Hey everyone! My name is John and I'm currently the composer/arranger for this project. I created this topic to keep everyone updated on the soundtrack. I would also really appreciate/encourage any input (postive AND negative) about the music. Anyhow, to start things off, I'll just talk briefly about the approach I'm taking to the soundtrack, my reasons for that, and maybe a thing or two about myself and my gear.

If you've already read my posts on the "Join Our Team!" topic, you can probably just skip this.

But anyway, if you haven't, my focus for this project is strictly towards symphonic arrangements, NOT electronic remixes. Don't get me wrong, I really like the tracks on OC remix (I always wished I could do stuff like that), but they're more for casual listening. The remixes can stand on their own, but I think they'll be too intrusive to the game environment. And on top of that, if you used remixes, you'd have a plethora of different genres and artists. Mixing the music would be like mixing different types of games. Imagine CTRP being an RPG during the present years, an FPS in the future, a sidescroller in the middle ages, and so on. So that's why I wanted to see this project have an orchestral soundtrack.

You're probably thinking "brief my ass!" : ) but anyway.

As for me, I am a second year Biological Sciences student with very very little experience in music. I started teaching myself theory a little over a year ago, and recently picked up the guitar as my first instrument. For my compositions/arrangements, I use pen and paper to sketch my ideas(and a tuning fork since I don't have perfect pitch), Cakewalk Sonar 3 as my sequencer, GigaStudio 160 as my sampler, and CoolEdit Pro as my editor. And yes, they're all legit copies : )

I think I've droned on enough. So here is what I have so far.

Wake Up Crono
An arrangement of "Morning Sunlight". Played when Crono's mom wakes him up. It's played once and then followed by the "Peaceful Days" track.
In the Key of C, (I7-IV6-I7-IV6-iii7add9-vi7-viib7-vi3#).

Crono rocks out.
The song that Crono plays on the organs in the Manoria Cathedral. Who knew that he could play the organ?
Key of Eb minor. (iv7-III/V-I7add9).

[All incomplete/unsatisfactory songs will be taken down until they are completed]
The track that's played when your party goes to sleep.
Key of Eb, (I-V-IV).

Any input would be appreciated! I just ask that you all stay on topic : )

-John

Ah, and if you'd like to get a hold of me,
sn: mr ed66666

Here's something new as of 2/21/04!

This is the Manoria Cathedral track. It's a sort of dark piece with a choir, piano, and various strings. Very fitting for that section, but a little too fast. It sounds sort of charming at its original speed.

It's in the key of E minor. (i-V7/iid-i/III-VI7-V7-ii-VI6-V7sus4-V7).

[All incomplete/unsatisfactory songs will be taken down until they are completed]

EDIT: I don't think I'm going to keep the one with the violin.

-John

I like both actually. The violin wasn't high pitched at all, and added to the dark tone of the place... in my opinion. I think I may have actually liked that version a little better. Either way though, both are done quite nicely. Good job B) .

B) The Violin is much better, a lot more...expressive. Not as suttle as the non violin.

I am amazed John! I think when the remake is all finished your music will add so much depth to the finished project! Keep up the good work!

Hey guys, are these tracks too soft? I forgot to set a standard amplitude to my tracks.

Anyhow, on top of that. I think we should keep the song for the millenial fair.

Although I do have an idea that would be pretty cool.

How about something like.. Noise that a fair would make (people talking/laughing, things dropping, footsteps, etc.). And then the millenial fair song is played in the distance on a flute and on a lute. In a box, with a fox. In a house, with a mouse.
Also, it would be great if the minstrels were modeled in the corner of the fair.
And the lute will most likely be replaced by a classical guitar since I do not have a lute.


If not, we'll have to use the original since I do not have any samples that would work with it.

Also, would you guys mind me using industrial/ambient tracks for the future setting?

Thanks.

-John

I thought the tracks sounded fine, I didnt think they were to soft, but that is just my opinion.

I like the idea of the background noise at the fair! I think that would add more life to it. I personally think a guitar would sound fine substituting for the lute.

Where do you think you will get the background noise for the fair? Maybe a crowded restaurant or something?

I'm thinking either a REAL fair or an outdoor market. Either way, the problem is not finding a sound source, but a recording set up that would get me 5 minutes of good audio while outside.

Unless.. someone has a royalty free sound effect collection lying around with something like it. If you do, please let me know.

Maybe I'll get a mic/portable recorder. I just realized that I'll need those anyway if I'm going to record the guitar parts. Hell, my girlfriend is a great floutist, so I guess it'll work out great!

As for now. I'm going to work on the Manoria Cathedral track again. The more I listen to it, the unhappier I get. I'm going to be adding more parts and instruments to it, and I'll extend the thing so there will be parts without solo instruments and parts that have them.

