Emunator

Initial thoughts... cool, spunky adaptation, a little repetitive but at first glance I'd pass the arrangement. Mixing seems very low-mid dominant, it feels like the highs have been scooped out and the lead is a touch buried/quiet. Seems plenty loud without being overbearing/overcompressed, guitar tone is slick. I'd love to have OA take a listen to this particularly and give his thoughts on the EQ, since this genre is more his forte. Regardless, this needs a clean fadeout for sure, it cuts right off at the end. Coming back to this. EDIT: After reading Larry & Kris' votes, I feel a lot more confident in my original assessment that the mixing is not quite there yet. Send 'er back, I love this arrangement! NO (resubmit!)

Contact Information · Your ReMixer name Michael Lochlann Your website www.MichaelLochlann.net · Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile 53272 Submission Information · Name of game(s) arranged UHHHHH FRIGGEN CHRONO TRIGGER · Name of arrangement Crono and Marle’s First Date · Name of individual song(s) arranged Millenial Fair with a couple surprise CT Series melodies thrown in Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site)Composed by my Man Yasunori Mitsuda Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. I was jamming along to stuff on my guitar and this came up and I was like…heyyyyyyyy……this sounds pretty coooooool…. So I made a rock song out of it. The idea is a college/punk rock type song. Crono and Marle have just saved the world and so finally Crono could relax and take Marle around the fair like a regular couple without the threat of aliens or magicians or little pink bald guys trying to kill them every freakin five minutes. I was going to do some solo stuff in the track, but I wasn’t digging anything I came up with until I tried playing some other CT series melodies over it. Can you tell which songs they are? I’m so damn clever. Anyway, enjoy people. Blast it in your car with your windows down and subject the populace to some CHRONO TRIGGER BEATS Source:

I'll try my hand at a source breakdown here... I wasn't quite as generous with the timestamping as Markus but I found the section from 2:49 - 3:02 in addition to what Kris marked. 0:00 - :47 (Birabuto) [47s] 0:47 - 1:30 (Original) 1:30 - 2:11 (Muda) [41s] 2:11 - 2:47 (Original, but using the same bassline and chord progression with a few very liberal hints of Muda.) 2:49 - 3:02 (Muda) [13s] (this comes from :15 in the Muda source, but I'm only hearing it up til 3:02) 3:12 - 3:35 (Birabuto) [23s] 3:35 - 4:24 (Original) 124s/264s = 47% Tough call. I have to give credit where credit is due here, becuase you did a pretty great job of fluidly transitioning in between sources and original material, and there's never too long of a stretch in your arrangement where you stray entirely away from the source. I'm not one to necessarily mince over percentages at the end of the day, I feel that there's substantial interpreration and creativity present here. The bassline connection during some of the original parts makes this an easier call, but at the end of the day I'd likely sign off on this anyway counting just the overt source usage. Not much more needs to be said, Markus is great at what he does, and this is another solid entry in his catalog that carries a distinctly-unique gospel character that separates it from his prior work. YES

Utterly fantastic. This arrangement captures everything that made Super Mario Galaxy one of my all-time favorite games... it finds the perfect marriage of grandiose action and spirited playfulness that gave it such a one-of-a-kind personality. This warms my heart

I recommend that my fellow judges listen to this one first before reading the submission email, going in blind sans-spoilers will give you a better first-time listening experience here! Like everything you two have submitted recently, this is ambitious and entirely unexpected. I'm excited whenever I open up a Taucer/Haroon submission because I know I'm getting something fresh. The first minute of the track sounds very much like the Potion Shop theme from Ocarina of Time... I know Jeremy's a huge Zelda fan so I can't help but feel that might be intentional. The transition afterward into full-blown metal was a great, albeit unexpected direction to take the source in. My favorite aspect of the track is the different melodic variations on a whole slew of very recognizable source tunes, I think people will appreciate the work you did here even if this isn't a very true-to-source remix. Production is mostly solid here - I feel that, like your previous submission 'Ragnarok,' the rock guitar tone could be even more powerful and the kit drums & snare are somewhat weak, but your current production model gives this an interesting garage-rock quality that doesn't sink the track dead in the water by any means. The production on the ethnic sections sound a lot more full, and the live drums are very well-mixed and recorded. This is definitely over the bar for me, I'm interested to see how this sits with everyone else! YES

