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OCR01525 - *YES* Chrono Trigger 'The Final Battle'


djpretzel
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Here's an Angelfire Link that isn't very dependable. :( Right Click and Save As? X_x

Contact Info

Your ReMixer name: PLBenjaminZ

Your real name: Preston Lee Benjamin Bautista Samoranos

Your email address: plbenjaminz@gmail.com

Your website: none... for now...

Your userid (number, not name) on our forums: iono

ReMix Info

Name of game(s) ReMixed: Chrono Trigger

Name of individual song(s) ReMixed: Lavos Theme, World Revolution, Chrono Trigger, Last Battle

Additional information about game if it has not yet been added to the site, including composer, system, etc.

Link to the original soundtrack if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site: Chrono Trigger...

Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc.: Hilo. This remix was made for Chrono Symphonic but my computer crashed around a week before the deadline and I didn't get to recover my data until after the deadline (sounds fun huh?). It sucks because I spent a lot of time on it and it never made it onto the album but oh well. I'm submitting it to OCR wondering how it stands by itself. It's supposed to go on the Chrono Symphonic Special Edition, but I don't know what happened to that... It's been almost two months and I haven't heard from Compy; I think he died or something (just kidding :P). Oh well, hope you guys like it and um if it doesn't get accepted I plan on doing something a lot more coolerer anyway. I really wanna get on OCR someday before I quit remixing video game music haha. Enjoy.... or something. :)

Here's an Angelfire Link that isn't very dependable. :( Right Click and Save As? X_x

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Source: http://www.zophar.net/zsnes/spc/ct.rar - 3-13 World Revolution

I can tell this is going to be a pretty tough decision. There are some really good parts of this mix, and some really bad parts too.

Let's start out with the production. For an orchestral mix, this has the perfect sound in the real climactical parts of the mix, however your transitions between sections can sound rather flat and in some cases really muddled because it's all so involved. The melodies don't really suit the transitions in other words. I think toning down some of the backing instruments in these sections would help (an example is around 2:00-2:15) The backing instruments sound out of tune to the major leading instruments.

The arrangement, apart from the parts mentioned above, is stunning. This is a truly enjoyable mix to listen to in parts. Namely the last minute or so, that just blew me away.

You've done a wonderful job with the source, and despite the issues I have with some sections, I think this is definately over our line, and it's a pity it didn't make the project. As one of my favourite tracks from the game, you've more than done it justice for me. I don't think there's much you can do to fix the parts that I have issues with, so I'm happy to let this pass as it is.

YES

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hmmmmmm.

I'm in agreement with TO, the arrangement sometimes gets really muddy and too involved.

Another major gripe of mine is that the percussion is mixed too quiet for my tastes.

However, you made great use of some not-so-great samples, and provided plenty of interpretation of the source material.

The dynamic shape of the piece is well thought out. By the time it's finished we as listeners are not at the same place we started; the journey has been coherent, intentional, and at times, very beautiful.

The arranging and sound quality could be better, but as far as I'm concerned this is over the bar.

YES

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http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - World Revolution (ct-3-13.spc) [:00-2:47], Chrono Trigger (ct-1-02a.spc) [2:47-3:54], Last Battle (ct-3-14.spc) [2:57-3:54] & Lavos' Theme (ct-2-05.spc) [3:54-5:00]

Had this on VGF84 thanks to Compyfox hooking me up with most of the Chrono Symphonic: Special Edition tracks. Thanks a lot for the source tune breakdown, Preston, I appreciate it.

Instrumentation sounded rather dry and too low in volume to me in the very beginning, but it's a 5:00-long track, so we'll see if the arrangement compensates for the sound quality.

Cutoff at 1:16 was an important point in the track that could have broken it if the return of the music wasn't working, but he at least had some good force on the return of the music at 1:19. Lil' drum pattern starting from 1:31-1:52 sounded rather plain, quiet and didn't drive the track along well, exposing the syntheticness too much. Same during 2:04-2:32.

Brass in the background at 2:04-2:12 really sounded like they were clashing badly and was a particular weak point; less so from 2:23-2:32, but significant. Figure out the sound balance there so your backing elements aren't clashing so much.

Transition at 2:47 was abrupt and really could have used some sort of brief but proper buildup, but it may just be me. "Chrono Trigger" on top of "The Last Battle" was a definite creative high point until 3:54. Fairly conservative, but well personalized.

Weak/jarring transition, IMO at 3:54 to "Lavos' Theme". Arrangement for that theme was decent. Those ultra-weak percussion patterns came back as well. 4:06-4:27 also sounded very cluttered with the brass backing parts running over each other again. I'd honestly say add some power to them, please, even if it's after a YES vote.

For synthetic stuff, I feel these samples were used fairly well on the whole, though rigid. Brass was fakey, but the samples used about as well as could be, with good results aside from when some parts conflicted, which could stand to be fixed. But still, very solid brass work and I'm looking forward to hearing you use more in future works. For brass, it's good when people have the skills and are getting it right.

It's not to sell the arrangement completely short, but I thought the production could use some fine tuning to make everything sound more balanced and expressive in places. Some of the flat percussion and its tone dragged the energy level down noticeably, and the overall performance should sound more fluid. The whole thing feels a little too muddy and shortchanges some good compositional ideas. I can usually go for abrupt transitions in orchestral pieces, but felt like the ones here weren't thought out well and caused medleyitis.

Maybe it's me not being so moved by the arrangement, which was alright but not blowaway as it felt somewhat conservative within the genre adaptation. But I'm tougher on production when I feel it can be improved significantly and the corresponding arrangement isn't blowaway. I'm not trying to hold this back, but the best I can go is NO (resubmit) wanting some refinements. This just doesn't feel on the level of other recently passed mixes. Best of luck with the rest of the vote though. You've come a ways from your previous submission, and it's legitimately great to see the strides you've made.

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The main problem here is the sequencing.

Everything sounds mechanical, and yes, "gamey" due to the bland sequencing. Everything is so rigid and perfect. There's very little to no humanization going on to take advantage of the samples. This is also further compounded by the faster passages where everything is painfully rigid, you can here the "machine gun" effect as well - example at 4:30 area during the build.

The percussion sequencing as a whole is good, except for the snare. The snare pattern is out of place, it sounds like a rock kit trying to play in an orchestral setting but is neither played nor sounds like either orchestral or rock snares. It doesn't come off as sounding like a cool orchestral/with cool rock or electronica snare/beats either. Sounds like fake zimmer stuff.

The other issue I have here, is the majority of the mix sounds centered. I would have panned things far more liberaly away from center, particularly the brass where it all sounds like one cluster of sound from one spot. Also the eqing and reverb sound muddy and a bit cheap respectively.

Production and composition issues aside, this is a thoughtful concept and while it's not executed as well as it could have been, a lot of work was put in and I feel it's over the bar by a safe margin. Good work in all. YES

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