OCR01013 - Ecco (II): The Tides of Time 'Drift'

[djpretzel]

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

[endblink]

Excellent from beginning to end. And the fact that it's Sega always makes me happy.

SGX and ambient go hand in hand, and this track delievers. A must download.

[ziwtra]

*Brilliant*.

You probably have a loose list of names in your head that, on recognition, you automatically click for downloading. McVaffe, Scott Peeples, djp, AE, etc...

Well, take a listen. I know I'll be adding SuperGreenX to that list!


yh

[Kaleb.G]

Yes, this song is finally posted! To quote an AIM conversation I had three months ago with SGX:

April 27, 2003
~~~~~~~~~
KalebGrace (8:05:05 PM): Wow
KalebGrace (8:05:08 PM): Drift
SuperGreenX (8:05:10 PM): suup
SuperGreenX (8:05:11 PM): thanks
KalebGrace (8:05:20 PM): has to be your best remix
KalebGrace (8:05:33 PM): It's awesome
SuperGreenX (8:05:34 PM): btw, the OC mix submission version is up in the same webspace
SuperGreenX (8:05:35 PM): thanks

I have AIM+, so I can just pull ancient stuff like this from the archives. Nifty add-on. Anyways, enough about that.

This mix is very awesome. It takes a sweet song and brilliantly expands upon it. I can't describe it right now, so if you haven't heard it yet, just download it. You can thank SGX later. :)

[NonTox]

This song is really outstanding. I love it! All elements fit perfectly together.

Well Done!



PS: The part at 1:18min reminds me totally of the Shanghai Noon Soundtrack (with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson)!

[Simoom]

love this mix since i downloaded it off your site wheneverago, looped it a good few times i might add. ecco rocks and so does supergreenx, now go make more.

[GrayLightning]

I agree with what has been said, this is a really great mix. I loved it back in the wip and I love it now. Quality work all around. ^_^

[tgfoo]

It's about time this mix got here. Since I'm a good friend of SGX I've had this song on my computer now since April. Love it. Can't wait for the rest of his songs (which I also have) to get post here.

[Eccles]

Oddly enough, I cant find a huge ammount to say about this.

About three quaters of the way through I didnt like the juddery effect the synths had...though now I listen again, that was probably my end playing up.

Its pretty good, though not a lot of variation, even for an ambient track.

But its good for background music and stuff so...yeah.

[Darkmoogle]

I think djpretzel summed it up best- vast. Beautiful stuff that's definately found a spot on my playlists.

[Lomion]

Beautiful, just beautiful. Sadly, I don't know how the original sounds but it had to be very good to stand up to this piece of work. Actually I was going to write this just after listening to only the first minute. It seems like the track builds up till around the one-minute-border and then goes on for two minutes just the way SGX wanted the music to be. Around 3'00 I noticed this slight change and I thought: "Two minutes to go, what is he up to now?" From there on the melody is more beat-carried, which does not corrupt the peaceful athmosphere created till then in any way. Perfect piece of art in my ear. Keep up that work man!

edit: A compliment by ziwtra, master of peaceful sounds? Man now you gotta be happy.

[Joshua Morse]

I think this was a great idea with great execution.

[*morningstar]

Beautiful mix from a beautiful game. Everything works and flows together well. I downloaded this from his site about a month ago and was wondering when it was gonna be accepted :) My only issue with the song is that some of the samples are a bit tinny sounding, but thats just nitpicking. Hope to hear more in the future :)

Lomion, the original song, called "Heart of the Giant", can be downloaded from EccoServ (http://eccoserve.aileronnoir.com) in the mp3 section.

[Atomic Dog]

Hmmmmmmmm....

*licks song*

It tastes pretty good to me. You know, all mellow and vibey. I love a song that takes you places - and this does just that. It's literally one of those songs that walks you through a "story". Whether it be the Ecco story or some funky thing in my head, it's a good background piece to whatever mood you're in.

I like it.

[sgx]

Hey, thanks everyone for commenting. I'm very glad you guys dig it. It was a fun mix to make.

Lomion, the original song, called "Heart of the Giant", can be downloaded from EccoServ in the mp3 section. Hmmm....I ripped the music from the game CD, and the CDDB database said it's name was "Aqua Vistas". Well, whatever :).

