Speak about SFX and Amb, let’s break down the scene a little bit.

Salmon Run: river setting / outdoors / environment-driven / Erik wants an overall sense of calm.

So the core question becomes:

Is the BGM leading? Or is the “air” leading?

In this kind of scene, the three layers are not equal, they’re hierarchical.

Bottom layer: Ambience (persistent presence)

Wind, birds, flowing water, spatial reverb tails.

This is part of the “world” itself. It should never be interrupted, and ideally it should almost go unnoticed by the player.

Middle layer: SFX (event-triggered)

Occasional footsteps, distant low growls, the sound of trees.

These sounds mainly serve interaction. They should be clear, because they carry information.

Top layer: BGM (emotional framing)

Piano, simple melodic fragments, airy pads (currently leaning toward something with a string-like texture).

Since Erik wants to maintain a calm atmosphere throughout, the BGM here does not convey information either, it functions more like an emotional filter.

So the BGM should feel like a thin layer of mist, rather than something overtly musical. It should suggest that “there’s a hint of emotion in the air.”

However, a pad alone could probably achieve that as well, so it ultimately depends on workload.

And honestly, since I’m writing this entirely out of after-hours inspiration rather than actual work time… it’s not that critical anyway.

Theoretically, I should reduce the note density of the piano, since the BGM isn’t meant to be the protagonist.

However, I’ll probably maintain continuous eighth notes to echo the feeling of constantly flowing river water. At the same time, I’ll lower the velocity of most notes (except for some higher ones), softening them so they blur together, merging into texture rather than standing out as melody.