Chrono Trigger 'Corridors of Time' (yet another one)

[uranai]

So, I finally decided to make a heavy metal arrengement for the song Corridos of Time from the game Chrono Trigger. I'm new to this place and i think it's a song that's being done a lot of times, however my arrengement (remix) is quite different from what I've heard.

All your comments are welcome, though don't mind too much the sloppy playing and crappy (low fi) in the guitars, they will be re recorded as soon as i get a little better from my tendinitis.

Mix wise, i think there is a bit of masking in the high mid range, the snare drum gets a bits blurred, and the melody feels distant.

The bass might be too low, and the kick could get more attack.

http://www.purevolume.com/thechostoproject

Donwload the track "Corridors of Heavy Metal" (because the internet player sounds like a 56 Kbps mp3).

Thanks

[Cyril the Wolf]

I like the way this plays out. It sounds pretty sweet, and I like that there is some interp (always important) I have a few issues with it on the whole.

1) More rhythmic variation leading up to that epical thing around 2 minute mark. You could even change up the sequence in the background (think Baba O' Riley when changing up that, its possible to do it well)

2) I think the mixing is okay, I'm not gonna relist what you think is wrong with it, but I think I hear some Compression pump on there. I actually DON'T know how to fix that, but I think you can loosesn up your comp there.

3) Maybe a more free flowing guitar solo? Like break it down and have the guitar do some funky stuff. That would really break up the source, and you'd probably have a really good ReMix on your hands.

[HoboKa]

Well this is pretty darn good, but the EQ is muddy - that's a toughie. Mastering is by far the hardest part of composing IMHO. Love the electric G tone it's very Anime-ish / heavy metal - (DUH) lol. Moreover, I think that it's pretty cover-ish, thus, it might need some more originality. It's a good listen in either case. Oh...by the way is it intended to end like that or is there still more of riffs to make?

Can u host this on tindeck so I can DL it ?

[Rozovian]

Kick and snare are buried, you cut make a slight EQ cut in the hats to give room for the snare, and boost the kick with a couple fo dB somewhere in the 80-150Hz area, wherever its punch is.

Compress the file a bit less, to 160 kbps or something like that, maybe use VBR. Either it's the mixing or the file compression I'm hearing that's cutting some of the high range clarity.

From 2:34 there's the even rhythm on the guitars, but the drums are playing the same thing as before. You could get some more weight into it if the kick would follow the rhythm guitars.

Bass? There's bass? Oh right. yes, it's too quiet, just be careful so it doesn't bury the kick.

You need an ending.I kind'a like what you've got here, but you'd have to add something to the end, a few notes or something to the end. Looping the bells from source for a little while, fading them out might work. Idunno, just suggesting. You need ssomething.

Alex, why can't you download from purevolume? I could. There's a download link in the playlist.

[HoboKa]

Kick and snare are buried, you cut make a slight EQ cut in the hats to give room for the snare, and boost the kick with a couple fo dB somewhere in the 80-150Hz area, wherever its punch is.

Compress the file a bit less, to 160 kbps or something like that, maybe use VBR. Either it's the mixing or the file compression I'm hearing that's cutting some of the high range clarity.

From 2:34 there's the even rhythm on the guitars, but the drums are playing the same thing as before. You could get some more weight into it if the kick would follow the rhythm guitars.

Bass? There's bass? Oh right. yes, it's too quiet, just be careful so it doesn't bury the kick.

You need an ending.I kind'a like what you've got here, but you'd have to add something to the end, a few notes or something to the end. Looping the bells from source for a little while, fading them out might work. Idunno, just suggesting. You need ssomething.

Alex, why can't you download from purevolume? I could. There's a download link in the playlist.

Lazy...lay off

[uranai]

I've uploaded a new version at http://www.purevolume.com/thechostoproject.

I re-recorded the guitars and added a guitar solo (I'm still working on the tone).

I raised the bass a bit and the kick too.

Arrengement wise I'm not sure if the solo is in the right place.

Mix wise I stilll hear some masking iin the high mids, though it is a lot better if you donwload the song.

[Rozovian]

Weird sound hiccup at 0:04.

I think I hearing compression before the 0:45 melody, there were some weird slow volume undulations there. Guitar melody is repetitive, it could be more interesting. Guitar solo isn't always as tight as it should be, you might want to re-record some parts of it.

