*NO* Chrono Trigger 'At the End of All Things'

[djpretzel]

-Contact Info-
Your ReMixer name: Abadoss
Your real name: Kenneth Edward Keyn
Your email address: Abadoss@yahoo.com
Your website: http://abadoss.cjb.net
Your userid (number, not name) on our forums: 2642


-ReMix Info-
Name of game(s) ReMixed: Chrono Trigger
Name of individual song(s) ReMixed: End of Time, Millennial Fair

-Additional information-
I started remixing this piece in February 2004, using Finale 2003. During that time, I sought the help of Jeremy Robson, who, after hearing his Philharmonic
Suite: Part I, I hoped would be able to master what I had started, since Finale's only output is MIDI.
However, when I showed him, what I thought to be, my finished piece, he critiqued it and handed it back saying, you can still improve this. So, I went back, fixed what he said was wrong and tried again... and again, and again, etc. Nearly a year later, I got a hold of a copy of Reason and now I have a mastered piece. However, if it weren't for the gracious consultation of Mr. Robson, I wouldn't have a complete piece. He kept challenging me to go back and make it better. Hopefully, it's at a level worth listening to.

I chose "End of Time" pretty much on a whim. I went over to vgmusic.com and picked out several MIDIs that I thought I might like to remix and that was one of them. However, I felt that I needed a little bit more, so I decided to couple it with a theme that I'd been wanting to do for a long time, "Millennial Fair".
About six months in, I started hearing "Zelda's Lullaby" from Zelda 64 in part of the cello line, so I tried to accent that a little and, later on, I gave it to the oboe, which quotes it in the second repeat of the A section.

Speaking of sections, this entire piece fits under the form of a Sonata (|:A:|BA'). I originally considered it a Rondo (A|B|A'|B'|C|A''), since it had three statements of what I had first considered the A section. However, my original A and B sections fit better as the two themes of the Exposition (A) and C works as the Development (B), with the A' being the Recapitulation.

The piece is written in Finale 2003 and mastered in Reason 2.5.


-Kenneth Edward Keyn
(Abadoss@yahoo.com)

[Vig]

The composition isn't bad here..but what's holding this song back is that it's monotonous. the dynamics are incredibly flat throughout the whole song. i randomly skipped around the song and heard just about the same thing everywhere. at this point, the samples are hurting the song as well.

this pretty much just needs to go somewhere. it's too flat.

NO

[Israfel]

Whatever strengths that the composition may have aren't allowed to come through with this realization. Pretty much no attention was paid toward dynamics or articulation, and as a result this mix feels pretty "dead" throughout- particularly noticeable when the percussion enters at around 4:00; I'm assuming you're going for a dance feel there, but that has to be one of the most emotionally constrained dances I've ever heard.

You just need to go back and spend more time on the sequencing.

NO

[Liontamer]

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "The Brink of Time" (ct-2-13.spc) & "Guardia Millenial Fair" (ct-1-06.spc)

Still sounds basically MIDI-grade to me. Nothing sounds realistic given how I assume you'd want for this to sound; instruments carry no sonic depth or realism. No attention to velocities or dynamics whatsoever. Composition doesn't develop or evolve.

Vig called it well saying it was monotonous. Your ideas were promising and tried to arrange the Brink of Time in a slightly different direction, but 2:37 would have been a good point to take this in another new direction. Adding some pizzicato strings for a sec wasn't really enough.

And Izz's observation of the track sounding "emotionally constrained" was very insightful and on-point. This was devoid of nearly any and all feeling. Indeed, your execution doesn't do a thing for your ideas, which have genuine creativity and potential.

My copy just cut out at 4:25 (surely hope that's not the real finish) but that's alright. Better camp out at the ReMixing (http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=7) & WIP (http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=13) forums, bro, and significantly improve the craft.

NO

[GrayLightning]

It's been a while since Abadoss has been in the scene.

I pretty much agree with what has been said. The arrangement's actually pretty neat, but the execution is just very plain jane. No dynamics, movement at all. The composition just comes off as stagnant.

Production and samples overall are average at best. This is Reason? Are you using the orkester soundbank that comes with reason? Because that is capable of quite remarkble results with good sequencing and processing. What's in here sounds like a 4mb GM bank. There's a lot of good free soundfonts out there that could spice this up. On the production level there's not much at all going on here. No processing, width and depth placement in the stereo field. Everything sounds dry. Nothing sophisticated going on in the mixing or mastering department either.

Ending is also really abrupt.

Not bad, as I said I enjoyed the arrangement, but really more work is needed here in various aspects.

NO