[Liontamer]

(ignore name of file, should be "Lost in Time")
Remixer Name: urdailywater
Real Name: Aaron Corbitt
E-mail: urdailywater@hotmail.com
User ID: 33000

Game arranged: Chrono Trigger
Name of Arrangement: "Lost in Time"
Name of song(s) arranged: Corridor of Time (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNzYIEY-CcM)

Hey guys, I'm submitting again. This time a song that doesn't get enough attention on OCR in my honest opinion. (/sarcasm)

This song was something different for me, and a challenge. Going into it, I had the plan to change up the soundscape drastically throughout the song, which is something I've never done before. It got me into a roadblock down the road in the writing process, but hopefully I've got an arrangement that works now.

Inspiriation stuff.. well the first part, I'm not entirely sure where inspiration for that came from. I was just kind of messing around with the harp sample and started adding stuff. 1:23 and onward until the piano section was heavily inspired by the first part of the OP from the anime "Clannad".

Then the piano section coming in was inspired by McVaffe's piano breakdown in "Celestial Winds From the East". This was also the first time I ever humanized a piano with both bass and lead parts, and was extremely fun to do.
Production wise I think it's some of my best work. The soundscape stays filled out, even while changing up.

Arrangement wise - if you don't count the harp thing (because it plays throughout the entire song) I counted up to about 1:21 of completely original material, and the rest I pretty much arranged from head (I didn't listen to the original much while doing this). So I think accurate stopwatching of original material goes along the lines of:

1:23 -1:56: no real connection to the source except the harp.
2:47 -3:44 (end): Just me doing stuff with the whistle/sax/piano.

The rest is the source + arrangement stuff. Also the chord progression during those times is pretty much the same, except a little bit more simplified.
So yeah, I hope that arrangement isn't really an issue with this one. I personally like it, but I'm not a judge :p

Yup. I think I covered everything. A lot more than I expected to say, but whatever. Enjoy!

[Liontamer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNzYIEY-CcM - "Corridors of Time"

The snare drum pattern at :50 was plodding and too loud, IMO. The couple of times you did some quick repeated snare shots (:49, 1:22, 2:45), it essentially sounded like you weren't varying the velocities well, kind of a slow machine gun effect. The background during the verses with the drumming was on the sparse side.

The DarkeSax at :49 was decent, but still sounded pretty fake with the mechanical attacks/timing; it doesn't sound horrible, it's just noticeable it's fake, and the sample (while serviceable) is still dry and exposed. Mainly, the notes need to not sound as stiffly sequenced. You might be thinking "wait, 'Time Chill...!'" but that came out 8 years ago; that would be scrutinized more today.

Interesting original Schala-esque rhythm introduced at 1:21. The piano brought in at 1:56 & 3:03 sounded decent, it's just not quite rich enough of a sound. The chords in particular (2:13) sounded mechanical, thin, and lacked body, while the sequencing of 3:03's section sounded noticeably more rigid.

I like the overall arrangement concept, and this is going in the right direction. I think the drums need some further creativity with the core drum pattern and balance, the background during the main verses needs to be better filled out, and the sax and piano need some tweaks to sound stronger. The devil's in the details.

NO (resubmit)

[Nutritious]

You know, I find myself nodding at all of Larry's crits here - it's a really good summary that you should pay close attention to. The only thing I can think to add is to watch your levels/compression as things sound like they start distorting a bit on some of the hits, like at 2:46. On that note, see if you can get a different crash cymbal sound or give it a little more reverb because it sticks out as dry and mono sounding.

You've established a cool vibe here and have some good creative takes on both Corridors and Schala, so you're on the right track. Just needs more production love.

No, resubmit please

[halc]

agreed, Larry dropped a solid vote here. I'm really digging the overall soundcape, so the sax and drums were the main offenders. I'd actually look towards some of the saxophonist's in the community as they're somewhat readily available (Prophetik, Xenon Odyssey, ProtoDome) as a replacement for that soundfont. anyway, this has plenty of potential, it's just not quite fully realized yet.

NO(resub)