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OCR01247 - Chrono Trigger "To Far Away Memories"


djpretzel
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Hey, I would like to say kudos to you, man. I've heard 50,000 ways inside and out to do that damn schala's theme, and you really helped me out in your remix of one of my favorites tunes.

Gives everyone a sense of hope, eh? Get knocked down and you just have to stand back up.

But yeah, I really liked listening to this mix. I can understand a couple parts where the guitar pickings are better heard than the notes (as a player I dislike that sound...). But other than that you've done a great job fiddling with the tune and making it absolutely "teh 0wnz0r!!11" Ha, wanna jam together sometime?!

Congrats. I like it. 9/10

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LET'S REVIEW THE SONG NOW!

As far as the song actually goes, I liked the song. I don't hear too many acoustical arrangements for CT. It may be a little simplistic, but I had it playing as I was just walking around the room, and I enjoyed it..as a nice little piece of music. Nothing mind blowing, but certainly above par in my book.

Not bad :wink:

Jared

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Usually I'm not one who likes mainly solo instrument mixes, (like one that is just piano, for example).

Or in this case, acoustic (Sp?).

But in this case I must say this one is rather pleasing to listen to. The guitar is well played, the song was a good choice, and although some parts DID have to be changed to "fit" said instrument, I personally think it worked rather well. It makes me think of a song you'd hear at the beginning/ending of an epic mini-series (no offence to the remixer is intended in that statment, you know, if they don't like mini-series.)

Nice accompaning music in the background. Not to bold or "IN YO FACE" blaring like so many other mixes I've heard.

Once again, in closing, I think this is a rather pleasing mix to listen to.

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It's unfortunate that this review thread turned into more of a discussion about the judging process, panel, and apparently my inadequacy as a human being for deciding (yes, voluntarily) to not attend school-sanctioned social functions, when the idea is really to let Neil - and others - know what you liked or disliked about his mix.

I feel it's important to clarify, however, that my explaining the process behind the approval of this mix was not at all meant as a jab at the panel. They're doing a hard job, and doing it well, and will continue to do so, and if everyone was happy all of the time it would mean they weren't doing their job and were probably dispursing free narcotics of an uplifting nature. Usually, when there's a significant debate on the panel, I *do* feel the need to explain what it was all about to the general public in mix write-ups, so these accusations of clandestine behavior and being secretive and closed are unfounded. We post decisions for everyone to see.

Without further eroding the thread into a tangent that bears only tenuous relations to Neil's piece, I want to be absolutely clear: nothing about the process of evaluating the initial submission or resubmission of this mix lowered the judges panel in my estimation. Quite the opposite, I think "episodes" of this nature are necessary to keep debate alive and to keep people on their toes.

Posting "good music" is too broad a mission for almost any website. Our mandate is that we post music that honors original video and computer game soundtracks by interpreting them. That doesn't just mean fancying up the samples or adding a loop. If this type of evaluation were easy to make, there'd be no need for a panel whatsoever. It isn't. Furthermore, some people would honestly RATHER just listen to the original piece with fancier samples. We're not saying there's anything fundamentally evil about that, it's just not what OCR happens to be about.

Fortunately, a consensus was reached that this piece doesn't fit that description, but don't blame the judges for evaluating mixes based on the criteria they are instructed to evaluate against. If you don't like those criteria, blame me, because I'm the one who will keep them in place as long as it's my decision to make, and who believes in them. Better yet, don't blame anyone, but acknowledge that different websites serve different purposes and audiences, and don't hold that against any of them.

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First of all, I would like to address this particular mix. After all, this is a review board.

The mix almost sounds like it was meant to be on

Chrono Cross soundtrack. Acoustic guitar, ethnic

percussion, strings - all sound great. The mix builds

up great around 2:23 before it takes a break.

I really like the variations.

What really makes this mix stand out is the mood it creates.

Sure, the note at 3:32 sounds a little questionable,

yes drums are a bit repetitive, but there is a lot

more depth to this mix that makes those issues nearly

irrelevant. Great job Neil!

As for the OCR selection and judging system:

It works. The process is meant to be highly selective.

It's the selectivity that makes this site the premiere

video game music site on the internet. I am

sure if DJP had a problem with the judges, he

could handle it on his own.

And besides, this mix was approved by the judges, so

there should have been no argument in the first place.

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All this arguing aside..

I liked all the aspects of this ReMix, with the teeny exception of the percussion, which seems more flawed to me more than the other parts.

I'm no music major, I just play an Alto Sax (badly, at that) but the percussion at times seems to conflict alot with the other parts of the track. Most notably would be the cymbal roll around 0:44 that leads into a steady rhythm. It really came off to me as something notably not sounding right. But I'm basing that purely on how it sounds to me, there may be nothing actually wrong with it and I might be tone-deaf. The same roll comes again at around 1:35 (and elsewhere), but the strings overtake the conflicting sounds. I'm not saying that they were used as a cover-up, the strings sounded very natural and fluid, just that something didn't really fit in the puzzle.

Other than that, I'd say everything is awesome. Great piece. It sounds to me like somehting they should play at the end of a comic drama movie.

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aprentis, i'll try and put together a tab sheet, but it might take a while; i haven't had any musical training whatsoever. i can't even name chords, for pete's sake :P i just play by ear. plus i have a 10 hour night shift job that takes up all my time. i'll post when i'm done with it.

thanks again to everyone for your compliments and critiques. that includes the judges; they know what they're talking about.

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aprentis, i'll try and put together a tab sheet, but it might take a while; i haven't had any musical training whatsoever. i can't even name chords, for pete's sake :P i just play by ear. plus i have a 10 hour night shift job that takes up all my time. i'll post when i'm done with it.

thanks again to everyone for your compliments and critiques. that includes the judges; they know what they're talking about.

if you did i mihgt just confess my love to you :roll: . thatd be so rad dude, it doesnt sound like there is any chords in there though, just 1-2 strings :D but thanks

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Yeah, the instruments were definitely not of the greatest quality, but that really didn't detract from the mix much at all for me. The only truly greating note was the first time I heard the sequence around the 3:30 mark, but the line right after it actually resolved it quite nicely for me. On the repetition and subsequent listens, while it still may not sound particularly pleasant to my ears, it at least 'made sense'. Other than that, a solid peice, nothing really 'wow' about it, just a nice, pleasant listen.

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