Ouberion

What genre are you looking for? You state that you don't want what is already there, but it would help to find out what you are looking for. Do you have any particular instrumentation in mind?

I'd love to come to something like this and y'know, put a face to some of these names. And hopefully do the same for people who might see my name pop up in the future (or who already have). And although I lived near Baltimore for most of my life (down in Odenton), since joining the military I am now halfway across the country. Sucks. Really does. I knew I shoulda changed plans and tried out again for Peabody, lol.

Well, for a first timer, I don't think I did half bad. This is all about refining our talents, and we all figure we have talent, which we all do. Thanks for all the great reviews, it's going to help me work on refining the piece itself. I personally didn't try this to aim for first, I was aiming for the reviews. That's what it's all for, really.

Ouberion's Judgment 1. Initial Thoughts The main reason I started arranging and orchestrating music, not to mention composing my own, was to follow exactly the same thought process that OverClocked follows: That of ensuring Video Game music is seen as something more than just another paycheck for someone. I remember having to do everything by piano, sitting back and playing Wave or MP3 files of music off the internet repeatedly to get all the notes I needed. Now, with the advent of places like the vgmusic.com archives, people in our position have a much wider array of resources. But beyond that, the greatest thing people could have ever created in regards to Video Game music are the sheet music books. And thus, we come back to the reason I said everything above: Chrono Cross' sheet music book. It was the first of the many that adorn my shelves in my music workroom. And Time's Scar was the first piece I ever learned to play on the piano from ear, so seeing it on paper made it seem just that more emotional. I knew there would be a way to show my support for such great music. And here, this piano version of Time's Scar is so emotional, you don't need the visuals to go along with it. 2. Treatise I told myself when I started listening to this piece that by seeing the words "A piano piece played by a live individual" that I would hold back from giving the "the pianist messed up here" or "that was the wrong note and chord" comments. I know how hard it is to perform something anyone has written, even if it is in the studio. Hard not being a description of technical difficulty, but rather a description of the attempt to recapture the original level of emotional attachment from when the composer/arranger was first writing the piece. Even a composer/arranger will play the same piece differently each time, even if only slightly. I have no clue as to how this piece came about (sometimes I'll just have the melody, and play around underneath it with chordal progressions and other fun things to try) and how much of this may have been improvised on-site. But here goes. The intro is executed very nicely. Not much is going on, obviously, but I do like the fact that the piano playing is what I like to describe as being "A la Pianist-isimmo". I see this piece as the normal "softly - powerful - softly" arrangement, but it works so well here that most people don't notice what's going on musically. The central section, with the clashing notes, around the 2:00 mark, hits the mark exactly. I would have like to hear more of the lower notes, somewhere in the octave leading up to middle C. Keeping the bass where it's at, or even slightly more powerful (note, powerful...not louder) would help out. But when you couple the bass line with the clashing notes up high, I don't think those notes work just staying up high. A little centralization in that octave would tie the high with the low. Separating your hands by two to three octaves without saying "hey, there's still something here in between" is not something I normally do, so although it works here, it's just that I'm not used to it. As to the syncopation in the second half of the piece, that's something I do quite often, even if it is in broken chords. It works great here, not so much because of how it is executed, but moreso how it connects two drastically different sections of the piece: the powerful clashing note section and melody to the ending of the piece. And what most people don't realize is that you can have soft syncopation. And that is exactly what is heard here. 3. Judgment Staying away from the performance like I said I would, I give this piece a 9.5. I don't want to give it a ten, because there are some notes in there which could have been altered to make the piece better, although I would need to review the score itself to give specific definition to my statement. This would be a great "bonus" track to the Thieves of Fate soundtrack, even though it's from Chrono Cross and not Radical Dreamers. But I'll say this: If I were to ever compile a Chrono Cross album for OCRemix, this track would definitely make the list.