Remix Title: Coming DarknessRemixers: Chris Bess, ffmusicdj, Geoffrey TaucerGame: Chrono Trigger Tracks arranged: Millennial Fair, Magus's Theme, Schala's Theme Who did what: Taucer: arrangement, guitars Haroon: arrangement, production Chris Bess: tank drum Taucer says: Millennial Fair has always been one of my favorite game tracks; I've played it at MAGfest with two separate bands, and it's always a blast to play these sorts of happy bouncy Irish-influenced songs that Mitsuda does so well. So of course, when it came to remixing it for OCR, I decided to go with the obvious choice of completely throwing out all that happy bouncy Irish stuff and turning it into headbanging metal with middle-eastern influences. I started on this track years ago, and then left it on the backburner for awhile. Last year, I went back home and visited several of my former students, among them Chris. While we were hanging out, he pulled out his tank drum and played around a bit, and I instantly thought of this old WIP and knew I wanted to feature Chris in it. A few months later, Chris came out to visit me in Cali, and he and Haroon recorded a bunch of loops for this track (as well as individual note samples that we'll eventually be assembling into a commercially-available sample library). All of the tank drum parts you hear in this are played live -- we didn't use any of the individual samples, just Chris's awesome grooves. We also used this mix to extensively demo Haroon's Mr. Overdrive plugin, which is quite versatile and which I highly recommend everybody check out. One more note, lest I be accused of being a better guitarist than I actually am, let me say up front: I cheated on the lead run at 2:40, and recorded it at about half-speed. FFmusicdj says: It was fun working with Jeremy. From the engineering aspect, it was an easy project to finish. Drums were the only part that I was worried about but found nice default samples to work with. A lot of the instruments weren't wide enough for my taste. Too many resided in the mono range. I've recently created a new plug-in called Mr. Overdrive. It has a feature that allows me to make tracks wide in stereo width. The ethnic instruments were all mono and were widened by Mr. Overdrive. Mr. Overdrive is also being used to amplify some of the guitar tracks and resonate the drum kick in lower frequency. Currently Mr. Overdrive is only available as a Rack Extension for Reason 6.5 and up. You can download a free demo of Mr. Overdrive from the Propellerhead shop page, and try it out for yourself. VST will be available soon. Chris was a blast to work with, very professional while recording the steel drums. The drums were recorded in stereo. I love Jeremy's sick guitar solo, best yet! That rhythm guitar is being quaded. Wouldn't have it any other way. I can not wait to work on more music with Jeremy. We have a lot more coming. Chris says: This is actually the first time I’ve ever worked on a mix, although I’ve been a fan of OCR for years now. It’s also the first time I’ve ever been recorded, since I usually just take my tank drum out and play around for fun, and for the public in busy places on Friday nights while I hope for a couple of tips and nice conversation from strangers who have never seen something like this drum before. When Jeremy came down to visit, I knew I had to show him, and who knew it would lead to something amazing like this mix! It’s been a great time making music and recording with Jeremy and Haroon, and I’m glad I was able to contribute something new and interesting to the song. I definitely hope to collaborate further in the future. Sources: Millenial Fair Schala's Theme Magus's Theme

Haha, this is exciting! I love seeing what totally new concepts artists continue to come up with, without simply falling back on a gimmick and not backing it up with actual musical talent and vision. The heavily-percussive nature of the arrangement goes great with Chemical Plant Zone. The performances here are fantastic and the arrangement is top-notch and the remix is gone with the wind before you know it. Co-signed! YES

Shariq NAILED this one. I wouldn't have been able to really explain what sounded wrong about this but the drum loop is really not carrying this track properly. Good call. Production-wise, I found most of the synths to be a little bit shrill and dry-sounding, especially those lower-register chords that stick through most of the track. There's some cool melodic adaptations of the source tune here, but the sound design is leaving something to be desired. The piano break sounded great at the end but it was over way too soon! I think you could have extended that section out a few more bars to get better closure on the track. Definitely think this would be a good candidate for the workshop, you've got some nice ideas but there's some pieces that haven't fallen into place yet. NO (resub)

