itch.io

well... i think i'm hitting standard LUFS range for EDM song on soundcloud. but if there's any distortion i think that's partly on me for uploading mp3 to soundcloud and not wav, they have some weird artifacting

the triangle wave(?) arp is a pleasant sound. when the track switches into double-time with the drums, the energy pickup you get from that adds an urgency to the quite cheery energy you start with -- it makes me think of when you get those bursts of heavy rain during a period of lighter rain, then you get under a roof or summin when it switches back... so, it's an interesting narrative progression

i think the sounds/timbre of those moon guitar + pizzicato is amazing.. that over the pads, it's a very cool sound overall

high energy drums... i like em. i know others may have spoken on the mixing on them, so i do think it is good to think about their ideas and wwhat your goals are, but i'll add that i think the "oddness" (for lack of a better word, i mean the chopping and the modulation stuff) really make your track interesting,  so i hope you'll keep that. maybe you need something with more low end doubling your kick? i don't want to make too many suggestions, it really depends on what you hear and think of it all HAHA

ps. i didn't know you can add margins to a video to make it not turn into a short... i wish i knew this before LMAO

i feel like greg has encapsulated pretty well what my own thoughts on the track. i think the association i have with ambient jazz is that it is sort of low-key and low-energy, with the occasional chord stabs conveying, well, small bursts. however i really do like some of those few sections where you have a slightly more driving and steady rhythm and accompaniment (such as around 1 minute in?)... though i also can see how if you had too much of that you might risk lowering the contrast between the "thunder" sections and the rest

i do like the metallic nature of those drum sounds. it is very cyberpunky, i know you mentioned you feel like it wasn't up to your standards in one of your other replies, but i really do like the instrumentation... i think if you added more variation in the texture or themes (ie. such as extending those little descending synth thingies) you would really have something fantastic!

i see you actually scored this one, that's cool! i have lots of respect for people who do it that way (since i've never really tried digitally hahaha). i love the string runs, it makes me feel like i'm flying. makes me feel like when the timpani/bass drum/whatever it is at 3:20-ish is me watching a thunderstorm above the clouds, because of how contrasting that is from the light and airiness of the strings and wwinds... very interesting feeling.

it's eclectic and funky! i did get surprised by that one snare at 0:16 (on the upbeat before you do the noise crash) so you could have that very first one be a little gentler. nonetheless i must stress i really do like this percussion. like a lot. i love blade runner and i love this... especially the end, where you really get to show off the percussion together... you should totally make more songs using this set of sounds!! i think you could really cook something up with them

that start of the song is so cool bro... the chords are cool. key changes, some spicy chords, that one woodwindy instrument having these... trills? ORGAN? crazy. it's like some kind of... almost like prog rock? fusion? (idk genres that well haha) it's pretty out there, i like it a lot.

very ambience... analog tracks in this way are pretty cool... it's rather cinematic in some ways. also, cool footage! i've never heard of (er, should i say seen?) proteus before this

haha this one definitely has the energy of the chaos of being in the middle of a storm. super busy bass/kick thing almost like one of those 808 basslines, i like that. That little decrescendo/empty pause into the bang near the end of the (loop? track?) is very much the impression of a thunder strike

0:27 chord (and the few after in the sorta circle of fifths) is definitely my favourite part of the main theme. I think it's interesting to have a more peaceful portrayal of a thunderstorm -- that of soothing rain, and the thunder -- rather than being loud and chaotic and oppressive, be more playful..

i'm glad you think it's a vibe. by those drums i assume you meant that kind of rock crumbly sound that i chopped up (that you do hear from the very start yes)? i guess since i wanted to sorta have the percussion be this kinda fusion of both metal and rock slam and all that, it does sort of meld together. there's no actual drum samples beside the kick, so any kind of 8bit sound might just be from bitcrushing (i forgot if i did that ngl, might just be other kinds of distortion).. i guess i'm curious if you meant that the percussion in general is mixed too loud/too wet or just the individual percussion samples in relation to each other?

hi, it's mostly stock Logic plugins! but i do use ozone imager and OTT for some mixing stuff. the lead is composed of this PWM wave with a bit of unison + distortion, with another square wave that sorta does rapid octave arpeggiating? (i'm not sure if there's specific term for this kind of sound.) the percussion is entirely composed of the some trailer SFX sampler and chopped up samples of rocks tumbling around. hope this helps!

thanks! and nahh, the clangs here are from some movie trailer SFX set haha, it's like a bunch of metallic clangs and bass booms for those type of stereotypical action movie trailers

haha just kidding i realized i could just look at your DAW screenshot. there IS no harpsichord, it's an anvil sound! that makes a lot of sense

the sound -- i agree with cloudy, the rock collapsing sound is a very  interesting intro and outro. i also thought that going with this kind of underground rave type of energy is a really cool choice, like that goes hard. the kick sound blending into the rock collapsing is VERY creative 

i was also curious, though. where did you get the image for the cover art?

okay damn shoutout for writing a whole song with lyrics

the lyrics are surprisingly tense! and dire! i'd be so curious to know what you were thinking of while writing this.

CLOCK sounds!! excellent choice anywhere, always. i love clock ticks.. it (and the sort of tenseness of the other parts) does ultimately end up making me read this piece as sort of setting a more anticipatory mood for something that will be dug up soon

i'm not sure if i'm hearing a harpsichord sound or maybe it's like a glockenspiel + the high ends of the string staccato LOL but after listening to the non-gramophone version, i do like that sound. i enjoy the slow string section in  the middle @ 2:09 and the brass that comes in towards the end

it DOES have that mining melancholy energy! also i do like the percussion you chose here and its mixing. i'm curious what sounds you used specifically, there's that one almost clinky (very short) sound that i enjoy how it sits (especially as you have add more instruments) for the overall texture. and i dig that bass sound too

agree with cloudydaymusic, the high pitched percussion is a nice touch! the bluesy composition definitely achieves that ranch energy you were going for.

that starting instrument, slightly dissonant sounding bell -- it's cool! also the bass sounds almost bell-like? has a sort of metallic undertone to the whole song as a result. i like where you're going there around 0:56

it's a narrative structure-- i'm curious what specifically you weren't satisfied with? i like how it shifts through different moods as you progress, varying degrees of dark/brightness whether that be through the notes or the instruments -- that's why i say narrative. something necessary to describe something like a journey to the center of the earth, no? ALSO i like when music uses that metal clang type sound as a snare... reminds me of the FF7 soundfont...

so curious to hear about how you decided on the instrumentation. definitely like the mallety nature of what you chose (let's be real pizzicato is lowkey mallet-core LOL). it's interesting to have this almost peaceful kind of composition but  with those powerful drums bumpin throughout the whole track. makes me imagine a sort of game where you start digging in a nice little garden area transitioning  into a cave-like area

sort of reminds me of a mix of disasterpeace and ... well, something more 8bit. the terraria pic is fitting LOL (i like that little edit you made at the end of the vid). choice of two chords/melody do convey a similar kind of eery exploratory tone that you would want from a cave-type theme

really interesting, that it's sort of this freeform tempo... very texturally varied. i do like that flamenco guitar sound, does remind me of some older VGM midi acoustic guitars. and the almost UI-like sounds (as well as gameplay sound effects)

you're right, it must be because of swing + funk + chiptune