[WIP] Frog's Theme (Chrono Trigger)

[dbrown1986]

First off, I would like to apologize for the brashness in my last post, as a community we share our ongoing developments, and if there is one thing I SHOULD understand here (among some other places) it is that nobody is going to try and take credit for the work I do here. (See: New Member - First OCR)

I know many have been done, but I put some good work into this one.

It's got a calm lead-in to the storm, wherin the storm leads back into the calm with a variation bass and creative spark. VERY MUCH appreciate ANY criticism on this one.

Link: http://atheloswow.org/projects/ocr/frog_beat_mixdown.mp3

Thanks!

[Eino Keskitalo]

The chord progression you have going is quite interesting when combined with the very recognizable melody from Frog's theme. I also thought the mixture of different instruments/tones worked pretty well. Again, the soundscape was pleasant to listen to.

The crits:

While the chord progression itself is long and varied, it (and the instruments that carry it) play throughout the piece, unchanging. This gives the whole piece quite a static feel. Also, it plays alone for almost the first one and a half minutes. This isn't enough to keep interest.

I was expecting the beat to come in as early as 00:13, and when it does much later on, it's just a simple bass drum line. I think there's a lot you could and should be doing with beats and percussion in this piece.

When a new instrument comes in 01:22, I find it quite hard to make sense of it rhythmically, possibly because there's no beat to anchor it down.

Again, pretty good for one of the first works. I'd say work on the beats and progression of this one.

if there is one thing I SHOULD understand here (among some other places) it is that nobody is going to take credit here.

I don't quite get what you mean with this. Of course people take credit for their work.

--Eino

[dbrown1986]

Indeed, those are all things I agree with, you listen to it many times over and you feel that somethings not right, but you get caught up in how good the rest of the song is, I took a moment to really *LISTEN* as closely as possible and took many steps to edit the track, and was able to shave off nearly 1:43 from it as well as preserve the calm intro (which is now only 0:13).

The link above has been edited, same link, new mix-down. Give it a listen.

The bass drum is still there, but I will work on something to replace it ASAP.

Playing around with percussion, here's a riff:

http://www.atheloswow.org/projects/ocr/frog_beat_mixdown_perc.mp3

I'm not entirely sure this is a match either, so I'll play around with it some more later, for now... I sleep.

[Esker]

Very nice, I like the groove.

[Arcana]

This isn't bad for an early remix.

The song, production wise, is still very crowded in the middle frequencies. You'll want to spread out the instruments, not only left and right, but also to get a good balance between low bass and upper ranges. The song starts to get muddy at about 30 seconds in.

The main thing for me is that beat still doesn't come in early enough. When it does, the kick is simply not punchy enough. 1:37 is too late. I think this song would benefit from other percussion as well. Snares, hihats, you want them.

The synth textures are nice. The "tonguing" of the backing synth is fun, and the accenting saws add some nice texture. The lead synth has a neat sound to it.

The final thing is that the arrangement isn't really that innovative. It's interesting but the main theme is very much kept intact and there's very little variety. For this reason it isn't OCR material.

Keep at it!

[dbrown1986]

I have worked the best I can over the last ten days, and have retained most of what the original song had, with the some new twists and MUCH better percussion near the closing.

Have a listen! (or a watch)

http://atheloswow.org/projects/ocr/frog_beat_mixdown_redux.mp3

@ Arcana - I have read a few notes about the judges, and it seems they like it when the source is retained well. They also like variety, but I think this mix in itself retains both source and a variety in instruments. I myself have put QUITE a few things in here, that if you have listened to the original, aren't there and sound good. I see A LOT of songs here that retain most if not ALL of the source,and it's not always a bad thing. As far as "Muddy", I'm not sure what you mean as it I think it sounds okay. Anyhow, thanks for the critique.

[dbrown1986]

Submitted this track to the judges. Even if it does not get approved you can still download it here:

http://atheloswow.org/projects/ocr/complete/frog_beat_mixdown_redux.mp3

or you can watch it here:

[GarretGraves]

It's nice and loud and bursting with color. Chord progressions is great. But nothing really percussive happening and when the bass kick comes in it comes in half way through. The overall mix could be more fuller too. Like a nice pounding bass line to go with the kick and maybe add a snare or claps something. But it's a great start.

[dbrown1986]

Well (like a dummy), I went ahead and pushed this through to the judges as it was. Despite the constructive criticism that you have all provided (thanks to all by the way), let's just say I was PULVERIZED. Well, not literally, but the judges are responsible for the quality of the work that they allow posted on this site, and I agree; there were a number of things wrong with the original track.

So, I have come back to this track, one last time, in hopes that the rework that I have done is much better than before, if not, oh well, I will continue to gain knowledge through experience and will someday have something that is astounding.

Final Attempt at a "PASSABLE" OCRemix. After this, if declined, I will not continue work on this song as an OCR, however it will be distributed as is and I will continue working on my skills, in hopes that someday I compose something that is passable.

Check out the new track - Click Here!

[Gario]

So was this an instant reject? I don't see it in the panels anywhere, so I can't build off of those comments, now.

Alright, let's see...

I like the sound of the music. Good synthwork, buddy. It fills the space pretty well, so nice work there. Unfortunately, the space it fills is very quiet compared to the rest of the music on this site, so there's a good chance it'll get rejected on those grounds alone. Get it louder and retain the quality and that'll be that (harder than it sounds, believe me).

Some of the main themes are being drown in the background of the music (such as the melody at 1:22), so a bit of mixing is needed to bring out a couple of elements in the music.

The drums are very weak... The bass and hats are non-existent, and the snare, while it can still be used for some auxiliary purpose, doesn't work as your only snare. You need some new drums in here (and possibly a reworking of the old drums).

The music overall is very conservative - while that's not a bad thing on it's own, OCR won't accept it as-is. You need to bring some more change to the source, some more interpretations with the melody, harmony, structure, etc., in order for OCR to consider this.

As I said before, the soundscape is nicely filled. However, you use the same textures, instruments, etc, throughout the entire song, which really wears on the listener after the first minute. You must change up some of the instrumentation in order for this to be taken seriously. Seriously.

Expect another rejection, bro, but learn from it - I recommend moving on to another song, as you'll be able to learn far more about the things I mentioned above by working on new music rather than caressing an older song, like this one. It's doesn't ever sound terrible, mind you, just boring, so you'll need to learn how to spice things up. Post up some new music here (or even another update of this song) and I'll help any way I can .

Oh, and don't worry - the first song I submit to this site I instantly regret doing since it was so TERRIBLE! Yours isn't too bad, in comparison. We all learn from these experiences, dude.

Good luck.