Cross Symphonic - A cinematic Chrono Cross album

[CptOvaltine]

Happy New Year's Eve everyone!

I wanted to share a project that I'm working on with everyone! I'm a classical/film composer who also happens to be a huge fan of the Chrono series, and Yasunori Mitsuda's music. So as a pet project, I decided to re-imagine one of my favorite games and it's soundtrack as if it were a movie score. This album is still in development, but will also be accompanied by a beautiful hand drawn art book that helps depict the scenes in each track.

This is a high quality, rough, full-length preview of track 02 from my upcoming album "Cross Symphonic" which takes the soundtrack for Chrono Cross and gives it a cinematic re-telling of the story via symphonic orchestra and choir.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jaw6FzF4nxM

I also have preview tracks of the 1st track, and a portion of the 3rd and 4th tracks if anyone is interested!

I hope you enjoy, Let me know what you think!

[Kodokami]

Hey, this is great! There aren't many projects done for Chrono Cross's soundtrack as a whole, so I look forward to hearing more!

Happy New Year!

[CptOvaltine]

Happy New Year to you too!

That's actually one of the reasons I wanted to do this project, the soundtrack for Cross is criminally under-rated.  Final Fantasy gets the star treatment, even Trigger has it's fair share of good orchestral albums, (mostly fan made) so I wanted to give the same treatment to Cross.

I'll be launching a kickstarter in a few months to help put the finishing polish on everything, and to pay the royalties to Yasunori Mitsuda.   In the meantime it would be a huge help if you shared the music around, the more exposure the better!

[Cherenkov]

I'm listening to this right now as I type, it's really cool! Great job!

[CptOvaltine]

I'm glad you like it!  There is a lot more to come, so make sure to check out my youtube often! I'll also post more about the project as things develop!

[PrincessNadia78]

I'll listen to this after work. this sounds amazing!!

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

I missed this post until now and just gave the linked track a listen... It was great! Good reminders from roaming around Lizard Rock, Fossil Valley...

...and then hot damn that transition into the Another World theme. The brass and strings at 1:45 was fabulous. It had a Trek-ian / Jerry Goldsmith crescendo, which is rad.

I've subbed to ya on YouTube. In fact, I went and watched quite a few of your other videos. Your live FFVIII videos and other Chrono pieces are excellent. When I listened to the first tune you posted, I thought the acoustics were really impressive and that most of the instruments were very live sounding (for an electronic composition). And then I saw your other videos and realized you're a straight up composer and musician, which explains why it all sounds so good. Can't beat live orchestration.

Great stuff and can't wait for the final product.

Will all of this be Chrono Cross? Any Chrono Trigger at all?

[CptOvaltine]

I missed this post until now and just gave the linked track a listen... It was great! Good reminders from roaming around Lizard Rock, Fossil Valley...

...and then hot damn that transition into the Another World theme. The brass and strings at 1:45 was fabulous. It had a Trek-ian / Jerry Goldsmith crescendo, which is rad.

I've subbed to ya on YouTube. In fact, I went and watched quite a few of your other videos. Your live FFVIII videos and other Chrono pieces are excellent. When I listened to the first tune you posted, I thought the acoustics were really impressive and that most of the instruments were very live sounding (for an electronic composition). And then I saw your other videos and realized you're a straight up composer and musician, which explains why it all sounds so good. Can't beat live orchestration.

Great stuff and can't wait for the final product.

Will all of this be Chrono Cross? Any Chrono Trigger at all?

Sorry for the late reply! I'm really happy to hear you enjoyed the track! (And some of my others!) It's always really encouraging to know that people enjoy these arrangements. So thank you for listening, and for your kind words!

You're absolutely right that nothing beats a live orchestra.  I'm a bit of a purist so I'm constantly trying to find the most natural sounding virtual instruments.  I rarely, if ever, write for non acoustic instruments.  I'm a big fan of classic film scores, like Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, Bernard Herrmann, and really wanted to recreate that golden era of film scores using the Chrono soundtracks.

To answer your question, this album will be exclusively about Chrono Cross.  Although a few of Triggers themes make there way into this album, little easter eggs that help connect the two worlds.  I do have a Chrono Trigger piece coming out on YouTube later this month, and am seriously considering doing a Chrono Trigger album if this one does well.

I'm actually talking with someone right now about the possibility of this album seeing an orchestra and a studio in the near future. More on that later if anything pans out!

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

Awesome! As I've said, I am subbed to your Youtube channel and just listened to your new upload. Great work as always. So good I went back and listened to the entire Chrono Symphonic playlist again.



Concerning Pursuing a Viper:

You really do have a great ear for brass in full orchestration. I've always felt that brass gives a bombastic quality to pieces when properly utilized, and you've nailed it again. That is to say you've nailed the whole piece, not just the brass.

I love the wind down and quiet that starts at about 2:00 and the flutes that build back into the song around the 2:30-2:45 mark. Where you mix in the Song of Life at the 3:25 mark is an amazing build up and release. So epic!!!

