ReMix:Chrono Trigger "What Hath Thou Done with This" 3:40

By Vicks Cornatto

Arranging the music of one song...

"Frog's Theme"

Primary Game: Chrono Trigger (Square , 1995, SNES), music by Nobuo Uematsu, Noriko Matsueda, Yasunori Mitsuda

Posted 2002-08-10, evaluated by the judges panel


Newcomer Vicks Cornatto's initial submission, from Chrono Trigger, is a good solid techno bread-and-butter mix with a nice variety of synth textures that keeps things fresh, some syncopation and pitch bends, and an especially groovy piano solo at 1'56" that throws in some blues/rock flavors. The lead synth sound used is a little questionable - sort of a synth brass patch but with a piano attack - but augmentative harmonies on stereo osc-sync timbres help support it in most sections. Drums and offbeat bass are both relatively cookie-cutter for the genre, though that's certainly true for a number of techno tracks here so it's not fair to single this one out. I'd just like to see more + varied drum programming and basses that have a bit more autonomy on tracks of this nature. Gripes aside, the arrangement is still good, sounds and mixing above average, and the piano section in particular stylistically impressive. Good initial submission from Vicks.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Daimo Mac
on 2010-07-22 12:19:06

Found this song from Spoony's Ultima 3 vid which both surprised and pleased me to no end.

I like it as it infuses Frog's Theme with Disgaea style synth work!

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OA
on 2009-03-24 10:57:58

Wretched synth sounds, but some cool soloing and counterpoint. There's clearly interpretation, but the GM sounds have gotta go. :-(

With updated sounds this would be a really cool mix, as there is a lot of care put into trading the lead and counterpoint parts. Sometimes the melody gets buried by all the extra parts, but it's pretty repetitive as far as the sections go, so I guess that distracts from it.

Not really feeling this one, but an update to the sounds and maybe some breakdowns or something to add some freshness to the track would make this one a lot better.

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Echo
on 2008-05-16 06:48:58

This really could use a remake. The instrument quality is pretty bad, although I like the sound of the lead-synth. And what's more important, is that the arrangement simply rocks, and I really like the piano solo. The part that begins at 2:25 is also great. A great remix that suffers a bit from not-so-great instrument quality.

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Flare4War
on 2006-01-04 18:06:54

While there is alot of awesome variation in the arrangment I have to agree with some that the over all quality and execution is wanting. Of course I don't mean it in a detrimental way.

It's a fun listen. Good work.

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Bummer
on 2005-09-27 11:15:29

I not a remixer( hopes to be one though) but I don´t understand your "it´s enough sound quality" talk. This remix kicks, that synth at the almost beginning was really cool, reminded me of Toto, and the rest was just swell. The piano part was very jazzy, he kept to the real melody but changed it so that he could play it more freely. Even if the instruments does sounds s little MIDIsh, it doesn´t bother much, because I like it.

DEAR TO ALL WHO GO AGAINST THIS REMIX

If maybe the first word is what I think it is, I may not be as harsch as him, but yeah, I agree.

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BlueMage
on 2005-02-16 02:00:34

I like this mix. But maybe that's because I like Frog's Theme. As in, I would just leave the game for a while when it was playing so I could listen to it.

Anyways, I let a few people I know listen to it - the one description that really stuck in my mind was "It sounds like it's on a pogostick....I want a pogostick now!" and honestly, I agree - the beat makes you want to jump.

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Incronaut
on 2005-02-15 22:07:43

in this remix, i loved the beat and listened to it

in the middle, it sorta got slow for my brain and i feel half asleep, still listening to it but not paying much attention to it... then when im about to delete it, the very essence of the song was still in my head and i loved it... now this may not make much sense.. but it was awesome.. lol

well anyways good remix keep it up

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EvilRyu38
on 2004-04-20 16:41:54
It's not the instruments that you use, it's how you use them.

Don't be giving me this cliche "It's not the size, but the motion in the ocean" stuff. .

"But I do know it takes a long time to get to england in a row boat." -Jeff Foxworthy

I agree... and I like this... I hate it when remixes go too crazy off what the original piece was... its very annoying.

