Chrono Trigger - Schala's Theme Synthwave/Outrun Remix

[FUSION42]

 

 

Hey everyone! Made a new remix. I know Schala's theme has been done a million times but I feel like this is a different take on it.  Definitely 80s inspired... Not sure if it fully qualifies as synthwave/outrun.  Mix is pretty much done, and I'd like to submit this, but thought it would be prudent to pay a visit here first and get some feedback I start that process.  Please share your thoughts!

 

Original: 

 

Remix: 

 

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Evaluation:

Ok, before I get to anything else: the use of the lavos scream sample at 0:30 would instantly disqualify this mix, as OCR cannot accept mixes with samples from Square games.

With that out of the way, let's see how the rest of the mix holds up.

Production:

The whole thing is very compressed and busy, and my ears feel tired long before the track ends. Go lighter on the compression, let the parts breathe. The bass synth has too much presence in the mid range.

Arrangement:

The melody isn't changed much, but the accompaniment/background is sufficiently interpretive. However, at 1:05, you repeat the previous section with no variation that I can detect; if you're going to repeat the main melody immediately, it should have some sort of variation to keep it interesting. The brief slowdown at 1:50 was awkward. The already-repeated section from earlier repeats once again at 2:30. The fadeout ending, while characteristic of the synthwave style, still felt disappointing.

On the whole, the mix feels very busy and repetitive, but I feel like you have enough material here to make a much more interesting mix. First of all, I recommend backing off on the compression. But arrangement is, I think, where the most work needs to be done. Throughout much of the mix, you have a lot of different synths competing for the listener's attention; by allowing these various parts to take the spotlight at different points, rather than having them all going at once for pretty much the whole mix, you could use most of the same sounds and ideas to craft a much more captivating arrangement.

As-is, I think this mix would very likely be rejected.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

[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!