Pursuit

I composed this recently. I know it's mostly MIDI, but let me know what you think. :)

***EDIT*** WTF?! It's like... half the speed!

Pursuit

***EDIT 2***

Haha, ok, renamed it. It is now "Departure", but I'm too lazy to make official changes here at the moment, so yeah. ;)

It's supposed to twice as fast? It sounds good at this speed.

You did some cool things with this track. You had a very nice transition at 0:52 going into the different key. Very cool. Also, it's neat that you made this piece loop to show that it can repeat as long as the game needs.

Here are my suggestions: 1:03-1:16 needs more variation. If it's a cinematic at point, I understand that you'd want the music to reman pretty low key, but the way you made the rest of this piece so musical, it doesn't strike me that these 13 seconds should be less interesting than the rest of your piece.

What about alternating between your two chords more often? I think this because Mario's Star Power theme changes chords every bar between two chords similar to your own. This gives it more urgency since your star power runs out in 30 second.

Also, I don't think your title appropriately matches your piece's style. "Pursuit" carries with it a sense of urgency, which you nail, but also one of danger and anxiety. There's too much wonder and beauty in this track. To me, it feels more like a speed run level on Super Mario Galaxy. Which is cool! But, that carries very different meanings than pursuit.

Other than, it's a pretty awesome track. Even those its midi, the balance between the instruments is well done. Plus, the choice of instruments is great because they compliment each other so well.

Peace on Earth,

-John

It's supposed to twice as fast? It sounds good at this speed.

You did some cool things with this track. You had a very nice transition at 0:52 going into the different key. Very cool. Also, it's neat that you made this piece loop to show that it can repeat as long as the game needs.

Here are my suggestions: 1:03-1:16 needs more variation. If it's a cinematic at point, I understand that you'd want the music to reman pretty low key, but the way you made the rest of this piece so musical, it doesn't strike me that these 13 seconds should be less interesting than the rest of your piece.

What about alternating between your two chords more often? I think this because Mario's Star Power theme changes chords every bar between two chords similar to your own. This gives it more urgency since your star power runs out in 30 second.

Also, I don't think your title appropriately matches your piece's style. "Pursuit" carries with it a sense of urgency, which you nail, but also one of danger and anxiety. There's too much wonder and beauty in this track. To me, it feels more like a speed run level on Super Mario Galaxy. Which is cool! But, that carries very different meanings than pursuit.

Other than, it's a pretty awesome track. Even those its midi, the balance between the instruments is well done. Plus, the choice of instruments is great because they compliment each other so well.

Peace on Earth,

-John

Thank you! :)

Actually, there are a lot more transitions that the one at 0:52. There are a couple before that, and a couple after it, as well. ;)

1:03 - 1:16: Yeah, the only reason for the lack of musical interest was that I wanted more of a harmonic bridge. I feel it sort of eases the climax down to a resting point, and then goes back into the beginning again. Then, the second time it gets to that bridge, the brass instruments join in.

Oh, and yes! I've finally decided to rename the piece. People have mentioned that to me, but you went a little more in-depth, and I decided that I name it something more suitable, so I renamed it "Departure". Something along the lines of "departure" was what I had in mind to begin with, but I didn't quite know how to word it. :P

Thanks a lot for your feedback!!! If you'd like, you can listen to the actual version on my youtube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/PertinaciousOne

PS: My name is John, too! XD

PS: My name is John, too! XD

OMGWTFBBQ!!!!

:P

PS: Nice game over music on your channel. Very suitable. Sad, minimalistic.

Departure - as in a ship or train theme? I can see it working for Final Fantasy airdock-esque scenes. I like this - you're a very solid game composer from what I can tell so far - you're really in the style of Sakimoto and Hamauzu. Have you played the game Legend of Legaia? This sounds just like the work both of them did together on the second (and regrettably last) installment of the series. If you haven't played that game, here's the soundtrack online, give it a listen http://bluelaguna.net/music/legaia2ost/mp3s.php

The only problem I see with this cue is that there isn't quite enough variety - it is quite repetitive and I thought you could have had sections with a slightly different texture (albeit nothing serious). And HAHA, your horn line sounds exactly like Sakimoto (the fact that he was horrible at making them realistic and just wrote whatever he wanted and never really put to must VST work into the line - yet somehow I like it) Listen to Decadence and Corruption (castle town theme) from that OST I linked you - the semblance is frightening.