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Krendall
on 2004-04-13 12:57:54

I love this remix. It converts the song to a techno track, but stays true to Frog's Theme more than the other remixes. Keep up the good work, man!

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zircon
on 2003-08-05 14:44:21

This is an average (perhaps a little above average) interpretation of Frog's theme. For reasons I can't understand, the overall sound quality seems to be very low.. sounds like 96kbps to me. But anyway: while no one aspect of this remix stands out, it is put together well and flows in a way that is pleasurable to my ear. It is perhaps a bit minimal during the first half, but that is amended during the second. The bare bones percussion could have been better, especially considering the length of the piece. Regardless, the use of variation of the melody and a group of different instruments is commendable.

Though I think the interpretation and arrangement is good, the execution was not amazing for the reasons I described (boring drums, low sound quality, minimal first half). Out of ten, I would give this remix a score of 6.5.

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Cheese Soda
on 2003-06-22 09:41:54

I'm totally agree with Zeality.

He is new and well I mean that the music was great. not the best but it was good. So if you don't like it, why do you listen to it then?

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Zeality
on 2003-03-11 16:37:09

Seriously, give the guy a break and stop dissecting the song. What do you want, a 100-piece orchestra? This is a good mix. That's why it got on OCR after they started judging (unlike Sigmatism, Simcity_Speedtown, cough)

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HighWave Impulse
on 2003-03-11 15:35:48

Though I didnt't find the sounds used annoying, I must admit that they might not be the best of quality. However, this is very well compensated by the style, groove, and feeling in the track. Especially the piano solo and the piano sound are really good, and the modified melodies straight after the intro were great. I really can't complain about the sounds, because:

1. They weren't bad at all. (Especially for a 1996 computer) Just not perfect

2. Everything else in the piece makes up for it.

A bit of repeating myself there, but I had to make it clearer for some strange reason. Anyway, though not a total jackpot, this piece is very entertaining at the least, and much more at it's best parts. Thanks.

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Zetasphere
on 2003-03-11 13:44:39

Really nice work, although I have to agree everything's a bit thin und dry for a techno track (Or rather Trance, which is often falsely labelled as Techno). The bass is a bit too unseeming and soft, you should add some more kick to it, in my opinion. A bass drum with more thumping electro-character maybe, and the bass line - it's really catchy - make it louder! I think that would be a nice contrast to the rather soft lead. You should try adding some ambient synth sweeps to fill out the background, you've basically only got lead instruments and percussion. The melodic work, no criticism there, really nice work!

(Further elaboration on the difference between techno and trance:

Trance refers to a synth-based music genre which is generally soothing and relaxing in flavor. Ambient sweeps are often combined with gate masks to ambient soundscapes. A steady 4/4 beat accompanies this progressive, repetitive melody. Hard Trance, a more powerful version of Trance is often labelled as Techno, with its slightly "dark" character. Techno itself is a very abstract electronic music branch, it has basically the same structure of trance, but isn't progressive, it's more chaotic and random. A very lively and changing beat, sometimes with very weird time signatures, and metallic, machine-like sounds accompany minor melodies. You find sudden changes of velocity and times signatures, breaks and sometimes the whole thing even reverses itself to suddenly forward again. Oh my, have I been ranting.. Well, hope you didn't fall asleep. If you did, turn up Mark Oh's "Never stop that feeling" to full volume and enjoy your blood curdling in your veins.)

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Thylacine
on 2002-11-23 01:31:36

The song had its foundation set, and just built up with the basic elements. This remix keeps a relatively simple structure throughout, but that's all you can really do with this particular song. After all, it is a very short theme. It's worth a listen, even if you're into more complex melodies.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Chrono Trigger (Square , 1995, SNES)
Music by Nobuo Uematsu,Noriko Matsueda,Yasunori Mitsuda
Songs:
"Frog's Theme"

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File Information


Name:
Chrono_Trigger_What_Hath_Thou_Done_with_This_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
3,607,179 bytes
MD5:
94096e7dcb8440c926cdfa5edbf61b94
Bitrate:
128Kbps
Duration:
3:40

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