I'm sorry to hear that you don't like your remix. The one thing I was going to be insistent on is that I would prefer not to mess with the orchestration / arrangement of the piece. Arrangement is the thing I was trying to lock in, but the instrumentation may end up varying. But anyways... My original plan was to take all the files I can get a hold of and the current version of the script and tie the two together. For now, I may end up creating a piano reduction of all the files and then reorchestrating it against the script. That, of course, means that I'll be doing a "rough" script recording. Just to get a bit of timing down, that's all. Get an "anime" version together and I'll tie the music to it with Finale 2007. I'll at least come up with something...besides "Chrono Trigger: The Musical"...LOL! ~~Nyuck Nycuk~

Ouberion's Judgment 1. Initial Thoughts There's something to say for those who try the challenge of combining elements of different songs. Chrono Trigger has always been a personal favorite for me, and the sheer difficulty of intertwining these four songs should be enough to squash any "really muddy" or "too involved" thoughts. Some things just have to be worked on, and much can be done in the week before a deadline. As of right now, it looks like this is just a footnote on the Special Edition that will one day be. What a great footnote, though! The trouble with arranging and remixing is that people tend to take favorite songs and shove them together. I doubt this is the case, but as it was a work in progress, there was still much work to do. Chrono Trigger hinges on the music to provide emotional stability and definition in a artificially rendered environment where we are forced to understand that "~~~~Chrono!!!!" means more than just Marle screaming. 2. Treatise ** It should be noted that even though this is an arrangement of four pieces, I only review it as a single piece. After all, that's what it is meant to be: a single piece. ** Not too far from the opening being reminiscent of Kefka from Final Fantasy VI, The Final Battle opens exactly where it needs to: Our party has arrived at the one moment where Lavos can be destroyed. The lower brass entrance, joining in with the strings on the parallel chord movement, is the first of many "muddy" locations. The main reason people have probably been voicing that this piece is muddy is because of the overuse of unison chording. Everyone is moving in the same direction. A flute goes down, as does a Horn, etc. Cross movement would help lots, or some flair. Had the horns gone upwards while the strings, which have more power, gone downwards, it would make for much better cohesion while still giving it that "oomph" and "not so muddy" feeling. The Horn statement of the Lavos Theme is very nicely pulled off, giving it just enough mystery behind it to let the listener know that our party in-game has just stepped in and are staring down a very big porcupine-looking boss. However, this all goes somewhat our the window at 1:08 when there's a pause in the music. This silence would have better been filled by a pedal tone through the strings or even a lone chime (ringing through multiple tones to signal the battle about to occur). As the battle begins, we immediately begin to hear the problem. "Varying Orchestration" is the key here. There is little variation in the scoring, which honestly, isn't that bad. Eventually, a little bit of variation is where this piece needs to head. For example, what would serve this piece best is to gently bring in the battle music, lightly through woodwinds and strings, then have the melody be carried by brass and/or melodic percussion. Something to keep it from the appearance that the melody sections of a melody-variant-melody are the exact same, just with a instrument change for the melody. Other than that, it's a great piece on the start, as it certainly keeps the energy level up. The only side note is that the Brass with the moving sixteenth (or eighth) notes are slightly difficult for brass to keep up with that high level of energy. Other than the notes I've already made on why the piece is so muddy, I managed to get through the remainder of the piece not worried about anything else. The best thing would be to move the silence from the beginning to between the high-energy section to the low-energy section near the end. It ends just as it started: the same emotion of uncertainty. But, unlike the beginning, we know for a fact that it's not about defeating Lavos that scares the party, but what's going to happen next... 3. Judgment I give this remix an eight-and-a-half out of ten. I would have liked to give it a nine, or even a ten, but I don't know exactly where the current file is from, at least from the aspect of time. Is this the same file that was recovered after the deadline, or has some additional work gone into making it where it is today? I see it as being exactly where I say it is, 85% of the way there. "Muddy" is probably not the right wording to choose. A better choice? Probably "Partially Refined".

Perfect...ask my wife...it either is perfect or not at all. At least when it comes to music. How perfect do things have to be? The first thing to do is keep interest going, right? I'll put together the final track listed, and post a link here for everyone who wants to listen. Sort of a teaser for what may hopefully come to pass. I'm much better at Orchestra than the other genres listed, but thankfully it is one of them. Who knows, maybe the "teaser" will generate some new interest?

