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The Lost City of Tzal [HOST SUBMISSION: Disregard Placement]'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #1 | 4.492 | 4.492 |
| Correlation to Theme | #1 | 4.682 | 4.682 |
| Composing Quality | #1 | 4.409 | 4.409 |
| Sense of Atmosphere | #2 | 4.682 | 4.682 |
| Execution | #2 | 4.545 | 4.545 |
| Overall Uniqueness/Creativity | #3 | 4.409 | 4.409 |
| Listenability | #4 | 4.227 | 4.227 |
Ranked from 22 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/alkan23/sets/the-lost-city-of-tzal?si=dad9b1c9a8954a86956be9f8b8ac76e2&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Description
I worked in a project I've been working on for a long time for this jam.
Track 1 - The Shrine in the Vale
On the way to the Lost City, this is a traversal through a valley/canyon with steep walls and dry climate vegetation, i.e. juniper shrubs. The protagonist is rowing, and the sounds of the rowing is echoing off of the canyon walls.
High on a hilltop sits a shrine, and at the end, the gong rings, filling the vale.
This track is the most polished of the three.
Track 2 - Arrival at the Lost City
After all of the tribulations of the adventurer, they experience the victory of finally finding the Lost City of Tzal.
Track 3 - The Inner Sanctum
In the center of the city is the Sanctum, the holiest place in the city. This music plays the musical style of the people in the illustration. The style is an improvisatory throat singing, raspy and and slow. One voice leads - the voice on the right you hear. The other follows in improvisation and harmonizes his spirit with his improvisation partner as an offering.
Screenshot of DAW
https://imgur.com/a/yMvi7W8
Description of Setup (Optional but recommended)
I'll go over the first track:
I set up all my reverb by going to a send. I varied the delay on the send so that I can place things in space. I used DearVR to compute the L/R/Forward back positions.
The majority of the sounds are live vocals and live instruments. The following were virtual:
- Female vocals in second track is from East/West.
-The strings in the second track.
- Deep drone in the first track and the really deep gong were East/West.
-The last track, the drone instrument is from MNTRA/Oracle X.
Real instruments:
-Tongue drum
-Kantele (made myself)
-Bamboo flute I got for 7 bucks
-Peruvian flute I got for 10 bucks
-Singing bowl
-I clicked the wooden decorative ridges
-Frame drum
Vocal techniques:
-Kargyra throat singing, the deep throat singing in the first track
-Khoomei/Xoomei style where I stylistically alter it to make it more raspy. This is the style of throat singing I've been developing for the group of people in my setting. To prep to do those really high overtones in throat singing of Altai/Tuva/Mongolia, you squinch your throat, which reduces some of the fundamentals. I added some vocal fry to this technique as well to create a variation.
-I also took inspiration from Middle Eastern singing techniques where it's more loose and less defined.
I did use downloaded sounds for the nature sounds, the birds and the water.
Track 1 details:
To make the frame drum sound more real, I actually had three reverbs. I had one reverb within the DearVR plugin that was a closer reverb that made the drum sound deeper, clearer and louder. The second one was the reverb that all the other tracks were tied to. The third was a big Valhalla reverb that has a delay on it and is very low frequency so that the sound expands out into a deep space. I was inspired by analyzing the Dune soundtrack for this.
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Comments
Inner sanctum is something else!
Cool, I love it, the first track really give vibe of discovery and peaceful, I really love the dynamics, the second track feels like I just watch a cutscene, and the last one man just like the title say, I love it!
That was a great listen! You're good at keeping the ambience but also including memorable touches that keep the listener emotionally invested without being too in-your-face. I especially love how the first track starts off nearly silent with the plucked instrument (I think it's the kantele you mention in your description), before that dramatic swell midway through. Makes me imagine I'm exploring a narrow almost claustrophobic cave that opens up to an enormous underground temple. Very cinematic in its sound and build-up.
The instruments used are very fitting for the theme and I love that you used your own vocals in such a unique way. Overall just lots of interesting details that layer onto each other with excellent mixing. I've always found it challenging adding so many different sounds without becoming too "structured" but you pull it off very well. Amazing work!
It's just incredible work on so many levels. Firstly, the fact that you've used a recording of live instruments that you've also made yourself... that's impressive! Secondly, you've built a whole story in the music, which is meant to create an atmosphere. It feels great.
Well, and, of course, the music itself. Great sense of the development of the material, the feel of the music. The selection of instruments clearly matches the content of the music exactly.
I am in love, thank you for your music!
It came out awesome! The vocals (specifically the throat singing) are a great touch and key component! Makes me wish I could have added some to my track! ☺️
Very cool atmosphere, you nailed the theme on this one. I would love for you to add a bass layer very deep, subtle especially on the first track, it will add a nice oomph to it. For the ambviance its very well done, one of your best.
the cinematic style that distinguishes your songs is very recognizable. You use extra-instrumental sounds that help the imagination get to the heart of the scene.
Awesome control of the stereo space! I also enjoyed how you sweep the panning of some of the instruments on the first track.
As always, the vocals are impeccable. Impactful tracks, feels like I've been transported back in time. I can't wait to see more of what you make!!
I expected to hear more of this style, surprisingly I only heard 2
Really nice vocals and their entrance. It came out quite cinematic overall. I feel Arrival and Sanctum have a bit of undefined endings. At least Sanctum totally deserves another 5 - 10 seconds :)
Overall really beautiful, it was nice to hear more "real" instruments and you did great job on vocals, composing and mastering all this.
The second two tracks I had a lot less time on, I finished them up as I was running out of time. Most of my time actually went to mixing the first track.
This is the kind of ambient exploring music that fits into a game really well imo, reading the description about rowing for The Shrine in the Vale while the track was playing just instantly put me in the environment. It takes a while to get going, like a lot of slow burn ambient music does, and once it's there it's immediately contextualised and perfectly atmospheric. I need to pick myself up some flutes :)
Oh... Time for a soundtrack from the admin!
The Shrine in the Vale - Desert... or is it? I'm feeling the atmosphere of a mixture of desert, some canyons and a watering hole..... Also, that string instrumental leads a light narrative well.....
...AND THEN BAM AND THERE ARE HUMAN VOICES. GOD, THEY'RE SO MAGICAL. AAARGHHHH.
Arrival at the Lost City - I think I'm surrounded by vocalists from the witcher 3 soundtrack :>
The Inner Sanctum - These men seem to be thirsty.... are they asking me for some water? I'm not greedy! I'll share!
What can I say in general? Well... It's a beautiful job! First of all, the voices, throat singing and slight swoops of bass are mesmerizing.... Cool!
P.S. Seriously, please, somebody get this man some water.
Really like the feeling of the atmosphere- where did you find all these amazing sounding voices??? A lot of pretty far-eastern sounds, a good selection- well implemented. They all feel as though they come from one mysterious nation! Thanks a lot for sharing your work and also hosting the jam <3 !!!
The female voice was an EastWest sound.
The rest of the voices are just me singing. I developed a style of throat singing for this, a variation on a specific style of throat singing from the Altai/Tuva/Mongolian style where they sort of compress their throat but don't add as clear of overtones.
I take that style and add some raspiness to it, basically, as well as a bit of vocal fry.