Seaside Overture: Your use of flute and other woodwinds for the melody feels like an excellent choice to represent the main character as these instruments convey innocence and potential for growth. This is really well-developed with the growth in dynamics over the course of the track. I really like the details you add with the xylophone, pizzicato strings, and harp. I am excited to hear how you develop this motif throughout the rest of the soundtrack.

Heart of the Mountain Town: This track feels so much like a home town - you nailed that vibe! The choice of the more folky/traditional stringed instrument helps add character to the town and I agree that that is an excellent selection for a mountain-y instrument. You have so far done a nice job of building your tracks, but also finding the balance of bringing them back down so that if you wanted to loop them, you could easily.

Lumina (At the End of the Coast): Oh this theme is great! I really mean this as a compliment, it sounds like a classic Disney film theme to me. I really love the violins that intermittently accompany the bells during the calm solo part in the middle.

Atlantis: This is a really cool sound that feels like a “ruins” area based on the instruments you’ve selected which is really neat because I don’t often think of Atlantis in this way. It makes sense though if it’s filled with souls and spirits. I really like the theme you introduce at 0:49, as well as the variation on the repeat! I think this track is my favorite out of all of them!

Empress of the Sea: The first horn melody part creates a feeling of foreboding power and willfully subdued energy and seems to represent the Empress who is choosing to restrain her power on the main character. This is a really nice character theme!

Onward: I love this version of the main motif reprise! There is so much energy and it is so adventurous! It definitely fits as the pre-climactic track!

Lunar Eclipse (Rise of the Exiled Emperor): I think the use of the xylophone and other similar instruments from the main theme in this track helps tie the story together by creating a dichotomy of the two major forces. The tempo shifts help the track feel alive, and conveys a lot of story information. 

Love you, Farewell: I’m a sucker for beautiful piano pieces to end an epic soundtrack story! This just gives space for me to reflect on the whole journey that took place and to feel like it was resolved.

Overall: I love the planning and the mapped out story in the Google doc! I really appreciate you giving us a glimpse into the backstory on how it was created! This is a big project with so much music - I am in awe of how much you were able to write! This was a special story and I really appreciate your use of leitmotif to tie it all together. Great work and thank you for sharing!

Really impressive work! Skillfully composed, expresses a wide array of moods. Makes me want to get better at using orchestral plug-ins.

All the compositions show a vast world filled with intrigues and adventures for hundreds of hours. I think it's the orchestration that gives it, and the melody structures themselves. Very fascinating

Great job creating such a complete work for this jam! It not only tells a story but conveys it with a charm that reminds me of Ghibli films. My favorite track has to be "Heart of the Mountain Town", it has a fantastic melody and atmosphere. Thanks so much for sharing!

This is so giving off Studio Ghibli type vibes lol, absolutely love these songs! Both incredibly beautiful and playful writing, I'm highly impressed with this. Good stuff!

I can feel the quality level and how majestic the orchestral vibe is on every one of these tracks.  I bridle a little that it's not more rebellious but i'm of an experimental nature so take that sub-feature of me with a grain of salt. :)

Everything I hear here is like A-list quality and again i appreciate the effort that went in, wholeheartedly.

Gave you an itch follow, if you like the thing(s) on my page(s), consider doing the same.

Cheers!

--D

main website:

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The last song gave me chills... nuff said

Very impressive body of work, I had a great time listening to your tracks and reading through the story imagined for each !

The instrumentation was really pleasant to listen to and, with the arrangements and great melodies that you came up with, it has that whimsical energy found on Ghibli music for example that immerses you in this fantastic world and makes you want to go on an adventure.
All tracks were very solid and consistent while being varied in setpieces so you did a great job tying them together (eventhough you seemed to have worked on them separately in a incremental manner, which is impressive too along with the great illustrations to visualize better your story).

Overall very memorable work, it was a pleasure to listen to so great job for that !

