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Description
Gabu: I wrote my tracks with a leitmotif in mind: a leitmotif depicting the concept of adventure itself that could also represent the quest for a legendary song the bard is looking for. It starts in "A Song of Adventure" (the first motif in the chorus sentence), is clearly announced at the end of "In Ancient Ruins", and is used in the chorus of "A Legendary Song" as well.
1) A Village Far Away (Gabu)
Written in 7/4. This track is written with folkloric/rustic instruments to depict a village in the far countryside.
2) A song of adventure (Gabu)
Track representing the adventure itself, as well as the legendary song the bard would like to write.
3) A Moment to Gaze the Stars (Shellotz)
A relaxing track depicting a moment of appreciation for the beauty of the small moments in daily life.
4) In Ancient Ruins (Shellotz and Gabu)
A darker track depicting ancient ruins and its dangers.
5) A Legendary Song (Gabu)
Written in 5/4. The climax of the adventure. During a fierce battle, the bard finally found the inspiration for the song that'd make him famous.
6) A Rowdy Evening (Shellotz)
A track of acceptance and contentment as the bard sings his new experiences to his dearests.
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
A common bard's endeavor to write an unforgettable song in a forgotten world
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/shellotz/sets/a-wandering-bards-journey
Number of tracks6
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
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Comments
A soundtrack that aims to be as accurate as possible to the medieval / fantasy tone implied by the theme, and it succeeded really well! I enjoyed this one a lot, I'm a sucker for medieval stuff, and this delivers.
The dry mixing of all the instruments throughout all the songs made them sound very authentic, I really liked it. I tend to prefer dry instruments anyway, too much reverb for the sake of "realism" can quickly make something sound muddy, and the composer(s) realised that quite well.
Speaking off, this soundtrack, despite having multiple composers, felt extremely cohesive through and through. Lots of submissions with multiple team members end up having tracks that are widely different from one another, and while this was still lightly felt here, the whole experience felt cohesive and well planned. A lot of thought must've been put into making this with multiple people.
Here are some standout things I wanted to mention:
The flute in a "A Song of Adventure" was absolutely amazing, what vst did you use for it? The whole track was honestly pretty great, loved it.
The dungeon synth approach in Ancient Ruins made it pretty unique amongst other tracks. The violin and oboe playing cemented it as my favourite track throughout the whole thing. I would REALLY love to hear what vst you used for those.
A Legendary Song is my second fav, you just absolutely killed it with the flute and 5/4 rhythm.
A Rowdy Evening was a great way to cap off the soundtrack on a high note, with a disgustingly good chord at around 1:09 that brought it very high up for me.
Not too many critiques, honestly, maybe that sometimes flutes and strings sounded a tiny bit unrealistic? But it wasn't that big of a deal.
Great stuff, through and through.
A soundtrack that aims to be as accurate as possible to the medieval / fantasy tone implied by the theme, and it suceeded really well! I enjoyed this one a lot, I'm a sucker for medieval stuff, and this delivers.
The dry mixing of all the instruments throughout all the songs made them sound very authentic, I really liked it. I tend to prefer dry instruments anyway, too much reverb for the sake of "realism" can quickly make something sound muddy, and the composer(s) realised that quite well.
Speaking off, this soundtrack, despite having multiple composers, felt extremely cohesive through and through. Lots of submissions with multiple team members end up having tracks that are widely different from one another, and while this was still lightly felt here, the whole experience felt cohesive andwell planned. A lot of thought must've been put into making this with multiple people.
Here are some standout things I wanted to mention:
The flute in a "A Song of Adventure" was absolutely amazing, what vst did you use for it? The whole track was honestly pretty great, loved it.
The dungeon synth approach in Ancient Ruins made it pretty unique amongst other tracks. The violin and oboe playing cemented it as my favourite track throughout the whole thing. I would REALLY love to hear what vst you used for those.
A Legendary Song is my second fav, you just absolutely killed it with the flute and 5/4 rhythm.
A Rowdy Evening was a great way to cap off the soundtrack on a high note, with a disgustingly good chord at around 1:09 that brought it very high up for me.