New ideas:
Undersea Palace: Solo Piano with small viola/cello parts.

-John

Just a question, do you think you would loop the background fair sound or would it fade together or, how would you make it so that it does not sound like it loops. Do you get what I mean?

Well I'd want it to seamlessly loop. It's fairly simple to do that and if you do it with a fairly long track (5mins +), then you won't have the big loopy feel.

Besides, it would sound weird if the crowd noise fades out and fades in again.

-John

Very true John it would sound weird.

Do you know what the final format of the music will have to be? just wondering.

Probably mp3. Doesn't seem like Unreal can handle .oggs.

Too bad.

-John

Wow, this is beautiful stuff here.

Thanks Fate.

And TheBrain just informed me that UT2k3 can only run .ogg files. This is good news to me. So I will be releasing all future tracks on .ogg format.

And does anyone know anything about recording equipment?

-John

you should consider posting some of your music on OCR
www.ocremix.org

actually you should just go there anyway, it's a really good site for all kinds of music/games and it's my favorite site. i'll bet your music could make the cut!

:D Oh...I think I'm gonna cry! These pieces are incredible! I absolutely love them......

Keep it up! Doin' an excellent job!

hey- maybe i should be doing this in a different forum- i would like to help out with the music. i am currently working on the magus theme, and after i finish that i am going to give the music from the undersea palace a shot. and i was considering attempting the final battle theme, but i can't seem to find it anywhere. i have been dealing with music for a few years. i use fruity loops to sequence, and will do mastering and finishing touches in cool edit. any suggestions for a place to get free real instrument samples would be awesome, as i am trying to use a synth where there should be a flute [temporarily of course].

but yeah, i want to help get this project moving. i have been waiting for something like this to happen for years. ct is my favorite game of all time, and being a part of this project would be wonderful!

i am however a full time college student, and i have a band and such that i must keep up with, but i will put some time in each day to complete the tracks needed!

john- if you're already working on any of these tracks, let me know and i can scrap what i have an move on to the next one.

and i do know a bit about recording equipment- what are you trying to figure out?

Phlegm,

You should also post a message up on the "Join our Team" thread with some of your samples, if you want to join the project that is.

Yeah, as much as I'd like to, I'm not the one hiring here.

First of all, with the approval of shhteve and Jack.

A NEW UPDATE! FINALLY! (3/6/04)

The Undersea Palace theme.(Sorry Phlegm)
At first, I wanted to do a piano/viola/cello trio. But it was really lacking. This is supposed to sound HUGE. Hopefully, you guys will like this. It's a tad different. But the biggest difference is in the orchestration and instrument selection.
Instead of a flute solo, I had a viola take the first half of the solo and the cello take the second half. I cheated on the viola part a little bit because the viola will NOT go that high.

Anyway, in the key of Eb minor (Mitsuda seems to love this key), here it is

[All incomplete/unsatisfactory songs will be taken down until they are completed]

Enjoy! Remember to leave any feedback.
sn: mr ed66666 to get a quicker (usually) response.

-John

Phlegm:

I'd really like to hear your stuff! I really like fruity loops (although I use Reason myself) and CoolEdit kicks! As for hiring, like I said above, I really don't have a say in it, unfortunately. I'm not working on the Magus theme or the Final Battle theme yet. But as for the Final Battle, I'm sure you can find an mp3 of it somewhere. Or just play the game hehe.

Er, I just noticed that the main violin section is WAY too loud in the Undersea Palace song. It makes me sad. Now I have to re-record everything! Ah well, it's 5 minutes of my life.

Oh, and for recording, I want to have a versitile and portable setup. I want to be able to record outdoors without having to carry anything other than a backpack. I would also like to have decent quality indoors.

I forgot to post the chord progressions, but I don't feel like it right now. I'll do it later.

And thank all of you for nice compliments.
It's shaky work, I know. But thanks for sticking around while I figure out how to do things.
(I'm still learning)

-John

Hmmmm... well, I must say; not bad for a first attempt at the Undersea palace. It does seem very well done... but there are a few things that might need a little tweaking (though not entirely neccesary). I have played through this part of the game many times, and I have noticed that you seem to make the flute sound as though as it is in the background; while covering it with sounds normally in the background. Not only is this a little bit off, but it also makes it seem like it has some echo in it. If you attempt to change some things in this, I recommend you stengthen the sound of the flute, while slightly weakening the sound of the background music.

Just some suggestions. Good work. B)

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I haven't tested them out on a real sound system yet (I only have headphones at my apartment). But I'm going to listen to it in the car and note some adjustments.

