*NO* Chrono Trigger 'Homeward Journey'

[djpretzel]

david & judges:

This arrangement has been a long time coming. And I'm glad it's finally finished.

Prepare for the life story of a remix that almost died... (Or just scroll down till you find the link.)

See, I started this back in June 2002. It was originally just a little orchestral/techno remix I made in fruityloops, by the urging of one Douglas "SgtRama" Arley, for a failed "TFAT" (To Far Away Times) flood he attempted at that time. Well.. not completely failed. See, while I had heard the song before, it was after I had arranged it myself, that I fell in love with it. I swore to one day complete the remix.

Fast Forward to late November, early December 2002. I had just gotten my first remix posted on OCR (yay!) and was looking for more material to cover. I asked around in #ocremix, and of course, Douglas brought up "TFAT." Since I had already fallen in love with the song, and sworn to complete my previous remix, I decided to go for it.

At this point however, I had realized the true crapality of my original remix, so I decided to begin again from scratch. Over the next several months, many hours were logged, trying to complete a trancy arrangement of the song that would pay homage to the original and its true master, Yasunori Mitsuda. I later on decided it should become a sort of medley, and incorporated the Epoch theme in as well.

Then in April, I hit a snag. As several of you know by now (due to my constant bitching in #ocremix) my hard drive died. I lost all the source files for everything I had worked on up to that point. But I didn't give up.

After lots of searching and help from a few truly great forum/chat people, I was able to get back the most recent version of the song. I played with it endlessly. If I couldn't finish the track, I'd damn sure try my hardest to master/EQ the track to the best of my abilities. So after many more hours of tweaking reverb, compression, EQ, I have finally come to a pinnacle.

I take pride in the effort put into this mix. It's my dark horse.

Blah blah blah, enough mushy crap. You can find it here:


As always, enjoy :)
-Ty "Suzumebachi" Guenley

P.S.- You know where to find me should something go wrong with the hosting or what have you.

[Digital Coma]

What makes this interesting for me are the subtle pitch bends in the background and the synth gating. Though the piano is awkward as a lead along with the big ol' kick, its chords playing bass over the synths is a nice touch. Development, movement, escalation, and good EQ; everything a trance track needs. My only concern is with the terrible transition into Memories of Green; came across as totally arbitrary.

Not an incredibly different TFAT interpretation, yet an enjoyable arrangement. YES

[Protricity]

At :54 the groove falls apart. I really really hate that lead. This is rather note for note with the original + dance beat.

Yea.. thats what its turning out to be, unfortunately :(

NO

[The wingless]

Dammit. When you write your labor of love in your submission letter... it gets me all Fah-Klempt! [sic]

First Impressions:

I decree this the year of Phat B33TZ.

Nice chord progression. But I'm not loving the melody's synth. Has to much of the midgety high-pitched kitty MEOW sound to it.

But the sound is SO full and rich, it's very nice, feline synths notwithstanding.

The piano sample during the interlude is very nice. Some nice quality there.

Hmm... but now that I think about it, the sound starts of full... leaving very little room for development. Instead what happens is that when it does develop, it gets crowded, detracting from the piece instead of adding to it.

-0:58 is tres nice. I don't know what samples you're using for piano and guitar, but they kick all sorts of ass.

Ending is a little flat, but certainly better than a simple "I'm the melody and I'm going to jump off a cliff now... blarghhhhhhh."

Lasting Impression:

Very rich texturing and fullness of sound. But it starts off too full, and gets a little crowded later on. The main micro-cat synth gets to me, and it really is the original with Year of the PHAT B33TZ behind it.

If it went a little more outside the box with the melody, I'd say yes. But since it's a dancing clone of the original:

No

[Malcos]

I'm liking the sound here, nice chords! Good arrangement, keeps the listener's interest throughout. The only question here is whether this is different enough from the original. I am going to say yes, but only just.

YES

[Vig]

i really like the sound of this mix. it's very rich and full.

unfortunately there are certain aspects that dont measure up to the rest.

the lead synth sucks. it just sucks. its weak as hell. i think a square lead would have been more appropriate.

the piano is a nice idea, but it sticks out as very dry when it is played over the techno beat. i'd suggest trying a more feedback-y piano sound, or adding hella reverb and delay.

the other problem is that this is too close to the original.

and the ending is half-assed. you folks should know by now that i demand an ending with a big full round ass.

er...maybe i'm getting off subject.

NO

but this has potential.

[Disco Dan]

I don't like it when Vigilante posts ahead of me because I almost always end up having to repeat most of what he said or just say "yeah what he said." And in this case, it's not much of an exception. The overall quality is great. The piano really does seem incredibly dry when juxtaposed with the rest of the song. And I'm going to have to agree with the others about that lead synth. I don't really know what would have sounded better, honestly, but the chirpy (I don't know the descriptive terms for synths these days) lead sounds pretty wimpy. And there's a realllllly bad chord at 3:32. It maketh me to lay down and cringe. I don't know about the ending being half-assed, but I know I feel ripped off. :(

Ok, not really.

Ok my only beefs are the lead synth and the dry piano. And the crappy chord at 3:32. And with the guitar playing abilities that I know you have, I'm surprised at the guitar solo at the end. Kind of weak. Other than that, I think this is a pretty solid piece, and I kind of hate to not pass it because it has so many positive points to it, but for me personally, the negatives ruin it for me.

So for now:

NO

See? I didn't even use the full sized no.

D