Chrono Trigger- Magus' Theme

[Artemis]

Probably too ambitious a piece for a beginner like me, but I thought I'd try it. My main concern (of which there are many) are the drums. They are loops that came with Garageband, and while I know "legally" it's okay to use them, I feel a little like it's cheating, especially since the piece relies so heavily on them. Suggestions? Ethical debate?

Oh, and, you know, feel free to rip the remix apart as well

[buh6173]

Thank god it's not another techno mix...

I'm really digging this. It's pretty good, especially if you're a beginner.

The drums aren't that bad; the guitar and piano take your attention away from them.

That...I can't put my finger on what instrument it is, but around :50, it kinda sounds out of place; either use it more in the song, or take it out.

Anyways, yeah, this is really good, especially if you're a beginner.

A few fine tweaks, and it's be ready for submission.

[Dj Mokram]

It's an ambitious piece indeed, but in the right sense.

With a source as popular as this one, it's easy to fall short in comparison to other remixes.

Your effort is quite commendable, as it is an enjoyable piece. I personally liked the addition of accoustic guitars.

And while the overall sound isn't perfect atm, and somewhat dissonant at times (1:13-1:30), it flows very well imo.

Piano play is beyond my skill-level, so I won't elaborate, as it won't be useful to you.

The mixing need some work, it's a bit centered around the high/mids.

Paradoxally, the low piano notes are a bit overwhelming at times, especially at the end.

The drums didn't bothered me. Actually I was hoping for some more percussiveness.

And you could even add claps/castagnets to give a more spanish/flamenco feel to it.

I think it would suit it well, and it reminds me of Keiki Kobayashi's work on Ace Combat Zero a bit...

only less ambitious, at least for now.

Looking forward to the next update.

[Rozovian]

A little too much or too big reverb, imo.

Anyway, I like this approach. Source is there, and this is an unexpected take on the source.

The GB drum loops - they're free to use, and you can't do anything wit this remix commercially anyway so I see no reason to have to change them. Mind you, I kind'a feel the same as you do about using loops, but it doesn't sound to me like the track relies heavily on them. What I feel is the core of the track are the guitar and piano parts.

Speaking of an outstanding guitar, the guitar stands out in a bad way sometimes, partly because you've got two of them in there and they should be panned more so they don't sound like as impossible performance on one guitar. Not sure I like their sound, but a bit of EQ could change it a little. Sounds more like a harpsichord than a guitar, so you should definitely work on humanizing it and seeing what you can do about the tone.

Nice work, especially for a beginner. Stuff to fix, but you've done lots already, you'll get it done right. Keep at it, this is the kind'a left-field remixes ocr loves and need to be finished.

[Artemis]

Thank you so much for the help... I've made a few tweaks. Here's what it sounds like now...

That...I can't put my finger on what instrument it is, but around :50, it kinda sounds out of place; either use it more in the song, or take it out.

I'm not sure exactly what instrument is being referred to... I think I know the section you mean, though. My best guess is the synth-type, "ah" sort of thing, which is actually playing most of the piece. Is it too loud/intrusive there?

And while the overall sound isn't perfect atm, and somewhat dissonant at times (1:13-1:30), it flows very well imo.

Hmm... yeah, kinda clashy. I extended the piano part slightly into this part of the piece, so it (hopefully) sounds like one of the instruments is taking charge.

Piano play is beyond my skill-level, so I won't elaborate, as it won't be useful to you.

The mixing need some work, it's a bit centered around the high/mids.

Paradoxally, the low piano notes are a bit overwhelming at times, especially at the end.

I tried to increase the bass, but I'm not sure if that helped the problem. I did lower the volume on the piano part at the end, though.

A little too much or too big reverb, imo.

Actually, I'm not sure if that's reverb... thing is, I'm not real experienced with Garageband, so when little red lights popped up next to the volume on all the tracks I just ignored it. Turns out those are bad? So I guess I have to play with that a bit more, hopefully that will fix it. Maybe.

Speaking of an outstanding guitar, the guitar stands out in a bad way sometimes, partly because you've got two of them in there and they should be panned more so they don't sound like as impossible performance on one guitar. Not sure I like their sound, but a bit of EQ could change it a little. Sounds more like a harpsichord than a guitar, so you should definitely work on humanizing it and seeing what you can do about the tone.

Not having much luck on the humanizing aspect, but I did at least pan them for now. I feel like some notes are louder than others too, and I'll work on fixing that.

[Rozovian]

Actually, I'm not sure if that's reverb... thing is, I'm not real experienced with Garageband, so when little red lights popped up next to the volume on all the tracks I just ignored it. Turns out those are bad? So I guess I have to play with that a bit more, hopefully that will fix it. Maybe.

Not having much luck on the humanizing aspect, but I did at least pan them for now. I feel like some notes are louder than others too, and I'll work on fixing that.

