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Impressions Composing Jam #3 Frozen Waste's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall Uniqueness/Creativity | #16 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
| Correlation to Theme | #17 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
| Sense of Atmosphere | #21 | 3.278 | 3.278 |
| Listenability | #21 | 3.222 | 3.222 |
| Execution | #22 | 3.167 | 3.167 |
| Composing Quality | #22 | 3.167 | 3.167 |
| Overall | #22 | 3.250 | 3.250 |
Ranked from 18 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://youtu.be/6SHheW8Fyk4
Description
You find yourself IN THE FROZEN WASTE, an ocean frozen over by cataclysmic nuclear winter. You wander from ice berg to ice berg for some sign of life, finding a strange peacefulness in the emptiness of it all.
Upon the face of a mountainous berg you find a small archway. Upon entering, you descend a staircase into a monumental cavern ornamented with columns and crystalline carvings, refracting light deep into the cave. You explore in bewilderment, finding complex structures and art chiseled into the walls, but seeing no signs of recent life. Where are the architects?
Description of Setup (Optional but recommended)
Created with Reaper
Track 1 - Frozcean
Instruments: Celeste-tone (Crow Hill Vaults), steps in snow (personal field recording)
FX Plugins: ReaEQ, TAL Reverb, Space Blender (Sound Toys)
Track 2 - Under the Ice
Instruments: Vital Synth, Bodhran (Crow Hill Vaults), Metal sounds (Native Instruments), Analog Bells (patch on my Roland FA-07), World's Biggest Braaam (Pianobook inst.)
FX Plugins: ReaEQ, TAL Reverb, Effects Rack (Sound Toys)
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Comments
Loved the tense but chill vibe and the instruments ! You had great but simple ideas and it was well executed.
If I had one thing to say, it's the mixing. That stepping sound in the beginning, it's really invasive and doesn't blend very well with the track.
Otherwise very decent submission, although it is shorter than what I would expect. Good job !
Nice work! Themewise this was an aproach I was not expecting, but it seems to fit well with the painting!
I think you need some work done on it to really get it to be an ambient track, I felt some lack of sense of atmosphere, I'm guessing just a few texturing here and there, the composition itself seems fit for the genre
Great work! Take care :)
Very chilling and peaceful at the same time, love it!
It's so happy and full of whimsy! It gives off having a cozy little campfire in the lonely frozen zone, or a cave full of gems and crystalline rarities.
Haaa! Finally, a connoisseur of FM-sounds depicting with it the icy landscape. So in my book that is definitely a plus in my books. Though I have to say I’m not the biggest fan of the Celesta. While it works for conveying that sparkling of light, it also reminds me of Christmas, for better or worse :D.
Nonetheless both your songs conveyed that described scene well and build a very chilling atmosphere. Though I think it might not fit the term ambiance the best. It most certainly is ambient but it misses some element of swallowing the listener with environmental noises while taking also a step back from the listener. I do believe there is potential for that thing in there. But it would need some refinement to show. Maybe set sound sounds to convey that sound of rippling water. Also creating a wider stereo image with instruments placed more throughout the stage might help. Lastly, while fm-sounds are awesome, the also need some additional tinkering. I thing adding some more effects in taming and enhancing those sounds would lend itself to an even better atmosphere,
Given that I think you still did well and should be proud of what you’ve done.
Thanks for that feedback! I like the "swallowing the listener" comment, I could've spent more time layering in atmosphere. I think I'm due for a little self learning on FM sounds (beyond what've I learned doodling). Have any fm resources/artist recs/synthesis tips for an amateur?
Sadly, not really. Most tutorials just brush the surface or go in hard with no further explanation. It also depends on if you really want to create your own FM-sounds or if you want to just use them.
However I thing a generally good introduction into what FM even is and on which logic it works is a video by Andrew Huang. However this would only show the synths side.
For working with FM you need to keep in mind that this sound creates complex waves (additive synthesis) but doesn’t have any further filtering. With analogue you’d always have a complex wave filtered down. So first things first will be always to either EQ or filter those FM-Sounds and tame them a bit. Also Since they have such a metallic sound, they also beg to get some special information like a reverb. But on those points only some experimentation will work. Look out for what you like and don’t. See how you like your synth sounds in general. Do you like additional modulations like chorus? Does it need to drip with reverb? Do you like spaciousness created by some stereo delay? Do you like your synth sounds played into an amp? There are no real limits on what you can do after you recorded a synth sound 😊
Very good compositional work, but doesn't quite feel ambient-esq, feels more like a composed piece of music and could certainly use more textures and foley. Good work though.
Thanks that's good feedback! I thought the sparseness might lend itself to the theme, but I do think I could've focused more on layering in atmosphere.