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A Ray Of Light's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Composing Quality | #2 | 4.116 | 4.235 |
| Execution | #11 | 3.544 | 3.647 |
| Listenability | #13 | 3.544 | 3.647 |
| Overall | #17 | 3.439 | 3.539 |
| Correlation to Theme | #19 | 3.144 | 3.235 |
| Overall Uniqueness/Creativity | #20 | 3.201 | 3.294 |
| Sense of Atmosphere | #24 | 3.087 | 3.176 |
Ranked from 17 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Link to Streaming Service (YouTube Recommended)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP0T-FgC0zE
Description
Devlog:
As usual, I kept a little devlog thing during the jam:
https://eetusuikkanen.github.io/blog/1757949610654-impressions-ambience-3.md/
The track:
I did an orchestral track, since I've recently got my sound template set up and I've been practicing orchestral writing because of that.
On the theme:
The vibe I got from the theme painting was a sort mixture of something majestic but bittersweet, with the sunken ship amidst the the iceberg and the parted sky and sunlight shining down on only that spot of the vast landscape.
Because of the sunken ship, I thought about making a track that would feel like an expedition group searching for the ship, gazing upon the scene in the painting, as they have finally found it after a long and hard journey through the bitter cold landscape.
Additional stuff:
The track starts with a long piano intro before the orchestra comes in, which I had intended on arranging to other instruments, but kinda lost the mojo halfway through the jam. I was a bit 50/50 if I should just cut it out, since it kinda lessens the power of the orchestra coming after it, but since I made during the jam, I kept it in.
ALL CRITIQUE AND FEEDBACK WELCOME AS ALWAYS!
Thanks for listening and rating!
Screenshot of DAW
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Description of Setup (Optional but recommended)
DAW:
Cubase
Mix/Master FX:
Stock Cubase plugins, EW Spaces 2 for reverb
Sample Instruments:
Performance Samples Solo Violin Legato Freebie for the Solo Violin overlay to the melody
EW Hollywood Orchestra for all of the orchestral instruments
Kontakt Factory Library for the Harp
8Dio Lacrimosa and Liberis for Adult and Childrens Choir
Lessons Learned
If I feel like I cant add anything more, its probably done enough?
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Comments
While it strays a bit from the ambient side, I think it was a beautiful track. You're definitely skilled at writing for piano (or improvising if that's what you did). Though, I couldn't really see how the theme was represented. While it works with your story, the goal of the jam wasn't to build your own story, but to picture the painting and theme.
Loved the contrast between the 2 sections, though I don't think that choir was necessary.
Besides that I do have to give good points in the composition, mixing and listenability categories because of the sheer quality of the track. Great job !
Het Eatu, nice work!
I feel like the vibe is less ambient and reads as more thematic, but it matches the picture. Not totally off of that though.
It definitely has a nice northern sound to it.
Waht an ear candy of a wonderfull piece of music, congrats, it's beautiful!
The only thing is that it doesn't quite fit my concept of ambiance, a bit too busy, and more emotional than atmosphery
Great job tho!! Take care :)
The mood from this track is just awesome. Wonderful job here. So smooth, crisp and breathtaking. But just like EinelTheFox, I feel like the piano stayed a little too long. But I get it if the piano was meant to represents the darkness and then the orchestra comes in as the light. That is a cool idea really. Awesome submission here!
Yea, the intention was to arrange stuff from that piano recording, but kinda didn't get around to it and was a bit 50/50 if I'd just cut the whole thing out from the submission.
Glad you liked it!
To be honest, I’m quite a bit torn.
The song by itself is just lovely with a beautifully written solo Piano and a stunning climax with the orchestra chiming in. However, I felt like the solo Piano overstayed its welcome a bit and felt a bit too drawn out. Maybe having it just shortened and not having the song hit the 6 minutes mark would have benefitted it more. And while the composition is more than just solid and creates a stunning feeling, it does not create that feeling of ambiance for me. I would really have loved to hear some distant sounds in the background, like an icy pad soaring its lonely slow memory. There seem to be happening something in the beginning, but after the piano finally established itself (at around 34 seconds) this something gets either drowned by the piano sound or lost completely. Maybe having some sound design elements accompanying the piano would have killed to birds with one stone.
Again, I really feel like I need to point out that this composition is stunning. My gripes are just in the context of this jam and also with my personal taste. But still a lovely song.
I had a snowstorm ambience recording under the piano, but didn't want to have it too on top of the music so its pretty low in volume.
The piano stuff would've worked better if I'd gotten around to arranging it to parts, but lost the mojo after making the orchestral part on the first few days and couldn't really manage anything else than recording that skeleton on the piano after that 😅
Glad you liked it!
Excellent piece of music.
I love the piano-work, amazing composition as usual.
Hey you got 3 songs in there that's crazy. You went from melancholic soft chords to a classical approach with a bunch of chord changes to an orchestral piece. Can the piano sound better a bit better with different sample yeah probably. I think its a really nice build up seperated in very different parts, this could be 3 tracks on its own no problem. There is some sections while changing chords it felt like you hesitated where to go but left it this way. But the storytelling overall is very nice, good job :)
Yea, the plan was to refine the piano recording to actual arrangements, but kinda lost the mojo after recording that so it's what it is😅
Glad you liked it!
Not bad at all, some of the piano melodies in the beginning and orchestral elements really pull this away from really feeling ambient. It feels more cinematic and anthematic. Excellent choice in instruments, I would recommend expanding your mix and mastering suite to find plugins that can better help you shape the overall track, a lot of your low end feels very thin while the high end during segments with the choir and volin seem to be fighting against the peak.
Great work though.
Yea, went a bit too bombastic with this 😅
Will have to check the mix again to see potential fixes, so i can have it be permanent in the orchestra template file.
Glad you liked it!