Man! The sounds design for this is amazing o.O
The melodies and chords are cool too. And I can once again hear your signature in this, hehhe XD
If I was in a nitpicky mood, I probably could find something small to complain about here. But right now, at the end of a long day, this is great to just lie down, and relax to while listening. So 5 stars from me ;)
Great job :3
Thanksfor the kind words Lucid :). Really glad you liked it. I've started to use Zebra 2 for sound design lately, and I'm more than satisfied with it. It's probably the most powerful synthesizer I've used, even better than massive in my opinion :D.
Alright. I actually have surprisingly little to say about this track, at least in way of criticism. I think that it's pretty much just awesome!
Especially as 0:57 comes into the picture. The beginning before that builds up at a good pace. The mixing is great, or at least it sounds great to me. I like the intrument choices. I love the atmosphere as well.
The percussion does its thing. I especially like the transition at 1:55 because of that reason. There are many other great parts, like some of the choir additions, and less noticable intruments (unless you listen for them that is, examplewise the cowbell at 2:23 [I am the jokester]).
I guess if I were to give any criticism, it's that I think you could've used more different chords in general. That is, while you keep the mood consistent and all, I think that you overdo the chord repetition at a few points, at least to a small extent.
1:50 (as well as a few other spots; this would work for most of the parts in the middle section of the track), for example (after the E minor with a G as the top note, unless I'm mistaken), would've been a great place to replace the current chord with a C Major 7 (B as the top note), after which you could either have used a B minor 7, or a D7 with an A as the top note (or something similar), and went on from there in any direction you wanted to. But that may just be my taste in chords anyway, and it's not really the greatest of criticisms XD
Just something to think about in the future.
There were some other things I noticed that I especially liked, or things that I personally would've done slightly differently. But those are just a matter of taste, and not really a matter of reviewing, as this track is amazing :D
The ending is perfect too!
Great job, dude! Added to my favorites ;)
Your such a gem. Haha and your questionable criticism has been noted! This one was just personal choice of simplicity. But that really is no excuse to keep a song flowing in different feels and directions. (Guess I was lazy and didn't notice. Haha) that cowbell..is a synth pluck haha. But like all audiophiles say.."NEEDS MORE COWBELL!!"
And thanks for the extra boost ;) and sorry I've been idle for so long!
I'm leaving a review for this one, as it's my favorite out of the pieces from the game. Probably because I am biased, as I love that flute-ish instrument (I don't know exactly what it's called). As I mentioned earlier, I like the way you were inspired by the Ōkami soundtrack (I actually own a copy the OST). It really fits the game well, in my opinion. But even on their own, they are pretty cool tracks to listen to! Very atmospheric stuff, and I am a fan of this atmosphere :p
Either way... Please tell me what the intrument is, so I will know in the future, meep! :3
The instrument in question is a shakuhachi. Now there are a few kinds of shakuhachi samples -- the first is one without any slides, and the second... well, is the one with loads of slides. The shakuhachi I used here slides a lot, and I thought I'd put it to use somehow. ^_^
Alright. So I usually never download anything that's available online, just because I mostly listen to music when I'm already on my computer. But this album has been so good, and this song especially has convinced me that I should definitely make an exception for this one, while it's currently so readily available. This track is right up my alley. The atmosphere is brilliant, with all the snares and strings, but especially because of the harmonies and progressions you're using. The mixing is great, but what I love most of all, are those horns. The are wonderful!
I see that the name is "Castle Theme", but while I definitely get the Dark Castle vibe, I also feel that this is a very climatic track (while the tempo isn't necessarily fast), which would fit well in a boss battle of some kind, or at least a more dramatic scene, rather than casual background music. But maybe that's what you had in mind as well :)
Either way, this is a great track, so good job ;)
Hey thanks :) Glad that you liked this track in particular. Most people have said that it's their least favorite! The horns are also my favorite part, this track probably went through the most changes and versions out of all of the tracks in the album. I wanted to put more chiptune influence in this track in particular, but it wasn't very easy so it didn't make it in. Thanks for listening and I'm glad you enjoy the album :)
-Ryan
This is beautiful! o.O
It's very much my style of game music to listen to while playing. Wonderful job ;)
That's good :) Glad you like it
I'd say that yes, indeed you did deliver XD
This is some pretty rad stuff ;)
Much love. I promise to rock your socks off with the next tune, which will be 10000x better because it won't have FL Slayer in it.
I feel like I have heard part of this before. I woooonder whyy? XD
No but seriously. As I said, those melodies are wonderful! And this feels way better mixed now that it's finished. Also, thank bass is sooo good! But I wish it was louder, especially between 0:21 and 0:42 (like in the previous mix).
Also, I could swear that you made this faster. It was a good decision! Turns out that your instrument choice actually works okay at 0:42 in the end. Still not the one I would have picked, but it sounds much better now that it's mixed properly and doesn't sound as dry.
That transition at 1:25! o.O
Wonderful. Splendid uh... Something change? I guess it's still technically the same rhythm and tempo, but the way you use the percussion and such makes it feel like it isn't, if that makes sense? Are you proud XD?
The glitchiness in the melody is super cool as well.
Ahh, new wonderful melodies indeed.
As usual, you know what you're doing in terms of percussion.
In general, I like the sound design too. I get a lot of energy from listening to this track.
It's great how you bring back/keep going with the same melody near the end, but in a different way than in the beginning. More jumpy notes, instead of flat/straight on? Now we know how good my music theory is. Does this count as a different rhythm or not? Or does it just count as a different way of playing in the same rhythm? AAAGHH!?!
Either way. You cut off the edning, instead of letting it blead out. Big mistake (tsk, tsk, and you're part of the "harass johnfn's endings club". You ought to know better).
Also, I feel like you could've had a more interesting ending to this. You end this track with a breakdownish-slower feel part, with the melodies going down at the very end. As this track has so much energy, I would like this to end with something going up, and pretty fast!
Kinda like 3:34-3:36, but longer!
Anywho... That's just my small input.
Overall, great job. You've definitely improved a lot lately! If only you wouldn't have such insane competition, I would've thought you'd have a good whot at making it through with this :)
Keep it up, dude ;)
FUNNY STORY so I typed up some huge response to this where I thanked you for everything and broke down my song section by section and mentioned johnfn four times and then I accidentally deleted it when I went back to edit something so...
thanks so much for everything! :D Sorry this response sucks. But good luck in the NGADM! :D You're up against some fierce competition, but then again, your song is absolutely amazing. :)
What? Still no reviews?
I guess I am doomed to be the first one to admit that this is awesome, and that the listen was very enjoyable ;)
Good job, and good luck!
Thanks man, was starting to think maybe people didn't actually like it. :P
Good luck to you too!
I exist. That'd pretty much be it. Pictures made on Paint.NET (getpaint.net) and Apophysis 7X.
Age 29, Male
A bit of everything
As a teacher
Finland
Joined on 12/23/13
New Horizon 
Through Time 
Kimyouna Yoru (奇妙な夜) 
Castle Theme - Across the Worlds 
Leap of Faith (Infinite Realms) 
Endless Ocean - Across the Worlds 
5 Dollar Guitars 
No Exctraction 
The Drip 