Well, this sounds stereo enough. Double guitar melody could be further panned, imo. Weird guitar noise around 2:35 before the new section.

overall, it gets repetitive. This is a well remixed theme, so it'd be nice to hear something new happen to it. Willrock did a great thing with Ballad of the Windfish, another oft-remixed track; he twisted the chord progression to change the mood of it a lot. I don't think the same mood would work for this, but it would be nice to hear some change in mood, texture.. something. It gets old.

Not much production crits, just the above and the unrelenting volume and thickness of the track. Pretty good, could easily be great with more variation and more interpretation rather than genre adaptation. Good luck.

[Cyril the Wolf]

Adding on to what Roz said (becuase I hate being redundant)

This song could benefit from some ensemble writing, to make it less repetitive and junk.

For one, if I were a bass player, even in this style, and even as much of a KISS fan I was, I would fill a little bit more. Holding down the root is cool for the bass, and I really like the fact that the bass does follow the kick quite closely, but... I dunno, the rhythm section really really gets boring, and something simple as fixing that up could really improve this mix!

1) Bass needs some fills, there are spots where there is nothing going on that the bass could do a few passing tones to pick up the next section. Popular technique for a reason, and if possible some bass slides would be nice.

2) Rhythm guitar: While keeping just the simple eighth note pattern is cool, it'd be sweet if at some point, to shake things up that the rhythm guitar follows the bass with its pattern. That could add some energy and keep this from being too repetitive.

Now that my ensemble gripes are taken care of:

3) The ending... isn't really powerful enough for this kind of style. There's a lot of ways you could do it, have it hit the root several times in quick succession, more crashes, that kind of thing. Chords on bass can work, if you do it carefully.

4) Something I noticed after the guitar solo, and in the beginning, some severe compression pumping. Easily fixable.

5) If you really want to change this up, the chord progression is fairly straight forward so you could try two things:

a) chord substitution: in the home key, substitute a iii with a iv, and that sort of thing. That may be a poor example, but still.

chord addition: create more motion by adding a few "passing chords" (my term) to the mix and really shake things up.

All in all I like this mix, I really do, it just needs to be expanded and polished... I think it's mixed and balanced well, its just got the problem of too much compression. Take into consideration my suggestions and Roz's (and maybe other people's) and then find a J and see what they think! (A Process that I decidedly {and stupidly} skip)

[Tensei]

Decent arrangement, but the same chord progression over and over really starts getting on my nerves after a minute or so, there should be a sort of bridge/alternate backing for the solo section to keep the track varied. Drums are way too copy+paste, try to use a different hi-hat/cymbal pattern for different parts of the remix to give it more of a dynamic contrast.

Production and mastering needs a lot of work; for some reason, the drums seem overcompressed even though the track is barely peaking. There's some weird volume dips going on in the first 30 seconds, especially noticable in the rhythm guitars, possibly caused by the master compressor/limiter(?).

[uranai]

I've uploaded a new version a

http://www.purevolume.com/thechostoproject

Guitar solo is now edited.

Started a new fresh mix, which i find a lot more pleasing that previous ones.

Got rid of inserts in master output, hopefully that will deal with the weird compression pumps.

I could as well use more variety in the drums and bass, but it is difficult to do so with midi stuff.

I'm thinking that a cool synth would be better for the lead melody, i'll start looking for some nice sound.

As for arragement, I know i gets repetitive , but I'm aiming to recreate the mood of the original one. To get into an hypnotic trance with a little headbanging. Maybe that means the remix is unique enough to be worth of this site, but that's not a really a problem, this remix is something I had to get done sometime in my life.

I considered heavily the possibility of enhancing harmony, but this style does not really benefit from too complex substitutions and modulations, and I really like the lydian sound it has with 3 chords.

[Rozovian]

Well, it's better than before... iirc.

Still pretty repetitive, tho. You could automate some attributes of the backing synth for variation, say, the waveform, cutoff, frequency modulation, something. You could fade in a phaser version of it, the phaser would add some hypnotic effect to it (tho phaser should always be used sparingly).

Consider swapping the backing source bells for a rock-suited organ, or 80's synth, or something else, just for kicks. See what you can do.

Some filter sweeps, EQ automation effects, perhaps slicing, could also be utilized on the track. Some stereo effects could be cool too. The bass and rhythm guitar backing could be more varied, rhythmically if not else. I am hearing some variation in the bass rhythm, which is cool, but there could be more.

It's by now at a point where I can't help you much further, but Tensei-San's often on the wip channel along with other guitar-oriented remixers, you should take it there.