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Devilishly delightful - i love the attention to detail in here. Biiiig fan of the sfx on this one!!

I have to echo the repition feeling part, and it feels like it gets really busy (in a bad way) around 0:40 but this is very Terraria coded, and thus I don't mind one bit.

i have neaarly all of these plugns myself, so as I looked down your list I was excited to see how you were going to use them! This feels very jazzy and smooth depsite the grungy guitars and bass, bit muddy as it is, so my mind goes to something like an alternate-world Morphine track? I like the vibes here. Someone else mentioned Darren Korb and I'd have to agree with that. RoR is the clear inspiration.

Having that 8DIO sax (or atleast the Soundpaint version of it) there's an art to getting it to play along to what you want. It's also mixed in a strange way that makes it standout in a mix unless you correct or structure a mix to include similar frequencies, so good job making it mix in well here.

Lovely to listen to and written very lyrically - you could easily put lyrics over this. Keep it up dude!

those movements right at the start are pure Vivaldi and Shostakovich, which makes me think of Piotr Musical's Frostpunk ost (which someone else mentioned). Uncanny resemblence but it feels done in good faith and is lovely to listen to! I picked up the leitmotif early and was pleased to hear it played around throughout the track, superb writing.

Lovingly designed track - it really feels like you intended a story and wrote each section with clear intent in mind! once the track picks up and the mechanical drums and percussion are introduced, I became a much bigger fan of it. Love that you made your own sfx for it as well, I just think they're a tiiiiny bit too loud at the end of the mix.

I've been told (and have yet to try) leaving your headphones on the desk or listening to them at a low volume to hear what the loudest sound come through from a distance. Sometimes it helps the ear blindness during jam writing, and I think this track may benefit from that as well.

i would have to say I prefer the 2nd track of your two that you've submitted here - i find that there's more going on sonically despite the harsh accordion sound, of which I agree with Eetu is a bit much. The first track is a perfectly made atmospheric track and thus I don't have much at all to say about it - I just hope you keep making them!

I wish they were more dynamic and changed up the mood, maybe a key change or gentle introduction of another instrument? In any case, glad you made a submission!

hey man, thanks for giving me a follow! Happy to see that you made a submission for this jam - the texture is wonderful but the basses here are muddy, and if you cleaned them up it'd do the track a lot of good! Really enjoyed the spooky creepy feelings near the end.

I hope to see more from you!

we couldn't be farther apart in terms of style, instrument choice, and technique but the production of your tracks is improving Kale! The  sidechaining for the vocals is wonderful, but I'd have to agree with many other voices here and echo that the weird sub choice is not a benefit to this track. Like you mentioned in the jam chat, production learnings always become more apparent the jam AFTER you try out a bunch of different techniques to see what does and doesn't work.

Excited to here more from you this year!

anything that makes me consider Inon Zur's work gets a thumbs up in my book! I only wish the music matched the dark and demanding vibe your image brought about! Awesome work!

Heya muttzilla, thank you for your comments! I started thinking about what you said, rip-off vs inspiration, and I think theres truth in that. My goal wasn't really to evolve the DOOM sound with my own flair or ideas - my goal was to make a DOOM track from scratch with a simple guitar riff I could perform (and all the producing work that goes into it) to learn how they're mixed and mastered. Maybe I shouldn't have used inspired? Maybe "study" or something similar.

I moreso am dissapointed that I appear to have made, for your tastes, a boring-composition DOOM track where there's also too much happening. Sorry about that! I'm bummed that it affected your enjoyment and didn't meet your hopes.

As for guitar presence, I think I put too much bass and sub in this mix - had I done an additional eq session on the final master this is probably what I would reduce just a tad, because the track's loudness and punch might be getting pulled due to excessive subs and that leaves the mids and highs used in the guitar with less loudness to work with.

Thanks again! I appreciate your insight!

I reallly dig this, very repetitive but enjoyable in the way many really great jrpg menu or area themes are - they don't draw attention to themselves too much but set the mood and tone very well, or sneak up on you with a great leitmotif that wanna go back to listen to afterwards. This does exactly that! 

My only complaint is the limited audio range - I swear you're cutting or muting high and low frequencies in a way that's making the elements lets forceful, but with all the clunking and clattering I really wanna hear that metal CLANG!

If I had to draw a comparison, I feel like you pulled this right out a Yugioh Tag Force or DS World Championship game - the resemblence is uncanny and I adore this variety of music, so I might be biased. They were made in the late 2000s and had composers from the DDR game series', so they were heavy on trance and house. If you're not aware of them, maybe they'll serve as a good reference for you in future submissions cuz I'd love to hear more!

