The Arctic Sanctuary

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The Arctic Sanctuary

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Author Comments

Was originally planning on a fun, sensual piece for Song #69, but things are only getting busier right now so that'll have to be shelved at the moment. This piece is another one for class, but essentially it is a conceptual sketch for a cold, arctic level that is home to one of the last strongholds of humanity.

I love getting to mess with some new patches in each track, and this one utilizes some Spitfire LABS stuff - very good, I recommend it for anyone looking for some inspiring sounds (for free, no less). Aside from that, it's mostly Cinematic Studio Strings and Cinematic Studio Winds - my go-to stuff. The other little bits are an assortment of smaller libraries that I rarely use.

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Everratic

2021-07-13 21:15:23

Wow. You captured the cold, desolate atmosphere perfectly. The instrumentation is awesome; I love how you blended in synths for a more otherworldly vibe. The music evokes a vivid picture in my mind of a beautiful serene landscape. The english horn seems to represent the anguish and mourning of the dead.

This is on par with some of my favorite video game songs from likes of Jeremy Soule and Borislav Slavov. You definitely have what it takes to be among the best :) I wish this could be on Spotify so I can add it to my vgm playlist.

Deemo-R responds:

Thanks Everratic! I've only just recently found some of Slavov's work in Divinity II and that comparison is extremely humbling. There's definitely a sort of magic that's hard to match with the best of them, but it's always fun to try and see how close we can get!

I've been wanting to have this on Spotify, but it's a part of a collaborative album that the team is still sorting out. Once it's up I'll probably be able to post the other arrangement I did of a friend's desert theme as well, so fingers crossed!

Godix06

2021-06-08 05:02:35

yup

MrAszter

2021-06-04 11:20:42

Good stuff ^^. I really love the atmosphere.

CloakedSoup

2021-04-08 14:45:46

Fantastic! I love the mix of minute dissonance in the piano chords with the solo oboe and pitched percussion in the background. That kind of orchestration/ensemble reminds me of the original Ori game music. There's also a subtle climax in the middle with the oboe solo; I especially like the feeling of coldness that the string arrangement gives with such a wide gap between the violins and double basses.

Overall, I think this would work as excellent game music! Excited to see what your next assignments or personal stuff sounds like! :D

Deemo-R responds:

Hey man, good to see you still around! I definitely feel like I lifted a light tuft of Ori ideas with this one - I just finished Will of the Wisps last month and went to a virtual event Gareth Coker did with Guy Whitmore on the music and audio implementation for that game, so it was fresh in my mind. I'm glad you like how the track sounds! I do love how subtle string textures can really change the whole vibe of any orchestration - it reminds me that I still have a lot of things to learn on the production side (which I've always been neglecting to practice). The main thing I worry about with this track is how clear the landmarks are; I think it would need maybe a bit of testing depending on how many loops it goes through on average + the ambience of the area. It's really just a concept track so I didn't worry so much about that at the time! Thanks so much for your review and I hope you're still doing great out there!

FateModified

2021-04-07 22:27:17

This is beautiful! I wish my hearing wasn't messed up right now so that I could really enjoy this to it's full extent. Really nice! :)

Deemo-R responds:

Aw man, I hope it's not something serious! Thanks so much, and I hope you have a speedy recovery in un-messing your hearing holes! :)