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Chrono Trigger - Main theme (Rock remix)


StormSkuggan
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Hi! Me and some friends from Uni have this neat thing where each of us make VGM remixes every november. I chose a Chrono trigger mix because I'm playing through the game for the first time right now and it's amazing! I've have listened to the soundtrack for the longest time but never got around to playing it until now. I am now looking to see if the song is worthy of being submitted to this site.

The song is an attempt att making rock/metal but without guitars and instead having a heavily distorted organ fill in its place.

I would appreciate all the feedback.

Here is the Remix:

Newest updated version here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=12-qkJ2cy7DSHaMHFj3_MBoxhcfR90_eH
 

Here is the Source:

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The heavily distorted organ(?), that sounds like a rhythm guitar, has got some sort of modulation that's causing it to pan from left to right. It sounds a bit jarring on my headphones. Maybe keep it stable in the centre or reduce that effect. Also, the song might benefit from a more open reverb. 

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StormSkuggan, you are in the right path!

You have good ideas that gave me incentive to finally make an account to post into these forums. I have a lot to comment, but I'll focus on the "to improve on" because that's my reviewing style, but don't think that because I will speak little of the qualities I didn't liked what you did. I do like, and a lot ^^

Overall, if you do intend to label this ReMix as rock/metal, I feel the mix to lack the punch and the groove of these styles. What kind of do you have familiarity with Power Metal? Are you thinking more in the lines of an Angra, a Gamma Ray or a DragonForce? My cents of suggestion if you need a sound reference =)

The introduction for me sounds unclear, hauhauah. But to the point that I was unclear about if it should be unclear, and this "double uncleariness" seems to be in need of a direction :P

The hi-hats on the drums that begin at 0:12 sound to me as lacking humanization (and maybe another sample with greater quality can do great here). This is a universal problem to all your production, but here is a flare sign.

The electric bass that begins at 1:01 and the electric guitar that enters sound to me as in need of a better timbral treatment. Their section until 1:56 sounds to me as somewhat dragging; you could benefit for introducing more elements here to retain the listener's attention or/and, preferably, reduce this section in lenght.

At 2:23 you do a rittornello of the two main materials. In the actual shape, I don't feel this will work. Repetition is great and necessary to ensure musical form, but you need to do the second showing in a new light for it to not sound boring. The melodic variations of the source are cool, take them even further if you are bold to it.

At 2:51 you introduce the secondary material of the source. You alter the timbre of the lead melody a bit, and the rest of the rhythm section changes accordingly, but I feel it's not enough. You can enrich this by adding some instrumentation, giving the melody to another instrument, changing the equalization, and maybe all of this together.

At 3:15 you do a false entrance of the coda of the source material in a 3/4 meter. Man, this is awsome. You build this great formal energy that grows into a... Repetition of 1:56 at 3:29? For me, this was very frustrating :/

From 1:56 to the previous section, speaking of OCRemix Submission Standards, you may run the risk of staying too close of the original source, in terms of the order of the materials.

Then in 3:29 you expose the pair of main materials again, but in a way too similar to the previous one (no significant changes in instrumentation, lack of SFX, same timbre in the melody, etc). And in 3:56 you go to the secondary material, with great melodic variation.

In 4:21 is my favourite moment. This suspension with the arpeggios from the piano are marvelous. You can enchance this to even further highs with better production / mixing techniques, but the idea is awsome \o/

Then in 4:34 we finally have an extended coda. You can work better the rhythm section in terms of energy and more notes to make it feel more "codastic". This moment is the upward strike, but there are other moments in the music that have more momentum than here, and that can be improved.

The warping portal you open at 5:04 is a marvelous idea, and ultra innovative in terms of remixes in this site, and the reason you convinced me to give all this attention to your post. But I feel you can execute this idea better. The transition from the coda to it sounds strange and unclear, and the the following chaotic motions of the voices are cool but lack the vortex-y feeling of what is happening. You need to put more sound effects here for it to really work as intended.

Speaking of sound effects, if you are really in the rock/metal vibe, if I'm allowed to suggest a Progressive Metal project, check out the last Ayreon album, "The Source". It has a lot of great SFX, and in great variety. The four last tracks can give you great ideas of what to apply here =D

Well, sorry for the wall of text. This is my first post, and I got excited, but I do hope it's useful XD

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Thank you for the generous amount of feedback Rafael! I am honored that I inspired you to join the forums!

