Hi! I am about to graduate with my Bachelor's of Arts in Music with concentration Music Production. I am interested in writing music for video games and (more increasingly now) sound design. I have only been learning music for four years (aka the duration of my time working towards my bachelor's).
I would absolutely love feedback on some of my compositions. www.soundcloud.com/youmitsumi

Thanks a bunch in advance!

Hi, you!

First of all, I'd like to say; we're all lazy. To copy paste your link is usually a hazzle, but I still did it
Now, the music. I listened to most of your show reel, which for a starter is a little too long. My patience usually gets worn out after about 10 mins or so. Try picking out your absolute favourites, and only include them.
These are the songs I felt the need to comment:
Peaceful Village: It starts out OK, but at 2:00 and onwards I'm getting the feeling that something bad is about to happen or just happened, and to me that doesn't mix with the title. Other than the title clash, I'm happy with it; It sets a mood, though maybe not a peaceful one.
Medieval Village: I like the birds and I like the flute. It gave me the sense of being in medieval England, kinda like Robin Hood; until the drums kicked in - then I got warped into Africa.
Halloween Scare: It's a good track. However, I think a more distinct bass sound would make it even more scary.

All in all, I think the music is good. Thanks for sharing, and I hope I haven't been too crude!

Thanks for listening and the feedback. No, you weren't crude I'll shorten my reel to 10 or below minutes.
For Peaceful Village, I was just -literally- ponding on the keys. I heard the dissonance, but I actually liked it. It was supposed to be for an adventure game, so I kind of wanted to keep the players on the edge of their seats somewhat.
For Halloween Scare, I was still just learning how to use the drum loops mechinism... which, to this day, I still haven't mastered.

Hey there, Youmitsumi! I took a gander at a few tracks on your profile, and I am glad I double-checked your post after listening! You said that you have grown interested in sound design, and my first comment was going to be about the ambiance you have in the first few tracks of your portfolio. I really like the way you combine the use of ambient textures to compliment your pieces. As a video-game composer (honestly, a composer for any type of media), I believe that writing music to compliment the environment it is being based in is an important skill to have!

Based on what I heard, you seem to naturally have a knack for ambient music (taking into contribute to your piece, Rain Forest, particularly). Although that is the first track, it is one that ultimately stands out the most to me. Plus, I kind of get an ethereal, translucent vibe from many of your pieces. Seashore reminds me, A LOT, of this particular track from FF X -

I think, if anything, I would say, for one, integrate more depth into your pieces. By depth, I think I mean bass, or low voices. Kind of work between different registers a bit more. Also, try to integrate a wider range of timbres and instruments into your works. In Dancing Blocks, your piece really opened up at 5.53 when you brought in the strings to break up the electronic tones, and I feel you could have achieved a deeper, fuller sound had you incorporated instruments/synthsizers on the low end to fill out the seemingly empty spaces. Also, try expanding on your musical ideas a little. Pieces like Seashore and Rain Forest do well as ambients, but you can also change tonal centers, add acoustic effects to help shape the background environment, etc. etc. Just thoughts.

Lastly, I'd like to second 10Ahead's note on the length of your demo reel. I've gathered intel from a lot of notable sources on the site and I'd have to agree with them when they state that demo reels need be short and sweet. Instead of including full length versions of your pieces, gather an assortment that showcase your versatility and skill as a composer, and trim/edit them accordingly. Many developers looking for composers spend time sorting through portfolios, and when you present a demo reel, your best bet is to get them engaged and interested as quickly as possible (like t.v. commercials). Me personally, I'd keep my demo reel between 3 - 5 minutes (though some would say shorter, and some longer). It is ultimately your preference, but 10 minutes is a bit lengthy, so obviously 19 is far too much time for one to take to generalize your capability as a writer (as shaddy and shallow as that sounds).

Anyway, I think that you are doing great. I'd love to hear more ambience from ya'!

Since I am still just a beginner (in my book) and hardly know how to play the piano, ambient is the easiest thing I can do- and is also my favorite thing.
I wrote Seashore when I was very stressed out with my music composition professor (which I also dropped >.>;) and I needed to relax. I actually wrote it in Finale and mixed it in Logic and added the seagulls.

I really haven't thought that much about bass when I do ambient, but I will most certanly keep that in mind.

Thanks for your feedback. I will most definitely go back and edit my demo reel to make it shorter and sweeter :D

Since I am still just a beginner (in my book) and hardly know how to play the piano, ambient is the easiest thing I can do- and is also my favorite thing.
I wrote Seashore when I was very stressed out with my music composition professor (which I also dropped >.>;) and I needed to relax. I actually wrote it in Finale and mixed it in Logic and added the seagulls.

Funny. I went into University wanting to double major in Composition and Music Education.

I dropped out of Composition after one semester.

I grew tired of my professor telling me that I should make it sound like this, instead of giving me direction on ways to improve my skills as a composer, instead of trying to shape my style into a pre-made mold.

I'm glad that you are continuing to do music! For some (many of my friends), dropping music was the only thing that saved their love for it. Though I know many composers who practically ignored their professors wishes and wrote their own stuff, haha.

A good thing to is to check out some prominent ambient composers to get an idea of different techniques you could use in your music. For timbres, and stuff.

A couple of good ones are Thomas Newman, and one that I recently got into was Jonsi and Alex. Of course, I wouldn't simply stick to them! There are multitudes of great artists out there!

I actually majored in Music with only one and a half years of basic knowledge. So yeah, I had to work my way around things to graduate on time. And that one thing was exactly what you said about the composition professor. I actually emailed him telling him I didn't like a certain project and showed him Seashore (a first mix at the time). >.> Yep, he tried to push me into a different direction than I wanted to go into. And against what I wanted to do- because I really wanted to learn composition- I dropped it. Since my only strength as a complete newb in a college music world was my ability to write music, I couldn't risk compromising becoming uninspired and frustrated.

I will definitely look up those artists! Thanks a lot!