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Why are there so few decent Chrono Trigger remixes?


Hal_Emmerich
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My impression was that most people who make OC grade remixes had several thousand dollar equipment setups with all the trimmings.

To be honest, I never considered the Trial in Concert to be an OC grade remix - it just happened to be received well. The production was terrible because I was just learning recording technology at that time, and the playing was less than perfect because it was improvised. Given that was at least 5 years ago, if I were to have produced that track today, it would be far better. But at the time, I used little more than a couple ill-suited vocal microphones to do a hack job of recording.

I believe a good knowledge and education about music theory and the proper technological way to go about producing can make someone with very limited gear do fantastic things. But the reality is that given the right tools, someone capable of using them can undeniably produce far better results. These days, it does not take very much of an investment in gear to acquire a base level of technology that empowers you to do crazy things that weren't possible even a few years ago. One can only hope the general level of musical competence of people adopting new advances in affordable gear would not decrease inversely, from a fast growing complacency resulting from taking for granted the freedom that is offered by such cheap and powerful technology. The saying holds true often that less is more. The technology should not limit you from exploring, but it should not cause one to let its freedom make them indecisive, and as a result the quality of the music suffers.

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Correct me if i'm wrong someone, but I was under the impression that Darkesword (who has a few Chrono Trigger mixes up) works with flstudio (what like $100-ish), and entirely free samples and soundfonts. As he shows, it's not impossible to sound awesome on a low budget, you just need to know how to push the buttons.

This is a true statement.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Thanks for the support and the understanding. To be quite honest, I kind of expected some flame when I posted it, so that wasn't a big surprise. After the first few posts, its nice to know there are people who understood the point I was trying to make (or at least politely disagreed) :). To answer a few questions that got raised in the thread though.

#1: The reason for the focus on Chrono Trigger is because Square has demonstrated time and time again they will not orchestrate the majority of Chrono Trigger themes. All of the Final Fantasy games have had their orchestral arrangements, however Chrono Trigger had that little mini arranged disc (the '99 OST) and the jazz arrangement, a lot of which I thought was utter crap honestly (the rendition of Magus's theme killed my inner child). Anyone looking for orchestrated themes for this game just really has no where to turn-- which is a shame when the music leans towards orchestration that much. As you said, the statement can really be applied to any game.

#2: I never said the other songs 'pissed me off'. On the contrary, I love a lot of the songs on the site, even the ones that are out of context. Its just that theres a certain degree of pleasure in hearing the familliar tune done in higher quality. Why else would there be several versions of One Winged Angel floating around that mostly remain true to the original theme?

#3: Why make topic titles provocative? Attention draw mostly, and I had planned on making it a true statement from the argument, which I sadly failed to do.

#4: As to Mogrothir, The Trial In Concert is actually one of my favorite remixes. I do like Calamitous judgement too, its a great song. I just have very fond memories of Chrono Trigger (first RPG) and have long since been waiting for an orchestral rearrangement to come out.

I do plan on sticking around, this seems like a fairly nice forum, and I finally got around to registering.

By the way, they really need to make a Tyrano Lair remix eh, you know, when they go fight the reptites at their base. That place's music was ooo so satisfyin :D

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I think the problem is you're trying to redefine the meaning of the word "decent". Most people would think saying something is "not decent" is like saying something is "bad".

Anyway, asking remixers to keep the source tune's atmosphere around here is like... missing the point. Even official rearrangements of game soundtracks don't do this sometimes. Calling remixes that don't "not decent" could hardly be taken as anything but an insult to the remixers, even if I agree there's no harm done in keeping the atmosphere. To be honest, sometimes I feel like the site's requirement that a remix must be interpretive forces some people to make gratuitous reinterpretations of the source tunes in order to have their mix accepted to the site, and I also hold little interest in most of the remixes that are so "reinterpretive" that you can barely make out the source tune, but that do keep the general atmosphere of the game - but - saying that remixes that are reinterpretive are "not decent" and putting them all in the "not decent bag" is just... wrong.

I think there are lots of remixes on the site, new and old, that don't live up to my ideals - I find them boring or uninteresting, if not poorly composed. Crappy drums, misinterpretations (not reinterpretations, mind you) of the source's chord sequences or melodies etc. ad infinitum. There are probably a large number of good remixes that don't live up to the judge panel's ideals regarding sound quality that we never get to hear because the submitter never improves the sound quality to where the panel would have it (I would be one of those submitters if my remixes were good). So, considering the number of Chrono Trigger mixes on the site, how could anyone not be disappointed by some of them?

