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A jam submission

Seasons in Mellowtide [OST Composing Jam #3]View project page

Submitted by David Caldarella — 7 hours, 14 minutes before the deadline
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Seasons in Mellowtide [OST Composing Jam #3]'s itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Composition#124.0094.286
Overall#153.7954.057
Correlation to theme#163.8754.143
Impression#243.7424.000
Quality#283.8754.143
Creativity#453.4743.714

Ranked from 14 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Description
This soundtrack is a blend of orchestral and SNES-era sounds and timbres, and I wish I had even more opportunity to mix and blend these worlds.
I've composed this soundtrack for a story-driven farming sim like stardew valley (but a little more linear.) Each track was made in Studio One 5.3, using Cinematic Studio Strings, Cinematic Studio Solo Strings, EW libraries, and soundfonts from the SNES.
1. Seasons in Mellowtide (Title): this is the main theme for the game.

2. Atop The Skies: this is the character creation music. During this scene, the main character is in a hot air balloon. First, the player chooses which season to begin the game in. Then, you get to design your avatar. I enjoyed experimenting with the Cinematic Studio Solo Strings library-- the harmonics and trills are so gorgeous, but the col legno also has a cool effect. All three articulations are used in this piece :)

3. Stormbreak: after getting unexpectedly in a terrible storm, the hot air balloon is damaged and begins to plummet towards the ground. As it breaks from the storm, we get our first glance at the beautiful Mellowtide: mountains, valleys, forests, a beautiful seaside bay with a small fishing town perched nearby... but the beauty is short-lived, as the balloon hurtles to the ground.

4. Song of the Tides: In a vision, the Spirit of the Tides appears. She explains that there is no escape from Mellowtide, and that the balance of the seasons is under threat. You must find a way to protect Sundial Rock (at an undisclosed location) from destruction, lest the seasons fall into complete disarray. If you can do this, the way out of Mellowtide will appear. I wanted this music to be as celestial and ethereal as possible, so I again used CSSS as well as EW Choirs.

5. Take The Day: I wanted the music of the game to change based on the season, and this piece (which plays while you are in Mellowtide Town) was the only one I was able to bring to fruition due to lack of time. Rather than include each season as a separate track, all four seasonal variants of the piece play in a row. The first, Spring, is light and airy, using a solo string quartet; the second, Summer, is more rich and full, using the full string orchestra; the third, Autumn, is a bit more chill and acoustic, using the guitar and solo winds. Finally, Winter uses some 16-bit sounds to create a more muted, icy sound. Each variant uses the same core music, but are quite different from one another.

6. Pietro's Kitchen Sink: This is the shop music, and it's quite an eccentric track: Pietro, the store owner, has accrued so much junk that his store, aptly named 'Pietro's Kitchen Sink', is like a whirring machine of clutter.

7. Overcast: this music plays when it is raining or snowing in game. I again used the CSSS Solo strings library for this track.

8. Goodbye Mellowtide: After the main story is over, you are presented with the option of returning home (to your partner and family outside of Mellowtide) or staying there with your newfound life. The choice is bittersweet regardless.

Message from the artist:
Thank you all for taking the time to listen to these tracks! Sadly, due to a lack of time (I only had 2 days), there were several errors with the mix that I cannot fix. I may upload a remastered version that addresses these mistakes. Regardless, enjoy and please leave feedback!

Theme:

Story of Seasons

How does it fit the theme?
The idea was that most outdoor tracks would have dynamic orchestration based on the season. Take The Day is the only applicable piece in the soundtrack to have this effect: all four seasons, from spring to winter, are laid out in order (rather than include 4 different tracks.) Later in the game, the seasons become disrupted and change without warning quite frequently, so the shift in music is more obvious then.

Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/david-caldarella/sets/seasons-in-mellowtide

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Comments

Submitted

This is fabulous, the orchestration is top notch! I'm especially liking your articulation choices, just enough to give some good flavor and distinguish the areas without overtaking anything. Your melodies and MIDI programming are great as well, I can tell you put a lot of care into them and I'm enjoying it. The story is so pleasant and inviting, I'd love to play this game. Fantastic work, I love it!

