ReMix: Chrono Trigger 'The Dark Before the Dawn'
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- Game: Chrono Trigger (Square, 1995, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Will Buck
- Composer(s): Nobuo Uematsu, Noriko Matsueda, Yasunori Mitsuda
- Song(s): 'Depths of the Night'
- Posted: 2005-02-17, evaluated by the judges
Will Buck was last seen on the likes of OCR giving us an excellent arrangement of difficult-to-handle source material with his FF7 'Sweeter than Honey' ReMIx, and many months later he's back with a sugary sweet arrangement from CT - popular games, sure, but some of the less-covered material from said titles, so it's all good. Mr. Buck also recently appeared on Xenogears Light, the latest album from OneUp Studios, which features some familiar names and is worth checking out. The judges hit this nail on the head: it's an excellent, moving arrangement, perhaps a bit melodramatic, but employing a good variety of instruments and using each intelligently. There's harp, ensemble strings, solo strings, piano (very hard right), flute, french horn, upper brass sections, glock, and oboe, to name a few of the players. However, the panel was pretty much in agreement that portions were a tad too quiet, and some of the samples, while consistently utilized well, didn't handle being exposed too gracefully. Specifically, one of the string patches used (the one that ends the piece) has a very short release, and sounds a little out of place/synthetic in context. However, we're not talking General MIDI by a longshot, and this is one of those arrangements that even if it were GM, qualities would still shine through. In some instances, I felt like it was the samples themselves, but as Gray pointed out, part of the issue is the "soundstage" as he puts it, which I'd agree with and roughly translate to positioning as achieved via panning for left/right and verb/ambience for toward/away; there's some very discrete stuff going on in the intro for example, when things begin pretty hard left, and without more DSP to spread that out across the stereo field, things may sound a little too isolated. So, dynamics, instrumentation, arrangement, and orchestration are all groovy, with mixing and production adequate enough not to get in the way. There's room for future improvement, but as it stands this is a well-developed mix that gives the original a sentimental, almost soap opera style makeover, that's fun to listen to, elaborate, and solidly constructed.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the But you know, in other patches of the tune things sound quite pleasant and ear-catching. The arrangement does the mix some tremendous and much-needed heavy lifting, and keeps up a standard sound of competence.
I feel like I do need to point out the really apparent lack of balance in this. The quality in later spots far exceeds the anemic, boring, bone-dry beginning. I enjoyed the work done in the later parts a lot, and so I found this a schizophrenic experience.
Overall, I'm convinced of the mixer's competence, but I think even in this track's richest sections, this is a little flatter than what we've become accustomed to at this stage of the site's life. A lot of promise and some nice ideas locked in a lackluster shell.
- Marmiduke on August 4, 2009
Check it out and see which camp you fall into.
- OA on March 19, 2009
- foxyshadis on March 1, 2007
- gregfrost on October 23, 2006
But it is good, it has length so that you get some time to really enjoy it, but this isn´t a never ending loop here folks, Buck always brings out something new into the light so that it never gets boring or bad done. Very nice strings and... an organ, if I presume right. There was a real beautiful flute at the end, that itself released the final part that had a little more power to make a good ending.
Buckdude, great job. :D
- Bummerdude on September 27, 2005
It achieved what Will was trying to portray. While not one of my favorites, it's calm, cool, and slick.
It's one of those songs that start off "okay" for the first few listens, then gradually becomes better and better over time with each listen.
I think it's interesting that he worked on the Xenogears Light project. I just ordered my copy a few days ago. Can't wait for that.
- Terium on February 27, 2005
- SamuraiFoochs #Reload on February 21, 2005
Many of the samples actually sound similar something that would be on the SNES. Overall, I *love* this arrangement and I wish there were more "remixes" like it here.
- Gamelore on February 21, 2005
- Strife. on February 21, 2005
- Hyperion5182 on February 19, 2005
- Samurai Jin on February 19, 2005
However! I'm really feeling uninspired by the samples. Obviously, samples aren't the onlything that a peice has to offer, but they really do help, a lot. The biggest problem, unfortunately, is the strings... the lead instrument in most places. The horns aren't very good either. In general, the lead instrument should be the thing most focused on in terms of sound quality. The flute-like instrument around the five minute mark is pretty good, for instance. It doesn't sound real, but it adds a lot to the music as a whole.
The "quiet bits" are really the worst when it comes to sound quality, because you have to strain to hear it and as such, the imperfections are all the more noticed. Like when your professor lowers his voice to deliver an important point in class, you pay attention more. Additionally, the quiet bits had less movement, and more sustained notes... and sustained notes on a poor quality instrument just keeps getting worse. I didn't like that at all.
Where you have more movement and more arrangement, the mix is tolerable, even good. But the whole thing could have shined like polished silver if you had used better samples!
Decent work. Hope you find better samples in the future.
- Fieari on February 18, 2005
MaGi_TekK wrote: Gray you thought the arrangement was great? I don't see how you can come to that conclusion. I didn't really find it particularly innovative, nor did I like the way that there was no real flow or progression within the music. Seriously, listen to it again!
You don't seem to have any appreciation for the musical style.
It's not supposed to progess at all, and if by "flow" you mean "composition", then yes, this song has plenty of flow.
I like the song, personally. The quiet atmosphere and low-quality samples make it sound a lot like a track from an old RPG, perhaps during dialogue or a cutscene.
- Corporal Eschebone on February 17, 2005
GrayLightning wrote:MaGi_TekK wrote: The judges must have been a little tipsy after letting this one slide through. Wait, am I on vgmix.com or is this still oc remix??
While the production and samples is a little weak, the great arrangement more than makes up for it. Production (not just samples, but processing, mixing, mastering, etc.) is just one important criteria we look at. The arrangement here is definitely great, and the weakness in production didn't diminish the quality of the mix. In my view, it was well above the standard bar overall.
Gray you thought the arrangement was great? I don't see how you can come to that conclusion. I didn't really find it particularly innovative, nor did I like the way that there was no real flow or progression within the music. Seriously, listen to it again!
- MaGi_TekK on February 17, 2005
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