[Liontamer]

* Nekofrog
* Justin Jones
* nekofrog@gmail.com (changed since last submission)
* www.metalfrog.org
* 5151

UPDATED 8/18/08

Remix Link: http://metalfrog.org/music/chronotri...battle-138.mp3

* Name of game(s) arranged: Chrono Trigger
* Name of individual song(s) arranged: 90% Battle Theme, 5% Schala, 5% Reptites (A Shot of Crisis)
* Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site)
* Your own comments:

It may be hard to believe, but I have never been a fan of Chrono Trigger the game. I remember playing it the day it came out (a friend of mine had been following it throughout the old days of magazines, and tried to get me interested), and a few times after that, but not really enjoying it much. Fast forward to well over a decade later and lo and behold, I still don't really like the game. The soundtrack, is a far different story. One of the most amazing soundtracks ever put down for a videogame -- probably the best of its era -- and it has always been near the top in my favorites list.

A year ago I did a very brief cover of the Battle theme for the May 2007 gamesarefun.com podcast, and left it at that. Ever since then I've had the urge to revisit it, and finally I did. Heavy guitars and a lead tone that I'm actually finally happy with; this is easily one of my favorites. It was recorded with my custom Ibanez RG7621 7 string guitar -- so yes if you try to learn to play it you will discover that you either need to tune down to B standard or buy a 7 string :)

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http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "Battle 1" (ct-112.spc), "Schala's Theme" (ct-306.spc) & "A Shot of Crisis" (ct-123.spc)

Fairly straightforward call for me, although I wasn't feeling the production. It was on the muddy side, with parts bleeding into each other too much; could use better EQing and separation of the parts. The background also sounded empty; this could have used something to pad things out more. The way it ended at 4:02 was really cold as well. I would have faded off the last guitar note at least.

Otherwise, a fairly solid arrangement with some excellent style in the performance that showed off a lot of personalization. Some more polish would really make this a killer, but it's still bueno for the YES. He's only gonna get better.

[Another Soundscape]

Nekofrog? So many times have I heard that name but never been able to place it somewhere, now I can! And way to make a first impression :O

Arrangement is sweet with some nice original riffin' to boot. Not the most exciting arrangement but it works very well. Nice playing all around too, very tight. Although the ending leaves a lot to be desired. At least let the guitar ring out and fade or something.

Production is more of a problem area though. The mix has a fairly low volume, especially for such an high-energy piece. Some mastering (limiter and final EQ, you know?) could probably fix this with great success. If you have access to a stereo-widener it might help this too since it sounds very mono at the moment. Drop by #ocrwip and ask some of the veterans (zircon especially knows his processing) if you need some pointers on how to improve your mixes in the future. It's also rather muddy, some separation of the instruments could've worked wonders together with some EQ.

I think there are too many small fixes in the production holding this mix back from being the epic masterpiece it could've been. If you could just pump up the volume, fix the ending and maaaybe some general EQing I'd YES this in a heartbeat. Soo..I think those are small enough for a conditional yes, yes? yes.

(vote change, see below)


EDIT 19/8: So, the new version improves the production. Everything's louder and bigger. It could probably be even louder but that's a highly personal opinion. I still don't like the snare, it's a bit worse this time around actually, but most of the other stuff is above the bar and I think it outweighs this. For your next submission Justin, and I trust you'll submit a lot, work with the drums and think about investing in a $$$-drum library. That would REALLY take your stuff to the next level. Because damn man, your playing is hot. Level up.

YES

[Palpable]

Awesome arrangement, Justin. Much as I love CT's soundtrack, I was always thought the battle theme was kind of dorky. This was a really crunchy, high-energy take on the theme that really did it justice. The cameos were worked in well and they provided good contrast to the main theme. The ending was abrupt (actually, the beginning too) but that's very minor. If you do end up going back to work on this, even a concluding cymbal crash would probably be enough.

Soundscape was a little cluttered but for the most part, things were easy to hear. I sort of agree with Mattias' comment that it sounds mono, but decided it was good enough as is. Volume should come up before this passes though. Good work, dude! Me likey.

YES (conditional on volume)

[zyko]

way to kick my ass at hello.

i, too, am one of the stalwart few who didn't particularly like the game but are in awe of the soundtrack. the battle theme is also one of my least favorite of the game but youv'e done it quite a bit of justice which is one of my favorite goals of videogame remixing.

secondly, the performance is nuts. very nice chops on the guitar, by the way. the drums bug me a lot, to be honest but it's mostly that snare, i think. the kick is a BIT too distant and it just doesn't sound like the same kit is playing the drums... imagine two different drumkits on stage... only, one is playing the snare and the other is playing the kick. change up the drums a bit and fix their production and they're set.

the track is a little low on volume but not by much so that isn't the main issue. i have a problem moreso with the clutterness of the soundfield... i guess you can say it's muddy but it's more like stuffy. just clear it up a bit and you should be ok.

fight for the future indeed... very fitting for where we are today in the world. the track struck me as a momentous NOW statement and i think this makes it necessary to pass... but that will come to you with a cost, friend: you have to bring us better drums and production

then
YEScond.

[zircon]

I'm really impressed with Nekofrog's stuff - considering he's relatively new to remixing, I think he has a solid handle on what makes a good remix. Before I go into some of my critiques, I think that overall the interpretation here is very good. CT battle remixes are uncommon so it's nice to hear that done, and done well. Nice mix of source material, variation and original stuff. Getting into some critiques, the abrupt ending is my only arrangement complaint. At the very least, some kind of cymbal swell or a few more snare hits + chugs would give it closure!

I'm not the biggest fan of the rhythm guitar tone here.. it gets the job done, but it's just a little too noisy (treble freqs) for my taste... I think slightly reduced input gain would help, or maybe a different kinda amp.

I do agree that the overall mix volume could definitely be higher. If you want METUL you want to slam your mix hard. TLs Maximizer will do the trick nicely, along with TLs Pocket Limiter, plus some judicious EQ to squeeze out new frequencies. I thought the lead guitars sounded too small, too - some reverb/delay might help them come out more along with a volume boost. Otherwise, I thought the production was good. Nothing amazing about the samples, and the sequencing on the drums was kinda vanilla, but they get the job done and lay the stage for the excellent guitarwork and arrangement.

Passing this conditional on a volume bump and any other minor mixing changes as per our recommendations, but mainly the volume.

YES (conditional)

[DarkeSword]

Nekofrog sent me an updated version of this track:
http://www.metalfrog.org/music/chronotrigger/ctdone.mp3

Plz jooj it.

[Palpable]

Am I crazy or is the volume the same in the new version?

[Another Soundscape]

Originally Posted by Palpable

Am I crazy or is the volume the same in the new version?

It's a very minor difference but the general production boost makes it seem louder anyway. It's good enough for me but we could probably get him to pump it some more.

[zircon]

New edit is good to go.

[Liontamer]

Yeah, there's a slight volume increase from last time, along with some added material that bumped the length up another 33 seconds. I thought the last version was good enough as is, and the volume on the new one seemed plenty loud to me. I'm echoing zirc's POV that it's good to go.