Liontamer Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Contact Info: remixer name: Preferably use my real name, Luke Lenhart. If you "require" an alias though, you may use Rarrum. real name: Luke Lenhart email: rarrum@gmail.com website: www.neoclaw.net user id: 12902 ReMix Info: original game: Chrono Trigger original song: Showdown with Magus (Many places label it "Battle with Magus") game is already on your site: http://www.ocremix.org/game/chronotrigger/ from the official soundtrack: name of my arrangement: Through the Eyes of Magus I'm still somewhat new to doing arrangements, having mostly written original works for game projects over the years. Magus's theme had always been one of my favorites (alongside Frog's) while growing up, so I decided give it a shot. This was late last year using an ancient version of Cakewalk Home Studio that had to be run in Windows98 still. After writing the first section, I got busy with other things and forgot about it for a while. A few months ago after getting Sonar6, I needed something to play with, so I dug this work back up. Of course it was all written for my trusty old Soundblaster Live's synthesizer, so I had to move all that stuff over to my newer PC where Sonar was. The end result was that I was able to make use of both newer software synthesizers and my older familiar SBLive. After completing most of the composition, I took another break from working on it (which ended up lasting around a month) so I could come back with a fresh perspective. This past weekend I returned and worked out the ending, as well as making dozens of tweaks to rest of it. I can easily say that I spent more time on this piece throughout it's life than any other single composition I've done. For those interested in the technical details of what I used: Synthesis is mostly a Soundblaster Live with my own custom soundfont and EAX settings. I also made some use of the "Cakewalk TTS" synthesizer in sonar6. The only non-synthesized parts are the section with the flute near the middle, and the section with the soprano recorder near the end. I played both of those myself (and I'm much rustier than I'd prefer). MIDI input was mostly with a Yamaha CS1x keyboard controller, but some parts were done with a Yamaha WX5 wind controller. link to mix: (In the hopeful event you'll accept Ogg Vorbis someday): As mp3: --------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "Battle with Magus" (ct-2-24.spc) Encoding felt kind of lo-fi; the overall sound could use some polish to sound cleaner. The opening texture was a lil' thin for the first minute, but the instrumentation ideas were cool even though there was some empty space where some more driving drums could be. Decent transition from 1:06-1:15. Definitely a different take on the source material. The vox starting at 1:35 sounded too exposed but was serviceable. The strings at 2:00 were really flimsy and mechanical-sounding with the bow movements. Where you had a borderline YES and then lost it was at 2:36 after trying to up the intensity for the close and instead coming up with really quiet and flimsy instrumentation. It's because you did a good job though taking the original and really personalizing the arrangement approach that the potential was there for approval. Now, you've just gotta refine the sounds to deliver more richness for your textures and significantly more intensity for the closing section. Good work so far, Luke, definitely work on it further. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted June 30, 2007 Share Posted June 30, 2007 Interesting concept, but I'd say the execution and samples are kind of hurting this one. the guitars are particularly heinous. the instruments and the track in general seems to be missing low frequencies much of the time. Conceptually, i think the first minute is far more interesting than the second two. The sparse passages bring the track to a halt when the beginning had so much momentum. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big giant circles Posted July 23, 2007 Share Posted July 23, 2007 Not a huge fan of the Magus theme, but what can ya do? This isn't bad stuff. Pretty cool interpretation. I really liked the slower portion, and the flute and what not. Samples are pretty bleh for parts of this. Guitar is pretty awful. This track is awfully muddy. Go ahead and splurge and pay Andy his rates and let him master this for you. (Seriously--he's pretty keen on that stuff). Anyway. Ending is way too abrupt. And though I liked the slower portion, it seemed like it was full of sonic gaps. Texture was thin as a Dorito with none of the flavor. Definitely keep at this one, like Liontamer suggested, and maybe resubmit after you've worked a few of the kinks out. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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