How much actually goes into running a project like this? I'm interested in seeing as many of these projects come to fruition as possible. I just got here a little late, as many of us did. Always great to see "I'd like to do this" followed by "This Thread is Dead.", but some things can't be helped. I know I'm a bit new to the forums, and the OCRemix community in general, but I've got a few thoughts I'll compile and either edit this post to add them, or make a new post (if someone posts before I get to again later today).

The only problem I would have with transcribing it by ear is that I might end up standardizing the instrumentation across the board prior to transcribing. Transcribing would probably be an undertaking as well, but I'm up for the challenge. I just don't want to end up with an instrumentation that requires changes to the score. I'd like to poll to see what files are still available, and then work from there. Piano roll isn't that hard to read, but then again I started with that, so I know a few tricks I can use. Wouldn't it be great if everything was in MIDI format...just to make it a generic place to start? I think the first question I should ask is whether or not this would be worth the time. I would like to think it would be worth the time, especially if there is a chance this might actually come to fruition as a movie. What do you all think? I want to do it, but I also want all the remixers to say it's alright first. After all, it is their work, first and foremost. (And Mitsuda and Uematsu, of course.)

This may seem weird for this project, but what is the possibility of music scores for this? Something along the lines of piecing together a full score for the entire "movie". I'd love to see something like that, and I'd be willing to piece all the, well, pieces/tracks together into a score. Perhaps that would help later on down the line. But then you have to ask yourselves, do you leave the instrumentation for each track as is or expand to a full film orchestra setting? Hmm. Still, I would love to be able to review the scores for each track. I'm just weird like that.

Good luck to all, they are all great entries.

Only a few days left, then it's voting time. By Abadoss' statement of how many entries there were, hopefully there will be more entries and hopefully lots more in the way of voting. The more people vote, the more I hear what I need to work on and what people thought.

Yay, I've officially entered. Now to see what happens. Few questions about the process, though: Are there many entries so far? Does anybody hear them before hand, or does every entry automatically get put in for the vote? And finally, do we get all the feedback? Or is it just posted in the forum for all to see?

Just want to put a quick few notes in here: 1.) If you find someone posting a Finale (.mus) file you can't seem to open, you can just go to their website and download Notepad. Notepad is a free program no matter what, and it'll open any files from that version backwards. Notepad 2008 can open Finale 2008 and back. Makes it simple. If I remember correctly, that was the intent so you can view everybody's music (to entice you into buying the other programs) no matter what. 2.) If you have a file that's not manually sequenced, it's really hard to do, but you can get it about 85% of the way to a more "on the beat" piece. It's just have a lot to do with math. If you know the notes you see are three times as fast, you can do a very general duration change (and then have your program rebar, if it can). Granted, this is still very "eh" in the long run, but it helps quite a bit. 3.) For those of you with the newer programs (I'm stuck with Finale and Sibelius, can't get me off them), there are tools to convert from Midi to TAB. I don't know how it works in Sibelius, but in Finale 2007 at later (probably '06, I can't remember though), if you have say a Guitar stave and a Guitar - TAB stave, you can write the normal notation on the Guitar, then copy and past into the TAB, and it will automatically kick out the appropriate TAB! Great what our programs can do these days, isn't it?