In conclusion:

All in all, I can't wait for the next piece. Awesome work JP (can I call you JP? hahaha). I hope this continues to pad your portfolio for paid work, because this is seriously legit stuff. I will be first in line to pay money for the album when it's ready. This is hands down some of the best Chrono Cross remix/arrangements out there that's not from Yasunori Mitsuda himself.

I bet if he heard this he'd give it his blessing, and I'm not just stroking your ego. This is good. Really good.

Also, you should post over to r/chronotrigger on Reddit. This needs more visibility!

[CptOvaltine]

I'm grinning ear to ear after reading your comment! Thank you! I'm ecstatic that someone other than myself can pick out all the themes I sneak into the music.  I've played this for 4 or 5 other long time Chrono Cross Fans, and they usually recognize two thirds of what I pack into these tracks, so it's a relief to hear that there are fans out there that can hear what I'm doing!

It's funny that you would mention the brass specifically, when I first started writing music for orchestras I was almost exclusively a string guy. (I grew up playing the cello.) Brass was easily my weakest area, so I spent a lot of time studying and improving my brass writing.  It's great to hear that it's paying off!

All in all I'm really encouraged and honored to hear that you are enjoying the album so far!  It would really be a dream to be able to get a copy to Yasunori Mitsuda when all is said and done.  I would love for him to hear how his music has inspired me and this album.

Thanks for the suggestion! I hadn't even considered reddit, I'll head over and see if anyone bites!  Please let me know if you have any other ideas on where to post this. I would love to get it in front of as many fans as possible. Now that I'm about halfway through writing the album (I'm aiming for somewhere around 12 tracks, covering about half of the game and soundtrack.) I'm starting to make plans for the final product. There will likely be a kickstarter in the next few months, I'll be sure to keep you posted!

Since you have been following the project, how do you feel the music is covering the story? Do you feel like the music does a good job at telling the story, or is it to vague? Of course I have to leave out a lot of details, but is the main idea there?

I really appreciate your comments and support.  It absolutely invigorates me, and keeps me writing. It's really hard for me not to just post full tracks of everything that I'm writing, I want to share it with other fans, but then what's the point of making an official album? haha  I do post a lot of clips on Instagram that never make it to YouTube that you may be interested in.  @brokenskyproductions is the profile I've been using.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

Sure, I'll gladly follow on IG!

I'm going to give the five tracks you have posted in sequential order again to get a feel for how it translates the story and the overall feel that I get, but I'm pretty sure you've got it covered. Just a double check and to see if I can pick anything new from it.

As for Kickstarter, I don't know how much I can donate, but when the time comes, I'll gladly chip in.

I'll post again in a day or so after listening to the five YouTube tracks again.

NINJA EDIT:

In Torn Between Worlds, the fact that you threw both Star Stealing Girl and both Schala's Theme and Zeal's Theme into about 30 seconds speaks to the fact that you know what you're doing in telling the story. And then to add in To Good Friends from the ending of Chrono Trigger... I don't think I need to listen to the other tracks to know you're capturing the story. You clearly lay out who Kid actually is and how she's related to the larger Chronoverse as a whole.

Man, this track alone has new things hidden in it each time I listen. A great kickoff.

[CptOvaltine]

I really appreciate the feedback. 

My biggest fear is that there isn't always enough thematic material to represent each major character in the music.  Lynx for example doesn't really have a "great" theme to represent the character. In A Theft For a Life I wrote Lynx a little motif to represent him, which you hear again during track 06 (I posted a clip a few days ago.) while Serge encounters Harle at the Hermits Hideaway. Her theme there also consists of an altered version of A Child Lost in Time. I don't want to be to presumptuous by adding my own material into an already fantastic soundtrack, but at the some time I'm not sure those little details are always obvious, so I don't want people to lose track of the story while listening. 

Obviously you have to a general idea of what the story is to follow along, but I don't want to be to vague either.  I've already taken a few liberties in skipping both Termina and Goldove's themes (to which I plan to bring into the album later when it fits a little more naturally with the thematic narrative.)

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

I meant to say anything the other day, but I heard your awesome Chrono Trigger tune last week. World Revolution, baby!

[CptOvaltine]

Hey!  Thanks man!

I wrote that one for a friends CT video that's coming out in a few weeks.  I'm really glad you like it!  I took some liberties with it and wasn't sure how people would react, since I added a fair amount of original material.  Either way, I loved writing it, I feel like it really gives an epic over view of the conflict from Trigger!

So I have some news I want to share with you a little later about Cross Symphonic, in the meantime I thought I would post a clip from Track 06 that I'm working on right now.  I'm using the Dragon Knight theme to represent Radius, and his altercation with Harle.  I'd love to hear what you think!

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPaulHaywardMusic/videos/2080336455575690/

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

Sounds awesome. Really big and boisterous at the beginning, which is what I would expect from the Viper clan and their dragon riders. It fits Radius as well, seeing the connection he and General Viper share.

Sounds excellent!