Program used: Ultrabox (Beepbox Mod)
I asked my team if it was okay for me to do the music as I had an idea I thought could work well with the game concept.
All music is heavily compressed to fit the MB limit (later iterations have HQ vers).
Song Process
First Iteration
- Very Barebones
- I wanted to lay the foundation for how the song would go so there aren’t any special effects added to it
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Second Iteration
- This is when I started adding effects to make the song sound more bouncy, reverb and more background percussion were added so the song had a layering effect
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Third Iteration
- Removed the jingle sound because it didn’t match and was distracting
- I made the bass slightly louder and added the second and third phases of the song.
- At this point, I felt that the song was coming together.
- This is also when I started asking people for feedback on the song
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Fourth Iteration
- At this point, I made slight changes to the song adjusted the bass to be louder and received some feedback again
My response:
(“Yukiko” reference explained in Music Inspirations)
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Fifth Iteration
- This version feels much more bouncy and alive, and I extended the section of the key change and changed the pad preset of the “chill” section.
- I got some advice from Parker on changing some parts at the beginning to become more “bouncy” and slightly extending the phrases of the chords to sound more intentional and put together. His advice helped me, as I think it sounds better. He also liked the song, which is a relief as it is his game idea.
- I also asked my classmate, Yiran, to listen to this version and give me any feedback on what she liked about it and any concrit. She said that the song sounds like “floating” and airy/bouncy, which I’m happy to hear as that’s exactly what I’m going for. For the crit, she said to add more low constant sounds, like bass/drums.
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Six Iteration (HQ ver.)
- I downloaded samples from https://freewavesamples.com/ to add to the song. I added cowbells and Sleigh bells (I know – a bit unusual!) to make it more fun and playful.
- The feedback I received below is from this current and a previous iteration that I didn’t include here.
- I’m happy that the music gives a laidback vibe as that’s what we were going for our level’s vertical slice.
Previous Feedback + my response:
Feedback for the current iteration:
Final Iteration (HQ ver.)
This is the final iteration of the music. I got some advice from Parker below to add a few more things in the intro, so I decided to bring the cowbells from later in the song into the beginning. I had a lot of fun creating this song, and I’m happy it fits Parker’s vision! In a newer version of the build, it will be implemented by Sam.
