Posted 2006-01-12, evaluated by the judges panel


TO writes:

"All right. This piece was initially Bladiator's idea. He came to me one day and asked if I was interested in making a Chrono Trigger remix of "At the bottom of night". I liked the piece, so I told him it was worth a shot. He seemed to have quite a few ideas in mind and we went to work coinciding our styles and working out a format. After what took about 5 months, we finally finished it to our liking.

Starting off with some reverbed piano, leading in to the Bozzy Drumset from Stylus, with Squidfont strings making the backing. When we build up, there's some nylon guitar strumming in there, low-end bassline and Atmosphere strings. The midsection is a combination of the squidfont strings, atmosphere strings and a squidfont Cello, before heading back into a final drum and piano section. Closing out with Bladiator's piano and the strings accompanying. Finishing on F Major was Karl's idea, and I think it worked out quite well."

Having quite recently collabed on Jade Spawn, these two clearly have a good thing going on (platonically). Karl's shimmering piano, with a cavernous, melodramatic reverb, is enshrouded in an appropriate environment of acoustic drums, bass, and strings. Lee does a great job of keeping the drums interesting, and ventures outside of straightforward acoustic territory with some layering work that starts around 1'48" and makes the beat a bit meatier. Piano remains the centerpiece throughout the mix, but doesn't overpower the background, so the two can play off one another without it sounding like a piano mix that just 'happens' to have an accompaniment. There's some excellent interpretation and chord work; some peculiar intonation at 3'43" for a second, but all in all I like the willingness to walk the progression, and the major key, pastorale happiness of the ending is a nice twist relative to the more turbulent body of the work. Oji McJudges:

"Good piano stuffs immediately starting things off; nice atmosphere, very engaging. :43 brings in the TO beats to drive things along. Good stuff at 1:07 with the quick reference to "Out of Phase". If it had stopped with that, I wouldn't have recognized that as an influence but later on it was confirmed.

I think the percussion could have gelled a bit more tightly with the piano work, but overall the piece was clicking and the synergy was there. There's irony involved in that you both had stuff rejected recently, but subsequently team up for this new age gold. Man, this is groove-biasing me with the groovaliciousness. McDonalds, I'm lovin' it."

We love to see you smile. It's worth noting that Jesse had some concerns about simplicity and Jon regarding dynamics, but I think Karl's chord work and interpretation, paired with Lee's appropriate, unobstrusive but never bland accompaniment have resulted in a pretty easy-to-like arrangement and a solid piece overall.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Black_Doom
on 2015-12-06 09:46:43

I don't have much to say here, seriously. It's just another amazing soul-touching track with some excellent glassy piano licks, solid drumwork and atmospheric strings. Simply wonderful :)

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kiro
on 2013-08-20 19:15:27

I've been listening to music all of my life, with an emphasis on music from games, orchestra, rpgs, and animes, and I just have to say...

That... This - Is - One - of - The - BEST RENDITIONS I have EVER heard! I have probably listened to about a hundred-thousand singular unique songs, and this piece stands out like a beacon.

For a lack of a better expression, this is the kind of work that God has to personally ordain himself before it reaches the minds and orchestration of the authors.

--It's that good!

Frankly, I'm disappointed by the lack enthusiasm and review counts below.

For one of the best arrangements that has ever graced time itself, this piece will forever hold its own.

It's World-Class, and deserves an audience fitting its level of euphonic mastery.

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Naraqul
on 2011-04-07 13:00:27

This being my first review of anything on OCR, I thought I'd look for something I really enjoyed so that it would make the review easier for me(I found that with this remix). The remix is expertly conveying the original emotions of the source, while co-opting a more upbeat feel that really suits the harmony. Not being a vocationalist for an abundance of audio terms, I can't really praise specific parts of the song that I want to, or try to point out things I think could have been done better. For this collaborative effort though, I would have to say that the things that could have been improved are minimal, while what I enjoyed was thoroughly consistent. Congratulations, your work together is very interesting and I will look out for more tracks by both of you together and seperately.

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melody
on 2011-03-30 05:52:51

when you named this did you think contention was a noun form of the adjective content?

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OA
on 2008-06-10 15:51:44

Excellent nostalgic feel to this one, and a lot of layering that subtly builds up the piece. Great piano comping and the beats and background fit together well. I almost wish some of the drums did some fills that matched the rhythm of some of the piano parts, but even as-is, it's excellent work.

I didn't actually totally hear the source until near the end, because the feel was so strong. It's pretty obvious throughout, just shows how into this one I got.

Recommended!

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Darth Mamdouh
on 2007-04-04 20:38:57

Kudos to the two of you.

