OCR01010 - Sonic the Hedgehog 3 'Hot Ice'

[djpretzel]

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

[GrayLightning]

I remember this from a long, long time ago. My favorite part is the flute line. That's the most appealing part of this mix for me. Nice work. :nicework:

[sgx]

This is very cool. The flute solo is boss, drum programming and samples are very nice. Very cool ending. I'm not a fan of the slap bass sound in general, however. It always makes me think of Seinfield in a cheesey, not-good way. It's not necessarily bad in you mix, but personally, I'm not diggin it that much. Others might. Everything else is super smooth and lots of attention is paid to details. Nice work.

[MegaManXxX]

The Melody from the Ice Cap Zone caught my attention when I downloaded McVaffe's "Ice Capped" mix. This Piece has alot of great sounds that come out of it and there have already been several mixes of the Ice Cap Zone already. Darkesword does a great job by giving us a different sound. Nice bass line, great flute solo, and a great beat to move to. It's always hard to try and do a new mix of a song thats already been mixed 4 times making this a 5th mix. All in all it turned out great. Mad Props to Darkesword. Great job this is going on my playlist. :D I'm Out


X

[smh]

this is pretty nice. i didn't like many of the samples used, but the song makes up for that with an excellent arrangement. this song is proof of my belief that arrangement is much more important than sampling in a song.

[Riddler Sensei]

Alright, that flute solo is rocking my world. Almost sounds like it wants to go into Lava Reef Zone :wink: The rest just isn't quite my style. It's a wonderful song and all, but just not quite like the stuff I listen to often. But nice work!

[DJ_Aquagenesis]

the D-man finally submits this. i was waiting to see how long he would do it. the flute part gets me real good. everything fits in great. nice work! :nicework:

[GregHead]

Personally, I didn't think it was all that great. Everything was done well (except the bass). I just didn't find it pleasant on the ears. Maybe it's just me.

[ella guro]

Firstly, the bass is eww. I know DS was going for something different than the standard "DUH DUH duhduh DUH DUH duhduh DUH DUH..." bassline, but the octave jumping kind of turned me off. The percussion is pretty nice...I like those little rolls that are thrown in there to give it a more realistic feel. I also like some of the backing, but the instrument that plays the lead is a little too...weak. I would've liked something a little dynamic and a little less synthy warbly. I think that's a stylistic thing, though.

It doesn't really go anywhere beyond the main melody until 1:22, which is a nice change of pace (the garbled synths are pretty neat). The flute solo, which soon comes in, is the highlight of this mix. Once I started to feel that it was getting a bit mechanical, the rhythm would change up a little...which is a nice touch that's sort of hard to show people how to do, but makes the instrumentation sound soo much better. One thing, though. I never thought I'd say this, but the flute's frequency seems to be a little too high, 'cause that thing is piercing my ears at a couple of points in the mix. Otherwise, the mix resorts back to its normal melody, and (thankfully) the flute comes back just one more time to assist in finishing the mix.

Overall, this is nice. I think it could be refined slightly in several places (especially that slap bass), but I'll certainly take it.

[ziwtra]

Well I wasn't sure what to think at first... I couldn't really see how this mix brought a new feel to the Sonic icecapped theme. But then the flute came in and that funky organ riff, and everything just tightened up into a mean groove machine. Everyone can complain about the bass, but really, it didn't detract (although a different one may have made the whole thing even better). Wonderful work, I am glad to see a real variety cycling through OC Remix these days.


yh

[Kamikaze Noodle]

I thought this piece was quite funkay. The drum programming at points is very well done. The organ too pulls off some nice moves. And that flute solo, oh man, talk about jazzin up somethin' not normally jazzy. Now the slap bass, I'm sorry, but it sounds like the sample from my cheap Casio keyboard. The bassline is really groovin' all theoughout, and I thinks give a great sense of movement to the song, but the fact that it is so thin and un-meaty just turns me off. It's an overlookable thing though, and I absolutely love this mix. :nicework:

[Wiley Otis]

First thought: Woo! Another Sonic mix!
Second thought: NOOO!!! Another Icecap Zone mix :evil:
Second thought (and a half): Damn, I hate 56k...
Third thought: Hey, this is pretty cool... these are awesome drums! That flute is absolutely amazing!

