Chrono Trigger - Unnamed Magus Arrangement

[Rarrum]

This is an arrangement of the "Showdown with Magus" theme from Chrono Trigger. I would appreciate any feedback and constructive criticism on it thus far.

Known issues: No stereo pan applied to anything yet. (I will be doing this once the full composition is complete)

Note that it is not complete, so the current end is just an abrupt stop as it hasn't been written past that part yet.

Updated May 5:

http://www.neoclaw.net/music/files/temp/ctmaguswork.ogg

http://www.neoclaw.net/music/files/temp/ctmaguswork.mp3

It's unfortunate that Ogg Vorbis isn't an option for submission (or even submitting both ogg and mp3 to give users a choice). I'll worry about that later though.

[Villainelle]

Even once finished, I'm hesitant to submit it though, since it would require encoding it in lower quality (and patent-ridden) mp3. It's unfortunate that Ogg Vorbis isn't an option for submission (or even submitting both ogg and mp3 to give users a choice). I'll worry about that later though.

LAME VBR is comparable to OGG for quality:filesize. And the patent ownership hasn't been used for anything evil yet, although the recent court rulings are dismaying, I admit. But it's just fearmongering to tout patents as reason to avoid the MP3 format. We'll be done with lossy compression anyway by the time they manage to corrupt it. Sorry, I like OGG too, but MP3 is the clear winner this round (by way of its prevalence of support in consumer electronics), and the next round is lossless IMO.

If your remix gets accepted, you could just post a link to an OGG version in your review thread. Other remixers have done that for alternate versions of their songs.

Anyway, your mix! Nice crisp sounds. The arrangement keeps moving and skipping from idea to idea, which is both good and bad. I won't belabor that. The lack of real percussion was a bit disconcerting, though, when paired with prominent synth sequences (and teasing snippets of guitar! moar prz). I also think the texture of the song is on the barren side - there could be a lot more going on to fill it out. A drum track would go a long way towards that, but if you're trying to stick to the orchestral side of electro-orchestral, just some additional instrumentation here and there. You could stand to lower the volume on both the guitar and that pulsing bass synth from the first half of the song.

I like the bells section that closes this WIP. If you slowly bring in the electro-orchestral stuff again on top of that for a huge climactic part...that would be truly awesome.

And again, moar geetar prz. Good stuff, keep at it.

[Rarrum]

There was a part where it did seem a tad empty (around 0:42 to 0:52) to me... I wasn't sure if it was just me (from having heard it so many times) or not though. I think I've found something to fix that up though. The part directly after that suffered similar but not quite as bad, and I've done something similar there (I'm introducing a backgroundish part synth drum at the start of those two chunks).

The repeating bass rhythm is intended to fill in as a sort of replacement for a major percussive part. Since that goes on for around a minute though... I'm going to be toning it down just a tad for parts of that first minute.

Which guitar are you talking about? There's technically two (distortion one, and a sorta muted electric one that follows the same "percussive" pattern as the bass part). I'm thinking of giving the distortion one a nice background part a little earlier than it's currently introduced right now.

[Rarrum]

Just put up a newer version (mp3 this time as well as ogg): I've tweaked the first half a little more now. The last half hasn't really changed other than about 10 seconds of work added to the end.

[Splunkle]

ooooo... The bass at the very begining didn't get along with me for some reason, but it buggers off quickly enough, its no big issue. Then we get huge distorted soundscape, which is quite nice indeed. Though that synth on the right, I would detune it some more, to add to the atonal awesomeness. Also, huge massive grats for using the synth guitar as it is supposed to be used - a backing thing, not a lead.

Errr, anyways, onto the more mellow orchestral thing. Actually, orchestral isn't exactly my thing, so I'm not going to say much here, except that the bit with the oboe sounds a lot like the bit with oboe from Darrengan's mix. =P

The ending is rather crappy right now, what with it just ending and all. I'm not sure where you want to take the piece from here - you could go back to the distorted soundscapey bit, or you could just fiddle around more with this orchestral stuff until you get a conclusionm, or mix the two or something. What is needed, though, is some sort of climax. Do that, then I'll see how it all fits together.

[SnappleMan]

I don't like this. I can tell what you were going for, but you failed. It sounds empty because there is no percussion, and you took all the elements of the main theme and turned them against each other by making some bad instrument choices. There is no body to the song, it sounds like random notes thrown together at times, especially during the section starting at 1:11.

There are too many things missing to make this a song just yet. The first section (0:00 - 1:10) would work as an introduction to a powerful and heavy song.

[Rarrum]

New version up:

Since there were more than a couple comments about the seeming lack of percussion in the first half.. I've gone back over that again and tried a couple things. I'd appreciate any feedback on how well that fits with it.

The middle section (flute melody) has been extended, and just a little work done on the part after that. The ending section still hasn't been written yet though.

[Dryer Lint]

This is not bad at all! You're heading in the right direction.

A bit longer and slightly cleaned up this could be OCR material.

[Zephyr]

Well, I'm no criticist, I love it, but I definitely have and issue with the ending, songs aren't just supposed to end. with the addition of the latin voices and low drums at the end, it should climax at least once more before the end, either go back to the beginning thing again or go into a new orchestral type of deal. It would also help add length, please get this finished and post it up, I'd definitely give it a download.

[Rarrum]

The ending in that posted version hasn't been written yet, hence the abrupt stop. It's what I'm working on now.

[whiterider40]

I love it. What sort of direction are you thinking of taking it after the current 2:36?

[Rarrum]

Unless it decides to drag me in another direction... thus far.. a big finale, rar!

[HershDawg]

At the beginning it might add more effect if the main melody slowly comes out of no where and ends strong before the drums come in. This would make it more dramatic. I would try building the tension even more before the flute and harp break. The accelerando during the flute break works pretty well. You might want to try finding a much better english horn sample. Finish the ending and lets us see what you can do.