Not too many critiques, honestly, maybe that sometimes flutes and strings sounded a tiny bit unrealistic? But it wasn't that big of a deal.
Great stuff, through and through.
Great choice to feature the tin whistle extensively throughout your soundtrack, it fits the life of the bard perfectly. Loved how the leitmotifs were used here, it sounded like the bard was constantly iterating and searching for the legendary song throughout his journey. The melodies featured throughout were beautifully performed, it was so full of expression and soul. Very memorable journey, congratulations on a great submission!
Thank you so much for the kind words ! I'm so glad you enjoyed our submission.
There's a really nice sense of cohesion throughout this soundtrack that made it an absolute pleasure to listen to. What really stuck out to me was your melody writing, as well as the little countermelodies you present in tracks like A Moment to Gaze the Stars and A Rowdy Evening.
Also that tin whistle sounds lovely. Do you mind if I ask what you used for it? I tried to experiment with tin whistle in my tracks too, but I couldn't quite get the sound I wanted.
Thank you so much for listening !
And for the tin whistle, the VST that I used is Tin Whistle by Ventus Winds. I really like it because there are so many articulations and ornaments you can use. I personally only used 3 (the cut, the bend up, and the bend down) but there are many more.
I love the vibe of these tracks! They're very catchy whilst also not being too in your face. The phrasing is nice, the composition clearly has thought behind it. Very solid entry 👌
Thank you very much for listening ! Glad you enjoyed.
A song of adventure has really great phrasing and the leitmotif is very clear.
A moment to gaze the stars: I really enjoyed this one, lovely harmonic motions and melody, very sweet.
In ancient ruins: some cool call and response going on here and the driving percussion fits the vibe you’re creating, a welcome departure.
A legendary song: yup, feels legendary haha. Very heroic.
A rowdy evening: I’m loving all the layering going on here, it feels really full and cohesive. Well done!
Overall I feel like this was all just really well composed all around. I think the only criticism I can think of is some of the songs sound sort of “thin”. it’s apparent in things like a village far away. I think that thinness brings out the synthetic nature of the vsts more than you probably want. I’m not really sure how you get away from that, maybe some subtle effects to fill out the acoustic space a bit more cohesively? Not sure but thats all I can think of, great work!
Thank you very much for listening and for the feedback ! Indeed our tracks lack a bit of polish to make them sound less artificial. We will keep that in mind for the next time, thank you again !
great composition and orchestration plus imo a pretty organic feel! if i had one tiny nitpick, it would be that as a theme for a battle, A Legendary Song could perhaps benefit from more aggressive and driving percussion to really sell the idea of a climactic fight
You are completely right, the drums feel a bit weak. Next time, I will layer them with more drums to make it sound fuller.
Thank you very much for the feedback !
I like the unique time signatures you used. I know 7/4 has to be a very annoying time signature to work with, but you did it in a way where it wasn't distracting and added to the song greatly.
Thank you very much ! It was indeed quite hard to write in 7/4 and 5/4, but I'm very glad about how it turned out.
Here we go, bard music at its best!
I wasn't expecting the 7/4 time signature! (I tend to listen before reading)
The first track really set the mood for the whole adventure, it felt so authentic, loved the general atmosphere!
"A song of adventure" had such a well written theme, really made the flute stand out. It kind of gave me some "Frog" vibes from Chrono Trigger. Loved the dissonances in the strings pad.
"A moment to Gaze at the Stars". Enough said. That's it. I think this is the kind of music that would help me on the days when I'm struggling, reminding me to take some time to breathe in and go on. Had to point out the glissando at 0:37 somehow sounded weird, maybe too forte and the notes chosen weren't quite fitting to me. But all in all, it sounded SOOO good. It really feels like something you'd hear in a very popular game.
"In Ancient Ruins". Good ol' dulcimer doing its good job. Love the snares here AND THE CHORD CHANGES FROM 0:51! That feeling when you just can't expect where the composer is going, and it really adds to the feeling of "Where are we supposed to go now? What's that? Why does it feel so off?". That's what I need in my life. Shattering expectations!
