Chrono Trigger: Chrono Symphonic - History

[Compyfox]

Well after blasting my ears for the last 6 hours, I'm still not sure what to use. But I pinned it down to three stages:

- Vredenburg Hall, Ultrecht, Netherlands (a large orchestra hall)

- Philips Hall, Netherlands (a 400 seats hall, fairly neutral sounding)

- Todd-AO Scoring Stage, Los Angeles, CA (well known recording environment for soundtracks)

Each have their advantages and disadvantages. The Vredenburg for example sounds very rich if I use the "center to far" setup (18m away from the soundstage, omni mics, 8m apart) but muds up the vocals with that setup (unless I customise it which takes hours). The Philips hall sounds nice and dry for everything (the Promenadikeskus is even better), maybe a bit too dry for some tracks. And the Todd-AO is fairly harsh and I need to turn the reverb up a lot to add "flavour" to some tracks.

I wanted to use the "Promenadikeskus Concert Hall" (also around 350 seats) in Porj, Finland. But those samples are only for "non commercial use".

Then again... it's a free videogame soundtrack project. Not to mention that all Orchestras are synthetic... *headscratch*

*sigh* I guess i'll decide in the last minute as soon as I get up again.

[Spoom]

Well, assuming there are no plans to license the original music from Square Enix and sell the album, I would think a "non-commercial use only" soundstage would be fine.

And for my choice of track, I choose Track 24 - The New Beginning (Sleepy Emp) because I recently played through Radical Dreamers again and the music is familiar. ;^)

[Compyfox]

Well I just realised that I have to "think different" (what a slogan) anyway. I can't simply go and layer a master reverb over the vocal tracks. That'd totally mud up the long and carefully engineered vocals up (the realization comes always last). I have to go "in depth" here - which is fairly easy as I have vocals and piano/orchestra seperated.

And now the fun starts again: Which soundstage.

Then again... now I can use smaller ones. And for this, the perfect solutions would be (in order of size):

- Promenadikeskus Concert Hall, Porj, Finland

- Philips Hall, Netherlands

- Todd-AO Scoring Stage, Los Angeles, CA

*starting biggest to smallest*

Still not easier to chose from. But now I can focus on certain sounds: Small Orchestra recordings compared to Film/Game Score recordings.

And there goes the night for me. I'll keep you updated.

EDIT:

OMG VGDJ was just released with the trailer of Chrono Symphonic... and it sounds sooooo different. *not to mention that SatQ was changed about 3 times since then*

[ZenithYoda]

Since I don't wanna read all the pages, has there been any talk of if there is gonna be a torrent for this?

It looks like you have enough mirrors, but I like bittorrent....

[Compyfox]

A torrent will be available.

[ZenithYoda]

wow, quick answer. I like bittorent since it makes me feel like I am giving back and not a grubby pirate like I used to be.

[Sleepy Emp]

I vote for "The Last Stand". I'm into battle themes

[Claado Shou]

The Last Stand is a really good song. RoeTaKa definitely blended the songs together well, and the ending perfectly suits the escape from the castle.

As for alternate names to Rellik's track...all the album art and all the other stuff have already been done, so...if you REALLY want it changed (I highly discourage, but it is your track), I need a new name right away (i.e. tonight) so I can have it altered. All the names you have there are too long, just so you know. I like the current name, though, so...take that as you will.

ALSO, I made an oopsies...Track 6 does not include Battle with Magus as a source tune. I shall change that immediately. Sorry for the confusion, if there was any.

~.C.S.~

[Compyfox]

After hours of prelistening, testing, even more listening to material, switching effects on and off and hours of indecision (8 hours at least!), I finally found the right "sound". Or in other words... finally the needle in the hay.

Chrono Symphonic will be 'presented' in the "Promenadikeskus Concert Hall" in Pori, Finland!

It took me a while and the last contenders were the Vredenburg Hall in the Netherlands, the Philips Hall in the Netherlands, the Todd-AO Scoring Stage in Los Angeles and the Promenadikesus Concert Hall in Finland. The last one got the deal. It sounds warm, natural, not too fuzzy (the Todd-AO was standing till the last minute, but it's reflections were either too harsh, or not even there). A nice environment for a 40-60 seats orchestra.

The vocal tracks won't be engineered with a "master reverb". Instead the piano/orchestra only get's the reverb and the vocals stay fairly clean (only minimal reverb as send). With this in-depth engineering I make sure that the vocals don't drown, but then again are still fitting to the whole setup.

Info about the Prominadikeskus Concert Hall:

The 700 seat hall was designed by Architect Company Guttner and built in 1999. The acoustic consulting was provided by Akukon Oy Consulting Engineers. The hall is roughly shoebox shaped with dimensions of 33 x 23 x 15 m (length x width x height) yielding a total volume of approximately 9300 m2. here are balconies on both sides, and the floor rises towards the rear part of the hall. A variety of diffusers has been installed on the walls, and the hall has a set of hanging reflectors above the stage projecting more early sound both to the audience as well as to the musicians. The upholstered seats have a folding seat cushion with perforation on the bottom plate, yielding a relatively small difference between the absorption of an occupied and an unoccupied seat. The first three rows of seats can be removed but they were present during the measurements.

More about the convolution project can be found here:

http://www.acoustics.hut.fi/projects/poririrs/

Now that this is off the table, I have to get back to work.

