ReMix: Star Control II 'Hyperspace Electro Blast'
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- Game: Star Control II (Accolade, 1992, DOS)
- ReMixer(s): Mark Vera
- Composer(s): Aaron J. Grier, Dan Nicholson, Erol Otus, Kevin Palivec, Marc Brown, Riku Nuottajärvi, Tommy V. Dunbar
- Song(s): 'Hyperspace'
- Posted: 2003-03-01, evaluated by the judges
Can I get a 'woo-hah'? It's been a long time coming, but the Ur-Quan Heirarchy and all other subordinate species from the world of Star Control now have some representation here on OCR, thanks to this submission from Mark Vera. MV writes: "My second OC ReMix. This time from the great game classic Star Control 2. This is the music heard during the hyperspace game part. Hard to remix song which is no doubt the most heard one in the game. But I think I managed to keep the spirit of the original version. Maybe a bit jarre-sound here. No samples except drums and the bell in this song. Everything else comes from softsynths I programmed. Comments are welcome, as usual." As a side-note to those keeping track, HotFlashes had no samples at all, including the drums - this isn't that easy to do, esp. with good results. Vera's results are indeed good - mixing a good variety of synths with an undulating electro-beat and VERY tight programming as judges noted. With a bell-synth lead, bass and backing chords that are filtered and modulated up the wazoo, just a great mix of analog & digital, contemporary & retro synths, the mixing and progamming are rock solid, held together with superglue and polished with that Didi Seven shtuff for a cohesive & clean listening experience. The only hold-up factor would be that the mix doesn't develop all that much in its four minutes - a solo, or tradeoff, or more of a breakdown might have added the arranging variety to alleviate this. But when it's four minutes that sound like this, that's almost alleviation enough in itself. A great second mix, and a great initial ReMix for the beloved Star Control series. I should note that you can get Star Control II for free, for multiple platforms, under the title The Ur-Quan Masters over at SourceForge - it has a rearranged soundtrack by most of the original composers of Star Control II, and is open-source to boot. So grab this, grab 'The Ur-Quan Masters', and enjoy them simultaneously for maximum Ur-Quan satisfaction. Recommended.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the The mix rolls on with its beats, and the piece takes a more distant upbeat ambient role. There's enough variation, although I think a little more would help it a lot. The track comes off as almost transitory here.
I still enjoy this now, although I haven't heard this mix in quite a while until now, so this mix definitely has remained resilient against the sands of time.
- Bahamut on October 11, 2012
Pretty catchy synths, despite the lack of a strong melody.
- OA on March 4, 2008
Mark Vera;228087 wrote: I retouched the song a bit some days ago by mixing and mastering it again. My skills have improved a lot since the original was done, not to mention much better monitoring equipment I got now. Otherwise it's the same song.
Download:
[URL="http://www.markvera.net/music/Mark_Vera_-_Star_Control_2_Electro_Blast_2007_Mix.mp3"]Star Control 2: Hyperspace (Mark Vera's Electro Blast 2007 Mix)[/URL]
Not sure if OC takes retouched mixes.. and I'm too lazy to bother to find out so I let this be just here for download..
We used to, as in several years ago. We no longer do that nowadays, [URL="http://www.ocremix.org/info/Submission_Standards_and_Instructions#Can_I_submit_a_revision_of_an_existing.2C_posted_ReMix.3F"]as explained here[/URL].
- Liontamer on February 3, 2007
Download:
Star Control 2: Hyperspace (Mark Vera's Electro Blast 2007 Mix)
Not sure if OC takes retouched mixes.. and I'm too lazy to bother to find out so I let this be just here for download..
- Mark Vera on February 2, 2007
- Bongo Bill on January 6, 2006
- Zekian on May 25, 2004
Since I'm still new to this reviewing business, I'm not sure what genre this goes in. I do know that it does under a classification of 'good.' (Man that was cheesy).
Honestly, there's nothing particularly bad that stands out in the Mix. If I had to say anything, it feels a tad on the repetitive side. Some of the sounds feel a tad over used as well. Personally, this [i]might[/i] have been better off with thirty seconds or a minute shaved off. Then again, that might have ruined it.
As far as ReArrangement is concerned, I think it does a fairly good job. I agree with Mark that some of the original tune should be kept in place. With the nature and general sound of the song, I think it could easily be lost in elaborate rearrangement. Then again, I might not have any clue what I'm talking about.
Wow, both of my paragraphs for this end with 'then agains.' Not the best way to end it. I just don't want to come off as some high and mighty music critic. I'm not. I'd like to think I have a good ear for arrangement, though. Overall, this is a pretty good piece. Let's hope for more Star Control II mixes in the future.
Score: 7/10
- I_am_Torgo on September 5, 2003
This remix was made in one night session, plus sleeping and mastering later (mastering could be better as well - again my early masterings). I've learned a lot since, so I could improve this remix a lot now days.
When I was doing the arragement I wanted to preserve some of the the original structure. Some people expect remix to be total remix, some like it to be "upgraded" version. I would have wanted nice distorted electric guitar solo parts to this remix, but I don't possess the hardware nor skills to play one. Sample based electric guitars usually suck big time.
Other things I'd do now, I would add a bit 80's here and there (mainly Linndrum sample set). Yes, I love 80's sound. And of course some vocoder singing - simple lyrics, maybe some Star Control lines talking about hyperspace.
Maybe I re-remix this some day, but not today..
- Mark Vera on March 3, 2003
like everyone else who played the game, i loved the original - my problem here is that the style it's been remixed into is very close to that version, just ...worse. less masterful; less [i]special[/i].
i find the arrangement to be quite sterile; they're nothing particularly interesting going on that wasnt in the original piece... and i think there was a lot of room to add new stuff; i kept hoping that the song was gonna break off into, at the very least, the same theme played with different instruments, but instead the song just went on and on, with the only particular variations being some awkward drum fills.
sorry, i just plain don't like this much. seems more like a live (almost impromptu) cover than a full arrangement to me.
but i must give praise for the synth sweeps and warbly things. they're really excellent, and a great extrapolation from the original sounds. very good work there. i just think a bit more time should have been spent on making the arrangement of the actual song more interesting.
but that's just me. there's nothing really [b]bad[/b] in the mix; no bum notes or anything. probably a very pleasant listen for anyone who hasn't heard the original. it just seems bland to me, is all.
the end.
- Gwilym on March 3, 2003
- dzone on March 2, 2003
- neostormx on March 2, 2003
- Paulus Maximus on March 1, 2003
- Rayza on March 1, 2003