Actually, I didn't even notice the quality of the bass sample until I started reading djp's review... Those first 15 seconds sounded like they came straight from a Sonic game (none in specific) or could be put into one for the bgm. I guess that's why I don't mind it, because it sounds very Sonic.

[Evil Oni Link]

nice job :)

[DarkeSword]

Alright, thanks to everyone for your comments about my mix. I want to address something right now, that seems to be a big issue with the song.

I like the bass sample. That's why I used it. I wasn't looking for something real sounding. I wanted something synthy with some bite. I actually tried a bunch of bass samples I had, and none of them provided the proper sound I was looking for. The bass sound fits the texture I wanted perfectly. If you don't like it, well, I'm sorry, but I do.

Alright. Now for a little history behind this mix. Ice Cap Zone is a pretty special song for me. It's actually the first song I ever remixed. No, 'Hot Ice' isn't my first remix. A few years ago, I wrote my first remix, called 'Ice Cap Zone - Snowboard Strike.' It was written using Music Time Deluxe and Wingroove, a wavetable emulator that provided some cool GM MIDI sounds. That song is available here:

Ice Cap Zone - Snowboard Strike (http://www.exphyl.com/~darkesword/listen/remix/mp3/icemix.mp3)

Take note of the syncopated lines and the flute solo. They're nearly identical to the ones in this mix.

A few months after that, I went back to the piece and did an extended version, with a longer middle section.

Ice Cap Zone - Snowboard Strike (Extended Mix) (http://www.exphyl.com/~darkesword/listen/remix/mp3/icemix2.mp3)

A few years after that, I really got into composing and remixing. I noticed on the WIP boards that whenever somebody remixed Ice Cap, they would undoubtedly keep that "dundun, da da dundun, da da dundun, da da dundun" bassline that Ice Cap Zone is so famous for. I looked at my own previous version of it and thought to myself, "My mix really does something different...I should remake this piece with better samples and try to submit."

So one cold afternoon in February, right before catching a train back home from college for the weekend, I reworked some of my old syncopated lines in FruityLoops using some soundfonts I had, and came up with something really nice. that Sunday night, upon returning to my dorm, I started working on it again. A blizzard hit NJ that weekend, so I was snowed in at school with classes cancelled for two days, and my roommate was still at home from the weekend. I took advantage of the solitude to tweak my mix, and came up with the great idea of using another Sonic song I had always wanted to mix: Lava Reef Zone.

Listen to the organ and the flute at 1:38. Sound familiar? The flute starts its solo off with a quote of Lava Reef's melody, while the organ is playing the continuo line from Lava Reef over Ice Cap Zone's chord progression.

I eventually tweaked this addition and finished the piece I had 'started' years ago. I submitted that week, and six months later, it was posted to OCR! :roll: ;)

So yeah, this song is really special to me, because it's the culmination of a lot of ideas and years of growth as a mixer. Thanks for listening.

[Eccles]

The...the bassline doesnt really appeal to me...I would have preferred something with more sustain to the stabbiness of the slap bass you used.

When the melody plays the first time (and the other times when it plays in the mix) I would have preferred it to be more sustained, rather similar to the other times it appears. Though if you had done this it would have fallen into the 'too repetetive' catergory...

I wasnt too keen on the flute used for the lava reef bit...makes it sound like supermarket music, to be honest....and I dont like it.

Gotta say though, Im loving those drums ^_^

The ending is pretty good...much better than a fadeout would have been.

Though the piece sounded kinda short to me...dont know why that is.

[Rize]

You should have named it Icy Hot.

