Chimpazilla Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 (edited) ReMixer name: sschafi1 Real name: Sean Schafianski E-mail: Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: Chrono Trigger Name of arrangement: Kronos Name of individual song(s) arranged: Chrono Trigger Comments: Here's a funky take on the main theme of Chrono Trigger! This may or may not be inspired by the Bad Dudes, haha... Standard funk fare with funk kit, keyboard, slap bass, synth, guitar, and pad. Throw in a little funk guitar solo and you got yourself a funk chart! This track follows the same progression and pace as the original (I used sheet music from the OSV and jazzed up the chords a bit). This is actually the first track on my Chrono Trigger Jazz Arrange album, but I wanted to offer this piece for free to give people a taste of the arrangements I offer. What better way to distribute for free than OCR, right? Please, enjoy! --------------------------------------------- Edited May 17, 2015 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 This is quite the mellow yet groovy jazz/funk version of the Chrono Trigger main theme, I'm loving the vibe right away. What I'm not loving is that first lead. Is it a faux trumpet, or is it a synth? This timbre is walking that line where it is "too real to be fake and too fake to be real." This type of sound does a weird thing to my brain as I try to internally decipher what I'm hearing, and my brain goes back and forth between real and fake even though I know it's a synth. I feel like this lead sound is a very weak choice for this reason. I hear plenty of source up until 2:20. When the guitar solo begins, I still recognize the backing chord progressions, but the soloing takes the mix quite far away from the source for me. I know it is still there but it is REALLY interpreted during this second half. I adore the soloing, but I don't feel it is mixed all that well into the soundscape, it sounds a bit too loud/dry, giving it a "pasted on top" feeling. It could stand to come down just a hair in volume and have some early reflection reverb added to it, just a little bit. Honestly I'm right on the border of whether or not this track is passable. It is very groovy and well crafted but there are a couple of big issues I'm not sure I can get over: that first lead sound is one, and the guitar solo mixing and diversion from source material is another. I'm going to wait and see what some other Js think before voting. edit 5/16/15: Listening again. That trumpety lead is still bugging me, it's less about it being in the uncanny valley and more because I just think it is a weak sound, and it goes on for a loooooong part of the song. The timbre is too wide and reverby/delayed and it just lacks impact. It is a sound I would probably use as a countermelody or backing element instead of a lead. The guitar soloing is really very nice! But it still sounds pasted on top. I think this can be fixed fairly easily with a little less volume and a touch of early reflection reverb. I still feel like the arrangement goes off course away from source too much, but it flows well and the backing structure is there, so this squeaks by for me, source-wise. Larry feels like source is fine, so I feel confident with cosigning on that with him. I agree with DarkeSword and Palpable that the song intros pretty suddenly, this isn't a dealbreaker but it isn't optimal. I also feel like the ending is abrupt and not fully resolving. This is indeed a close call, but I feel like I have enough issues with it to warrant a request for a resub. I hope you do though, it's really nice overall. NO (resubmit please) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 I didn't agree with Chimpa on the lead being in the uncanny valley. The way it modulates (e.g. :15-:17, :19-:21, :23-:25), it just sounds like a keyboard patch or synth. Didn't bother me at all, I loved it. Good funky supporting writing to help add something different to the picture for an otherwise relatively straightforward take on the melody. At 1:24, I thought the backing percussion would go to more different places and create more dynamic contrast, so there was some disappointment there on a personal level, but the level of interpretation was still solid. 2:20 moved over into some soloing over the source's chord progressions. I agreed with Chimpa that the guitar work was a touch too loud, so I see where the "pasted on top" comment came from, since it could have sat with the other instrumentation a little better. That said, I can live with how it's mixed there, and it wasn't a dealbreaker at all. Chimpa mentioned it bothered her that the track didn't overtly circle back to the source tune, and I understand that, but IMO it shouldn't affect my vote. For me, 2:19's worth of source usage in the front was already more than half of the track (4:28-long), so I myself don't have a problem with the source usage being front-loaded like that, and then going toward wholly original material for the second half. Ideally, this would have explicitly circled back to the "Chrono Trigger" theme, but to me that has 0 to do with whether the source material was "identifiable and dominant" according to the standards. To me, voting it down on lacking an A-B-A structure or extended soloing would be more of a personal preference on how we'd like to hear an arrangement structured; it's not something that's stated in the Submission Standards. At the end of the day, the wholly original section pieced together fine with the first half due to the shared backing instrumentation. The source tune was conservatively structured but personalized in the arrangement, and everything flowed together fine when moving over into the second half. I'm comfortable with Sean's take here. