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A jam submission

Town Music Jam AlbumView project page

Cozy submissions to the Town Music Jams.
Submitted by Nick Schuitemaker — 1 day, 6 hours before the deadline
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Play soundtrack

Town Music Jam Album's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Composition#84.1674.167
Overall#84.0084.008
Did you imagine the town?#94.0834.083
Quality#114.1254.125
Correlation to theme#133.9583.958
Creativity#183.7083.708

Ranked from 24 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Theme

Hot Spring Town

Correlation to theme
It is SOFT and cozy, and I added the STEEL-DRUMS and TEMPLE-BLOCKS instruments for a watery feeling.

Streaming Service
https://on.soundcloud.com/g4hg9

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

I love that you provided sheet music haha that's so cool.

My fav is definitely octopus city, it's such a floaty and relaxing feel to it.

Developer

Thanks, I would love for others to provide sheet music too :)

Octopus City was the entry for Town Music Jam #1, I'm glad you like it! I got near-to-last with that song though, hehe...

Submitted(+1)

Wow this was love at first play :D you capture me with that playful and happy but still peaceful tone. Nice instruments selections. Good job!

Developer

Thanks a lot! Coming from you, that means a ton <3

Submitted(+1)

I love the playful vibes of this one! Really fun and bouncy track, which is a surprising departure from the slower tranquil vibe that many others went with for the Hot Spring theme. I love the counterpoint between the violin and piano early on in the track, as well as the flute and piano just after that. The steel drums were an excellent choice to bring a more lively and aquatic feeling to the piece, and a really interesting juxtaposition with the rest of the more traditional orchestral instruments! Really enjoyed listening to this one, great job!

Developer

Thank you so much, I love your in-depth explanation! I am unable to use that kind of jargon, but am familiar enough with it to know what you mean. Appreciate it :D

Submitted(+1)

I don't know if you know this, but I'm French. And English is not my strong point. So sometimes I have a hard time retranslating everything in my head.

So I'll try to be efficient if not subtle!

I think it's great! Really great.

First of all, I was taken aback by the 3/4, which works really well.  The happy, carefree atmosphere. You can almost hear children laughing and playing in the water. There's a Joe Hisaichi feel to your composition (Studio Ghibli).

From a technical point of view, I'm in love with the flute melody at bar 20. It's splendid. And you've added a little ear-candy at bar 22 with this little delay on the melody, leaving a silence on the first beat. It's genius. And yet, your flute sound isn't really pretty (I don't know what sound bank you're using, but this flute is a bit screamy). And despite this average sound quality, you've managed to make a wonderful melody sound.

I was a bit long on the flute :)

As for the rest, the instruments respond very well to each other. There's room for all of them. The 3 sections flow naturally into one another (the 3rd, quieter section is a welcome way to complete the loop while keeping things interesting).

In short, good, very good, Nick!


(and of course, thanks for the score, I always take the time to read it on the 3rd listen to add to my understanding of your music)

Developer

Thanks a lot! :D

Firstly, I wasn't aware that you're French. Your English is excellent, so I didn't notice.

I'm glad you like the 3/4 and the melodies! I agree that the flute is a bit screamy and not too pretty - would you believe me if I said that the original flute was way worse? ;). I have some digging to do to find right sounds for each instrument, but sadly MuseScore3 does not have too many options. I'll get there!

I am glad that the sections flow nicely! I spend extra time to make sure that this is the case, so I am glad it is appreciated. And for the score, you're welcome :). Hopefully others will follow my example and provide scores (or other forms of showcasing) in the future as well.

Overall, thank you very much for your elaborate explanation! See you in the next jam <3

Submitted(+1)

It is indeed veeeeeeeeery cozy! I really liked the composition, and the steel-drums were a tasteful choice as well. Amazing work!

Developer(+1)

Thanks a lot! Glad you like it :D

Submitted(+1)

I love the energy in this! I imagined a nice, cheerful and happy little town and birds happily drinking from the fountain in the cover. Great work! 