I actually didn't have much of a problem with the production on here... maybe because I've been going on a dream-pop binge lately (or because I produce all of my music this way, too!) but the washed out reverb-y sound seems deliberate and well-executed here. Stuff is audible and coming through where it counts. For my money, I think the production and the guitar tone is ace. There's a lot of promise there. Arrangement wise, I feel like this falls short of the mark. Each time the melody is played through, it wholesale repeats almost exactly the same way regardless of which lead is playing. There's very little in the way of unique phrasing as the track develops. You need to inject some original melodic breaks or soloing to keep this fresh, and some more engaging drum riffs would also help. The synth leads that take over during the 3rd repetition of the melody are a great step in that direction, it changes up the tone and offers a bit of a breather, but the synths are SO quiet! I can barely even hear that sine lead. And after that, it's pretty much right back through the same territory again. I feel like I'm passing through the woods and I'm walking around in circles - despite the fact that I'm seeing some slightly different scenery and embellishments with each pass, I can't shake the feeling that I've already been here before. NO (resub!)

I have to be honest, I actually didn't pick up on how you adapted the source usage til about a minute in, but it put a smile on my face when things finally clicked! Very subtle and clever adaptation throughout, your arrangement feels fluid and constantly evolving... nothing ever repeats wholesale and you consistently introduce new ideas and flavors throughout. This truly feels like a live jam session despite the fact that much of it was sequenced, which is a rare feat to achieve when it's so easy to fall back on loops and copy/pasted writing. There's some production nitpicks and moments of diminished realism but I don't really even feel the need to tread back over them - this is working for me on the whole and I know the masses are going to dig this YES

This track had my support in its original form and this revision only polishes the edges even further. Production sounds rock-solid now and the minor loose ends such as the ending are right where they should be now. The futuristic Deus Ex vibe works so well with the minimalist source tune, and I'm a big fan of the unconventional soloing throughout the track. To the front page with you! YES

Absolutely gorgeous ambiance sets the mood nicely here. I love how deep your bass tones are and how enveloping your atmosphere is without becoming too crowded. I never felt like you were treading water to fill out time, either - despite the lack of a clearly-defined structure, you continued to introduce new instruments, effects, and ideas that kept things rolling along nicely. Aside from the overall soundscape, a big highlight for me was the glitching on your acoustic instruments - that had a very Jon Hopkins-esque feel to it that really grabbed my attention. The strange pitch-bent synth that popped up briefly during the last minute did not seem to fit, but not a big deal. In general I thought the lead choices were well-chosen but there are times where it felt like you just slapped the patch onto the melody without much concern for articulation or velocity, so a lot of the melodies came across sounding stiff and unrealistic. Not a huge deal in the face of everything that you did right here, but the sequencing was underwhelming to me. Small potatoes but that might be an area to address with your future submissions. I love what I'm hearing here, ambient mixes are very susceptible to becoming boring or overlong but you adeptly avoided both of those and brought something totally fresh to the table. Good stuff! YES

Excellent track here. I was apprehensive at first due to how closely it hewed to the original source during the intro section, and how many times I've heard this source adapted to various electronic subgenres in the past. Once the drop at :45 occurred though, I was sold on your concept. This is a very nuanced, liquid arrangement that, in spite of a few minor flaws that have already been pointed out, succeeds at mixing the nostalgic source tune with a myriad of modern EDM tricks. Nothing in here is too off-the-wall or experimental (though the tempo-changing arpeggio transition at 1:58 was really pro - definitely a personal highlight!) but this is well-executed, competently produced, and above all, fun to listen to. I've got no trouble signing off on this! YES

Wow, I suck. I've been getting so caught up with life that I still haven't uploaded the MP3 package for project evaluation. I'm doing that right now and then I'll drop a link in the staff forums. About 15 minutes left on the upload. Sorry!

Wow, the level of detail on this track is stellar! It is true that the background arp repeats for the majority of the track, but really it feels more like a glue than a crutch, forming some kind of solid base to tie the track back to the source while just about every other element evolves and develops around it. The solos are strong and give a lot of character to the mix, but the rest of the backing track is so compelling that it doesn't feel like you're just throwing star power at your remix to compensate for a weak concept. On the contrary, it's the little string stabs, drum fills, and other organic instruments that I find myself appreciating the most on repeat listens. Really, this one's firing on all cylinders. Super strong, ambitious track, maybe the best thing you've submitted so far Jake! Bravo! YES