[*morningstar]

Actually yeah I've had that problem too, because I downloaded it from WinMX and all the titles are screwed up; The Desert Below was called Aqua Vistas by mistake. But Arkonviox.com (http://arkonviox.com) used to have a scan of the CD cover and inside and track 8 was listed as Heart of the Giant. But whatever, it's a really good mix and offers a nice spin on the track :)

Maybe you should remix Aqua Vistas too :wink:

[Kamikaze Noodle]

SGX never ceases to amaze me. :mrgreen: I loved this mix three months ago and I love it now. It sets a great mood and has a perfectly aquatic atmosphere. And when those huge swells come in, I can't help but spooge myself! Er, I mean, yeah...

The ICO mix needs to go up next! :)

[Reynard]

8.5 / 10

What a... soothing song! I really like most of this. It makes me think of looking out over the ocean on a clear, moonless night, watching the stars and the water. When the song opens-up, to borrow someone else's phrase, to become vast, it makes you feel so...alone. I really like it, but the downside is that the bits between the parts where it "expands" are mediocre. Not bad, but overshadowed by the rest of the song. But I suppose that in order to have mountains, you have to have valleys. Very good.

[Nines]

This reminds me a lot of Delerium, at least for the first part (it seems like a lot of you guys' music is reminding me of Bill Leebs work...I guess that's a good thing though). I love the layering of the strings and pads, how they build up on each other and break apart. The drums are subtly varied, and are interesting and well-used, and set a great groove for the peice to ride on.

The drums could have been toned down a little, and the panned kick drum kind of got to me (but I have this thing against panned kick drums). The synth that starts up at around 1:40 sounds a little..off, like it has just a little too much attack; but it quickly gets blended into the rest of the music and is hardly noticable after long. The jittery fill on the synth starting at 3:14 seems a little forced, and goes against the grain of the rest of the music. When I first heard it I thought it was an encoding error.

It's very nice to listen to, although I kept wanting to hear more things going on in the song, little background ambience things. Nice job overall though. Thumbs up.

[sgx]

The kick drum is not panned at all.

EDIT: It has come to my attention that maybe the drums ARE panned a little. That gets a huge WTF from me, since I didn't mean to do that. I have slight hearing issues and one ear does not hear as well as the other, so I guess I didn't catch it since it is hard for me to gauge panning stuff.

[Elblai]

I have only recently downloaded this track (within the past hour), and I believe what has become of it on my computer relates to how well it is: I could swear I have listened to it six or seven times already. Excellently done, very cinematic feel. I am a person who likes to visualize things while listening to music, and your remix gives me a lot to look at.

[Mr. Merc Kage]

This song is very, very good. It even made my wife get a tingle (I love her tingle)...but then again DKC Fear Factory had a similar effect. :roll: She's just a strange girl. But ANYway, welll done song. Well done.

[Ryuko]

Nice intro. Great use of ambient noise. I love the lead that comes in at 00:15. Fits oh-so-nicely. Bass coming in is fine as well.

The percussion seems a bit strange at 00:30, but I think that might just be my ears. When the kick and snare come in at 00:37, it evolves. I like the slow building of the melody. That works really well.

1:01. The synth behind the melody is kind of strange, as is the reverse cymbal at 1:09.

1:16 - AH GOD, dude, I love this part. It's awesome. Everything from here on is great, except that second chord in the progression - it has a wierd tone. It works, but it's just not my taste. It actually works v. well, just not something I'm used to. Nice use of dynamics and percussion coming back to the quiet section at 1:31, though I think a cymbal roll would have worked well there.

Percussion at 1:46 - woo, I love it. It fits so well. The lead at 2:02 is a wierd noise, but again, it flows well. The noises in the background are great - really exemplifies the fact this is ambient.

2:32 - returning to the the chordal theme again. I like it, especially with the percussion there. The gong entering into the quiet part again works almost better than a cymbal roll.