[arrlaari]

Well, I thought it sounded a lot like the lava reef zone, but I didn't realize you actually used notes from it. Ice Cap is my favorite sonic the hedgehog zone music ever, and I really like those sonic tunes (Vastly underappreciated outside OC, all you ever seem to hear about is square or zelda)

One thing I've noticed is that many people don't seem to realize that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (including S&K) has different (but similar) music for each act of a zone. Sonics 1 and 2, meanwhile, use the same music for every act of a zone. 3d blast used completely different themes with similar MIDI samples for different acts.

However, I've seen no indication that anyone else notices this. I also like one of the puppet panic acts, which was reused in Sonic Advanture in twinkle park. The other act's tune got a remix at this site, which I was very exited about. Rather disapointing when it wasn't what I was expecting, but good enough to keep.

[DarkeSword]

One thing I've noticed is that many people don't seem to realize that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (including S&K) has different (but similar) music for each act of a zone. Sonics 1 and 2, meanwhile, use the same music for every act of a zone. 3d blast used completely different themes with similar MIDI samples for different acts.

However, I've seen no indication that anyone else notices this. I also like one of the puppet panic acts, which was reused in Sonic Advanture in twinkle park. The other act's tune got a remix at this site, which I was very exited about. Rather disapointing when it wasn't what I was expecting, but good enough to keep.

I think a lot of people realize it man. :roll:

[Metasquares]

At first, I groaned and thought "Yet another Ice Cap Zone remix". Of course, I gave it a listen. The music has a very interesting flavor to it, but the samples used remind me more of Lava Reef Zone or Launch Bay Zone than Ice Cap. I particularly like how the woodwinds kick in around 2:00 and last for the rest of the piece, albeit not as powerfully as they were in 2:00. All in all, I like it :)

[Defend]

Dammit.
There's like.. 60 something Icecap MIDI files I have. One particular one seems to have gotten around. Its very good when sped up a bit, and I've seen it land in a fangame or two, and another remix a while ago. This new remix is a take from that. -_- It already sounded enough like a souped up midi, then to realise its just stolen the same chords/bassline. Blergh. Was reeeeeeeally excited thinking it'd be something new. Dammit.
Apart from that, the pan flute part is very good, but doesn't sound icey hehe.


Sorry to be so critical, you've already got some great mixes, but that's my honest opinion. I still think Icecap has alot of original takes waiting to be found, but this wasn't one of them.

[*MP*Evil_Cartman]

This mix really doesnt appeal to me, sounds kinda midish to me. also the icecap zone doesn't fit with this style tho i like the flute part.

[DarkeSword]

Dammit.
There's like.. 60 something Icecap MIDI files I have. One particular one seems to have gotten around. Its very good when sped up a bit, and I've seen it land in a fangame or two, and another remix a while ago. This new remix is a take from that. -_- It already sounded enough like a souped up midi, then to realise its just stolen the same chords/bassline. Blergh. Was reeeeeeeally excited thinking it'd be something new. Dammit.
Apart from that, the pan flute part is very good, but doesn't sound icey hehe.


Sorry to be so critical, you've already got some great mixes, but that's my honest opinion. I still think Icecap has alot of original takes waiting to be found, but this wasn't one of them.

Jeez, are you sure you're not listening to MY midi? It's called IceCap Zone Snowboard strike, and it's available at my page. I wrote that MIDI years ago and reused a lot of the same ideas in this mix. :roll:

[Shion]

Beautiful!
I like the skyish delay,the bass sound,and the other instruments,the groove and how the flute solo start.And the ending.

I don't like the faint bass drum and the dominant snare,and how the flute solo continues(the notes on his 3 bar). :D

[Shion]

I have been listening to it for many times.I love it :D
It definitely merit to be developed!For example the percussions and roll variations.It is cool!
What a shame is all so mono,it has to be lively,expand it please!Beautiful leads! :D

[DrumUltimA]

I love it. I can't say any more than that, for it's unexpressible. Incredible. I never thought of both those songs sharing such a similar chord structure. Geez I was howlin' over that. Superb job =D

[DarkeSword]

I love it. I can't say any more than that, for it's unexpressible. Incredible. I never thought of both those songs sharing such a similar chord structure. Geez I was howlin' over that. Superb job =D

They actually don't share the chords; I just adapted Lava Reef's continuo line to Ice Cap's chords.

