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A Druid's Journal's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Storytelling | #70 | 3.552 | 3.552 |
| Composition | #76 | 3.586 | 3.586 |
| Overall | #95 | 3.345 | 3.345 |
| Impression | #101 | 3.345 | 3.345 |
| Creativity | #113 | 3.276 | 3.276 |
| Quality | #149 | 2.966 | 2.966 |
Ranked from 29 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
A Druid’s Journal contains five compositions totaling just under 8 minutes of music. The genre is celtic folk. I first sketched the main thematic material using pencil/paper, then used Finale to create condensed sketch-scores (melody, harmony/texture, percussion). I produced the music in Reaper, using Musio for all virtual instruments. Specific orchestration decisions were made once I was working in Reaper, based on the loose sketch-scores created in Finale.
I used the text theme, “Songs of a Forgotten World,” and some of the significant elements (the lute, the fiddle, nature, and mythical beings) of the image theme as suggestive direction.
Exploring the countryside, a young boy finds a long-abandoned building. Inside he finds a dusty, leatherbound journal dated centuries before, along with a small flute. The journal depicts several melodies claiming to summon the fey spirits of the land. Intrigued, the boy plays the melodies: first, one titled “Hill Call” and second, one titled “Ode to the Wood.” To the boy’s dismay, nothing happens - or so it seems, until several fey spirits appear and rejoice in being called upon once again!
Message from the artist
Jacob Motl is a multimedia artist: a composer, sound designer, painter, graphic artist, game designer and developer, and writer. He loves to combine all of these disciplines and does so as often as he can.
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
I included a lute and a fiddle, as suggested by the picture theme. The music evokes mythical and mystical themes, and functions as trying to remember and eventually remembering something long-forgotten.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-0Cp4-B3Sg
Number of tracks5
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
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Comments
This was probably one of my favourite submissions (I've listened to), I really liked the overall orchestration and melodies! The only thing I'd say held it back is the mixing, especially the flutes sound rather harsh at times. But don't let that get you down, mixing this type of music well is pretty damn hard :-)
Good job and keep it up!
Loved the way you used the instruments from the theme image, you definitely pulled off the atmosphere you were going for really well! I especially enjoyed the flow of the soundtrack from Unanswered into Feydance, the way you brought down the energy and emotions, before breaking out into that ending was inspired! Great job, and thanks so much for sharing!
A Druid’s Journal: I really enjoyed the harmonic imagery that you set up in this piece. It feels mystical, mysterious, old, and somewhat inviting, as if the song is being played around a campfire or at a tavern late at night.
Hill Call: Your melody in this piece is a highlight for me. It is strongly Dorian which is such a pleasant mode to use in my opinion. I especially love the emotional turn at 2:18 as well. The meter change felt smooth, and I think it would have been cool to use that as a sort of transition into the following piece.
Ode to the Wood: This track feels quite Celtic inspired and maybe to my ears feels like you especially succeeded in authenticity to your story world. I think the interplay between the fiddle and pipes is particularly well done.
Unanswered: I think the emotional execution of conveying a sense of waiting and disappointment is spot on in this track. It feels dark with small glimmers of hope, only to turn around to another dark chord again.
Feydance: The dancing melody is really fun and also fits very naturally into the world you have created. I wonder what it might sound like with the tempo bumped up a little bit. I wonder if that would add to the celebratory nature and the finality of the last track of the OST. Overall, I think the writing is really good and love the harmonic drive and shifts.
The simplicity of the instrumentation played to your advantage to create a sense of antiquity and mysticism throughout the soundtrack. I appreciated your non-reliance on percussion instruments which added only where necessary and helped keep the simplicity. Great job overall on this and thank you for sharing your music!
Nice rustic submission. Liked how peaceful everything was.
Nice compositions! I initially also tried for celtic folk music, but no ideas were really sticking so I had to pivot. That's why I'm glad to see submissions like these that managed to make it work. The tracks do a great job of painting the world you described. I had a great time listening to this, thanks for sharing!
I really liked that rustic soundscape you created.
However, I feel like the whole OST sounded a bit artificial. The instruments sounded a bit harsh and too dry, and a bit of reverb (on the whole track) would have been great to soften those sounds, and make them blend together in the environment better. Also, I would have loved more drums. Nothing too crazy but some variations, eventually some notes in the higher octave to make it more interesting would have been great.
Lastly, my favorite track was Feydance. I really liked the use of those many instruments layered together. It created a lot of depth in the melodies, and I just loved it.
Very great job !
PS: I just saw that you're a fellow musio user like me :D
A Druid’s Journal: this is simple, stately, and does a great job of establishing the world we are in. Feels like I’m watching an opening cutscene…
Hill Call: loving the amount of Dorian we’re getting with this jam! It’s a good thing it’s my second-favorite mode, or I’d be getting sick of it. But hey, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it right? You smartly move in and out of other modes to complement it and prevent redundancy. One thing I’m noticing is that the cello/viol(?) rearticulates a lot on longer legato notes. I might suggest finding a way to revise this, if possible?
