ReMix: Chrono Trigger 'The Dark Before the Dawn'

Download MP3
5,751,889 bytes, 6:51, 112kbps

• Trade-in your Games or Anime DVDs!
• OC ReMix Shirts & Merch
• Games:
  • DS | GBA | GC | PS2 | WII | XBOX | 360
  • Imports & Pre-owned
• Anime:
  • DVDs & Merchandise

Will Buck was last seen on the likes of OCR giving us an excellent arrangement of difficult-to-handle source material with his FF7 'Sweeter than Honey' ReMIx, and many months later he's back with a sugary sweet arrangement from CT - popular games, sure, but some of the less-covered material from said titles, so it's all good. Mr. Buck also recently appeared on Xenogears Light, the latest album from OneUp Studios, which features some familiar names and is worth checking out. The judges hit this nail on the head: it's an excellent, moving arrangement, perhaps a bit melodramatic, but employing a good variety of instruments and using each intelligently. There's harp, ensemble strings, solo strings, piano (very hard right), flute, french horn, upper brass sections, glock, and oboe, to name a few of the players. However, the panel was pretty much in agreement that portions were a tad too quiet, and some of the samples, while consistently utilized well, didn't handle being exposed too gracefully. Specifically, one of the string patches used (the one that ends the piece) has a very short release, and sounds a little out of place/synthetic in context. However, we're not talking General MIDI by a longshot, and this is one of those arrangements that even if it were GM, qualities would still shine through. In some instances, I felt like it was the samples themselves, but as Gray pointed out, part of the issue is the "soundstage" as he puts it, which I'd agree with and roughly translate to positioning as achieved via panning for left/right and verb/ambience for toward/away; there's some very discrete stuff going on in the intro for example, when things begin pretty hard left, and without more DSP to spread that out across the stereo field, things may sound a little too isolated. So, dynamics, instrumentation, arrangement, and orchestration are all groovy, with mixing and production adequate enough not to get in the way. There's room for future improvement, but as it stands this is a well-developed mix that gives the original a sentimental, almost soap opera style makeover, that's fun to listen to, elaborate, and solidly constructed.

― djpretzel