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Floating on the Lake of Dreams's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Composition | #40 | 2.905 | 3.000 |
| Listenability | #48 | 2.776 | 2.867 |
| Overall | #50 | 2.750 | 2.840 |
| Correlation to Theme | #51 | 2.840 | 2.933 |
| Execution | #52 | 2.582 | 2.667 |
| Vibe/Atmosphere | #56 | 2.647 | 2.733 |
Ranked from 15 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
A collection of original ambient compositions exploring dreams, darkness, struggle, and hope.
The pieces follow an emotional journey:
Floating → Dreams → Drowning → Reaching for the Stars → Drifting Among the Stars
I wanted the collection to evoke the feeling of looking into a still lake at night, where the boundary between the water and the sky begins to disappear.
All music was composed and produced by me in Reaper.
Link to Streaming Service
https://soundcloud.com/anomandaris111/floating-on-the-lake-of-dreams
DAW Screenshot - Demonstrate that this is your own work
The DAW screenshots are on the itch io page.
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Comments
All right, you have good melodic ideas and some tracks have nice arrangements in terms of instrumentation and how well they blend, its the execution in playing and mix that needs a little fix. I think you asked how to get your track on tempo, if you are playing yourself everything with a MIDI keyboard first things first play with the metronome but how to actually fix to be on tempo, every DAW when opening the piano roll you have a Quantization options that you can use on your notes to make it more on time, I suggest looking into it and how to humanize it because if you quantize everything perfectly its going to sound like a robot. Composition wise, stacked chords on mostly anything can sound pretty basic and bad in the low register, there is a couple of synths and strings doing it, you can change the voicing of your chords and spread the notes to make it sound wider in general. Like other people mentioned most of your tracks just ends abruptly, if you don't have time to create an ending just put a slight fade out to make it smoother. Also one of your synths was very loud and took to much place in the mix compared to everything else at 2:38, it sounds cool but it might be a little too much. You're on the right path, you just need a little focus on these elements. Good job !
Thanks a lot for the feedback! Yes I'm playing everything on a midi controller I'll make sure to focus on these aspects from next time. Yes I have used stacked chords in some tracks. Are you saying to use different voicings for chords on different instruments instead of the same chord on different instruments? I think I might be guilty of playing exact same chords on different instruments I'll be more mindful of this in my future work.
What I mean is when playing a chord, on any instrument lets stay in your track at Bar 10 you are playing a C major chord on the strings and piano. Piano can play the regular triad C-E-G , but changing voicing for example to C - G - E (the E an octave higher) which is an open voicing and lets say the strings will play C - C - E - G (E and G an octave higher) to open up the voicing and give some air to the chords, it won't clash anymore in the same register. This is just a simple example to apply. You can use stacked chords but be careful and it depends what you want to achieve in terms of sound range and the relation between your other instruments.
Hi everyone,
I noticed that Dreams was not uploaded fully because I had a time selection while rendering which explains why some of you felt the endings were abrupt and sloppy. Sorry for the inconvenience but I have uploaded it fully on Soundcloud now and if possible you can listen to it again in full.
As some of you asked for a link to streaming service or mentioned you would like to listen to it completely, I have uploaded it to Soundcloud and the link is there in the description:
https://soundcloud.com/anomandaris111/floating-on-the-lake-of-dreams
Link to streaming?
Hi I have uploaded the full collection on Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/anomandaris111/floating-on-the-lake-of-dreams
The combination of piano and synth pads is a delight. You have some truly beautiful melodic touches in your pieces. Keep going, because you're definitely on the right path (at least I think so, hehe). Congratulations!
I will echo that it doesn't sound very ambient. But you have cool ideas, and I think your composition is accomplishing what you described emotionally. Overall, it feels a little unfinished and could be cleaned up a bit. Different parts are off tempo and a couple songs end apruptly in a way that feels sloppy.
Hi thanks for the feedback. I'm new to mixing and would like some resources to learn how to mix my tracks better. Also how to make sure it is on tempo? Can you suggest somewhere to get started to learn these things?
Hi can you listen to it now if you can? Dreams was not uploaded fully now I have uploaded it on Soundcloud.
Appreciate your enthusiasm, but next time wait to update your tunes until after the the voting period is done! The revision is sounding better. An example of the off tempo thing is in the last track, the piano and pulsing synth aren't playing in beat with each other and it's distracting. I'm no mixing expert, mostly self-taught, so my go to suggestion for learning is youtube, or just google anytime you find something you don't know how to do. Also spend some time listening critically to other peoples music, it's a great way to learn that's what the judging period is about. Keep it up!
Very interesting take! I have to admit that it doesn't sound too Ambient, but I still really enjoyed listening to the Album! I can see it play in some sort of Credits Screen.. Anyways, I think Reaching For The Stars and/or Floating were my favorite Songs! Very nicely done!
Hi thanks for the feedback. I'm new to mixing and would like some resources to learn how to mix my tracks better. Also how to make sure it is on tempo? Can you suggest somewhere to get started to learn these things?
There's a lot to learn for Mixing... Basic Mixing is usually knowing how to fade in & out sounds using the Faders, & knowing what Mixing Tracks are assigned to what Sounds.. More difficult mixing comes with Equalizing & Automations, or at least for me. Also, for the tempo, the BPM is what controls the Tempo also, using a Metronome can help with staying on-tempo, but it can get annoying real fast. (Or at least in my case...) Some Plug-Ins (Like Soundpaint & Omnisphere) can match their Sounds inside of the Plug-In to match the BPM inside the DAW you're using. Finally, usually Online, doing Searches and/or watching YouTube Toutorials is a great way to figure things out to do with Mixing! (That's what I did when I was new to Mixing too!) Glad to be of help. Hope you have good luck finding out what you'd like to learn!
Also, feel free to contact me on Discord or something like that, if you have a Discord Channel, if you'd like to learn more about Mixing from me. I can be found with the Username of LateNightGamer_YT, by the way.
its well rounded, overall good coherence but some things like the bad tempo on some of the notes in the piano that you could have use the humanization feature in reaper to make them more subtle, or the bad mixing in drowning or the fact that you could have just put all the tracks together in one song and it would sound much better and listenable...
you have a lot to work on but you are in the right way, keep on it!
Hi thanks for the feedback. I'm new to mixing and would like some resources to learn how to mix my tracks better. Also how to make sure it is on tempo? Can you suggest somewhere to get started to learn these things?
Hi I have uploaded it fully on Soundcloud. Can you give it another listen if possible? Because I had noticed that one track was not uploaded fully.
Love the synth that opens up Drowning. Some very pretty piano on the other tracks too. I liked the switch into 6/8 on Reaching for the Stars.
Thanks I loved yours also! I also liked how you mentioned all the plugins/VSTs you used. Actually I'm still a beginner in music production so you can probably tell my pieces are quite simple from a mixing point of view. Can you suggest some resources to learn how to mix well? I can compose music but I think I still need to learn a lot for mixing.
I’d love to share some mixing videos I found helpful. Shoot me a DM on discord @DavidMehrerMusic