-John

i'll post in the other section once i have some samples for the team. but for now that sounds really good! are you going to be putting any percussion in? cause i think that would add to it in a pretty good way.

by the way, i'm going to be getting an ochestra type of vsti from soon, so that will hopefully be able to emulate the symphonic sound.

next time you hear from me will be with a sample! looking forward to it.

Hey i can't load the music, but i'm sure it great.

Long shot here, you wouldn't be john willims would ya? lol.

how do u just make up this ubber music? i mean like what do you go through?

Haha, no, I'm definetely not John Williams.
If I were, I'd charge six digits, but I'd probably finish all of the music in a day.

As for the music, they're all based on CT music. So it's not hard, I basically try to add a lot of new instruments which usually results in distorting the original chords though.... Composition on the other hand... is another story. But I'd really love to be able to work on a project that allows me to compose original music(hint hint. Anyone need any? : ) )

Anyway, I came on here to tell ya'll to check back for updates. I finally finished my final exams so I'm free to work on the music. Hopefully I'll finish the End of Time track and the Battle track.

How do you all feel about taiko drums? : )

Oh, and on a side note, do any of you know of any good places to keep stuff online? My school's account will fill up soon, so I'm thinking about relocating.

Anyway, talk to you guy soon!

-John

Interesting that you say that... a project I'm working on may well need music in a couple of months time. Its a bit basic at the moment but once our coders have got a basic framework up and we've fully worked out the plotline we may want to be contacting you, seeing as your work is so good.

Oh you didn't tell me you wanted to do origional stuff too heh, I'm shure brain will let you make a ton of your own stuff where needed, I've noticed that alot of dungieons in CT use the same music over and over, I think its about time that we change that ;)

Great stuff, I'm amazed :blink: Cant wait to hear Gato's theme and the Ioka village theme. Those keep popping up and getting stuck in my head.

I really want to hear frogs theme. !_!

The pages wont load. :o bummer.

Hmm... Well the pages go directly to the mp3's. You might have to right click the link and click save as.

-John

With John's approval.....here's my version of Gato's Song.

Gato

Feedback is welcome. :)

Not bad, not bad at all. You've done a pretty good job there, it seems pretty accurate considering the original. What a nostalgic moment...

Oh... and if it isn't much trouble; the song I want to hear most is Magus's theme. I understand if you don't want to, but it is merely a request (for anyone making music). Though, I must admit; Magus's theme may just be one of the hardest to recreate... :unsure:

Hey guys, just seeing what's up. Nice work Drakken, I hope to hear more soon!

Anyway, while I was working on some CT music today, I forgot that I had to restring my guitar. So I did. And then I needed to wear the strings in with something heavy so I kinda did a heavy version of the CT battle song.

Anyway, here's the result. I added in some temp drums and I did this without a metronome so parts of it get off beat.

I was thinking maybe a metal version of the battle theme would suit the 65 million BC era. Or whatever that time period was. But I don't really want to mess around with genres.

Anyway, just keep in mind that this is just something I used to break in my strings.

[All incomplete/unsatisfactory songs will be taken down until they are completed]

If you guys like it, I'll use more effect pedals and more takes(I'll probably layer a clean track with an overdriven track with a chorus'ed track). And I'll use my metronome. Oh, and if you guys won't mind, I'll add in a lot of artificial harmonics to make the guitar scream.

Anyway, back to work.

-John

Ah, and if it's wrong (musically), then I'm sorry. I did this without listening to the original.

WOW.

That timing is horrible!

You suck John!

-John

:huh:
Thats not bad at all really. I like the metal theme, just a couple and I do me a few tweeks and it golden, like the undersea palace too, its got that subtle dramatic pull to it.

Would like to your rendition of Alyas theme. :D

Heh, that sounds kind of cool, actually.

Might want to fix the timing, though. :P

Hmmm... that is VERY different from the normal battle theme. Regardless of there being a few gltiches in the timing and pitch, I still think if you edit it or redo it; it could be a pretty good battle theme.

It is so different however... it gives me an idea. In all time zones there should (maybe) be a different battle theme. I'd recommend the "present" to have music sounding the most like the original, 600 AD to have a medievil-ish sound, prehistoric have the (edited) one you have now, Future having a more... technological theme, and Zeal can have... I have no idea.

My idea is to be creative with all of the time-zone's battle music, but make 'em fit in to the area. Anyway, as always; good work John! B)

I don't think too many battles happen around Zeal, if there were to be a unique theme, it'd probably have to fit the Ocean Palace and the Mountain of Woe... and then the Blackbird... maybe there's some uniting underlying idea that can accomodate the areas of Zeal into a nice tidy battle theme.