In general i agree that the composition could use some work in the middle sections to avoid being as repetitive. My aim with the song is to have it be more prog rock/metal during verses and more power metal during choruses and solo section. That's why the parts around 1:01 is as long as they are but that's not an excuse for them to sound boring, will probably touch up that as well.

On 2017-12-13 at 11:08 AM, Rafael A. A. Merlo said:

The introduction for me sounds unclear, hauhauah. But to the point that I was unclear about if it should be unclear, and this "double uncleariness" seems to be in need of a direction :P

The intro is something similar to the ending, moving backwards in time. I'll try to make it and the ending more clear with some more SFX.

 

.

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  • 1 month later...

EDIT: A newer version is available in the next post.

Hey again! I'm still working on this and have a couple of changes.

Link to the remix: (OLD)    https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ny-24c4qsuNPmUVVLJmrDh26S8TPhIk-

List of notable changes:

  • Changed the tambourine at the intro to a better one
  • Revamped the part at 1:18 to be at bit more funky and interesting.
  • A new lead sound for the part at 1:45 + some chord changes and removed the repetition of that part
  • Some changes to the rythm section of the Coda at 3:56
  • Some more humanization on drums, upped the kick some.
  • Added FX to the ending to accentuate a time vortex opening
  • Removed the time vortex in the beginning, might add it back in if i can make FX like i did with the ending.
  • Other stuff...

My main concern now is what to do with the part at 2:51. I want to do something new, relative to the rest of the song but i couldn't come up with anything that didn't sit well together with the rest. I switched the melody to a solo with the new lead instead just for fun but i'm not sure i should keep it.

 

Edited by StormSkuggan
Updated Remix again
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  • 1 month later...

Always love me some Chrono Trigger! Alright, here goes:

EVAL:

Piano at the beginning is nice, though I'd back off on the reverb. The tambourines in the background seem out of place, and also a bit heavy on the reverb. The distorted organ is an intriguing choice for the chords here; my first thought was that it was some wierd power-chord samples, but a closer listen makes it clear that this is something much more interesting. Jury's still out on whether I like it. The transition afterward (starting around 0:30) feels too acoustically busy, and has nothing melodically or rhythmically interesting, and so as a listener I don't know what my ears are supposed to be focusing on.

At 0:50, things are getting a bit better. I like the bass tone. Some dischordant parts in the background synths, particularly at 1:07, but I feel like that might be intentional.

At 1:18 we're back to the more rock-ish stuff. The distorted organ is sounding great here! The lead synth seems a bit mid-heavy, and I think the melody might work better an octave higher, or with a synth that fills in the high-end more. The Guitar-ish section after this is a bit too loose for my liking, and it also feels a bit out of place; bringing in a guitar for just this section detracts from the novelty of the guitar-less rock approach you've established thus far in the mix, while not really bringing enough to the table in and of itself. The chord progression sounds weird, particularly at 2:10; would love to get some thoughts on why that chord doesn't sound right from somebody with more knowledge of music theory, but all I can say is it just sounds like the wrong chord for the progression.

Section at 2:13 sounds fine to me, other than that crash cymbal that you're hitting each quarter at what sounds to me like the exact same velocity. Vary up the velocity on that a bit more. Otherwise I like this section.

The Key transition at 2:37 sounds a bit odd (again, somebody with more knowledge of theory than I have could probably provide further insight), but I quite like the rhythmic changeup.

The toms in the next section (starting at 2:51) are excessive, and this is make all the worse by the samples sounding too thin. Other instruments sounds decent, though as earlier the reverb is too heavy for my liking.

The brief organ run at 3:18 is cool, but the kick drum is too repetitive in the section immediately after.

Some really cool stuff going on, but there are too many flaws for this to be sub ready. It has excessive reverb, repetitive percussion, and some jarring chord transitions. I'd also look for ways to shorten the intro and outro.

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[This is an automatically generated message]

I've reviewed your remix and have returned it to Work-in-Progress status, indicating that I think there are some things you still need to work on. After you work on your track and feel that you'd like some more feedback, please change the prefix back to Ready for Review and I'll review it again! Good luck!

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