Play soundtrack
Hiking In The Mist's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Correlation to Theme | #17 | 3.563 | 3.563 |
| Overall Uniqueness | #20 | 3.438 | 3.438 |
| Listenability | #23 | 2.938 | 2.938 |
| Overall | #24 | 3.100 | 3.100 |
| Composing Quality | #29 | 2.750 | 2.750 |
| Mixing Quality | #30 | 2.813 | 2.813 |
Ranked from 16 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Link to Streaming Service
https://soundcloud.com/yaevid/hiking-in-the-woods
Description
This was a lot of fun to work on trying to record cello and bass for the first time. There are a lot more ideas I had with this song that I didn't have time to do, I would have loved to include some piano over the whole thing for example. The chord progression is heavily inspired this video from 8bit music theory analyzing some David Wise music: 4 Tips for writing ambient chord progressions
Repeating the following and each iteration adding a new note on top:
https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzE3ODg5MjE3LnBuZw==/original/O%2B%2FWUB.png
Screenshot of DAW
https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzE3ODg5MjIxLnBuZw==/original/%2FDfxz%2F.png
Description of Setup (Optional)
AT2020 and acoustic instruments, in a slightly treated room.
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Comments
Hey! I did a review of your entry via video. I posted it on the Jam discord but appreciate everyone might not be on there. Here's the video timestamp for your entry: https://youtu.be/1-aLhBdNCKE?t=14305
Super cool how you did live reactions for everyone! Next time I totally plan to put wayy less notes under middle C haha.
I really like the sense of foreboding that really comes across from the groans of the bass. It feels very... old and raw, which I love.
I do agree it could use something just a bit higher frequency somewhere to add in just a bit of brightness, even if it were just a few hits here and there to add some anticipation.
Appreciate the comment. Something I'll work on next time for sure!
Like Kale mentioned, the bass overpowers the cello a bit because of its power.
One thing that might work as an alternative arrangement for this, is playing the bass part on the lower register of the cello, the upper part higher on the cello and then later maybe adding some plucked bass to give power to the low end, but not to overpower the cello (just a quick idea I had, not sure if it would work😅).
But other than that, good job!
Appreciate the comment. Plucked bass is a good idea, and just generally playing some of the harmony higher up is for sure what I want to try next time.
Thanks!
Super well recorded, love the textures of the instrument coming through!
Would have loved to hear a tiny bit of extra high frequency content, plus everything felt a tiny bit too condensed in the lows. Perhaps less notes and maybe more stereo information.
Thanks for the comment! You have a really good point about the stereo mix, that is something I need to play with more. Definitely not going to have 6 voices under middle C next time haha.
The fact that you're using real instrumentation is awesome. The structure and the composition itself is nice in terms of progression.
I know one thing I do since I play a lot of real instruments is improvise a lot and then record over the improvisation. Improvisation is the way to practice composing with repetition, where you have this constant feedback of what sounds good and what doesn't.
The clustering of the chords starts to clash. The more bass-oriented the instrument, the fewer notes you want close together, it makes it muddy.
Mix wise, it definitely could use reverb and spacing, especially with all of the bass. I'd say the tone of it to me felt somber and heavy.
The fact that you have those instruments and can play them is a huge asset. I really *really* want to hear you loosen up with your instrument and make some stuff in a more loose fashion to develop that more instantaneous musical intuition.
The vibe you set here is really cool, so I'm definitely excited to hear more.
Edit: the cello has such a big range that I would use that as its core strength, and really continue to improvise on the instrument.
Thanks for the comment! Totally agree with all of what you said and they are all points I want to improve on for next time :)
Thats really nice that you recorded real instruments for this track, very moody and gritty. those are nice chord progression. I think it would sound amazing using the whole strings spectrum instead of spacing everything on the lower registrer.
Thanks for the comment! Totally agree with what you said.
Liked the long introduction. It feels like a calm hike, though, in the presence of a big Mountain Spirit or another old Being.
Thanks! It does feel like an introduction huh? I should write a B section to pair with it :)