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Nowhere Land

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Author Comments

AAH! It's a sequel! Kinda.


So if you recall from my description of CmLZkR9fR (aka Gibberish), she was supposed to have her own horror game (or two, or three - my brain gets carried away a lot). This track was supposed to be part of that. In the intended twisted ending of the original title, Gibberish's greater aims are both foiled and fulfilled, with the player's actions having the same effect that she was trying to achieve by killing them... and then she does so either way. What follows is a surreal credits sequence that puts the camera into Gibberish's first person view as she drives away in her strange flying truck, running over each credit line with a "crunch" as it appears on the road without stopping, while her eyes seemingly watch the player from their reflection in the rear view mirror. And in the background is this song.


Like "AAH" before it, this track has a combination of country, rock, and electronic influences, but its overall feel is less tense and driving, and more folksy, beginning with a filtered guitar line inspired by The National's "Exile Vilify". It has a more eclectic and jarring mix of instruments than its predecessor, including a thick synth bass, chunky electronic percussion, and tinkling, childlike bell synth. It also winds down after a couple of "verses" and ends with an echoing lack of resolution by way of those bells. The perfect intensifier for what was overall intended to be a "what the hell is this" experience.


And also, I'd like to apologize for the distorted guitar. It's native to GarageBand and I'm still trying to figure out how to make it sound like it's being played properly.


-Cass "EscapistProductions" Kingside

Made in GarageBand

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Nice. I like chiptune. It reminds me of Final Fantasy VII. Maybe because of the midi-ish sound and the banjo that is used on some of the songs in that game as well. Like for the chocobo farms.

The bell synth is cool as a lead instrument. Very light and happy. It sounds a bit like a toy piano. Maybe an actual toy piano sample would be even better. I already like this sound well enough though.

The saw wave I like least. It stands out too much and drowns out the other instruments with its sharp overtones. It doesn't fit a country folk song and isn't light enough for this song. Maybe a fiddle/violin or cello sample instead would've been better. If you need it at all. I don't know what melodic information that instrument gives that the other's don't but you would know better than I.

The distorted electric guitar is okay. I think I see where you're going, but it could be excecuted better. It doesn't sound quite like a country guitar and might just as well be a rock guitar. Too thin and harsh on the top. I know it's chiptune and you're limited in how to make the instruments sound, but maybe a little less distortion and more body would be nice. Like an hollow body Archtop guitar without a distortion/fuzz pedal driven into the pre-amp to get the overdrive from the amp itself, then down-sampled and played back on an snes sound-chip or whatever you use to make it chiptune.

The bass and the drum pattern are good they make it sound very country. Especially the tambourine on top.

It would be cool if the song looped. Like most chiptune/video game songs. That may to make sense for an end credit song, but I think it sounds more like a town theme or happy intermission kind of theme anyway.
The song drags on a little too much for it to loop nicely though. It's a constant variation on of the same themes. I think it could do with a break that's significantly different from the rest but still fits the country theme, where you introduce a new melody and rhythm to keep the listeners on their toes. That creates more variation and makes it more bearable to listen to it for longer periods of time.

Thetageist responds:

The whole point of the song’s instrument choices is to be incongruous and have a “huh?” factor - the best way I can describe the sound is like an electronic artist adding MIDI tracks to a recording of a rock ballad, that was itself playing over an older recording of a country guitar. It’s almost a little cheesy, and that’s on purpose.

But I definitely agree that mixing and EQ could be done better here (if I did them at all - I think this is before I knew how to change the EQ), and that GarageBand’s guitars suck, hehe. I’m supposed to be collaborating with an actual guitarist right now - do you think I should try revisiting this with him?

Noice, I like the beat, sounds great!

Thetageist responds:

Thank you!

I love the instruments you layered in this track! Super full sound!

Thetageist responds:

Thank you! Full sound is what makes me happy when I compose or hear music, so often my struggle is not to layer too many instruments, haha!

Credits & Info

Listens
360
Faves:
8
Downloads
1
Votes
11
Score
4.03 / 5.00

Uploaded
May 24, 2022
4:59 PM EDT
Genre
Experimental
File Info
Song
4.3 MB
2 min 41 sec
Software
  • Garage Band

Licensing Terms

Please contact me if you would like to use this in a project. We can discuss the details.