The River Portal

My first jam (but not my first marmelade)

Welcome, and thank you for sharing some of your time. This is my first participation and submission to Itch.io, but definitely not my last. Please have a listen and (hopefully) enjoy my submission to the Friendly Music Jam 2.

Theme #1, Geomusic

I decided to go with the first theme, the picture by YIMING TANG (https://www.pexels.com/photo/tourist-on-the-terrace-of-a-building-by-the-lake-20...), as it immediately inspired me, whereas the second theme felt more limiting than inspiring. The first elements that came to mind when conceptualizing musical ideas from this photo were smooth instrumentals and orchestral pieces, Asian-oriented vibes, ambient textures and flowy reverbs, field recordings, and nature sounds. So I turned on Ableton and got busy working. My idea was a song that would play while discovering and crossing a portal in the middle of the river, taking us to another realm for a short trip, and then leading us back to the shore like nothing had happened and it was all a dream.

A bit more about the process

First of all, I grabbed my H1N and went for a walk by the river to capture loads of ambient sounds: water claps, things falling into the water, smacking the river with my hand and various objects lying around, the wind in the leaves, and so on.

Then I started the composition. My first attempt at a song ended up being extremely instrumental and orchestral-oriented and, as a friend said, "way too epic and dramatic for that picture, bruh," so I realized I had gotten carried away and needed to tone it down a notch.

My solution? I kept the whole instrumental orchestral madness but turned it into textures and pads in Phaseplant. Yup, that's the texture you hear in the background. Then I started layering my field recordings, adding some smoother and softer instruments to lead the melody somewhere, and began building the different parts. My last additions were the drum bits and the bass lines, with various instruments answering each other to create texture and movement.

Anyways, it's nothing big, it's nothing fancy, but it was a fun project to do, and I hope it speaks to your mind the way it speaks to mine while looking at the theme picture. Thanks for your time and attention!