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zykO Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 what jumps out at me almost immediately with this track is that it sounds like a guitarist with some fairly nice chops who built this arrangement around that fact. that's ultimately why the guitar feels "pasted on top" of the mix... because in essence, it is; on its own, the lead guitar is just from an entirely different planet from the rest of the track which behind it doesn't do much beyond giving it a bed to lay on... but no sheets, comforters or even a pillowas for the arrangement, it's funky fresh and cool but doesn't do anything. the orchestration is where the track shines in that it marries all the proper pieces to give us that "funky" chrono trigger deal but in the end, none of the accompanying parts do anything beyond very conservative typecast phrasing. and that isn't even taking into account the synth trumpet that is, as Chimpy perfectly characterized, is either too fake to be real or too real to be fake but ultimately, not convincingly either one.the idea is ace. the guitar playing, once you free yourself from the first few bars of rote licks and scale-pushing, is also pretty ace. the arrangement and orchestration, sadly, is where it falls short and feels flat and uninspiring. the ending is nonexistent and not in that provocative, envelope-pushing, artistic way... more in that got-lazy-and-didn't-end-the-track way. this is certainly not a NO. I urge you to work these things out, get more creative with what you're doing with the accompaniment, liven up that trumpet lead (lose the mod flutters, they sound more like the kind a flute makes) and give the lead guitar (a nice, grimy vintage tone btw) some help in the mix and you've got yourself a winnerRESUB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Let's get one thing out of the way first: this piece has a great soundscape and the guitar is fantastic. That said, the structure of this piece really bothers me. For starters, the track just jumps right in without any kind of buildup, and the accompaniment is basically on autopilot all the way through. There's a lot of flourish and embellishment in there that I like, but it still feels like it's repeating the same syncopated riff over and over again. Also the piece feels incomplete without a return to the source in order to restate the melody. This track essentially just runs through the entire set of chord changes twice: once with the melody, once with a guitar solo. Why not have the lead guitar pick up some of the melody in the front-half? Why not go back to the source for a little in the back half? Why only twice through and done? Like I said, this feels incomplete to me. Maybe I'm being overly harsh? The performances are stellar and this really amazing sounding, but the structure is leaving me doubting. I'm going to go with a NO, resub. This is a VERY borderline NO though, so if this track sits here in the queue for too long I'm willing to shift to a YES. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Completely agree with Chimpa's assessment of the lead. It sounds more like it's trying to be a synth than a muted trumpet, but sounds enough like a muted trumpet that it hits the uncanny valley for me. I don't think it's a very strong sound in any case, not enough character to hold interest as a lead. I also didn't like how the song started with everything going, it was abrupt. I LOVED the guitar soloing. Really classy stuff that works well with the chord progression laid out here, and adds a lot of interest to the song. But as a jazz song, it seems strange that you don't return to the main melody, as is usually the case. This would have sounded fantastic if the first lead took turns with the guitar to handle the CT melody again at the end. I don't think genre conventions need always be adhered to, but in this case, it's strange to end it where you did. Production is not perfect, but definitely solid. Good enough to pass on that front. Really tough decision, but I think I will side with the NOs. I'm so tempted to pass it because of how strong some elements of it are, but I think there's a couple flaws that put it right below the passing line. NO (resub) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 Strong points: Vibe. With a capital "Ibe." The groove is nice, if a bit loose. There's pretty good space between the bass, keys and rhythm guitar. Nicely done. A few problems are holding this thing back. The mix is a bit gnarly in some places. The rhythm guitar is not compressed enough, and probably too dry. It sounds like you went direct, no amp, and it sticks out in a bad way. Not a dealbreaker though. The lead sax is pretty weak. Extremely unnatural sounding, which is okay, but it's also forced and clunky. You can sequence a totally unrealistic sound without it sounding like it was played on a keyboard. The use of the pitch bend is really off-putting. The biggest problem with this track is the solo. You've got some very nice chops, no doubt, but this is not a well-constructed solo. It's all over the place. It sounds like you put a dozen or so riffs in a bag, shook it up and dumped it out on the track in whatever order it landed. There's no cohesion from one phrase to another. Now I'm not saying it's terrible. It's not. But there's no reason to listen to this solo for half of the damn song. Two minutes of guitar soloing. If you're going to play a 2-minute guitar solo, you'd better have a freaking direction (See: SRV - Little Wing, or Steve Vai - Love of God). This solo doesn't go anywhere. On top of it, there's no ending. Make the solo 1/4th as long, and bring the melody back at the end, and this is a yes. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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