Ode to the Wood: I love the bright, open strings a lot!
Unanswered: you’ve got a knack for writing lovely melodies, and it shows. I also appreciate how sparse the soundtrack is: I think it really adds to the atmosphere you are creating. Less really is more sometimes!
Fey Dance: it’s time, once again, to shake some ass in the tavern. There have been several shaking-ass-in-the-tavern tracks in this jam, and I think this one is up there. I do find the tempo changes to be slightly jarring—what is the purpose of them? Does it have something to do with this moment in the story?
Overall, great work here. I can picture this game clearly in my mind—wish I could play it! Great work, and keep writing!
I really like the whimsical tension of the descending chords opening the track.
I can picture our boy trying to summon celtic spirits of the forest on these !
Great ambiant scene :)
Thanks for listening!
The choice of instruments is so convincing, the result makes a great ambient, and the vibe truly feels like it’s captured in time.
//We're calling the fey with this one *fire emoji*
Thank you for listening! I was definitely leaning more into "Hollywood" Celtic and less historically-accurate Celtic. I appreciate your thoughts and feedback! Glad you enjoyed it!
Hurray for Reaper!
Very dreamy start with the first track! Really like the flute melody in the second. :) Mixing can be difficult with these instruments, because some of them just have quite the harsh characteristics, and not the most deep of dynamics, I have myself struggled and tampered with that a bit, keeping character, but ever so slighly reducing some of the "unwanted" frequencies with EQ.
Regardless I really like the vibe of this one, I imagine it would be a more lighthearted and peaceful game, which is kinda cool, because I wouldn't say most games in that setting are, and it would be nice to explore just the beauty of the world, instead of fighting goblins all the time, hahaha!
Great job!
I love Reaper!
Great feedback, I appreciate it. The instruments I used are VSTs I really haven't touched before, so I was in unfamiliar EQing territory. Definitely something to keep in mind as I go forward! Glad you enjoyed the music overall!
Celtic music ! Yay !
If I was nitpicky, I'd say some of the tracks feel to "writted", in french we strongly opposed what we call "Musique Savante" (Scholarly Music) and Folk, and your submission do sometime feel more like scholarly medieval music than folk. Maybe you can find a little more of this feeling with some layering of fret sounds, little "mistakes", breath in the flute, more groovy rythm.
Some high end frequencies pierce a little, in the flute and the fiddle (or hurdy gurdy ?) (not simple to know cuz they aren't played the way they'd be played in folk, wich is fine but make identifying them harder), and more automation would definitly make your sounds more accoustics-like.
That was all the critics, now let's glaze your work ! The ambiance is on point, the arrangement is good, melodies are engaging, the celtic ambiance is definitly here (even though a little cliché, but that's totally fine by me if it was what you where going for, some "zelda style" celtic music) so overall that's a net positive for me and a good little listening session, thank you sir !
I appreciate your thorough feedback! This was my first time writing Celtic-style music, and I don't often write folk music in general, so this was an experiment on my part. The strange or hard-to-identify instrument is meant to represent the Fey joining in the diegetic music with a supernatural instrument - something that sounds related to an Earthly instrument but certainly isn't.
Thank you for listening and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Nice soundtrack, great job !
I really liked the celtic vibe you were going for and the instrumentation was pretty well chosen for it, I really liked Unanswered and Feydance among the selection.
Maybe I would have liked a bit more variety (different instrumentation/rythm/vibes) between the tracks to better differenciate them and to have them be more evocative on a storytelling matter, but it was a very nice listen either way so great job !
Thank you for the feedback!
Hi! I think you made some strong compositions. I really liked it when the attack of instruments could be heard and variations on those attacks. Also the bit with the instruments going between harmonizing and de-tuning on Ode to the Wood I thought was really cool. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for listening and taking time to provide your thoughts! Glad you enjoyed it!
Hill call was giving me some skyward sword vibes which I liked. I think the flute sound could be a bit abrupt though. Lowering it's attack for some parts I think would have given the song a much nicer flow and more human feeling.
The harp was very nice and felt natural. It was drowned out a lot by the strings however which were a tad too harsh at times. In fact, overall, a lot of the instruments were just too harsh which took away from the implied beauty I imagine the songs were aiming for.
The melodies and progressions themselves were very well done, it was just the instruments that took away from them rather than enhancing them due to their mixing at times.
Thank you for the feedback! Mixing isn't my strong suit when it comes to music, so I always appreciate solid feedback to make the next project better.
Love some fantasy music! Agree on the mixing comment, but otherwise a solid OST!
Thanks for listening!
very nicely done! I like the druid's journal idea, it fits the theme well. I will say you should work on your mixes. There were a lot of harsh frequency that took away from the melodies at times. Overall good work đź‘Ź
Thank you for the feedback!