Liontamer Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 * Kaijin * Tim Sheehy * tim@timsheehy.com * www.timsheehy.com * userid #1665 Chrono Trigger "To Faraway Times" This was originally arranged for the album "SquareDance" from OneUp Studios and KFSS back in 2002. It marks my last collaboration with my good friend Patrick. Though he doesn't arrange game music like the rest of us old school kids anymore, he still manages to reserve tables for Dale, Mustin and me, anytime we go to restaurants. Believe me if you want,but it's totally true. Despite his untimely departure from the scene, Jaxx would've happy to know that even more people are getting to hear our work, and this time free of charge at that. Please enjoy the music from this album that served to launch the greatest American dojin label around. ----------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "To Far Away Times" (ct-317.spc) The soundscape sounded a little too wet and murky for some of the fuller parts, and the beatwork felt a bit thin sometimes, but the end result was successfully enveloping and solidly produced. The instrumentation and structure being close in many ways to the SNES original, especially for the intro, was very off-putting at first, but there were a lot of new ideas in the big picture to add a personalized flavor, particularly the instrumentation and textural changes from section to section. Being a 2002 arrangement, the style of it is definitely a lot more old-school compared to the material we get nowadays, but what this lacks in melodic interpretation, it makes up for with changes to the genre, instrumentation, dynamics, tempo and overall composition. Perhaps I'm seeming too lenient; I'm certainly interested to see how the other Js feel about it, but I'm ultimately cool with it. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Sorry, Larry, but really not feeling this one. It sounds way too conservative. There wasn't any melodic or structural variation at all, and even a lot of the instruments are just sound upgrades. Some of the backing instruments are new, but few of those parts ever take lead or lend the song a new direction. (The drum switch at 1:05 was a cool idea though.) Especially compare the first and last minute of this to the original song: it's basically only instrument changes and added drums. Production was a little troublesome but fine, like you noted. Drums were thin, and the new instruments at 1:20 overpowered the song. Not a big problem compared to the arrangement. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zircon Posted May 2, 2008 Share Posted May 2, 2008 I enjoyed this overall as a nice throwback to old-school OCR. The production is solid enough - probably a cut above other 2002 mixes, generally speaking. The addition of new harmony parts, instruments, and stylistic changeups puts this one very slightly above the bar for me.. I might be a little harsher, but I am OK with this one. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted May 3, 2008 Share Posted May 3, 2008 Gotta agree with Vinnie. Really conservative for the likes of OCR, even for the time it was written (wow, 6 years ago? Damn...) I really enjoyed it when I bought SQUAREDANCE all those years ago, but it's just too similar to the original song in structure. The genre adaptation is nice, but that's all it really is. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 I'm almost on the line with this one, but the same criticisms apply: rather conservative. also, the mix is a bit bright. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHz Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 Definitely too conservative. A few interesting ideas, but not enough to offset the closeness in everything. Anything else? Um, production is okay, although 1:20-1:48 is a bit painful and distracts from the additional writing which isn't too bad. It'd be good enough if the arrangement was substantial. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anosou Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 I have to agree with the nay-sayers here. Too conservative for OCR today. The mixing is a bit muddy, especially the drums that seems to lack high frequencies. Also, where's that snare? Okay, instrument choices were interesting but some generic sounds and mechanical sequencing brings them down. Not bad though. This would've rocked the house -02, well it DID rock the house -02.. just not today. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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