ReMix: Chrono Trigger 'To Far Away Inspirations'
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- Game: Chrono Trigger (Square, 1995, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Squint
- Composer(s): Nobuo Uematsu, Noriko Matsueda, Yasunori Mitsuda
- Song(s): 'Outskirts of Time'
- Posted: 2011-04-19, evaluated by the judges
We're almost halfway to our goal of $5000! The next few donations should get us to the magical 50% midpoint!
I'm happy to be posting another solo piano arrangement from Squint; his Super Mario Galaxy debut back in February really struck me as an original, inventive approach, and the jazz influence & tonality that made that piece unique is even more prevalent in this Chrono Trigger mix. Hai writes:
"So yeah, the ending theme to Chrono Trigger is one of my favorite pieces of all time (I know, I'm not the first one to type that sentence, and will not likely be the last). And as much as I didn't want to arrange a piece that's been done and done, this one came to my fingers often enough times at the piano that I felt like I should put something down on paper. Hey, at least it's not Terra's theme, right?
Anyway, like my last submission, I tried to give this one a bit of a jazzier feel than I've been used to playing pretty much my whole life, so I definitely did some experimenting along the way. I imagine this one being played after closing time - nobody listening but the guy at the piano, playing solely for the sake of his own satisfaction and enjoyment. Often times, I would just sit down with my eyes closed and play whatever came to mind, making a mental note of things that did and did not work (way more of the latter than the former, of course). It's a good bit different from how I worked on Gusty Piano in a Garden, and I think it probably shows. It really is unlike anything I've composed before, so I'm crossing my fingers that it worked out."
It did. I love that mental image, and I really, really dig this arrangement; this is a theme most of us know & love, and it's one I've played around with in my head a couple different ways, but never as jazz, and it TOTALLY works. What I especially like is how certain phrases are jazzier, but then isolated passages, sometimes just a few notes, will be more direct. For someone who's apparently only recently gotten into jazz arrangement - and playing, for that matter - Squint is an absolute natural. Timing, inflection, progression... this is the type of familiar, pure, memorable melody that would be absolutely brutalized if jazzed up the wrong way, with too much kitsch or too little whitespace, but Hai gets it just right, and that makes this something special. DragonAvenger notes:
"I'm quite glad that you came back with another very personalized mix. I love the jazz treatment for this, you added quite a lot of interpretation to this that really adds a nice flavor to the original."
Judges unilaterally pointed out the same production problems that plagued Squint's first ReMix - dry, almost monophonic piano mixed way too low - but Palpable again stepped in and provided this remastered version that's MUCH cleaner and lets the arrangement & performance shine through. Huge thanks to Vinnie, there, because as much as I love both of these mixes and as happy as I am that they're now part of OC ReMix, the original production quality really was prohibitively problematic. I love that the evaluation process was able to be a bit more hands-on than usual and facilitate getting both these mixes on the site; while obviously the panel doesn't have the time or resources to help fix every last mix (that's what the Post Your Game ReMixes and Recruit & Collaborate forums are for), in this instance it made sense & really paid off for everyone who appreciates awesome solo piano arrangements!
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the - Crulex on October 26, 2012
- OA on July 13, 2012
Martin Penwald;789622 wrote: Very nice arrangement. Considering that I love jazzy remixes, this is right up my alley.
However, I am a little concerned about the fact that the judges had to move a remix by the same remixer over the bar yet again by themselves. Yes, we probably would not have heard this wonderful piece otherwise, but I thought the feedback given by the judges is not just about helping the remixers to improve the music/arrangement side of things, but also the production aspects. Taking care of the latter twice for the same person just seems a bit weird.
Just my two cents.
Hey Martin, thanks for the comment! I'm really surprised (and relieved) that people seem to enjoy the feel of the piece - I was a bit worried that people would think it sounded too much like someone just trying to be jazzy. Which could still be the case, because really, that's sorta what I was doing anyway! :-D
I also just wanted to say, I hear what you're saying about the production issues that I had with my first two pieces and how they were resolved. For sure, I agree that production on a remix should be just as important as the arrangement aspect, and so of course, it should be on the artist to fix anything that is unsatisfactory.
That said, though I was definitely willing to try and fix things up myself (and of course made my attempts at it), Vinnie was nice enough to help me out in the end, as it seemed like just a few little tweeks that were needed to make it sound a lot better, and where I didn't have the proper resources to make those tweeks, he did. He didn't have to, by any means, but that he did, I'm very thankful for.
Anyway, just wanted to kinda explain the situation, because I don't want to come off as being ungrateful or lazy. I admire those who are able to produce great sounding remixes, and have since been trying to learn the ins and outs (pretty overwhelming, but I'm getting there). Just a warning, though - there is actually one more piece of mine that's in the judging process right now that Vinnie put his touches on, as I had originally given him three pieces at the same time, which all had similar sound issues. You've heard the first two, and regardless of whether or not the third gets passed, I'm glad I was able to get the help for it and again, definitely do not take it for granted, and do not expect any similar treatment in the future.
- Squint on June 21, 2011
However, I am a little concerned about the fact that the judges had to move a remix by the same remixer over the bar yet again by themselves. Yes, we probably would not have heard this wonderful piece otherwise, but I thought the feedback given by the judges is not just about helping the remixers to improve the music/arrangement side of things, but also the production aspects. Taking care of the latter twice for the same person just seems a bit weird.
Just my two cents.
- Martin Penwald on June 21, 2011
Thank you. Plain and simple. Thank you for making this mix; it was very worth the attempt as it is very successful in what it was trying to achieve.
- Less Ashamed Of Self on May 12, 2011
(It's also great for drawing comics to!)
- The Radical Sifu on April 25, 2011
- SwordBreaker on April 20, 2011
I must of just ran it 4 or 5 times over.
Thanks for this
- linkspast on April 20, 2011
- docnano on April 19, 2011
- Schneau on April 19, 2011
