*NO* Chrono Trigger 'Precious Ocean'

Hi folks -

Here's the following info:

Track submission link:

Your ReMixer name: belthesar

Your real name: Cody Wilson

Your email address:

Your website: http://codywilson.co

Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile: 5335

Name of game(s) arranged: Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VII (Although it's just a hint, I dont' know if it counts)

Name of arrangement: Precious Ocean

Name of individual song(s) arranged: Ocean Palace, Mako Reactor

Additional information about game including composer, system, etc: Yasunori Mitsuda, Nobuo Uematsu

Link to the original soundtrack: http://ocremix.org/song/68 , http://ocremix.org/song/124

Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc.: My blog post has the most comprehensive story about this track: http://codywilson.co/2014/03/22/post/

Thanks for listening! I look forward to your feedback.

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Kudos on adapting the 6/8 source to 4/4, the new time signature works well.

There are some good arrangement ideas here and some nice details. The piano sequencing sounds quite stiff and unrealistic. The piano could use an eq cleanup as it gets a bit muddy in the lows. The synth at 1:22 doesn't really fit well with the piano. The guiro (or rattley thing) is mixed too loudly. The rest of the percussion works pretty well although it sounds like a loop.

The writing becomes repetitive when the theme repeats at 1:51, there are a couple of small additions but they don't provide enough variation to distinguish the second playthrough from the first. Also there is a piano artifact at the end of the mp3 that sounds like it needs to be eliminated.

NO (resubmit)

This has some cool elements to it and a lot of great writing/variations to the source melody, but the piano sequencing/sample quality provides a weak foundation for the track as a whole. I think you need to revisit how you've sequenced the the piano and reign that in to allow for more dynamics in your performance. The sample quality sounds passable but each note sounds like it's hitting a consistently-high velocity. Just to name one example, 1:40-1:52 leaves your piano exposed and the rapid hammering on the low keys sounds unrealistic. There's many other instances of this throughout the track, so I think you need to revisit the sequencing on your piano throughout the mix.

As for the other elements in the track, the ethnic drums sound great, but end up repetitive and don't ever evolve with the track. The rest of the arrangement is dynamic and builds up as it goes on, but the drums never seem to keep up with it. Try bringing in some bigger, more dramatic drum sounds to increase tension as your arrangement progresses.

The idea to introduce synths to help flesh out your arrangement was great, but in practice, they mainly occupy the same frequency range as your piano so it ends up making the mix sound muddy and indistinct. Some selective EQ cuts, or experimenting with putting your synths into different frequency ranges in order to minimize clutter, might serve you well.

I'm finding a lot of issues on the mixing/sequencing side here, but there's a ton of merit in your actual part writing, so don't give up on this! I think with a couple rounds of revisions you could get this to the level it needs to be. Good luck!

NO (resubmit)

There are some nice ideas in this mix. I like your choice of instruments. Production quality is decent, the mix is loud and all the parts are mostly audible. The only patches that could do with some improvement in my opinion are your synth choices, there are very static sounding - playing with some modulation would work wonders. Some parts could also do with more separation using a bit of EQ, but nothing major is needed.

Two things come to mind that ultimately let this mix down:

-Piano patch is ok but feels like the same velocity the entire way through the piece. This is exacerbated by the fact that the piano is a major part of the mix, almost playing the entire way though. A piano driven lead really needs to be humanised, changing in velocity over time, loosening the quantisation would be really beneficial too.

-The song's elements feel very loopy in nature. You do change things as the song progresses, but the lack of note/velocity/modulation changes make each part of each section of the mix feel very similar. I think the main arrangement is interesting enough, but to make it work each instrument needs more variation.

You've represented the source nicely. To me your mix feels like it's at a point where the major part of the arrangement is done and it is now time to get into each set of bars and give the parts more life.

NO (please resub)