I mean, first off, as a pianist, I gotta hand it to you Bladiator, your technique is flawless, and the expression is so goddamn touching, and the way you swoop across the keyboadr at 1:42 is... I simply can't find a word for it. Divine maybe ?

But this piece of auditive sweetness wouldn't be what it is without TO's arranging the drums and bass around it and giving this beautiful body a solid skeleton and strong yet graceful muscles blends harmoniously.

Hope to hear more from you two.

You revived my willingness to start ReMixing myself, hoping to one day attain something close to what you guys do.

Oh, and Jared Hudson is also one fine musician (totally off topic, just love the guy's work), be sure to check out his stuff, well worth it !

Keep working your magic together guys !

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HoboKa
on 2007-03-29 04:23:59

This song took skill to make no doubt, but it's not my cup of tea, iono something seems to be out of place...is it the pace? I'm not a remixer so i don't know..

But in any case, keep up the remixing ;)

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DragonFireKai
on 2007-03-21 16:30:43

The mix does have a tendancy to bleed together, but I enjoy it regardless. It has a very improv feel to it, in a good way.

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meccaneer
on 2006-04-03 10:11:51

It's very pretty and all new-agey n stuff. There just isn't enough spectral variation or dynamic contrast. I have a pretty decent stereo and everything still kinda mushed together. Some more panning would have been nice too.

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Boogie Pop Nightmare
on 2006-03-10 10:36:56

As a big fan of the Crono Cross and Crono Trigger soundtracks, (Quite possibly IMO one of the BEST soundtracks for a PS series), this gave me the tingly spine goosebumps listening to it. I think you did an excelent job of conveying the origional emotion of the song into the remix, and gave it a sad, yet energetic life of it's own.

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Navi
on 2006-02-08 09:22:48
But on the upside, the song is cool.

lies!

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bladiator
on 2006-02-08 09:20:45

Thanks for the reviews, guys. We're really happy with how the piece turned out.

As far as sheet music goes, I can say without a doubt that it will never exist. All I did was just play the song over and over til I knew the chord changes by heart and then improvised on the theme. I probably couldn't even replicate the recording that I've made. Sorry. :(

But on the upside, the song is cool.

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chinakid
on 2006-01-28 23:23:51

Wow... Just, dang.

This is my first post on OCRemix ever, and I'm glad I'm posing about this particular remix. This thing is great. When I first downloaded it, I expected this remix to be kind of like the other "At the Bottom of the Night" remixes, but somehow, this one was different than the others. It was different, yet at the same time recognizable to be a remix.

Words can't really adequately express what I felt when I heard this. Actually, I'm listening to this particular remix right now for about the fiftieth or so time. It's a great remix to a great song. You have my respect.

By the way, I don't know if this sort of thing is requested a lot, or if I'm even requesting this in the right section, but I don't suppose the people who are responsible for making this remix would have piano sheet music for this that they could upload, do they? If they do, I'd really appreciate it if anyone could direct me to where I could find it. I already know how to play the original to an extent, and I'd love to be able to play this piece as well. Thanks for the opportunity for me to listen to this.

Awesome.

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frostmore
on 2006-01-26 17:38:34

This mix of chrono trigger is beautiful.The paino and the percussion and strings worked so well together that it almost makes me want to believe it is the work of the original artist's unreleased tracks or tracks that was supposed to be published in the elusive arranged album.

If the composers of Chrono Trigger heard what fans had done to their works,they will have no doubt that they (the fans) have produced AND captured the true essence and feeling of the game.And what gamers have felt when they (heard) played the game many many years ago.

To the remixers of Chrono Trigger,I sincerely thank you guys,from the bottom of my heard,for letting me grace through your works and let me remember how I felt when I played the game so many years ago. I hope you guys will get the recognition you so very deserve.And introduce this "baby" of yours to the world.

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Aamean
on 2006-01-15 13:29:45

I normally don't post reviews, but I have to say I'm becoming addicted to Bladiator and also his joint effort remixes with TO.

I simply can't get enough. This is very similair to Clairvoyan Elegy (as stated before), but that's not a bad thing at all. Very well done and enjoyable track.

Sources Arranged (2 Songs, 2 Games)


Primary Game:
Chrono Trigger (Square , 1995, SNES)
Music by Nobuo Uematsu,Noriko Matsueda,Yasunori Mitsuda
Songs:
"Depths of the Night"
Additional Game:
Parasite Eve (Square , 1998, PS1)
Music by Yoko Shimomura
Songs:
"Out of Phase"

Tags (4)


Genre:
Pop
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Piano,Strings
Additional:
Origin > Collaboration

File Information


Name:
Chrono_Trigger_Tears_of_Contention_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,749,275 bytes
MD5:
1349198b33e263b40d829573f7b3de00
Bitrate:
169Kbps
Duration:
4:28

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