Please post more here! I'm enjoying your work.

Welcome to YC.

This does indeed have a moving feel to it so Departure works well. It would benefit greatly from better samples, but we have to work with what we have.

Those of us here in Games try to go out of our way to comment in each others posts, so join in and you will find that many will return the favor.

Ron

Departure - as in a ship or train theme? I can see it working for Final Fantasy airdock-esque scenes. I like this - you're a very solid game composer from what I can tell so far - you're really in the style of Sakimoto and Hamauzu. Have you played the game Legend of Legaia? This sounds just like the work both of them did together on the second (and regrettably last) installment of the series. If you haven't played that game, here's the soundtrack online, give it a listen http://bluelaguna.net/music/legaia2ost/mp3s.php

The only problem I see with this cue is that there isn't quite enough variety - it is quite repetitive and I thought you could have had sections with a slightly different texture (albeit nothing serious). And HAHA, your horn line sounds exactly like Sakimoto (the fact that he was horrible at making them realistic and just wrote whatever he wanted and never really put to must VST work into the line - yet somehow I like it) Listen to Decadence and Corruption (castle town theme) from that OST I linked you - the semblance is frightening.

Please post more here! I'm enjoying your work.

Sorry for the late reply, my friend! ;)

Departure as in either ship/air or simply embarking on a journey/quest. I think either one would work, though I had more of a quest-like approach in mind.

Hahaha, believe me, you're not the first to make the Sakimoto remark! :D Sakimoto is pretty much my favorite composer ever, so that's quite a compliment to me. However, Departure has to be one of the only compositions of mine that actually is heavily influenced by him.

Why? Well, having to work with MIDI instruments is REALLY discouraging, and I usually end up just composing things for piano, because I only have good samples for piano. =\ I have tried and tried and tried to get my orchestral libraries to work, but things just seem to not want to work. If I could break free from this demotivation, that'd be great. XD Yeah, I know I can just compose with what I have, but... it would be a waste of inspiration, know what I mean? Besides, half of the stuff is unbalanced in volume, too, so that adds to the stress. :P Anyways, enough complaining, and more replying. XD

I haven't played that game, but I will surely check out the link! I never knew they worked together! This must be even more brilliant than Masashi and Uematsu on FFX!

Ohhh, yes. I noticed the repetition, too. However, I was afraid of messing up the mood of the composition by adding a new texture in. That's one of my weaknesses when composing. It doesn't happen ALL the time, but sometimes, when I have something going that I really like, I want to conserve the mood due to paranoia or ruining it.

Anyways, thanks so much for your feedback and what not. You're helping me become a better composer. :D

Welcome to YC.

This does indeed have a moving feel to it so Departure works well. It would benefit greatly from better samples, but we have to work with what we have.

Those of us here in Games try to go out of our way to comment in each others posts, so join in and you will find that many will return the favor.

Ron

Thanks for the welcome, my friend!

And yes, I YEARN for better samples, LOL! Unfortunately, software just seems to strongly dislike me, so... none of that will be happening anytime soon, to make a long story short. :P

And I certainly will comment on other works! I know how good it feels to receive feedback, so I shall do unto others as I'd have them do unto me. :)

Hi John!

Very JRPG vibe you've got going for this track here, I assume that was the intent. I have to say that this is actually quite good, but uneven. Your writing alternates between boring and dull repetition and sparks of extremely deft musical maneuvering. I think you would benefit from just writing more and experimenting more and distancing yourself from needless length-padding repetitions. There's clearly potential in here for a very solid track, and if you had chosen to develop it instead of just re-stating bits of it sequentially, you would have a much stronger composition on your hands.

Thank you for sharing and welcome to the forums! :)

There's not really much I can add to what's already been said. But I really like this piece :)