Project Description

I began the project by focusing in on the ambient side of things. To create ambient textures, I made some short looping progressions on low poly synths, reversed them, elongated them, and added multiple layers of reverb until it sounded 'smooth again'. I created three key layers that would be moved between at different levels, as well as adding some supplementary virtual instrument layers to create evolving textures. I then set about adding the folky guitar, by recording multiple takes of ten minute improvised material. The result was close to what I was looking for, but required a lot of detailed edits to make the evolution of the lead guitar interesting and coherent while still being undeniably ambient in nature.

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The process of creating the boss themes was quite different. In each case I began by creating some simple repeating bass lines that would be built upon using vertical composition techniques. This continued with layering guitar and banjo playing, and percussive effects. Alot of consideration was given to balancing the desired raw and acoustic sound of the instrument recordings versus the want for refined and professional sounding audio. A further conflict was created between my desire to create strong themes with simple motifs without each track becoming too repetitive. Later in production I revised some tracks to add additional sections to achieve an appropriate balance. Aswell as establishing a folk horror sound pallette, I also aought to include sounds in the compositions that reflected something about the characters. I recorded dinging a knife against a jar to create a pickaxe sound for The Prospector, I rubbed knives together for The Trapper, I included a ship's bell in The Angler.

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For the climactic confrontation with Leshy, I did somewhat divert from my original plans. Having revisited the boss themes and added low poly synth layers to reflect the low poly visuals of the game, I had expanded my soundworld. I decided that since Leshy is the game master of the Leshy's Cabin section of the game, that his theme should more predominantly represent the low poly aesthetic, taking it as a lead instead of folk instrumentation which would become supportive. I also created harmonic material for it that was less dark and gloomy than the previous encounters, to heighten the drama by infusing hope in this final confrontation. The resulting suite of songs are successful at being evocative, interesting, and having strong congruence with the visual  material.

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