I would enjoy working with you on a future jam so I could learn more about your music-making process, if that's something you'd be interested in.

The bitcrush spatialization is a fantastic idea, and it's a real shame I didn't consider that when making this track! Thank you for the feedback! I probably did get lost in the sauce on this one - I kept going "well Mick used shephard's tones / mono left-right panning / LFO automation / detuning guitars so I have to try that out too!" My biggest regret is, frankly, not letting the track breath a bit longer to break up the quick pacing between sections, where there would have been more atmospheric chord progressions hinting at the main leitmotif I repeat with the lead synth.

This was a big step in my learning process for mixing and mastering, which I won't need to do AS MUCH when I write something more jazzy or funky (like my Lone Rabbit Jam submission, which was banking on composition over pure sonic tweaking), so I'm also looking forward to WRITING more music next time instead of PRODUCING.

As for the simple composition, the challenge was that I had to play it on guitar, which I haven't practiced much. Maybe I could've challenged myself more to write something complex, maybe not. There's definitely some self-sampling going on, but what would I be without samples XD.

Eager to take it to the next level, next time :) I appreciate the comment Kale.

Extremely enjoyable track - I saw the runtime and the heavy panning to the right ear till 1:30 made me worry a bit, but I was pleasantly surprised by the entire rest of your track! Excellent choice of key signature, chords, piano playing, the whole nine yards! The melancholic opening pulled me right in and never stopped with its grip.

Excited to hear more of your work in the future, should you choose to post again! :D

As an aside, I had a listen to the other tracks you've posted on SoundCloud and you have some lovely jazzy epiano stuff on there. Excited to see you submit to more jams in the future!

I had a serene sense of calm while I was listening to this - there's nice reverb-y clunks in the distance and your atmospheric choice of chords and pads fits great! My only complaint is I wish there was more!

Delightful intro and the changeup into synth-heavy sound design and arpeggios is something I hear a lot in your works - not a complaint, I just love the way you go about your synth choice, and it's at its best in this track. The change up at about 2:05 is especially nice, love that progression! I do love me some 5/4 XD

Spectacular work!

😂😂😂 *seizure headbangs with you*

Glad you enjoyed it Semaj!

Really happy to hear you dug the tracks man! Thank you! :)

I used a combination of SINE Player's Rotary Brass (free) and Soundpaint Fire Brass Trio (paid 50 bucks for the bundle of trumpet, trombone, and sax)

Unfortunately that's not me, those are lyrics from Masterbits Vocals II - Rhapsody, which is the same pack the legendarily bad "I'm in the house like carpet" backing track comes from. :) I appreciate the eagerness for these tracks, I'm really proud of them.

I like the orchestration and the themes and composition work you're doing, the leitmotif you occasionally echo in is a really good touch! The critique I'll offer is the the mix levels and reverb for your instruments, and the instrument choices, can be a little strange at times. Some of them really fill up the mix and it makes it difficult to ascertain other instruments while one is playing, but again that'll come with more time and more stuff made. I can't deny the story blurb and the accompanying music is very well arranged. Good work my dude!

Howdy there stranger! You're one of the first 10 I have to clear, what a coincidence XD. Although I would've searched you out regardless because I wanted to throw a comment in here anyways.

This is gorgeous dude, you knock this stuff out of the park every time. The only critique I have is that I wish there was more of this. Like in previous jams, your synth design and choice is just fantastical :)

Wonderful piano compositions, superb work!

Holy moly dude, this is soooooo fucking good. You pulled me right in with the 2nd half of the first track and kept me on the line like a fish on a hook! I am such a sucker for this wide-open drum and guitar sound you've got going on, absolutely phenomenal work dude! Whenever I play NMS I get so curious as to how they'd compose the sound quality for the drums and guitars and you nailed that type of sound that makes feel like I'm having an out-of-body experience.

Great job!

I enjoyed the tracks and their quality because they evoke that old ps1 or GBA sort of feel. Good work my dude!

To start, i want to say that Winter is a really well performed track. I like the melodies, where you take them, and the whimsical nature. I'm especially a sucker for windchime flourishes in general. The last track is also very dnb final boss video gamey, and it reminds me a lot of the first time I laid down a similar track because the leitmotif you use in it is really fricken good!

