Chimpazilla Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 (edited) Contact Info ReMixer name: Daniel Henri Website: https://soundcloud.com/danielhenri User ID: 51105 Submission Info Name of game arranged: Chrono Trigger Name of arrangement: Breezy Name of individual song arranged: Wind Scene Additional Info: Composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, originally for the SNES Link to original song: Comments: This has always been one of my favorite pieces of VGM. For me it is very laid back but at the same time elicits a sort of meloncholy feeling. I tried to take a semi-jazz approach with this arrangement but to me it also seems inspired by some progressive/instrumental/fusion groups that I enjoy listening to. Hope you all enjoy it! I've attached the mp3 file but you can also find it in .wav format on my soundcloud. ------------------------------------------------- Edited January 6, 2015 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 (edited) This was quite a fun arrangement to listen to, I've heard jazzy arrangements and piano arrangements of Wind Scene many times before but nothing quite like this. Cool interpretation. Here's a quick source breakdown (being generous with the little bars of improvisation sandwiched between melodies, so your mileage may vary.) 0:00 - 0:54 [54s] I'm hearing a repeated melody between 0:54 and 1:54 that sounds kinda Chrono-esque, but since there's no other source mentioned in the email and I can't figure out how it's derived from Wind Scene, I'm not counting it. 2:07 - 2:24 [17s] 2:46 - 3:03 [17s] 98 sec. source / 193 sec. total = 45.6% source usage Arrangement wise, this would be a pass for me if the melodies during that long period in the middle of the track could be tied to something in the Chrono soundtrack, but as it is, that's below the line where I'd give the benefit of the doubt on source usage. Someone help me out here? There's a couple other points I'd like to make aside from the arrangement. Your piano/bass/strings/brass samples sound fine for this style and are appropriately expressive to work for a jazz arrangement. However, the drum sequencing is a weak link in the chain. The samples themselves sound a bit low-quality but serviceable at the end of the day, but the rigid sequencing becomes really noticeable when the cowbell, snare, toms, and ride cymbal (to name a few) come in and sound like they're playing the same velocity for each note. See :22 - :30 for the ride cymbal, 1:57 - 2:08 on the cowbell, and pretty much the whole entirety of 1:00 - 2:00 on the toms for a few particularly noticeable examples of what I'm talking about. The drum writing itself is fine but the way they're sequenced kills the illusion of a live jazz group and takes me out of the piece. I would scale back and/or vary your tom writing during the second minute of the track, it's pretty unrelenting and I thought it was worth pointing out. I definitely get what you're trying to do with the low-fi filter on the piano toward the end, and I think it's a stylistic good choice, but I'd recommend easing up on whatever filter/crusher you're using just a bit, because after 2:46 the distortion starts clipping and just sounds unpleasant to me. To be clear, even if that middle section does turn out to be Chrono-inspired material, I would still send this back on the basis of the drum sequencing and ending distortion, which I think is a dealbreaker, but if the source usage checks out I think this could be a pretty easy resub, as I think your source interpretation and performance is well above the bar otherwise. NO (resubmit) Edited December 22, 2014 by Emunator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Good points by Wes above. I'd add that all of the instruments sound quite dry, which doesn't help the realism here. Given the genre, I wouldn't add much, but I think this could benefit from a touch of room reverb on pretty much everything. This will help it sound less stiff on the sequencing and help instruments gel better together as a whole. Gonna second the distortion comments about the piano effect at the end. As far as arrangement, I'm not really hearing anything from Wind Scene in the middle third of the track either. It does sort of remind me of some of the music from the 65M BC section of the game (this comes to mind: ), but I haven't found anything that could be called a direct connection.Overall, cool approach and very creative writing ideas. I'd say that either some clarification or additional writing in the middle section to connect this to the OST as well as some production fixes and this should be in good shape. NO resubmit, please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 The writing does sound stiff... this still works but I agree about adding some tasteful reverb so everything isn't so dry. It definitely has an old-time feel, and the samples support that. But yeah, a bit of reverb staging will help a lot. Wes is right about the rigidly-sequenced drums, especially the cowbell. Honestly I'd love to hear this track mixed with a bit more intensity in the highs and lows, it isn't necessary but might give the track more impact. There is definitely some distortion in the section beginning at 2:44. Ease off the filter just a bit there. That bit in the middle is definitely familiar. Please tell us what it is so it can be counted! (if/when you resubmit) NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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