Some of the ambience, especially in the first and last track was made from automated filters on hall noise with a ton of gain. Other than that, it was all in either Omnisphere or EW. The handdrum was from EW as well, but now I definitely wish I owned one.
I really enjoyed the piano-centric tracks, especially the title. I really enjoyed the rhythmic variations you tossed in with the triplets and such, it helped keep things lively and active throughout. The overall intimate nature of this submission is so nice. Well done :)
Ultra clean mix, original voice and sound, great storytelling through sound alone. I second Fox's comment, this is a hidden gem! The tiniest nitpick I have is that I may wanted a consistent melody leitmotif throughout, maybe a theme for a character or such? But to be honest, I think what you have accomplishes your goal crystal clearly. Great job :)
"Lights off" made me feel like I had spiders crawling on me or something. So well done. Great job keeping a consistent instrumentation like you mentioned, but creating engaging sounds throughout each track. It can be hard to make separate tracks sound different when using the same instruments, but you nailed it. Great job!!
I always love hybrid orchestral things, and the piano writing in the back of this I am sure is subtly noticed but without it the track would be so different. This is lovely!!! Congrats on a great submission :)
Somehow I missed the piercing violins when mixing, I think compression would have solved the issue but I get so scared to use it to make sure the soft dynamics still shine through, and removing the top HZ of violins is tricky because so much of the timbre is from how present the close overtones can be. Definitely something I am ready to deal with in the future and I appreciate you pointing it out. Thanks for the kind words :)
"Welcome to the Dream!" made me feel like a kid playing Pokemon Red :) Enjoyed your use of harmony, very well informed movements and emotions contained within them!!
Overall, I am not normally a fan of chiptune, but I enjoyed your submission a lot!! The tiniest nitpick I have is that the mix is just a little muddy at times in the lows and mids with how much is going on, you could look into stereo panning techniques and that could make this all go from great to greater!!! "Bumbling Reef" had me dancing in my chair :)
