I need to ask which piano you used for Winter Solstice or maybe if you recorded a real one. The sound was just wonderfully moody and the clicking of the fingernail on some notes just gave it a human and emotional touch, that overall just mixed nicely with the rest of the song. I might also need to take Your Shift Begins as my new clock sound. It got that drive to a tee and like I said on discord the anvil convinces that sound of shackling chains like we are enslaved to work here. The only thing I would have loved in addition is a short description on your vision for both of these songs. I know you had some health problems while finishing your project and upload them so this isn’t something dramatic. But I’m really curious, so you might need to tell me on discord :P. Besides that you got wo very contrasting little tunes that worked nicely with the given motif. Very cool job!
Number 1: try out Spitfire Labs Soft Piano, it’s free and is excessively good, I didn’t even have to EQ it or anything, it just sounds so good off the bat.
Number 2: my thought process behind the themes was my desire to do completely contrasting themes. One would be calm and welcoming, such as a Christmas theme, and a when I got that down, I decided to make the next one brutal and oppressive, and I was listening to a lot of Russian/slavic styled music from games and movies, so I went with something along the lines of Papers Please and Workers & Resources Soviet Republic.