OCR04205 - *YES* Chrono Trigger "The Journey to the Darkest Depths" *RESUB*

[Rexy]

Original Decision

Contact Info:

 

• ReMixer name : Schneider Souza
• Real name : Schneider Ferreira Reis de Souza
• email address : 
• Website :  https://www.youtube.com/user/SchneiderSouza / schneidersouza.com
• UserID: 36702

 

Submission Information:

• Name of game: Chrono Trigger
• Name of arrangement :   The Journey to the Darkest Depths
• Name of individual song(s): Ocean Palace ( or Undersea palace)
• All the information about this song is included in the site 
   

My own comments:

Last October I was looking for a song with some horror appeal to create a remix for Halloween.

When I was listening to my favorite songs I was intrigued about the scariness and tenseness of the harmonies and melodies of Undersea Palace. Something clicked in my mind and my intuition told me to work with this song.

After listening several times, I began to imagine some 80’s synthesizers creating an atmosphere similar to horror movies from that decade. It was a blurred vision of the sound, but at that moment I got an idea: make a darker synthwave remix inspired by Carpenter Brut, Scandroid and Dance with the Dead.

After that I started with the following steps: 1 - I wrote the basic kick and snare pattern of the style; 2 - I create a basic bass line to be the guideline. I was skeptical about the compound time signature in the bass but when I wrote the basic lines and hit the play button I immediately felt  that I was on the right (evil) track. From that moment on, the arrangement flowed as if the dark energies of Halloween were guiding me.

Committed to the synthwave genre and inspired by John Carpenter’s work, I crafted some timbers (using synthesizers) and experimented a lot with reverbs and delays to mimic a horror film feel. I also used an organ sound to bring the horror movie imaginary that was culturally constructed. 

And to complete the arrangement I added some heavy guitar with power chords to make the song heavier and dense. With this, the solo was just a way to add another narrative within/through it and to create a moment to build the ending of the song

I used the pitch and tempo automation to simulate the LP (Long Play/Vinyl) changing of speed because you know listening to LPs playing backwards is when you can hear some dark messages from hell. With that, I could start my narrative proposal to the song. The initial move of the LP is the beginning of the journey to the dark depths and the second is the end of the narrative. The ending idea, I confess, is inspired by War Pigs (Black Sabbath).

Ps. This is a resubmission after fixing what was asked in the reviews. 

Thanks,

Schneider Souza
 

[Emunator]

Sounding great! This nicely addressed my minor qualms with the original submission without introducing any new unintended errors. I will say that I wish the filter envelope allowed a little more high-end bite to come through on the lead synth, but this approach is already leaps and bounds better. The drums feel much more lively, I appreciate how you kept the core rhythm the same while adding some subtle variations to prevent it from growing stale. 

This was already so close during my initial vote, so I'm glad you took the time to push it over the bar! 

YES

[Rexy]

Oh, I agree with Wes here for sure.  When I heard the track via the inbox, I looked out for all criticisms I wanted to see get addressed.  I detected the more varied beats and fills, some new synths with some fantastic modulations that shape their way through the mix, and a considerable cleanup effort that brought out your backing parts more.  Not only did my main issues get checked there, but you threw in that bonus of the tempo shift at the end!  I wasn't expecting my silly comment about making the ending sound more like "War Pigs" like you intended to get looked at, but that alone flat out made my night - so I appreciate you even looking into the small details!

It's still not all perfect on the production values, though.  Your kit's overhead is now more robust in energy, but it can be borderline almost too over-powering on the crashes at times, and a quick volume adjustment would've been nice there.  Similarly, with the pulsing bass getting low-mid EQ cuts to accommodate other parts, it's now lost some bite and feels pushed to the back.  None of those irks are dealbreakers, as all instruments now have a defined presence, a role to play, and suitable articulations to keep everything moving.

As you can tell, Schneider, I am so happy you decided to return to this one.  The technical presentation is now up there with the vision on the arrangement, and I'm very keen to see it get onto the OCR front page.  Excellent work!

YES

[Gario]

Wow, this sounds like a metal arrangement heavily influenced by the "Halloween" franchise, holy shit I am digging this style. Setting the arrangement to the swing of 6/8 rather than the 3/4 the source is set to is a nice touch, too - you can often get a lot of creative mileage out of that alone. Whatever mixing issues were present in the prior seems to have been fixed, since I can hear everything just fine in this, and it all sounds very well balanced. The ending is a little strange, but that could very well be personal preference on my end.

This is pretty great, let's get it up on the front page.

YES

[prophetik music]

rubber stamping this. the switch to 6/8 is such a great, simple change. i agree with gario that it sounds solid as-is. i particularly like the break at 1:21 and subsequent transition at 1:34. the solo at 2:10 is great and i particularly like the lead tone. the ending is indeed kind of weird and unexpected but it's not a game breaker.

nice work.

 

 

YES