And after all this, the familiarity in "A Legendary Song" is just striking! The leitmotiv really adds to the sense of coming full-circle. Kind of gave me Soul Edge/Soul Calibur vibes.
"A Rowdy Evening" feels like an ending... or maybe it doesn't really end here??? Some very wise chord picking here, the way the ending part of the theme is exchanged between sections, the way the music stops and gets back together. It really feels like we're finally done. We've gone through stuff, but now we're all here together remembering what we lived.
Only possible downside (if we might call it that) is that you can easily tell everything's computer-made, but the sense of depth and complexity you managed to achieve really conveyed what you were surely trying to do with your music and it just makes you forget about that. It really felt emotional, you've been so coherent in every single track, everything made sense in its own way and also related to other tracks.
Thank you for this experience, bard!
Thank you so much for the kind feedback ! And you're right, our soundtrack lacked a bit of polish to make it less artificial. We will work on that the next time !
You gave that flute a heart. This has so much charm, and each piece has a very clear emotion. Your leitmotif in A Legendary Song was a great payoff and felt like a true triumph. I mean, you told a story in 5 tracks. I was there.
I was gonna say this had Shire vibes, but I’m probably just thinking that because of the flute, because this has its own clear identity. It’s from its own place and time.
Seriously, I don’t know what else to say. You built a world and told a story inside it, with an epilogue to boot, using only music. You were very effective at doing so. Even the bard came through as a clear character. And now I can't get the damn theme out of my head!
Truly, excellent work.
Thank you so much for the kind words ! I am so happy you enjoyed our piece, it motivates me so much to make even better music !
A village far away - Love the bouncy feel of the guitar(?) and bongos(?). Nice melodies! If you can, maybe add some expression automation on the violin vst.
Song of adventure - Very nice folk flute sound, especially all the bends.
A moment to gaze the stars - Really strong melody and accompaniment in this one.
In ancient ruins - Nice to hear a contrast in mood and texture. The whole track is really creepy but I think you could pace the tension a bit more. Start a bit smaller, and get even bigger in the climax, maybe using a bit more cinematic strings and percussion.
A legendary song - Very exciting track, great use of time signature to build tension. I agree that there should be more low end pushing the track forward. Some big percussion sounds and low strings. Auxiliary percussion could help hear, like an ostinato on wood blocks and/or shakers.
A rowdy evening - Great mood to finish the soundtrack on, feels like a heartfelt telling of an epic tale. The drop out at 1:28 could have been a bit more delicate.
It's not super clear what the medium of the story is meant to be? I'm imagining it could be an animated short film, or a linear story driven adventure game. Love the sound of the ensemble, especially with all the folk articulations. I think maybe there are just some reverbs that don't match, some instruments are dryer than others. I would also suggest adding an upright bass sound to some of the folk ensemble sections like you do in the final track. The free kontakt one is pretty good and has a fairly dry close mic sound.
Great stuff, thanks for sharing your OST!
Thank you very much for the feedback ! I will keep in mind everything the next time I make music. About the medium, at the beginning it was supposed to be made for a game but now it's more of a standalone album.
Good melody-writing! Each track is well-constructed, and overall everything fits into a complete picture. There are moments (ex: the middle section of "A Legendary Song") when the mix feels dry and/or the accompaniment is pushed too far back. Otherwise great job!
Thank you for listening and for the feedback !
awesome stuff here, very cool way of utilizing motifs!!! personal favorites have got to be a moment to gaze the stars and a rowdy evening (especially the composition for rowdy evening!!! really love the addition of the yangqin or at least that's what i think it is LOL) i do think this ost would really benefit with more reverb being added to the instruments as to fill up the space of the music much more, since although composition wise this ost was a treat to listen to i feel like it's missing that "fullness" orchestral compositions usually have. other than that awesome work!!!!
Thank you very much for listening and for the advice ! We'll do better next time
Cool submission! The lively compositions towards the end are the highlights. Overall the mix is good but could use a bit more reverb or similar to make the instruments sound more natural.
Favourite track: A Legendary Song
We'll work towards making our tracks more cohesive. Thank you very much for listening !