THE BIG NOTE: I had problems trying to format this...it looked good in Notepad, but everytime I copied it over, it crunched everything together, even if I typed multiple spaces. So, in order to keep the spacing right, I put the underscores (__) in to help. I'm working on the remainder of the piece, let me know what you guys think. I'm working on making a score of the whole thing (or at least a piano reduction). Perhaps, some TAB? Song: Thieves of Fate Note 1: This chording starts from when it picks up tempo, not at the beginning. But you knew that, already, didn't you? Note 2: I'm not used to seeing a - as a minor, so I'm just putting the usual m instead. Shouldn't be too much of a problem. Note 3: I tried to be as in-depth on strumming as possible, in case anyone is trying to match it. Most of it is on 16th notes. Here's the example of what my "measures" look like, although it will get spaced out for chords: 1---2---3---4---| ===== INTRO ===== F#m_____________D_________________A_______________E 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - |_ x4 2nd time, add bass 3rd time, add drums F#m___F#m_______F#m___F#m_________F#m___F#m_______F#m___F#m 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | _____________________________________________________________ (The) ======== VERSE 1: ======== F#m________________F#m/E#__________F#m/E_F#m/E_____B/D# 1 - - -_ 2 - - -_ 3 - - - 4 - - - |1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | mansion, it looms ahead of us, Not a hint of light inside, _______ She's F#m________________F#m/E#___________F#m/E_F#m/E______B/D# 1 - - - 2 - - -_ 3 - - - 4 - - -_ | 1 - - - 2 - - -_ 3 - - - 4 - - - | standing right in front of me, Her braid swinging side to side ________ The F#m______________E_________________B_________________C# 1 - - - 2 - - -_ 3 - - - 4 - - - | 1 - - - 2 - - -_ 3 - - - 4 - - - | thing I fear the most is that, The Devil will set my faithful soul ablaze F#m_____________F#m/E#____________F#m/E_F#m/E_____B/D# 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | ______________________________________________________________ These F#m__________________F#m/E#____________F#m/E_F#m/E______B/D# 1 - - - 2 - - - ____ 3 - - - 4 - - - | 1 - - - 2 - - -_ 3 - - - 4 - - - | corridors stretch forever __ into ____ never-ending darkness. _______ I F#m_____________F#m/E#____________F#m/E_F#m/E_____B/D# 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | listen very ___ carefully but the silence is deafening ________ A F#m______________E________________________B_____________________C# 1 - - - 2 - - -_ 3 - - - 4 - - - ______ | 1 - - - 2 - - - _____ 3 - - - 4 - - - | whisper could be heard for miles, And a _ spark would light the room like fireworks F#m_____________F#m/E#____________F#m/E_F#m/E__________B/D# 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | ______________________________________________________________ Oh I F#m_____________E_________________B_______________B 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | feel the appre- hension of my ___ comrades by my side. _____ Better F#m_____________E_________________B_______________C# 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | hold on real __ tight cuz it'll _ be a wild _____ ride... Oh you know I've ====== CHORUS ====== F#m_____________D_________________A_______________E 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | _______ Been __ gone ____ for a _ While ~~~~~~ ____________ Looking for that F#m_____________D_________________A_______________E 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | _______ Cold __ rock ____ made of fire ~~~~~~~~ _________ And I D________________C#m_______________Bsus4___________B 1 - - - 2 - - -_ 3 - - - 4 - - - | 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | don't think that I _____ will ____ come home _ soon, _____ But when I D________________C#m_______________B_______________C# 1 - - - 2 - - -_ 3 - - - 4 - - - | 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | do, ___ will you still _ be ______ wai- __________ ting ___ Oh, baby please F#m_____________D__________________A_______________E 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - |_ 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | _______ Don't _ leave... the lights on ________ for me ___ Get yourself a F#m_____________D__________________A_________________E 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - |_ 1 - - - 2 - - -_ 3 - - - 4 - - - | _______ Good __ rest, ____ I'll be fine _____ you'll see _________ I D________________C#m_______________Bsus4___________B 1 - - - 2 - - -_ 3 - - - 4 - - - | 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | won't _ be back_ till __ my ______ jour- neys' through ______ But I D________________C#m_______________B_______________C# 1 - - - 2 - - -_ 3 - - - 4 - - - | 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | can't _ wait to_ come __ home to _ see ___________ you F#m___F#m_______F#m/E# F#m/E#______F#m/E_F#m/E_____B/D#___B/D# 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - -_ - 4 - - - | 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - | Side Note: The arrangement as heard is actually in G minor, before modulating to E minor in the middle section during the solo, before changing back to G minor for the end.