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Frostborn : "the Frozen Waste"'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Composing Quality | #3 | 3.944 | 3.944 |
| Overall Uniqueness/Creativity | #7 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
| Execution | #9 | 3.611 | 3.611 |
| Overall | #12 | 3.556 | 3.556 |
| Listenability | #16 | 3.444 | 3.444 |
| Sense of Atmosphere | #17 | 3.444 | 3.444 |
| Correlation to Theme | #18 | 3.222 | 3.222 |
Ranked from 18 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Link to Streaming Service (YouTube Recommended)
https://youtu.be/roPrbbQkCVE
Description
"Journey Through the Frozen Waste: the ice remembers, holding whispers older than memory."
Plugins and Instruments used:
Arturia Augmented Voices, Augmented Strings for the main orchestral instruments. For additonal sounds, Synthx V, CS-80, Pigments, Piano V3,
Used a microphone (and a ton of reverb) to record myself imitating the wind and some kind of seagulls in the background.
Screenshot of DAW
https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzIyODMyNTUwLnBuZw==/original/f%2Bi7jr.png
Description of Setup (Optional but recommended)
Bitwig Studio, mainly Arturia plugins, Focusrite Scarlett soundcard with a microphone for ambient effects, and headphones.
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Comments
I like how you pixelized the jam art.
Is there a word for that dark bass thump? A lot of metal/dark music does it, and I'm really into it.
I definitely enjoy the spooky Halloween vibe. I don't know if that really correlates to the theme, but I'll definitely have some jams in the future where your style would fit right in. The OST jam from last October was definitely one such instance.
This is an unreasonbly good track! But I don't feel this as ambient, the sound design and mix are top notch, but there is just too much of everything going on, its hard to get trully immersed.
Great song! Take care :)
Awesome! Very characterful, and nice to hear a different energy in contrast to the more obvious approach of stillness and space. Very dense writing with loads of interest, but it conveys the frozen character really well and the sustained level of detail allows it to fit into the category of ambience I think. In the right type of game this could be very appropriate music. Listening-wise personally I found it a bit overwhelming at times, but in-game where it's lower in the mix it could be really effective. I would say the mix is slightly over-compressed for my taste, it's harsh on the ears in places and would benefit from being allowed to breathe a little.
thank you for your feedback! I agree on all you said, and it was very useful to submit in this jam. I realize I may have a bit over processed everything, that leads to harsh moments, sometimes. I will pay attention to this next time.
This track is so unique. The composition is very well structured and definitely evokes a sense of the fantastical that compliments the inspiration image well. I will say, it is a bit chaotic for my tastes and the relative volume of the instruments tends to be pretty high. I think if you introduced some more dynamic shifting within your track, I would consider it one of the best in the submission pool. Great job!
Compositionally phenomenal, I always love a fellow complex track maker! You picked the perfect plugins to convey the frozen theme and the bold synths compliment it well, giving it some sort of otherwordly feel. The only thing I'd say is, maybe at some point within the track, lowering the instrumentals a bit to let some of your sound work shine a bit more (because it's very good!), and to have a bit of rest.
Nice track, but it gave me more fantasy movie soundtrack vibes than ambient frozen landscape. The first twenty or so seconds were more on theme, for me at least, but after that there was just too much going on all the time. I think for ambience you need to chill and give everything room to breathe. You could have cut the amount happening in half, I think.
Awesome composition, its also well mixed. Lots of very cool details and the vibe is super interesting, very unique its chilly and scary. The high female vocal is so well done, I might look into the library. Is it truly ambient well its debatable, its probably moving a bit much but still sound great. Well done !
Overall, this track sounds great in its composition, the orchestration is really good and the mixing balanced. The whole thing is really pleasant to listen.
However, I have a few things to take note of : despite a noticeable effort to make the track sound in theme, a few elements makes it feel out of theme, such as many instruments. The track has way too many different instruments that aren't that relevant to the atmosphere, and it makes the whole track feels stuffed. Additionally, the rhythm makes it sound less ambient, especially the pizz.
The orchestration and composition is good, however the whimsy feel and the inconsistency of the instrumentation as the track goes on makes immersion difficult. If I had one advice to make : keep it simple.
If I have to end with a big plus however, it's the creativity of this track. It sounds like you had a blast creating it and this ability to generate and exploit those ideas in such a short span of times really is a plus !
Overall, this track sounds great in its composition, the orchestration is really good and the mixing balanced. The whole thing is really pleasant to listen.
However, I have a few things to take note of : despite a noticeable effort to make the track sound in theme, a few elements makes it feel out of theme, such as many instruments. The track has way too many different instruments that aren't that relevant to the atmosphere, and it makes the whole track feels stuffed. Additionally, the rhythm makes it sound less ambient, especially the pizz.
The orchestration and composition is good, however the whimsy feel and the inconsistency of the instrumentation as the track goes on makes immersion difficult. If I had one advice to make : keep it simple.
If I have to end with a big plus however, it's the creativity of this track. It sounds like you had a blast creating it and this ability to generate and exploit those ideas in such a short span of times really is a plus !
Feels much more anthematic and orchestral than ambient, but the bits and pieces of ambience thrown in are nice, I just feel like there are portions where there's a bit to much movement and intensity for this to really click with the theme of the jam for me.
Overall great composition though.
Very unique piece of music you have here! Its very spooky and almost scary, like a haunted plain or graveyard. It just has that feeling. Its very good. But I don't know if it really is ambient music because the themes are so heavy. It blends well but the music sort of jumps out. Its also loud. But don't take me at my word! I am new at the ambient thing! Love the song!
I think you’re right. I decided to introduce a clearer and more distinct theme to stand out in the scene—partly for contrast, but also perhaps because I wasn’t confident enough about my ambient sound. Since this is one of my first tracks in this genre, it doesn’t quite fit the ‘ambient music’ style. That became even clearer after listening to many of the great entries in this jam that really nailed it. Thanks for your feedback!
Really liked the spooky wobbly strings, if you know what I mean! And the overall atmosphere is nice too!
At first it sounded pretty serious and dark, like it should fit into a horror movie. Like an eldritch horror waiting under the ice. But the more it went on it also showed a humoristic or comicy side, like a Danny Elfman track before catching up with the main theme again. All in all it either reminded me of a Tim Burton movie or a bit more light hearted horror theme like in an old Rayman game.
While your song surrounds the listener fully, it tells a story and has a nice progression with motives changing and the arrangement doing so too nicely. However, I feel like most of your sounds used for the song are very strong in the high. Specially your strings, synths, piano und vocals. When playing together they create just an undefined woosh of sounds. Overall the whole mix is tending to miss some mids, lower mids and bass. I’d highly recommend filtering you instruments more and giving your sounds more space in their own frequency space. The would in the on hand live up the mix more and gives each instrument more definition within the song. Also you’d get more bucks out of your arrangement changes, since the song has some timbral changes as well.
Sadly the mixing and use of the sonic spectrum leaves something to be desired. But all in all it is a pretty solid entry nonetheless.
Thank you for your feedback! I’m indeed heavily influenced by Danny Elfman, and I explicitly asked myself while composing, “What would Danny Elfman do?” to bring more variety and try to be more cinematic. It’s funny how noticeable it is.
Regarding the mixing issues, I think I may have overused saturation on my tracks and made some poor decisions during the mixing process. I boosted the high frequencies and reduced the bass, so it’s possible the track sounded much better before the mix. I must have been too heavy-handed with the processing. It’s great to receive feedback to help me improve!