OCR04731 - *YES* Chrono Trigger & Donkey Kong Country "Ambience of the Forest"

[Emunator]

Artist: jnWake, Emunator

Mastered by Chimpazilla

K, so another DoD month ends which means another submission for OCR by me! This time, the monthly theme was "Franchise Fusion" and the requirement was to mix at least 2 games from different franchises. After pondering it for a while, I decided that a good idea would be to mix 2 themes that were popular, so that people could recognize the actual fusion of themes. I quickly chose Aquatic Ambience since it's a lovely theme and I already knew it on piano. Secret of the Forest then came naturally as another iconic chill theme from the SNES era. I had never actually noticed how similar both themes are and plenty of DoDers were surprised this idea "had never done before" (it surely has, but as far as I know there's not a particularly popular mash-up on YouTube or other websites).

Anyway, so about the mix. Since the theme was fusion I made the arrangement with the idea of melding both themes together as much as possible. I even began the song using the actual soundfonts from the games. Most sections of the arrangement feature the backing of one of the tunes and the melody of the other tune on top, but I'll detail that later. Quickly after beginning the arrangement I realized having a strong sound design would be necessary for this to be a hit, so I contacted everyone's favorite judge Emunator (he describes himself that way, do not blame me!) for help on that front. My initial idea was for him to listen to the arrangement and mostly provide sound design feedback plus a few stems... BUT instead he got super motivated with the idea and added much more than that. First, instead of simply using the soundfonts like I had done he investigated the origins of the sounds and replaced some of the samples with the actual uncompressed sounds from the original synths! He also replaced some other sounds here and there, added a plethora of effects, extra drum fills and rewrote the ending part of the track... and if all that wasn't enough he even did the final mix! I had never had the pleasure of had so much work taken from me on a collaboration but it was awesome (as I may have commented before, I'm not a particularly big fan of mixing, I only do it because I have to). For the final touch, Emunator also contacted Chimpazilla to handle the master. I didn't have the chance to talk with her this time, so I'll take this opportunity to thank her for her work!

As usual, now comes the source breakdown. Both sources are so popular that I'll be a little less thorough than my usual breakdown:

0:00-1:00: We begin with Aquatic Ambience's arpeggios as a tease, since the first melody that kicks in is from Secret of the Forest. Idea here is that the background (pads + arpeggios) are from DKC while the rest is from CT. Section B from Secret of Forest then follows with the same idea.

1:00-1:33: Chord progression from Section C of Secret of the Forest, melody is a variation of Aquatic Ambience's one but following the chords.

1:33-2:21: Surprise percussion! I thought it'd be fun to wait a bit before the drums enter, making the shift to a chill beat more impactful. Secret of the Forest harp and chord progression play here while the melody is from Aquatic Ambience. The combination works surprisingly well.

2:21-2:34: Aquatic Ambience arpeggios over a chord progression and melody of Secret of the Forest.

2:34-3:01: Flute solo! It can't be a song by me without a solo I guess? Chord progression is from Secret of the Forest section C.

3:01-4:04: Climax of the track, chord progression is "original", while the rest of the instrumentation has elements of both tracks. Synth is playing the melody from Secret of the Forest, while the accordion is throwing quotes from Aquatic Ambience. A fun fact (for me at least?) is that for the transition to double time I transposed the melody 1 tone below, when the usual is to transpose higher to create a burst of energy, that way I attempted to mantain the chillness of the track despite the increase of the beat.

4:04-end: A chance to relax after the climax, Aquatic Ambience's arpeggio and Secret of the Forest's main melody play and slowly fade out as the track ends.

Again, thanks to Emunator and Chimpazilla for their work on this, as it'd have never been as good without them! The track ended up placing #2 in DoD, which was pretty cool. Hope you like it!

Sources:

[Liontamer]

To me, the flow of this initially felt jarring because I know these distinctive themes so well. :-D Interesting tradeoffs throughout; this'll be interesting to time out to figure out what primary game this gets assigned.

On the mixing side, this felt cramped and hot, particularly from 3:28-on (lead at 3:51-4:01 & 4:04-4:11 sounded pretty shrill); not enough to reject it on, but enough to notice and remark on.

Quibbles aside, a very cool premise, well structured and executed! :-)

YES

EDIT (9/12):
DKC more dominant - :00-:08, 1:00-1:26, 1:41-2:15, 3:29-3:52, 4:12-4:33 = 112 seconds
CT more dominant - :08-1:00, 1:26-1:41, 2:15-3:25. 4:04-4:12 = 145 seconds

Some of the second half blending felt more even, but the point still stands, this'll be considered a CT mix for the database. :-)

[prophetik music]

Quote

everyone's favorite judge Emunator

i object! there is no proof!

opens with a wall of acquatic ambiance pads, but quickly hits the secret of the forest melody with AA behind it. lead is appropriately rudess-y with the scoops and subtle vibrato. it's notably louder than everything else after it though. the AA melody's in by 1:00 with a descending pattern to it under the SotF chords. i love how you're passing the melodic material around between such old-style instruments.

1:34 is a new vibe, much more low-end body. the drive here alongside the SotF arp is so immediately inspiring. the adaptation of AA's melody here as well is so good - this is an excellent job making it fit without making it feel like it's a clear mashup. the solo that follows it is fun, but it does feel slightly ahead of the beat throughout. i'm wondering if delaying it by a few ms would make it settle back into the groove a bit better.

3:01's chord progression through the bVI-bVIII-i-V is so fitting given that it's half of the chrono cross soundtrack. and then we get double time with the melodies alongside each other! what a climax this is. this isn't chill at all but i don't care. the extended climax at 3:52 was excellent, i loved that you tripled down on it and then didn't even immediately resolve it, but waited a second. what a payoff.

we get a last wash of color and arps and it's done.

i struggle with remixes of AA specifically because Beneath the Surface was my first exposure to the theme and that's a Mt Rushmore OCR for me, so everything else always seems to be lacking in comparison. this is easily one of the only remixes i've ever heard of this way-overdone theme that truly brings tons of originality and creativity in the arrangement alongside superb execution to a similar level. and you managed to do it via alchemy with another rockstar track from another rockstar game, instead of just relying on AA's incredible foundation by itself. superlative job.

 

 

WOW

[Hemophiliac]

This is going to be very well liked by many people. Combining two mega-iconic themes worked so well, so seamlessly.

Using the panning throughout to keep space for the themes to work together but separately at the same time was a good idea. If the melodies were closer to center, it might have been harder to parse them as a listener. I really liked the change at 3:30 was handled very nicely, and helped inject extra energy in this final repeat. 3:01's changes here were a particularly awesome highlight for me, as this progression was an great choice to bring it home.

Not a huge fan of the constant stereo ping-pong on one of the lead synths as I personally find them disorienting, but it's not making me vomit so that's it's ok 

What can I say, the arrangement, production, and nostalgia is off the charts and will definitely have many people swimming in the atmosphere of the woods.

Excellent work. YES