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Nick's "Snowly's Music Festival"'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #3 | 4.235 | 4.235 |
| Overall | #4 | 4.338 | 4.338 |
| Correlation to theme | #5 | 4.529 | 4.529 |
| Composition | #6 | 4.294 | 4.294 |
| Quality | #8 | 4.294 | 4.294 |
Ranked from 17 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Theme
Star Town (Fish team)
Correlation to theme
I went for a lot of reverb, arpeggio's instead of straight chords, a celesta for twinkles, some flowy pad-synths and strings, and a nice waltzy 9/8 time. I tried using the C-Lydian scale, as this works well for a dreamy, slightly ethereal quality.
Streaming service
https://soundcloud.com/nick-schuitemaker-189902296/a-night-in-starlight-town
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Comments
Great job! I really enjoy the piano accompaniment and instrument choice. Also the way you used the 9/8 tempo was very interesting. Cool track!
Thanks a lot, I appreciate the comment :D
Hey there! This jam is so fun with so many familiar names. The piano arpeggio has such a calm and relaxing “space” vibe that works so well with the theme! The 9/8 time signature adds an otherworldly quality outside of the harmonic portions of the music, further selling the star town theme. The spacey pads and high violins work so well together to create a really beautiful ambience. I really like the flute solo as well. I sometimes think of the sounds of different instruments as matching different colors (I don’t have synesthesia, but I think it’s a cool concept) and flutes feel very “blue” to me and thus they tend to work well in my mind for areas that are classically “blue”, like ocean, sky, water, space, etc. The color you color-coded it as is exactly how I imagine it!
I love to see the Logic screenshot! I need to learn from your color-coding skills - this is much nicer to look at than the sea of green I usually end up with. As an aside, a while ago I created an “instrument colorwheel” which is sometimes how I get inspiration for choosing instrument combinations for new pieces of music to match certain types of locations based purely on my own associations. I mostly used the timbre and sharp vs. roundedness of the sound to correlate with the “heat” or “coolness” of the colors. It’s led to some fun and creative instrument combinations that I may have never otherwise thought of and seem to work well! It’s a fun exercise and I bring it up here because I can tell by your DAW screenshot that you already maybe do this a little whether it’s conscious or unintentional.
Anyway, back to your track! I know I’ve mentioned this to you a few times in the recent past, but I am very impressed with the clear upward trajectory in the quality and musicality of your projects. This one conforms to the same trend! You let your musical instincts guide so many choices from instrument choice and use of delay effects that work so well to convey the theme. Very nicely done and thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much for your in-depth feedback! This kind of feedback is what helps me grow, and I can tell a lot of time went into it. I appreciate it.
My colors are - surprisingly - mostly random. I have turned on that new tracks automatically get assigned a new color (in Settings > View > Tracks > Track Color: Auto-assign-24 Colors). Sometimes I customize a color myself. It also really helps if you select multiple tracks simultaneously; if you then choose 'Right-click > Region Colors' in the Piano-roll Editor, you can see and distinguish different tracks with their own respective colors. My idea is that similar instruments get a similar color, but my colors tend to be a bit random still haha.
Oh wow, I love the idea of instruments matching colors! That is such a cool way of thinking about them. I definitely do not do this intentional using colors - but I do think of instruments in terms of how 'snappy' (sharp vs round), 'peaceful', etc. they are. I have added weird instruments in the past a lot - a theremin in an underwater song, a timbales in a horror-song, a guitar and flute in nearly any song... One of the thing I like most is experimenting and finding a new set of instruments or chords that work well!
Thanks again for commenting! Looking back, I do say I have improved a lot. I keep track of my rank and score for each of the music jams and keep them in an Excel file, so I can visualize this upward trend. Given my nature to explore wild new ideas (like 9/8 time signatures, Lydian modes, changing rhythms...), my songs will not always end up working out, but that's okay. I am enjoying this a lot, and that's what counts! And comments from people like you are what I maybe enjoy the most :)
I like the otherworldy feel of the song, as if I’m going to a diferent planet. Great Work!
Thanks a lot :D. That wording is perfect!
Sublime!
The 9/8 seems to revolve around us. You've managed to make it sound like a natural tempo. Still as talented as ever when it comes to enchanting melodies, I love what you've composed.
I don't know if it was your intention, but Glass Space and Studio Violins 2 sound like slow breathing.
Your music is soothing and seems to say, “Sit back and enjoy the stars.”
(And what a pleasure it is to jam with you)
Thank you so much! I'm glad you like my melodies. The melodies in this song are kept simple and repetitive to not distract much - the 9/8 time and changing rhythm possibly distract enough already ;). And no, Glass Space and Studio Violins were not intended to sound like breathing; they were just slow pad-like instrument which I could put in the background. But I like the idea of them sounding like slow breathing, it adds to the atmosphere :D.
Thanks again, can't wait until next jam :)
Loved this one, so lovely and comfy to listen to, and it fits so well in a starry town vibe it's uncanny. It wouldn't feel out of place to listen to this track in a game like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing! Stellar job with this one!
Glad to see you again in the jam and good luck!
Wow, thank you so much! I really appreciate your uplifting comment, especially since I was really unsure about this song myself. I really appreciate it <3
The dreaminess and ethereality definitely comes through. Lydian mode was a great choice, and the 9/8 kept me just a little off kilter in a good way. There's wonderful and creative compositional choices in here, and this would be so so pretty with a live piano track to give some phrasing to those arpeggios and repeated notes.
Also love how you snuck in some "twinkle twinkle" with the celesta :)
Thanks a lot! I am happy that you say "the 9/8 kept me just a little off kilter in a good way" as I was afraid that by removing the clear waltz-focus (3-3-3), I made the piece hard to follow. This gives me confidence :). And indeed, a live piano feel, with some timing and velocity variations, is something I strive to become better at. Great suggestion! The addition of 'twinkle twinkle' is likely not easily found, especially since it is not even a one-to-one mapping of the original, but I wanted to try including it anyway :)
Thanks again for your in-depth comment <3
I love your track! Honestly it was super calming after a stressful day^^
I really like the instruments and how well they fit together (but I always love piano in general xD) and it just fits the star theme soooo well! Awesome piece ^-^
Thank you so much! Indeed, I found that a simple piano with reverb combined with a celesta and some background synths/strings works wonders! And I love piano too :). Thanks again <3
This is so beautiful i love the piano and the high notes combo so much i really like the 1:45 it sounds so good dum good its a big inspiration thank you! it kinda reminds me of an omori track its so peaceful i really like
Wow, thank you so much! I'm really glad you liked it :D.
The part at 1:45 is actually my favorite as well. I was afraid that people would not find it fitting with the rest of the song, but it worked out just fine. Thanks again <3
the best part is then the piano played the really echoey chords it sounded really cool.
Thank you :). I do agree, it was the part I was at first most unsure about, since it has a different rhythm than the other parts (with the same time signature though). But I ended up liking it the most, so I had to keep it in. Glad you liked it <3
very beautiful.
Thanks a lot :D