Liontamer Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 RoeTaKa After working on the original fan sequel to Chrono Trigger called Chrono Crisis for some time (still in production) I've been wanting to show off some of the tracks. I thought it'd be a cool oppurtunity to submit one of the remixed tracks here which is Lavos's theme. I took the simple theme and blew it out of proportion into an orchestral track, with eerie choirs and an adreanaline filled tension. One of my inspirations at the time whilst producing this track was from listening to the Gears of War OST, many of the songs were awesome and one of the techniques I tried to replicate in the beginning was a chromatic legato affect on the violins which just...sounds bloody awesome to me, also the feeling of orchestral mixed with acoustic drum kits. The length of the track is based on its value in the game and the ending is tied so it can loop, I was considering editing this version for the sake of a longer song but I thought it might detract from the emphasis I was trying to show here and to me, I think that's more powerful. Hopefully I can work on remixing once again in the near future and start showing off my capabilities. Thanks guys! And Kudos on SF2HDR --------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "Lavos's Theme" (ct-205a.spc) The low string articulations sounded at :13 sounded flat & mechanical, and the vox could have used more presence. As is, I thought the mixing choices downplayed the melodic parts and left the piece not sounding focused enough. Wasn't feeling the snare drum choice at :37, but it was in the background enough to be pretty minor. Once :37's section kicked in, it was more obvious how indistinct the mixing left the piece. That could be a purposeful choice given the connotations of the title, but it wasn't working here IMO. I can't tell what the lead at 1:05 is, more low strings I guess, but it's a flat lead and shouldn't have been a foreground element anyway. 1:30 shifted back toward the most known section of the track before moving over into some haunting vox at 1:43; liking the concept there. As the piece picked back up for the finish, can't put my finger on why the strings and brass samples didn't seem produced quite right. Am I the only one thinking the balance for most of this hurt the piece? Aside from that, the sampled instruments, although they sound pretty decent, just have a fakeness/lifelessness that drags this down. The arrangement concept is good, so perhaps give this some production tweaks. Looking forward to another J articulating the issues here better than I can. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Was a little weird to start right in the middle of the song. Even a short two-second swell would have been less jarring. Thought the arrangement concept was pretty cool though, if short. As an orchestral version, it's not that far out, but it used more instruments, added dynamism, and wove some good writing through the original. I was surprised when it ended where it did, more on a whimper than a bang. I'd have that 2:03-2:20 section build more. The production wasn't quite there, yeah. What I found to be the biggest problem was the upper frequency ranges. It was indistinct, like Larry said. Without crispness in any instrument, the track had a lack of focus because it was hazy; there's nothing in the foreground. I also wasn't crazy about the snare sound, it was hollow. I wouldn't have minded more low frequencies in general. This is solid work so far, Alex. Let's see another version. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anosou Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 I agree with Vinnie that opening the track without any kind of introduction (even just some kind of roominess) is a bit jarring. Overall the arrangement was strong with clever writing and expanding while sticking relatively close to the source. The production was quite strong in my opinion. Most instruments sound good and nothing strikes me as "bad" or "unrealistic". The snare worked but that reverb could've been applied a little bit on the instruments too to keep it glued together. I thought the bass could've been emphasized a bit more in the mix, especially since the writing really uses the bass to emphasis a beat (like in the intro). The major thing is the production downplaying the high-end instruments making the track a bit unfocused. More emphasis on the melodic content would be preferable here. Overall, I think this is REALLY close. The arrangement is fantastic, clever and very energetic. The samples are generally a good bunch. The production is quite strong but the lack of low and high frequencies makes it sound unfocused. That's basically it, if you fix up the production this is an easy pass for me. Keep it up Alex, I really like your style! NO(resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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