[Elex Synn]

*Shrugs* it works.

I'll prolly keep it on my winamp list since the other ice cap mixes on it, got rotated out aeons ago.

[..........]

I was hesitant to download it because it was another IceCap mix... but I'm glad I did. It's a welcome sound after 4 techno mixes of the same song.

Listen to the organ and the flute at 1:38. Sound familiar? The flute starts its solo off with a quote of Lava Reef's melody, while the organ is playing the continuo line from Lava Reef over Ice Cap Zone's chord progression.

I noticed that right away! I thought 'Gee, that sounds a lot like Lava Reef.' Then I realized it was probably intentional, hence the 'Hot Ice'.

One thing I've noticed is that many people don't seem to realize that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (including S&K) has different (but similar) music for each act of a zone. Sonics 1 and 2, meanwhile, use the same music for every act of a zone.

Umm... yes, I've noticed that. Always have. I think it's so noticed that no one bothers to talk about it. They've also done that in the Advanced games too. It's pretty nifty. (Although Game Boy tunes aren't nearly as enjoyable to listen to)

[..........]

Yes, and I do like your mix, Mr. DarkeSword! 8)

[Arc'engal]

This one was a bit strange to me. Until about 3/4 of the way through the piece, the background riff was louder than the main melody, which is very rarely a good thing. The overall feel was almost a metaphor for an avalanche, as the the melody got louder and louder until it was "in your face" as they say. Definitely quite nice, especially the end, which actually sounded like an ending rather than a wimp-out.

[Julio Jose]

drums and synth at 1 25 are the only really special things in this track. The flute also sounds nice..

[Less Ashamed Of Self]

This is a very enchanting little piece... I really like it a lot. Nice.

[blackbelt]

did i hear some Lava Reef in there? i swear i did...

very good song, just a little too light for my taste. very good and very well done. keep up the good work.
8/10

[DarkeSword]

did i hear some Lava Reef in there? i swear i did...

Yes, that was intentional. 8)

[DJ Riott]

So smoooth Darke.. but i guess I'll believe you.

This was one of the first songs i ever downloaded at this site. very nostalgic.

I remember people complaining about the slap bass. But its the key to the song. great flute work. YAY. classic, and lots of fun.

[Senor Suave]

First time poster, long time listener. But I thought that I just had to finally register to say how crazy the flute is on this remix. Not my favorite song, but this is definitly my favorite part of any song. Great job man.

[supertrunkten]

This is the 2nd ICE CAP ZONE Remix i heard, i like this one the best.

[sonic_fan69]

I was thinking when I first heard this arrangement that there were parts of Lava Reef there and that was the case. I have S3K CD for my computer along with the original. The music is different for Carnival Night, IceCap and Launchbase, but the same for all the other zones. I'm surprised that there are no remixes of those songs. Back to this remix, it's right up there among my favorites. :D

[about:blank]

Nice Lava Reef reference at 1:38! The flute solo was great, as well as all everything else in the mix. I could understand how some people would complain about the bass synth, but I think it adds to the mood of the piece. Nice work!

[42]

The themes here are not just intertwined and threated through each other, but like bonded with super glue, which produces a very delicious treat for the ears.

Nice Lava Reef reference at 1:38! The flute solo was great,
I had forgotten about that...
Indeed, it is great.

Awesome job and a great mix. :nicework:

[OA]

Some of the samples are a little dated, but overall this holds up pretty nicely, cool integration of the themes, and even though the bass sound is pretty gross, the actual writing of the part is really cool. Or is it hot? Ohhh, see what I did there? Nice jazzy flute and backing pads and keys, and things were clicking pretty well.

[WesternZypher]

Garrooovy. Hot Ice. Perfect for chilling during these cold winter days.