I appreciate the light tone you're going for too, but the mix starts to get very empty very fast and the velocity/dynamics of your notes could be improved on the first track. Respect for committing to the jam and putting out tracks regardless, cuz as a whole that's the only way any of us will improve. You've clearly got an eye for the orchestral track composition, which is something I usually struggle with, so I think you're melodies would work if the execution were better. Good job my dude!

Absolutely delightful mixing work on these tracks, holy moly dude! We went for a similar idea in concept ( JRPG game ) but accomplished it in totally different ways. The instrumentation is ridiculously good, great work!

Big big fan of your mixing and mastering on each track. In particular, the 3rd track had me vibin cuz I love some good drum and bass. Excellent job my dude!

I listen to this and I get pulled right back to some early Metroid themes - especially Metroid 2 (the one for the original GB). The melodies are great and they feel period correct too!

Very funky and moody in a strange way, but like Kale says it was clearly a conscious choice and your album art and prompt reflect it. And again, fantastic mixing! I could learn a thing or two lol

Fantastic job with the instrumentation (and instrument choice)! Nothing sounds super out of place. I especially dig the harps in The Garden's Secret cuz the velocities are exactly what they needed to be. Court of Flowers is excitable too, the only thing I would add is that I feel you could de-quantize the staccatos on the bass/cello a bit more and mess with some velocities to get them more natural, but that's just sound-wise. The instrumentation is still great!

oooooooh man, 1:50 onwards is just JUICY, this is so sick Fox!!! The wetness that you somehow squeezed in there does so much for your mix, fantastic job dude! You captured the tone of your theme exactly as you wrote it!

I had to look up K14 because I didn't know that was the name of a mixing/mastering standard, so I was a tad confused for a second lol.

You're totally right about the loudness and bad crispiness, as after listening to all the other jam tracks (yours included) I swung the pendulum too far in the other direction when mastering and I definitely didn't have to go so hard on the clipper and limiter. I find my setup tends to push me towards an overwhelming high and mid bubble as-is, and it's been a pain getting my ears to go back to hearing less of that and more bass as a "good mix" if that makes sense. Thank you for the feedback, I will take a gander at that technique and try to incorporate it next time! :)

This has got so much good stuff going on in it - 2:45 has got to be my favorite part, because I get major Mystery Dungeon vibes from the way you constructed the melody. Fantastic job!

Ughhhhhh this is gorgeous!!! Your sound design is just magnificent, great job!

Man, I really dig those first two tracks - the little changes to the tempo to make the resolution to your melody last juuuust a tiny bit longer really helps sell that organic orchestral feeling you wrote in. Great job!

Heya Einel, thank you so much for your feedback! I appreciate the compliments but your feedback and critique was excellant and I'm so glad you spent the time to write it out!

To give you more of my thought process before I answer your critiques, I found myself pulling from composers that, to me, gave me a bombastic yet chilly quality to their compositions. I gravitated towards Jewish composers from the 1900s, such as Mahler (who likes to realllly pull his punches and let resolutions take a measure or two more), and Japanese composers like Taku Iwasaki for his arrangement of quick string stacattos and percussion. I wished to use this project to practice string orchestration, which is something I have not really done before and would consider myself a total beginner at.

However, after listening to a few tracks from the composers you supplied, I can see that I missed the mark when it came to creating an album that actually captures the nature of the trek for yourself - there's a mysticism and longing  that isn't captured by the tracks I chose as reference, as "chilly" as their writing can be. Some of my references came a little closer to tracks like "Happiness Does Not Wait" but the way in which I wrote prevented me from writing more long-form, ambient tracks. I admit that I struggle to write music that sounds like that - I often revert to more energetic (postive energetic?) tracks as I'm more familiar with the qualities they need when writing.

In the future, should we have another jam that skirts nearer to this culture, I will try and do better with regard to the reference material by finding music made by those within the culture itself.  Thanks again for leaving your comment!

Thank you so much! I did not aim for Horizon, but now that you mention it I can see the resemblance. Maybe I'll get there one day! :)

heya, thank you so much for your critique! You're absolutely right on that lack of "castle" feeling and an organ instead of the flute would've really gone a long way to lean into the gothic-ish castle vibe I had in my head! I'll keep that in mind when entering for another castle track in the future, thanks again! 😁

Absolutely killer sound design! This feels like it's on the cusp of becoming hardcore EDM but it ebbs and flows back in on itself in such an ethereal way - great work!!!

Oooooh, this has "the vibe" dude. I don't have much to add other than to pile on to what others said here - the drumbeat and instrument selection is great!