OCR04322 - *YES* Chrono Trigger "Neons of Time"

[Emunator]

ReMixer name: Neon X
EMail: 
Website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV8NwzoUa9I9HD1YXRIXp3g
UserID: 37046

Name of game: Chrono Trigger
Name of arrangement: Neons of Time
Name of song: Corridors of Time
Original composer: Yasunori Mitsuda
 

For clarification:
Name of remix: Neons of Time
Name of original song: Corridors of Time

 

 

[prophetik music]

a bucket list track to remix for me. just such a classic.

intro is great and i love the initial hit. i almost wish there was more intro before the melody came in - starting with the melodic content right away almost feels rushed. the melody is handled in a zipper synth that's gliding everywhere and that's fun. the background has some altered chords (notably a major resolution). besides that the initial part is fairly straightforward. there's some fun volumized stuff in the break at 1:02, and a nice sidechained drop before the second section comes back in. i love the customization on the lead here - there's a lot of attention paid to a really fun part of the original, and a ton of soloing around the melody to keep it moving. when the harmonized part of the solo comes in, it's certainly too loud, but it sounds really fun. after this, around 2:15, there's a simpler section, and we get what sounds like copypasta from the beginning for another recap of the melody. there's a drop at 2:55 to take us out via filtro and that's the ballgame. there's some pad holdover that sounds weird at the very end but it's not a huge deal.

in terms of negatives, the snare has a bunch of verb baked into it but there's not much that i can hear in the track on it, so it sounds kind of weird. it's also pretty loud. separately, the lead is too loud as well - it completely crushes everything else. i'd think both the snare and leads could come down by at least 3db and still be very clearly audible.

overall this is closer to the bar than i initially thought. the first minute is pretty conservative but sounds nice. the second minute or so features a great breakdown and fantastic solo work (admittedly too loud), and then the last minute is copypasta and then a super generic ending. i think it sounds like a track that i want to listen to a lot, though, so i am willing to overlook what i considered to be missteps and give this one a passing grade.

 

 

YES

[MindWanderer]

it may be an overdone source, but that's because it deserves it.  This isn't a groundbreaking treatment, but it's some solid synthwave for all that.  Great synth choices, good progression.  Practically a textbook example of how to do a creative bridge for an OC ReMix track: clearly derived from the source material yet clearly original.  It occurred to me that if you trained a really, really good AI to create OC ReMixes, it might come up with something like this; it's essentially the archetypal track for us in terms of source material, structure, genre, and approach.

2:23-2:53 is a repeat of 0:16-0:46, but 30 seconds of a 3:16 track is acceptable.  The weak ending makes it feel more repetitive than it really is, since there aren't any new ideas for nearly the last full minute.  It's not a dealbreaker, though, and nothing else about this is.

YES

[Liontamer]

It's a pretty bread-and-butter genre adaptation to start, but hits hard and personalizes the sound well. I liked the original writing ideas introduced at :47 as well as 1:04 and 1:20; subtle things that nicely helped put your own stamps on this treatment of the theme. Cool liberal variations of the melody 1:36 followed by some original vamping afterward. Bro, just great ideas throughout the middle to make this unique while surrounding by the more conservative parts at the beginning and end. Nice energy throughout!

YES

[DarkSim]

Your previous remixes had the synthwave sound palette nailed down, and this is no exception. The simple-yet-sumptuous lead synth comes in with the melody at 0:16, displaying some nice pitchbends and subtle vibrato on sustained notes. The backing is solid, with plucky arps, a warm fuzzy bass, and my favourite part is that faux-flute appearing at 0:08 and elsewhere throughout the track. Delicious reverb and delay on that. Percussion is solid, although I found the tambourine had too much reverb for my taste, as it felt like it was sitting too far behind the mix. It’s panned hard left as well, which adds to the spacial disparity with the rest of the mix.

There’s a production error in there at 1:16 which is a shame, because I really like how you've tried to create a transition using a sidechain on long-feedback reverb. Unfortunately, something from the hit at 1:11 is reverberating too much and causing a bitcrushing artefact in the mix. It’s making a crunching sound which is quiet, although noticeable.

The transition out of the half-tempo section was handled well, and I enjoyed how the solo resolved just before kicking back into the main groove. It finishes with an unremarkable ending, but nonetheless a hugely enjoyable track. Homage to the original, followed by personal expansion, ending with a recap of the source. To any aspiring ReMixers out there: take notes. Arrangement-wise, this is a great blueprint for OCReMix, and I always love hearing Neon X take on a source in his signature style.

YES