Also,

Actually, I do know how to play the Piano, as well as a few other instruments. Composition on the other hand was never really a strong suit of mine, but I might give it a shot some time. Doesn't it usually require very expensive hardware and thousand dollar software to get involved though?

My impression was that most people who make OC grade remixes had several thousand dollar equipment setups with all the trimmings.

If your remixes aren't good enough for OCR, that's OCR's problem. Remixing just to get your face on the front page of OCR won't get you anywhere. Make your own remix and make it yours, then try to get it posted here. Don't try to suck up to the judges by buying better equipment than you need (and by that I don't mean they want you to). When remixes submitted to OCR are designed, and created only to please the judges, OCR is as dead as the western hemisphere of the Eurovision Song Contest, culturally speaking. That said, I'm not saying using expensive equipment won't help you get your remix accepted... ;)

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Bad Tuna is light years beyond any CT remix. Ever.

But seriously. I do kinda have a problem with the whole "Do it yourself" mentality that gets thrown around here a lot. I know some people come off as assholes about requests, but me personally, and I know a lot of other people too to a point just can't listen to their own music and enjoy it. Every song Ive recorded with bands I've been in, I do not listen to them. I play them, and that's it. I'm sure a remix would be the same to me if I had one posted here. Just pointing that out though.

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But seriously. I do kinda have a problem with the whole "Do it yourself" mentality that gets thrown around here a lot

Me too, but for different reasons. When someone says "Why don't you just do it yourself?" it makes it sound like arranging and producing a piece of music is something that anyone can do with enough effort. I don't think that's the case at all. Some people are just not good at music, and no amount of effort will help them make something truly remarkable. Such is the case for any artform.

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Also a good point. Everyone is different in many different ways. I personally are more suited for playing in metal bands. I have attempted remixing but pretty much come up with nothing close to mediocre at best. A lot of it has to come with natural abilities. But either way, yeah, I just hate seeing people say that in a majority of the request threads.

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I think the problem is you're trying to redefine the meaning of the word "decent". Most people would think saying something is "not decent" is like saying something is "bad".

Anyway, asking remixers to keep the source tune's atmosphere around here is like... missing the point. Even official rearrangements of game soundtracks don't do this sometimes. Calling remixes that don't "not decent" could hardly be taken as anything but an insult to the remixers, even if I agree there's no harm done in keeping the atmosphere. To be honest, sometimes I feel like the site's requirement that a remix must be interpretive forces some people to make gratuitous reinterpretations of the source tunes in order to have their mix accepted to the site, and I also hold little interest in most of the remixes that are so "reinterpretive" that you can barely make out the source tune, but that do keep the general atmosphere of the game - but - saying that remixes that are reinterpretive are "not decent" and putting them all in the "not decent bag" is just... wrong.

I think there are lots of remixes on the site, new and old, that don't live up to my ideals - I find them boring or uninteresting, if not poorly composed. Crappy drums, misinterpretations (not reinterpretations, mind you) of the source's chord sequences or melodies etc. ad infinitum. There are probably a large number of good remixes that don't live up to the judge panel's ideals regarding sound quality that we never get to hear because the submitter never improves the sound quality to where the panel would have it (I would be one of those submitters if my remixes were good). So, considering the number of Chrono Trigger mixes on the site, how could anyone not be disappointed by some of them?

Also,

If your remixes aren't good enough for OCR, that's OCR's problem. Remixing just to get your face on the front page of OCR won't get you anywhere. Make your own remix and make it yours, then try to get it posted here. Don't try to suck up to the judges by buying better equipment than you need (and by that I don't mean they want you to). When remixes submitted to OCR are designed, and created only to please the judges, OCR is as dead as the western hemisphere of the Eurovision Song Contest, culturally speaking. That said, I'm not saying using expensive equipment won't help you get your remix accepted... ;)

Hahah true that, I can't believe how many songs they have blammed recently...I'll bet that some of them were actually half decent, I mean there's already a buncha "mediocre-Judged" songs here. (Besides I'm ticked that they blammed a Super Metroid remix lol)

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  • 1 month later...

Does anybody know the title of the one song in Chrono Trigger inside of the cathedral before you find the secret door and also right before you fight Masa and Mune? it may be that someone has already made a remix of this song and i just haven't found it yet...

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  • 2 weeks later...

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