I did end up closing my eyes and imagining a story to go along with this, it was such an immersive experience I could feel the water on my face (it seemed to be coming from my eyes for some reason). The compositional work here is SO good at conveying an emotional journey, all the little details with the different instruments moving in and out, the tempo changes, the huge but seamless shifts in tone, it feels like I just played the entire game. The only thing I can really say that felt out of place a bit was the horn sections feeling a little too consistent? It's an incredibly minor thing and might just be me not understanding how horns work but just a smidge of volume automation to bring some of the horns in and out/flow into each other a bit more. Again INCREDIBLY minor detail and the only reason I noticed it was because of how good everything is haha, awesome submission :)

Really great soundtrack! Love the little tempo changes, the instrumentation is really good! Each track has well defined sections and concludes nicely. Its all very polished and complete. 

It might be worth considering "breathing" with wind instruments, especially flutes/piccolo. Some lines sound more suited to a keyboard than a wind instrument. In a real orchestra they can stagger breathing if they have to but it's more idiomatic writing if you consider it beforehand. Also forces you to have good phrasing.

I think it's a good sign that's my only nitpick haha, well done!

Seaside Overture: This is very pretty, love the pitched percussion use that lends a magical feel. Nice intro.

Heart Of The Mountain Town: This is such an effective town theme. Love how it gradually swells. Strong composition.

Lumina (At the End of the Coast): Really nailed the storytelling on this one. I like how you switch between calm and louder sections.

Atlantis: Ooh the mood shift. This one reminds me of Secret of Mana. Very nice!

Empress of the Sea: Love the brass. And then the harp in the second section.

Onward: Very grand. And then the soft piano at the end with the bird sfx! I really loved that switch. 

Lunar Eclipse (Rise of the Exiled Emperor): This rhythm is absolutely bangin. I love the war chant type samples. That staccato (I think) string sound is a bit harsh but nothing crazy, just a limit of the library. I still really enjoyed the track.

Love you, Farewell: this is a very pretty outro and I love labs piano so much. 

Great work!

the first track has captivated me immediately, so this will be getting my stream of consciousness treatment...

what a gorgeous first track and introduction! such a strong start, and beautiful progression throughout. really lovely!

second track: CONGRATULATIONS, this is the first track of the entire jam to give me goosebumps, such inspiring writing, with lovely interplay between your melody and countermelody, and the textural shift into the sweeping strings and driving arpeggios is absolutely unbelievable. the rubato effect is also so well done - it really contributes to the human feeling of this track and project so far. absolutely stunning.

lumina! gorgeous brass writing. i am a fiend for soft brass chords, and the opening of this track is no exception! a lovely emotional tone shift that contrasts really well with the previous track. very nice!!

speaking of tone shifts... what an intro to atlantis! the powerful low brass is such a bold choice, that i think works really well in effectively setting the emotional tone quickly. the progression in this track is so dramatic - this track works really well as a midpoint for the project.

empress of the sea is a fantastic companion piece to atlantis. while maintaining that dark feeling, it has the feeling i imagine one must feel staring at the peak of a mountain from its base... filled with anxiety, but with a drive to complete the climb. 

the metaphorical mountain climb comes to fruition in onward! what an uplifting, inspirational track. absolutely stunning writing - plus, i love the gentle piano at the end of this track. it contrasts so beatifully with the earlier potion of the song, and the ambience at the end is also beautifully done.

you've really perfected that sort of boss-fight, final challenge, last battle feeling in lunar eclipse! another piece of stellar writing, with yet another beautiful conclusion

love you, farewell... what a conclusion to this project. so delicately done, beautifully emotional and gentle. absolutely stunning, and again, just the perfect conclusion to your submission.

such an impressive combination of quality and quantity for such a short amount of time to write - its such a challenge to compose a full orchestral work, let alone within a span of a week. however, you've done incredibly well. not only does it fit your theme and story perfectly, but it also stands on its own as a composition brilliantly. absolutely perfect, congratulations on your submission!

delicate and sincere. i really like the development of the melodic themes going through this. the piano in love you, farewell is harmonically super up my alley and i liked it a lot. lots of comments on technical production stuff here, and i don't think it's as problematic as portrayed in this comment section. that stuff comes with experimentation, practice, and working with other people (very important); the most important part is to just keep writing because you like writing music. thanks for sharing :)