[Duckman]

awesome!! compy fox you rock, and eveyone who has a track on the new album! it sounds so freakin awesome! I cant wait!!!! :):)

[Rellik]

Hey Claado, I don't care at all a name's just a name.

Glad to hear you've made your decision, Compy - the place is kind of an eyesore, but of course it's the IR that counts.

[Compyfox]

Wait wait wait... fill me in. Why is it an eyesore?

Because it looks like a school audience hall from first sight? Well I had like 3 others at least that looked the same (and more cold). Or is it because it's not a hall in the US but Finland?

[Navi]

soo....someone hit me up with that mirror info, again?

[FM]

FYI, Lucca's arrival also uses the Battle music and a very small portion of Magus's theme.

[Claado Shou]

It DOES? Which battle music? Let me know so I can tell SZ before the site goes up.

~.C.S.~

[Compyfox]

Okay... I got something new for you. This time no fancy narration or stuff. I just can't concentrate atm and I was fooling around with the impulse response of the Promenadikeskus Concert Hall. Remember, those files don't necessarily reflect the final product:

The Masamune (clean without any effects) (0:52min, mp3, 1.04MB)

The Masamune (Impulse Response Fingerprint only) (0:52min, mp3, 1.04MB)

Just another quick hookup of what to expect in terms of "sounddesign".

[Rellik]

I just think the looks of the place are kind of ugly, that's all - the colors seem too bright for my tastes, the materials don't look particularly attractive, and the surfaces seem very flat and there aren't alot of embellishments. Just a matter of tastes.

Thanks for the little demo - the hall sounds nice (rather subtle), and who is The Masamune by?

[Compyfox]

Masamune is by EllyWu and the FX was turned to 30% wet. Not very subtile if you do a direct comparision.

[Blake]

Okay... I got something new for you. This time no fancy narration or stuff. I just can't concentrate atm and I was fooling around with the impulse response of the Promenadikeskua Concert Hall. Remember, those files don't necessarily reflect the final product:

The Masamune (clean without any effects) (0:52min, mp3, 1.04MB)

The Masamune (Impulse Response Fingerprint only) (0:52min, mp3, 1.04MB)

Just another quick hookup of what to expect in terms of "sounddesign".

Nice.

[Kal aMari]

Dammit, I've been reading this topic too much. My dinner's cold.

SatQ sounds pretty good.

And I just dropped my fork listening to Masamune.

[Red Omen]

WHICH PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED SONG ARE YOU WAITING TO HEAR THE MOST?

>Track 05 - Darkness Dueling (LunarHeart)

>Track 06 - Lucca's Arrival (Zas)

>Track 07 - Revelation of Fire (Claado Shou)

>Track 08 - Hymn of Valor (Red Omen)

>Track 14 - Door to the End of Time (Blake Perdue) [to be posted on release date]

>Track 17 - The Third Guru (Claado Shou)

>Track 18 - Beneath the Surface (Rellik)

>Track 20 - Crono's Dream (DarkeSword)

>Track 22 - A Parting of Ways (Unknown)

>Track 23 - The Last Stand (RoeTaKa)

>Track 24 - The New Beginning (Sleepy Emp)

Track 8, definitely. I've never heard that artist before, but he sounds really good.

o wait

[Claado Shou]

Alright, peeps, Compy is going to be posting in a little bit with some...news, so stay tuned for that. Meanwhile, my computer is going to be in pieces in my car as I move out of my apartment and into a hotel for the next few days, so internet access will be limited, at best. Sorry.

Anyway, I will see you all later, when I'm in Jacksonville.

~.C.S.~

[Compyfox]

Bad news, everyone. And yeah... you can blame it on me, it's only fair as I screwed up more than once.

"Chrono Symphonic won't be released before X-Mas or on X-Mas." - or in other words "not this week" (hell even the teaser is wrong now).

There're reasons Why it isn't happening. And most of them will be only excuses for you. For example that I can't force myself on working on it 5+ days in a row from teh point I stood up, till I went to bed. Or private issues I had before, being sick 3 times in between (last time knocked out for over a week), constant headaches the longer I work on the material, concentrating issues. I... simply need a break, can't take it anymore, everything is crushing down!

*sigh* Like I said... All're excuses (however with a truth behind it).

I'm really terribly sorry. Both Claado and I (and especially I) promised you to get this done by the 22nd. "My" deadline was the 20th to get things done. And I failed... again. *Maybe I'm just not made for this*

I can't and won't give you a new releasedate (even if there is one already), neither can I give you any other news other than I'll be also quiet for a bit. Forcing myself to work on that project doesn't make it better, it's the other way around.

Again... I'm terribly sorry for being such a hassle (and whatever else you wanna call me) to you. I guess i's back to the old habit again - which means... "waiting".

Again, I'm terribly sorry.

*reminds me of Working Designs - ironic, isn't it?*

[Liontamer]

Not a big deal to me. As long as you get it done before New Year's Day, that seems fine to me, as 2005 is supposed to be the 10th anniversary year of Chrono Trigger. That's just to preserve some of the symbolism there.

As you work on the project and hear from nothing but fanboys and people who want the tracks out, one's point-of-view tends to become too insular. The big picture is that when it's out, it's out. No one's really gonna remember or care about any delays, as they'll be a moot point.

As far as I'm concerned, just keep doing what you're doing.

[Spoom]

From what it sounds like, you've been working as hard as you could on the project. I don't think anyone's blaming you for it being late, I mean, it's been more than a year, another few weeks won't matter that much.

Is there anything we can do to help you out?