ReMix:Chrono Trigger "When All Hope Has Faded" 6:11

By Tyler Heath, zircon

Arranging the music of one song...

"The Last Day of the World"

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

Posted 2004-10-22, evaluated by the judges panel


It's been awhile since our last collab ReMix, so this CT arrangement of 'The Day The World Revived' is refreshing. It's also a very overt collaboration, basically half orchestral, half techno, with enough transition so that things aren't jarring, but a clear borderline and juxtaposition - zircon's the electronica, Unknown the orchestral. What I appreciate here is that, while the separation is so very distinct, it still doesn't sound like one mix pasted onto the other. There's pieces of each genre interspersed towards the end, and while the vibe changes, the melody still shines through. The mixers write:

zircon: "This was my first collab effort, and I think it turned out pretty well. I enjoyed working with Ty, so expect to hear more from us in the future Very Happy I'm glad my parts fit in with his (as always) amazing symphonic skills, and I think our combined styles worked better than our individual styles would have. but enough of that. enjoy the mix!"

Unknown: "Well, this was my first collab, too. I'm really glad that I got to work with zircon - I consider the two of us to be at roughly the same skill level in our seperate areas. I had tons of fun making this remix, because I got to experiment with some new style aspects. But anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this song as much as I do."

Portions of the first, solidly orchestral introduction remind me of Danny Elfman's Edward Scissorhands score at times, sort of a maudlin music box feel, with haunting choral and string work floating over top. See 1'40" or thereabouts for reference - Tim Burton could almost use this specific portion for unscored scenes in a director's cut, if it existed :) zircon's contributions are also rock solid, with a direct trance approach that still varies enough to match the organic nature of Unknown's framework. I like the extreme portamento/pitch-bending on the melody when it enters around 2'30" and the breakdown at 2'54" - lovely bass and percussion work here; excellent illustration of how a brief breakout section can be liberating but also work, contextually. Panel was unanimously appreciative, with some comments about certain synth patches being a lil generic, which I can see as a legit nitpick, but as a relatively insignificant appendix to tomes of everything done right here. Great, explorative work that should be VERY accessible for fans of CT, electronica, and/or orchestral. I have to think that covers about 99% of visitors in one way or another, but don't take my word for it. Great, very thorough and elaborating coverage of this theme from Unknown and zircon.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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mutecebu
on 2015-01-28 09:53:57

People comment on some technical aspects of this track being imperfect. They're probably right. Despite that, I absolutely adore the heroic upswing of this song, and find it incredibly motivating to work to. This is easily one of my favorite songs of all time. Thank you both, very much.

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OA
on 2010-09-01 11:42:38

Nice buildup and though some of the synths are a bit vanilla, the beats are good. This definitely lacks the punch and excitement of Zircon's later stuff, but it's a good gauge of the level he was at when he first started getting stuff on the site. If you dig the theme, you'll find plenty to be excited by, and overall it works decently.

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Emunator
on 2009-12-19 04:02:03

Um... well, the two parts stand pretty solidly on their own, and the transition from techno to orchestral isn't bad. But really, the fade between genres could have been a LOT more seamless the first time around. The second one was a little bit better doing it gradually, but I still believe this should have just been two separate mixes. Unknown's orchestration is solid and zircon... well, he's improved a lot but even this isn't too bad, but I'll echo everyone else's sentiments that this was more of a mashup and less of a collab.

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UnveiledOsiris
on 2009-12-07 17:09:13

Love love LOVED this remix. It is a very solid piece and I feel that the techno/trance was integrated perfectly, sending you from tranquil mode to fight mode. In fact, in that sense it's very much like CT itself: one second all's well. Next second, you're off to save the world from Lavos. Very well done.

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Gario
on 2009-04-18 13:02:38

You could bring me to my knees with a remix like this one. I will agree that the orchestral music was stronger than the techno, but I'm not going to say better, at all - to say 'better' or 'worse' would imply that they sounded like two separate entities in the music, which they did not at all. The techno portions needed to be weaker in order to mesh so well with the rest of the orchestral music; you cannot really separate one element from the other. I cannot express how wonderful this remix is in words.

I'm frankly quite amazed that this is from 2004 - incredible work from both of you so long ago. It doesn't surprise me that Zircon is still making amazing remixes today (although it does surprise me that Tyler decided to stop after 2005 - Come on, we need more Tyler remixes, now!).

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Lucentas
on 2008-12-06 22:56:57

I really love the first part, and although the transition into the techno was a bit abrupt, I can still appreciate it. It's the orchestral stuff that makes me really like this, though.

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varkken
on 2008-04-08 19:02:03

After downloading, listening and rating all 1600 (actually only half of them so far) songs from that huge torrent. This is the only song I have given a perfect rating to, It is by far my favorite.

(In all fairness I have actually only listened to and rated 750 or so songs as of yet).

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Flare4War
on 2008-04-08 18:23:41

Still one of my favorites.

Just good stuff.

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Mr_Masks99
on 2008-04-08 16:31:04

I sort of liked this until the techno kicked in. That just ruined it for me.

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daedeloth
on 2007-08-18 03:18:22

Something as small as the reintroduction of the techno at 4:17 shouldn't have blown me away like it did, but that's just one very slick part of a very slick piece.

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HerroZerro
on 2007-07-18 10:40:20

A great song! One of my most listened to out of all the CT Mixes.

The only thing i have against it is from about 3:37 - 4:04 has way too much bass, When I tried these with my Skull Crushers I almost thought they were broken, just a wall of bass that made me turn down the volume.

Other then that i love it!

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meccaneer
on 2007-02-01 13:56:50

This guy keeps me company in the car a lot. Quite inspirational.

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Audity
on 2006-11-25 23:40:42

Awesome fusion and cheesy synths aside, I think the end just gets too cluttered. Other than that, yum. Maybe I won't notice when not thinking too much! Though, the fact that I was thinking a lot this time through (about how it's not going to be as good as I remember and about how this type of fusion has high potential to flop) yet still enjoying it, says something.

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John Revoredo
on 2006-09-10 15:11:10
Unknown's part is fantastic, beautifully orchestrated, unfortunately I just feel that zircon's part falls a bit short. All of the synths, while nice, just seem a bit too cheesey for this style

Yeah, i think the same.

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The Vagrance
on 2006-09-04 15:22:43

I remembered this remix from a while back, whenever I first started remixing tunes (although it was 2003/2004 so it wasn't that far back obviously) and I remember this remix just being posted on VGMix, just recently I tried finding it again because I remembered how much I liked it but I had forgotten the name and VGMix was down so I wouldn't be able to find it on there again. Whenever I was listening to the 1001-1500 torrent though, I finally found this piece again, and I must say it sounds almost as good as I remember it. Unknown's part is fantastic, beautifully orchestrated, unfortunately I just feel that zircon's part falls a bit short. All of the synths, while nice, just seem a bit too cheesey for this style.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Chrono Trigger (Square , 1995, SNES)
Music by Nobuo Uematsu,Noriko Matsueda,Yasunori Mitsuda
Songs:
"The Last Day of the World"

Tags (6)


Genre:
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Electronic,Orchestral,Piano,Synth
Additional:
Origin > Collaboration
Time > Duration: Long

File Information


Name:
Chrono_Trigger_When_All_Hope_Has_Faded_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
7,509,296 bytes
MD5:
e12d328064dc39bbe071e52e9127a2c5
Bitrate:
160Kbps
Duration:
6:11

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