Very interesting! I love the use of the pads, I’m glad to see you use Fl mobile too (:
I also love the lead, something about is just amazing. But it’s the pad that makes this song special.
Good job man!
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Author Comments
Ok the short description is a lie technically, since Arkansas was a sequel to Missouri 3, but for all practical purposes this is my first sequel. I took a song that I really liked the idea behind but was always disappointed by my poor execution of that idea and created something that might be seen in a video game. I haven’t delved into the 8-bit genre since Maine in late 2020, so this is certainly a bit of a return to form in that sense. I took what was good about the original and turned it on its head into an entirely new, yet familiar sounding song that is meant to invoke intense feelings of awe and relaxation for the first half followed by a short deviation into a climactic and tension releasing finale. It’s a very short song, but only because making it longer would dilute the purpose of the song and overall just make it worse.
This is, to me, one of my best works yet. The melodic and harmonic structuring is done better here than in any other song of mine in my humble opinion. The time signature for most of the piece is 10/4, certainly something I haven’t done yet. I really need to start using this time signature more because it’s truly great. The mixing, to me, manages to feel clean and crisp the whole way through despite the reverb, and listening to it feels like listening to the entirety of Chopin prelude but shorter and slightly less sophisticated. I truly hope you enjoy this one as much as I have.
Edit: I just realized how well I achieved my intention in the second half of this… I actually think this is my magnum opus in terms of mixing and melodies.
Edit 2: 3/28/24. Tangerine's words below have sat in my brain for months. After deliberating for a very VERY long time and with some feedback from my friends, I have decided that yes, there is some clashing, but that does give the piece some personality and that is why I was so reluctant to change it. It accomplishes exactly what I wanted it to and if that is too dissonant for some people then so be it. And I am still having trouble seeing the distinction between dissonant real instruments and dissonant synths. But the failure of this track did kinda kill my motivation for electronic music for a long time. Trying to ease back into it maybe? Idk I have much higher standards now and everything I put out has to be exactly right lol.
50Steaks responds:
Do you mean the pad copter or the other one more prevalent in the intro?
Haha nice. In the beginning, I really got the ambient feel you went for. Something you'd hear in a quieter section of the game. Really brings in atmosphere and I would rate it 5 stars. 00:27 is probably my favorite little part of the song. I really like the dissonance between the pads and the plucks. It scratches an itch in my brain and I think it is so musically professionally done and so well placed. If it were just the first half or so, I would have rated this 5 stars.
The further the song goes, the more I feel that the initial charm of it is lost. For me, the opening was the best part and it slowly degraded and became less and less of what it could have been.
Clashing. There's a lot of clashing in the second half. Notes fighting each other for who will become the high king of the lands. A brutal battle that caused many poor notes to perish and others to become war-hardened.
All jokes aside, I feel that in the second half of this, the notes chosen may have become a little too carefree, and different musical ideas started to clash with one another in a bad way. It's always a good idea to stick to the chord progression with the harmony and use more spicy notes with whatever the listener is focused on. It's just overall safer that way and it will stop sections sounding super messy musically.
I like the melody in this, but I find that it's hard to fully enjoy because it is fighting for its life against the harmony.
Apologies if I'm being a little harsh, but I just want to really emphasize just how much everything in the second half is clashing with one another. For me, it takes away from the whole experience. Maybe trying to do slightly more enigmatic harmonies on something unsustained like plucks or pianos might turn out better? You have to be very careful with clashing when it comes to sustained sounds.
The many clashes aside, I like your structure and how you built up your initial ideas and themes toward the end of the song. I think ending the song after the climax with the same sort of feel as the intro was a really strong and nice way to end the piece.
Overall I think it's a great piece with good mixing and a lot of potential, but the clashing and bashing with the notes takes it down quite a bit for me.
50Steaks responds:
Yeah I'd agree, the intro is one of the peaks of this song, but I wouldn't go as far as to say that the entire second half brings down the intro. I originally had composed the intro with no idea how to continue the song, but eventually settled on a brief dissonant bridge. I wouldn't say that everything CLASHES at the bridge just past the intro, but more so provides a sense of uneasiness like in West Virginia and crucially, the original New Hampshire (that part tried to emulate the original more so, which is probably why you didn't like it as much).
But I just don't see what you mean with the second climax. Sticking to the same chord progression throughout the entire song would defeat what I was trying to achieve. That part is the peak of the song in my eyes, even better than the intro, and takes what was established in the intro and builds on it to a dramatic but brief high point as the song comes to a close. The melody isn't fighting for its life against the harmony; it's meant to blend in to take full advantage of the potential of the copter effect used throughout the entire song. I will agree though, the chords just leading into the climax are a little wonky because I couldn't get them quite right. There might be some clashing there.
Regardless of our differing opinions, I'm glad you still enjoyed the song. I did pour a lot of time into this and may have expected a better reception, but my friend is orchestrating this and may create a newgrounds account soon to post it.
Credits & Info
- Listens
- 267
- Faves:
- 2
- Downloads
- 5
- Votes
- 8
- Score
-
4.39 / 5.00
- Uploaded
- Aug 24, 2023
- 11:45 PM EDT
- Genre
- Video Game
- File Info
- Song
- 2.9 MB
- 2 min 9 sec
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50Steaks 
Licensing Terms
You may only use this piece for commercial purposes if your work is a web-based game or animation, otherwise you must make specific arrangements with the artist.