Submitted

love the orchestration! it sounds so polished

also i'm not sure how to properly describe what i'm hearing, but like, i LOVE the mixing too! tracks like take the day really have a "wide" sense of space, like everything really feels immersive

Submitted

Super amazing! Everything sounds so polished. The game descriptions fit the story told in the music so well. I really loved the main theme: so memorable and very mellow. I really liked the concept of mixing SNES sounds with the orchestra and felt like I would have liked to hear more SNES (although the orchestral instruments were very, very nice). I really liked the changing of the seasons in Take the Day and instrumentation choices here: does really convey the seasons you are going for: awesome!

Submitted

Absolutely beautiful compositions. Lots of dynamics and subtlety with great production to boot. How you managed to make all of these in just two days is beyond me. Fantastic job!

Submitted(+1)

Title Track: The guitar sounds so natural, that it sounds like a live recording. The SNES sounds coming out of the tremolo strings also sounds so smooth and blends cinematic and video game music in a very smooth way.

Atop the Skies: Nothing quite says whimsical and serene like a I-bVII-I progression especially with the high pedal note. I like the transition and juxtaposition of the smooth silky section to the gentle trodding of the pizzicato section.

Stormbreak: This track is straight out of a movie! You certainly have chops for cinematic moments. This short track does an excellent job of describing exactly how the story takes a turn. The swells and chaotic arpeggiated trills in the strings give a strong sense of wind blowing the balloon off course. I also love the use of the motif ending on the relative minor tonic that has a more questioning attitude to it.

Song of the Tides: The use of these non-functional harmonies has an effect on the music that is exactly as you describe in the story. There aren’t any dominant chords pulling you in any direction. The music just exists and creates an ethereal space to just be, rather than trying to move somewhere, just like the spirit explains that there is no escaping Mellowtide. I love Pikmin music for this effect and think

Take the Day: The strings and accordion are an interesting choice for Spring. The interplay between the flute and oboe is so jovial and is reminiscent of spring months. In my head I imagined fall first, and spring in the third section. Both are very well orchestrated thought. I appreciate the syncopated melody that is like a child skipping around outside in the warmer seasons and then shifting to a more straight, on-beat melody in winter. Pitched percussion like music boxes and xylophones are always a great selection to depict snow or winter. This adaptive music is extremely creative and does an excellent job of conveying the different feelings of each season without hardly changing the composition at all.

Pietro’s Kitchen Sink: I think my favorite part of this track is the cluttered-sounding pizzicato 16th note runs at the beginning. I just imagine a little man running around a cluttered shop. The accordion melody is beautiful and is like the shop owner composing himself to come help a customer for a brief moment before returning to the clutter.

Overcast: I like your idea of adaptive music for more climatic elements and not just the various seasons. This is also interesting in that it loops but never really resolves, as if you are trying to get out of the rain but you have to wait until you can find a dry spot.

Goodbye Mellowtide: The expression in the viola/cello melody with the large pitch bending definitely conveys the melancholy/bittersweet feeling that you feel when you don’t want to leave something fun. I also like that it feels like the tempo is ever-so-slightly slower than the title theme. It’s familiar, but it feels like your dragging your feet because you don’t want to leave just yet.

Overall: This is extremely impressive work. Your soundtrack has the detail that sounds like it has been worked on for months. The entire soundtrack very clearly paints the scene of the story in addition to driving motion for the story. These are hallmarks of great story-telling through music. Thank you for sharing!

Developer

Thank you so much for this in-depth analysis of the work! It makes me feel a lot better about it because I only had about 2 days to work on it and there's a couple mistakes I wish I could have fixed <3

this is so bangin

Submitted

Overcast is my favourite I think, you did a wonderful work !

Submitted

This is so pretty man !
Congrats with all those delicate little decorations :o
it's ear candy for dayzzzzzz