2:51 - that sound is freaky. Kinda strange.

3:01 - nice false buildup.

3:03 - the beat oriented melody is awesome. I love to see mixers experimenting more with this. It's strong, v. strong, gives it a unique feel.

No complaints nor comments up until 4:26, everything works fine and is v. aurally pleasing.

4:26 - That reverse cymbal again. It's so wierd!

The way it ends with the ambient noise and the lightly fading melody is kind of cliche, but it's so good.

Overall, amazing piece. More than made it onto my playlists - it's at the top for a while. Good work, SGX.

[McNoods]

One word: Hot.

The ambient whale sounds are timed and executed very well throughout. I like the light and kinda floating feeling created by the drums, it adds more depth to the underwater setting of the song. The drums fills, kicks, etc. are good (I pay a lot of attention to them). I'm fond of the drum progression and additive complexity, particularly the changed around 1:46. The following synth that is introduced around 2:01 fits well, imho, as do the rest of them for that matter. I like the section at 2:31 in contrast to its earlier rendition. The addition of the new drum sequences is a nice compliment for it. The introduction of the toms adds another layer of nature to the song, I think, and fits well.

I can't really find anything I don't like, not that that's surprising. Pwned.

[bailey]

The first half sounds nice, but I think the drum track and the harder synths about half way through the piece eventually change the mood to make the piece seem not as massive (to me, anyway). I think the original has a fuller sound to it.

[nachokun]

Awesome work, SGX. Can't help but love it! :D

This remix gave me goosebumps four times when listening to it...

Impressive. 8)

[elman]

10/10!

Although I wish I could remember when this song was played in the game, (The "Futuristic Sky Place"? Or was it when you were in the presence of "DNA Dude"?) I've always loved this song, and you did an EXCELLENT job of remixing it.

[Aurora]

I realise that this song has been out for a while, but recently I lost my entire MP3 collection. I started rebuilding by a huge influx of SGX material.

For some reason, I must have missed this when it first came out. I also recently refreshed an old minidisc that I had and I added this song to it.

So here I sit at work, and I had to stop EVERYTHING, because this song grabbed all of my attention. I sat there with shivers all through me.


It builds so well, and it takes the mind (and apparently body, too) with it.

What a fantastic reMix.

Thank you, SGX

[Flux]

This is very good remix. It's so relaxing and I can easily fall to 'trance' while listening it and forget everything else.

Definately one of my favorites. 8)

[OA]

Fantastic and inspiring mix. I love it!

The depth of sound is great, and it feels submerged. Super props.

[Liontamer]

Awesome intelligent ambient. The instrumentation and sound effects blended together for a very fitting tribute to the Ecco II soundtrack. And later on, of course Danny has it down pat when it comes to the fusion of orchestral and electronic elements. The synths feel like they've aged a slight bit, but it doesn't make a significant impact in terms of how solid this piece is. I couldn't see Spencer Nilsen being anything but flattered and impressed with the creativity and execution here.

[Polo]

On the surface, Drift seems to share many blood-related traits of Heart of the Giant, like frame of progression, certain synth/percussion types, and even introductory points. But judicious sonic enhancements make this mix more focused and sweeping. I can imagine dolphins leaping and diving along a constantly panning ocean surface thanks to things like:

- emotionally imploring synths
- thunderous drums
- "miscellaneous" sound effects in the source (bovine, chirping, mechanical, etc.) replaced by those of marine mammals to reflect the Ecco setting

Makes me wish I could joyride (joyswim?) on the Pacific Ocean like a dolphin.

[yosefu]

This is just one relaxing and I just love the dolphin sounds. Great Job!!!

[metalsnakejuice]

This song is great. The sounds in the background are wonderful it really is relaxing to listen to.

[hmp22]

Am I missing something here? As far as I can tell this is a remix of "Friend or Foe", not "Heart of the Giant".

Edit: Nevermind, I realized the Sega CD version has different track titles. Confusing.

Anyways, awesome as always SGX.