Red light means it's too loud. You need to increase the compression and/or decrease the volume. Don't actually know how GB handles compression, but there's one built-in compressor on every track and you should be able to add one as the last effect if necessary.

But I was talking about reverb, which is the sound of the room. if you listen to an instrument, you might hear that it has something of a tail, even on instruments you set the release setting to 0 - if there's reverb, you'll hear the effect of the sound still echoing in the room the effect simulates. use headphones. You either have a too big room in the settings, or you have the track's reverb setting too high.

Humanization is more about making the right notes louder and the right ones softer than trying to make them the same. from your comment it seemed you got it backwards. Basically, it's making it sound more human, and no human plays every note at the same velocity. Humanization isn't just about making random changes to make it uneven, it's about performance, making it sound like there's a real human being playing the instrument, a real human with real emotions and real creativity and playing it with those emotions and that creativity.

If you want a humanization exercise, make a new song, use only the piano, and using only different note velocity (the hardness or loudness of the notes), make part of a short song aggressive and part of it calm. note velocity is the most central part of humanization, timing and length are the other two that you'd need for a piano. Other instruments are played in other ways, brass and woodwinds are blown so they need a different kind of humanization - strings are bowed, plucked and performed with in a variety of ways and should be humanized accordingly. Humanization is about making it sound like a performance, so thing like a performer (or a conductor).

Since it's the guitar I heard needing humanization, you'll only have to worry about timing, length, and velocity, and I suggest focusing on velocity and do the other two only when necessary. Velocity is the first step, the first part of humanization to learn. Do the exercise, apply what you learned. Making things even is easy - you just compress the track way too much - making them sound human is difficult. And a lot more work. Learn it.

[jezon2000]

Win, mix is win, but work on your acoustic sounds before submitting.

[Tuned Logic]

I really like this; take out those few foul notes, though.

In Garageband, you can add the Compressor plugin to each track. When you do, however, that alone will not make the red lights go away (which mean that the track is above 0dB). Decibel (dB) ratings don't ALWAYS correspond to volume. For example, something could sound not so loud, but it can still peak (get the red lights b/c it's over 0dB). You have to watch the meters with your eyes.

Anyway, when you add the compressor, most likely the volume of the track will increase, but so will the dB level. To counter this, you can also add a limiter. I know Logic's compressor has a built-in limiter, and I think there's an option for this in Garageband as well. It takes a lot of practice to the get the volume levels where you want them while also not peaking. If you can't get a sound loud enough, just lower the volume of everything else enough that everything balances out.

Also, as long as the entire output is not peaking versus the individual tracks, it isn't as big of a deal regarding harming speakers, but your song can still clip, which means you'll get undesirable noises in your finished product.

The best advice I can give you is to practice, practice, practice. Experience is the greatest asset you can have as an arranger/composer/whatever. Best of luck to you!

[HoboKa]

Thank god it's not another techno mix...

I second that. I was thinking ohnoes nub = techno crap remix. But this...this "newb" masterpiece is sexy. Of course, there are production and EQ issues here 'n there, but for a new piece...well suffice to say you surprised me a lot. oh shiza, there's some dissonance at.,...1:20 or so. And it's not the good kind I'm afraid T_T, those are easy fixes though.

If you need help practising your ear for key, PM me - or anyone else here who frequents the wip boards. Keep at it

[Gario]

Not bad at all, Artemis. I'm enjoying it, for what it is.

It's quite difficult to use 'real' instruments in a mix, because it tends to be difficult to emulate a real sound without sounding fake. I'm afraid this mix does sound too fake, but hey, this is how we learn. Imagine your a classical guitar player - would you play the notes straight like that? Most people would tweak the dynamics (purposely or on accident) between every note, and they would be using more pitch bends and such. The same can be said with the other instruments (although I can't imagine a piano doing too many bends ).

I noticed that the track certainly does have clipping, yet the volumes are quite low, as well. Often, when this is the case it's peaking in a very particular frequency range. I think there's too much 'low' EQ overall. Try tweaking the EQ for the tracks so they don't have quite as much bass and that might help bring the bars down below the red.

Decibel (dB) ratings don't ALWAYS correspond to volume. For example, something could sound not so loud, but it can still peak (get the red lights b/c it's over 0dB). You have to watch the meters with your eyes.

Sorry, even though this is true I lol'd when I read it. It just looks weird when you talk about using your eyes to write music... It's true, though.

[Dj Mokram]

Thank you so much for the help... I've made a few tweaks. Here's what it sounds like now...

Much better on velocities.

Still issues on sound peak. I dunno if you're normalizing or not?

Pushing the bass freq up won't replace the use of a real low freq instrument.

I think its lacking moar low brass section/low atmospheric string ensemble.

...but it's just me.

And overall it could be longer. 3:07 is a bit short.

Keep it updated.