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OCR01908 - Chrono Trigger "Tree Hopper"


djpretzel
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Always gotta be hard on the SotF mixes since the source is my favourite VGM of all time. I've mixed it several times myself and have more on the way.

Gotta say, this is an overall great job here. I like the chord changes in the would-be D section. When the piano and bass come in, it reminds me of BT's "Dynamic Symmetry" for a short while, which is a good thing.

Would have been nice to have a different sound instead of the (guitar?) lead towards the end, but changes I'd make would be small (i.e. MORE RHODES PLS).

Great job! Hoping to hear more from you, or even an alt mix of this one 'cause I bet you could've taken it in another crazy direction all together.

Good show!

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There are aspects of this piece that are just incredibly beautiful. I really like the backdrop, the fast, busy, but still light percussion that keeps the track going, the delicate layering, and just the overall feel of the piece. It captures the atmosphere of the original beautifully while adding its own spin to things at the same time. There's a lot to like here.

Now, here's the big "but" that has probably been implied through the preceding praise. Forgive me if this sounds overly harsh, but the synth that starts around 1:00 and plays the melody through 2:25 sounds just... horrible to me. I literally flinched when I heard that begin, the otherwise mellow mood the song evoked shattered. That high-pitched synth is the one out-of-tune player that ruins an otherwise excellent symphony. Even when it fades out of focus and becomes part of the background after that, I can still hear it, grating on my nerves in the middle of an otherwise excellent piece.

I would love to like this track; it's got so much going for it. But that was a deal breaker. Which is doubly tragic because I think if a different instrument had been chosen, this could have been beautiful. I imagine a flute or other wind-based sound taking that part--something that could harmonize and blend with the piece rather than standing out so much--would have made this one of my favorite tracks on my rather extensive OCR playlist.

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Un-freaking-believable. I've never even played the game and I'm getting nostalgia... The attention to detail is stunning, and I love how complex you've made it without detracting at all from the music's meaning. Instead, the layers accent the music rather than distract.

Gorgeous work - thank you so much for all the effort you put into this piece because it really shows. Keep making music!

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This remix...FTW!!

I love the quiet, environmental (right term? hell I don't know!) feel of the opening. It builds up nice and has a combination of serene and disturbed atmosphere.

The lead sounds fantastic and I think the drums are really unique in this piece. They bounce in and out and give the track a nice push every once and again while maintaining a nice overall beat.

The step down at 2:26 was a nice transition into the piano section. Very smooth. The piano section sounds very mysterious and beautiful. 3:23 to 3:48 HIGHLY reminds me of the Forest level theme in Phantasy Star Online Episodes I & II, and I LOVE that it does.

3:52 and beyond is just absolutely gorgeous. It sounds much more powerful even though it didn't change horribly much from the "first half" of the song. Love the bouncy water effects and the growing drum beat. I like how the end is like a reverse of the beginning.

This song almost feels like it's trying to record one's trek through an epic, mysterious forest. It sure feels like that to me.

Lots of power without actually being loud and crudely crunchy...it's quite the opposite actually.

Props to you sir!

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I've been a loyal follower of the OC-movement since the very beginning, but have never thought of registering before this very moment. After hearing this ReMix, I simply had to send my regards to the composer. Just seeing "The Secret of the Forest" in the song description made me all warm inside - it's definitely one of the most underrated songs of its generation and contains such rich, mellow yet hopeful natural ambiance - it's truly a little masterpiece. Seeing someone attempt to ReMix this again is simply wonderful in itself.

And then, to the actual result.

Which is absolutely amazing. So dreamy, highly personal yet deeply faithful to the original. Having looped it five times since downloading it twenty minutes ago, I can easily say this is among the finest I've heard in terms of this site. And over the years, I've heard -it all-. Such delicacy, mood - ah; simply everything about it.

Great work, Detuned Logic. Hope to hear more and similarly emotive work from you.

And to Pretzel and the rest of OC staff and members; thanks for many, many years of musical memories. I'm dead serious; this site has been like a home.

Thank you.

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Tree Hopper on the front page, finally finally finally finally finally!! Good lord, this must have been submitted nearly a year ago! Up until today, this was my favorite "WIP that hasn't been posted yet," thankfully now I am happy to see that it has gotten to the front page where it deserves to be.

To be honest, I'd forgotten about it a little, although I still have 5 WIPs of it sitting in my WIPs folder, posted back when Detuned Logic was Frozenspace (yes I remember these kinds of things). To DT, I just wanted to say I'm super happy to see this made the cut, I remember commenting several times in the WIP thread saying how awesome I thought this was and well, here we are, I feel like I was here from the beginning on this one!

I've been exposed to this mix for so long now thanks to the WIPs that I'm not sure how much of a review I can give it. I liked the early WIPs, I liked the late WIPs, I like the completed work. It has a very dreamy, ethereal quality to it that still makes me think of the forest, just in a very blurred, floating, bright-colors-on-black kind of way.

Congratulations on getting this posted, what's next? :lol:

Not to derail a thread of awesomeness, but for the people who can't get enough Secret of the Forest, there are at least 2 other superb mixes of it that I know of that are not on OCR, one being po!'s from SquareDance, and another being Mustin's new one from CHRONOTORIOUS, check em out if you can.

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Thank you all for the compliments and criticisms. I'm glad most of you enjoyed it, and to those who didn't due to lead choices, I'm sorry, and I understand exactly where you're coming from. Looking back, I would have changed the second lead (guitar) to something else, but I feel the main lead held the song together; without a powerful sound like that, this would have been a pure ambient piece with little energy; that just wasn't what I made this mix to be :/

Once again, thank you all for your comments.

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Nice soundscape - the drums give a lot of much-needed momentum to an otherwise-chill song. I really do love ambient songs with a fluid, moving drumline like the one you've got going here :-)

Your choice of lead wasn't the strongest point of the song, but I didn't find it particularly offensive either. It contributed to the mood that you'd established, so in that sense I think you were pretty successful. This song helps me relax, and I'd imagine that's exactly what you intended to do with this song, so good work!

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Thank you all for the compliments and criticisms. I'm glad most of you enjoyed it, and to those who didn't due to lead choices, I'm sorry, and I understand exactly where you're coming from. Looking back, I would have changed the second lead (guitar) to something else, but I feel the main lead held the song together; without a powerful sound like that, this would have been a pure ambient piece with little energy; that just wasn't what I made this mix to be :/

Once again, thank you all for your comments.

I suppose what this comes down to is a difference in preferences then. I personally have no problem with low-energy ambient pieces. I'm personally unconvinced that a strong flute or violin couldn't have held this together, but I'm not the mixer here. In the end, it's a matter of taste.
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Love the remix.

Just wondering if anyone else thinks some of it sounds like Phantasy Star Online? I don't know the Chrono Trigger soundtrack at all so I wouldn't know how similar they are.

Edit: This is in no way a bad thing. I love PSO. It has consumed many hours of my life. That's why I know the tune so well.

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