It's been said multiple times already but the decision to use a waltz pattern or 3/4 time signature really does wonders for the energy of this track, good job!

Developer

Thanks a lot! I am glad you like the energy and choices I made <3

Submitted(+1)

I love the instrumentation and decision to write a waltz. It reminded me of Comet Observatory from Super Mario Galaxy. The steel drum was very fitting, and you succeeded at writing a soft/cozy theme.

Developer

Oh I love Comet Observatory :O! It makes me very happy you think of that song! And I am glad you like it, thank you <3

Submitted(+1)

I always love your work and this is no exception, it is a really nice song.

One thing I admire of your songs is the piano, I don’t know how you make it, but you make the piano sound awesome in every style of song you make. I really like that.

Developer

Ahw thank you!! That means a lot <3

I used to make every song using only piano, so my usual workflow involves making a song using piano and (after I am satisfied) adding other instruments to make it whole. I am glad the piano is appreciated ;)

Submitted(+1)

Adding the note sheet is actually a nice idea! It really helped me going trough the song a lot more and pointed out things I might have missed otherwise.

Due to the 3/4 time signature and the instrumentation I had immediate swan lake waltz vibes. Which was kinda fitting for a hot spring town theme. I pictured some swans/ducks swimming on the springs.

As a German I might be heavily influenced by a piece called "peter and the wolf", but to me wood winds are generally associated with birds. So the piccolo did it's thing strengthening the bird image I already had in my head. 

You wrote you used the steel drums for the watery feeling, but since it was kind of low tuned it sounded more like frogs to me. Which was still fitting. 

Temple-blocks where really fitting as water drops, but I was missing the "hotness" a little bit. Don't really know how I would add this. Maybe some rides or cymbals in general to have something that sound like steam?

Structure wise I really enjoyed it. It didn't get repetitive and yet the individual parts felt very well connected.

Developer

Thanks a lot for the in-depth explanation (and the compliments)!

I hope other people will also share their creation process through screenshots or note-sheets, as I would love to learn from others as well.
Also, I love that you envisioned all these animals! I can't lie, I envision a nice swan lake waltz as well. And I agree that I went more for a 'spring' than a 'hot spring' vibe (as can be shown by my front-image I suppose) - I indeed wasn't sure how to add hotness.

Thanks again, glad it wasn't repetitive or disconnected! :D

Submitted(+1)

I would love to add a note sheet, but since I just use FL-Studio and sometimes work with recordings, it would be super time consuming to add this afterwards. Are you by chance using a composition software like musescore?

Developer

Indeed I am! I use MuseScore 3, which makes note sheets very easy to do. I understand that it is hard for you to do, so no worries if you don't! :)

Submitted(+1)

This is really cute! It's smooth and relaxing, and the steel drums and temple blocks definitely help in capturing the vibe of a cozy hot spring town. Great work.

Developer(+1)

Thanks a lot :D. I'm really glad you like it <3

Submitted(+1)

Wow, Nick, I’ve been listening to your music for a while now and this is by far my favorite of everything I’ve heard from you! You did a fantastic job not only with creating a fun, interesting, and well-composed piece, but you also nailed the theme and the production sounds really well balanced too. I like the interplay between the piano, the flute, and the steel drums which feels very natural. The strings for me are my favorite part and glue it all together and add that feeling of relaxation. On top of it all, I really like the introduction you made as well. Overall fantastic job and thank you for sharing! I’m going to save this one to my personal library to listen and refer back to later!

Developer

Oh my! Coming from you, one of the two ultimate pro's here (along with Selkione, imo), that means a lot :D
Thank you for your continuous effort to give everyone such in-depth and optimistic feedback. We all really appreciate it <3

PS: it's funny that you mention saving my song to a personal library, as that is exactly what I've been doing with all your (and others') previous songs! Yes, 'Hell-venly Beheamoth', 'Photosynthecity', 'Boneyard Bash', 'Sunset Sands' and the entire 'Starlit Prayer' Composing-jam ost are still regularly being listened to :). But my song being saved to your library... that is something else entirely! I don't know what to say but.. I'm glad!