm glad to hear you liked it! Thank you for listening :)

That's exactly what I was going for! Thanks for listening :)

Thank you for such a nice comment! And thanks for listening :)

Wow! Thank you so much! And thanks for listening :)