Wow, such a great soundtrack. I love how the tracks keep building up, telling a beautiful story that comes together so nicely. Great job with the leitmotifs too, it really elevates the storytelling, and the coherence of the tracks is also wonderful considering this was a collaborative project. Great work! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you very much for listening ! Glad to read you enjoyed it
Wow! My favorite track is "A Legendary Song". I love the interweaving rhythms and captivating groove you created with all the Renaissance instruments. I think certain elements could be utilized more effectively in certain tracks, like the bass sound in the "Ancient Ruins" track. I think you could have softened it with more reverb to add to the soundscape, but it sounded a bit out of place in the mix. Also, there are a few abrupt moments, like with the harp glissandos, that could be smoother in terms of the transitions. Overall, great Renaissance sound! I went for sort of a similar vibe, so really nice seeing someone tackle this in this way.
Thank you very much ! I'm so glad you liked "A Legendary Song" that much. It's the track I spent the most time on so it's really pleasant to read good things about it.
Overall, we could have indeed created even more cohesion between our tracks. We will work on that for the next one !
all the instruments sound really great, i think the woodwind at the beginning of the first song sounds a little bit abrupt, like it could be softer or fade out more.
the first 2 tracks are okay but it really starts to get good with track 3. the best bit is "in ancient ruins" from 0:30 on. the chord changes and melodies are so good, and it ends perfectly with the vocal chorus. "a legendary song" follows it so well. this is really good stuff. both you guys are working in the same sort of style but you go about it in subtly different ways that are interesting. gabu's tracks are a little more foreboding and forceful. shellotz's stuff is melancholy and wistful, and you have those cool twinkling piano parts
nice job you guys
Thank you so much !
For the flute, I'll add some more reverb to make it feel farther, eventually an eq as well for the softness.
Glad you enjoyed !
A Village Far Away: the percussion is my favorite part of this track--I just love the little, intimate details of the drums. The way you've gone about creating that medieval, folksy sound is actually quite smart! I like the heterophony!
A Song of Adventure: love the little fluttering trills and small details in the flute part! I'd love to know what VST you used for it. The strings are nice and expressive too. So far, my impression is that this sounds like an elevated Windwaker-esque soundtrack.
A Moment to Gaze the Stars: what a lovely, intimate harp solo. The repetition of the melody in the flute, with little piano flutters as a mini-countermelody, is a perfect example of how to expand a melody. I like how the melody keeps trading from instrument to instrument. What a sentimental and sweet song :)
In Ancient Ruins: love the addition of synths here, to convey something more mystical afoot. Very Zelda dungeon coded. The part in the middle where things pick up has some super clever harmonic shifts that convey a sense of doom and challenge. The interplay between the oboe and oboe(clarinet) is quite adventurous. Cool choir chord at the end, too! There's lots of interesting things going on here.
A Legendary Song: a fun callback to the first two songs, I love the expressive melody in the cellos with the mounting intensity of the stabbing chords! The cello melody doesn't speak as much as I'd like it to. It gets a bit lost in the chords, so maybe bring it up in the mix, or double it with violas or another instrument? Or try to find a VST with a Marcato patch, which can help with fast, intense legato melodies.
A Rowdy Evening: I was looking forward to this one just based off the silly title XD this is a relaxing but upbeat little tune. I like the way the percussion ties the soundtrack together. Beautiful string writing, and such fun, memorable melodies!
In all, this is a super impressive soundtrack, and it's a real shame you haven't got any reviews yet. People are sleeping on a really stellar piece of work! Good job, and keep writing!
The tin whistle I used in A Song of Adventure and A Legendary Song is "Tin Whistle by Ventus Winds". I also really love how expressive it can get with all the articulations there are.
About A Legendary Song, thank you very much for the advice. I also had some difficulties with the overall loudness of the sound; the drums would spike the true peak meter without really increasing the perceived loudness so that particular track would sound a bit lower than the others (to stay below -1 dB of true peak). I still have to find a solution for that.
And thank you so much for your detailed review ! Really glad to read you've enjoyed it.