I'm somewhat familiar with noise/glitch styles like this, so I appreciate a lot of what you're trying to do here. The mix of dry synths and rough, jittery drums reminds me of Crystal Castles. The chopped piano section is definitely my favorite, I though that was a pretty successful component of this experiment. The production here is just rough though, and the frequencies do not feel properly balanced at all, even for the genre you're mixing in. Everything sounds very boomy and muffled, without a lot of clarity when the drums get busier. It sounds like there's too much competing between sounds. I'm a bit at a loss for what to say other than the mixing job just isn't cutting it. Coupled with the source usage concerns mentioned above, I don't think this is working for me. Much respect for pushing the envelope and working with a lot of creative ideas, your glitching game is on-point, but I'm gonna have to pass on this. NO

I actually find myself agreeing STRONGLY with Vig on this track but I don't know if I would have been able to put my finger on it on my own. There's some really strong vibes here, and I think you've stumbled upon a REALLY cool approach to the classic Green Hill melody, but right now your part writing is too busy and the instrument lines are stepping all over each other. The end result is just cacophonous and unfortunately undermines the chill mood that you seemed to be going for It's hard to tell for sure, but I feel that you could also do some balancing work by bringing some of your backing instruments down in volume just slightly so they're not competing quite as much. Perhaps you could retain more of your complex writing with a different approach to mixing where everything isn't quite as loud? Really, I dig this a lot, like nearly all of your submissions, Paul, but this one's overflowing with ideas and needs to get parsed down a bit. (Did anyone else hear "shit shades and hues" at 1:52/3:39? ) NO (resubmit!)

Call me crazy, but I'm surprisingly okay with this track in its current form. I'm going to keep this short because both sides of the argument have been made very thoroughly, but the strength of the sound design and synth choices evoke a very deliberate mood, and the very detailed modulation on your background elements works well. The additive approach to arrangement is well-utilized here, although I totally agree with Vinnie that 4:28 would have been a great place to end the track, either with a fadeout or just letting the delays trail off and ending cleanly (I think the latter would have been more effective, personally.) The drums are a bit of a weak link, but I didn't have an issue with the drum writing itself (the swing timing in the 2nd half didn't really contribute anything to the track but I didn't really notice it on repeat listens.) As Vig said, just a touch more reverb and compression would have done the trick. Not a dealbreaker to me, though, I felt the rest of the track was strong enough to compensate. I find myself agreeing with zykO's vote the most - strong vibes, smooth sound design and a totally natural fusion of multiple sources makes this a winner for me. Whatever flaws there may be don't bother me nearly enough to stop this from passing through. Thanks for introducing me to this soundtrack too! I wasn't familiar at all but just from these source tunes, I love it. YES

Thanks for the reminder, I've actually had all the files converted and tagged sitting on my HD for the last month, but I haven't uploaded them anywhere. I'll jump on that soon, but there are several other projects in the queue ahead, so it might still be a while.

https://app.box.com/s/3j6qj5vqkr07dy7simoptf0j97zw30gq Mak sent me this version, what do you guys think? I can't take a critical listen but at first glance, it sounds better... too quiet, if anything! Will revisit later.

https://soundcloud.com/zack-parrish/bowser This is the track that Purplecowadoom is referring to, and it's excellent! I agree, the source definitely deserved the remix treatment.

This is too much fun! Love the source, and like DarkSim said, you maximized its potential with modern production sounds and a lot of cool effects that wouldn't have been possible back on the SNES hardware. Very faithful, enjoyable rendition that's brimming with personality!

This is actually a source that I am familiar with... I spent a lot of time playing Yu-gi-oh! when I was younger so it's a pleasant surprise to hear this remixed, and in such quality fashion, too! This is definitely one of the more successful electronic/ethnic fusions I've heard on the site.

Excellent use of panning/glitching dude I totally agree, those X-Naut arpeggios are instantly recognizable and lend themselves to a lot of different applications. Very cohesive arrangement, I like it a lot!

This is a surprisingly personalized, detailed, and evolving remix! At first listen, I was concerned about the arrangement sounding too same-y, due to the fact that it's all based on a pretty consistent 4-on-the-floor beat and a pretty simple chord progression. It took a few listens to really appreciate how detailed your arrangement was - there's tons of synth flourishes, beat fills, and the excellent soloing mixed in with the Skull Man source. The additive approach to arranging paid off really well - by the time the track was over, I found myself lost in the groove and really enjoying the little touches you scattered throughout! Deceptively well-crafted, it took me a bit to fully appreciate it but I like this! Production is on-point to match - the only issue I had was the loudness of the sub bass in the first few seconds, but it's such a minor gripe. Everything else about this is well-polished. Great work. YES