ReMix:Sonic the Hedgehog "Collision" 4:09

By Malcos

Arranging the music of one song...

"Final Zone"

Primary Game: Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega , 1991, GEN), music by Masato Nakamura

Posted 2004-05-05, evaluated by the judges panel


Been a long time! Seem to be several submissions from those who've been MIA awhile lately, and all of 'em goodstuff to boot. Malcos aka Stephen Malcolm gives us a string-driven bit of Sonictronica with this hip-hoppish bit. At 1'39" something of a chorus comes in, with pizzicato and a cool call-and-answer motif. If you're familiar with the soundtrack to Silence of the Lambs, you might notice a certain coincidental similarity - I wasn't overly familiar with the original piece from Sonic, so to me at times this sounded more like a Silence of the Lambs mix. Kinda weird, I know, but trust me, there's some definite overlap - besides that, the original already had a sort of cinematic flair to it, which is amplified here by the string arpeggio patterns. Stephen takes heavy-hitting drums and uses 'em in a heavy-hitting drum track whose kick accentuates the bass, but lets strings drive the bulk of the melodic and harmonic action, focusing the variety in the arrangement on how they're put together and articulated. Coma summed things up nicely this go round:

"This is a good arrangement of a repetitious song. Violins are an appropriate mainstay, and the play between the pizzicato, synth, and bold drumline is enjoyable. Some of the percussion gets hard on the ears as it drones on throughout the mix; more activity or scaling back on the volume might've helped. Aside from that, there's plenty of variety and balance here."

In particular, I think the comment on the percussive dynamics is apropo, as some more work on variation here could have lent sections more distinct identities, beyond what was happening with the strings, and enhanced the overall mix in terms of development. The effect of keeping things level is that the mix does have more a background, soundtrack vibe, however, which does work well enough, I just think there's enough foreground stuff going on to warrant placing more emphasis there. Regardless, a solid return piece from Malcos of some more untread Sonic territory, which is always nice to see. And heck, for me at least (user experience may vary) it doubles as a good Silence of the Lambs interpretation as well. Kickin'.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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metaphist
on 2011-09-14 19:17:21

This song was a huge inspiration for me back in the day when I first started making music. It was the kind of tone and emotion I tried to put into my very first remix. 3 Malcos

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halc
on 2010-10-22 03:14:55

been a fan of this song for a very long time. this is a great mix :)

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OA
on 2009-11-27 16:14:04

This is what i'm talking about right now- totally smooth and sophisticated sounding with a hint of a badassed edge. This mood is completely awesome.

a few ways this could be better would be to add some legato string washes that crescendo in and out, and a few more variations on the melody, to keep things fresh throughout. I dug the drum sounds and the patterns. A little more variation throughout would have put this over the top, but it's still really strong. I love it.

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Mysterious1ne
on 2008-03-21 04:50:32
It's funny, but I had to listen to this song a couple times to get it to connect. Now... I don't know what it is, but there's something about this song that inspires me to try to add rap lyrics to it. I believe this song would do well as a rap.

My thoughts exactly... I even went so far as to write the lyrics from two different point of view. Sonic was the first and Knuckles was the next. Don't ask me where those lyrics are though, I lost them sadly... *cries in the dark* But I still wanna do this track. It deserves the justice of having it done and I think everyone can agree with that...

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DarkAura
on 2007-04-04 09:54:40

It's funny, but I had to listen to this song a couple times to get it to connect. Now... I don't know what it is, but there's something about this song that inspires me to try to add rap lyrics to it. I believe this song would do well as a rap.

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Chrono86
on 2007-04-01 11:14:58

Listening to this song again, the string parts totally remind me of a song by The Cure...but the name of the song escapes me. Perhaps another fan could help me out?

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Bummer
on 2006-07-13 07:55:58
Ever since Ive heard Madonna's James Bond Theme, "Die Another Day" I became obsessed with these 'hybrid' songs (techno mixed with orchestral strings)

Yes, I've found those type of songs interesting as well. As the rest, I like this remix as well. The strong and heavy beats together with the strings makes a good team, and reflects that seriousness when you're on the last stage, or at least when you're absolutely sure when you are on it.

Other than that, I don't know what else to say. For me, there aren't any need of changes in this arrangement, since both the beats and the strings cannot stand alone. Being repetive, I might give that a yes, but this rhytm can go on forever if I could decide. Sitting at the computer, your head is bopping while you're listening to this, even if it would repeat itself all the time, you don't really notice.

Awesome remix, I think I'm gonna have this on repeat for a while.

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MrBogus
on 2006-03-21 15:38:46

This song always sneaks up on me. I love this remix to death, but somehow I always forget about it. So when the ominous strings attack right off the bat at the beginning, it's HOLY SHIT all over again. This is a rare fusion of a tight melodic line with relentless machine-driven beats. Awesome stuff, and highly recommended.

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Linearity
on 2005-02-14 20:35:03

When I heard this for the first time it came up on a shuffle, and I thought that I was listening to the Ace Combat 04 soundtrack.

This is a compliment. I love the AC04 songs, and they combine a synthesizer and an orchestra to create some "tight new shit." This ReMix parallels their musical quality. I'm impressed.

I love "Final Zone," but, again, it was too repetitive. This has taken it somewhere completely different, and I like it. I think this sort of song is was OCR is all about.

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IC_Grave
on 2004-08-23 04:37:57

yeah this great, I like that some of the people on this site making music don't go strictly techno I get really sick of that, and especially when they use the new software with the horrible new beats these programs have...what ever happened to the old school stuff..anyway your doing a great job making music...Hang tough

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MrNemo
on 2004-08-23 03:00:54

Very cool, very melodic, nice strings work. Don't we all wish we had an orchestra to call to come over to record a song or two? Very moody work, I imagine someone rapping over it heheh! A great mix, lots of great sounds. I love the effective brass. The song just keeps getting better as it wraps up. Excellent job!!!!

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Zekian
on 2004-05-25 04:02:13

Incredible how a remix can take a repetitive, even annoying, piece and make it something brilliant. My hat's off to you; you've created something to be remembered here.

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Mysterious1ne
on 2004-05-20 18:57:53

Wow...is all I can say. This remix is just too good for words. Everything is on par. I would almost say that this piece was for a rap group of some sort. I know If I could I would be honored to create lyrics for this song.

Being musically, more specifically rap, inclined...I could honestly say if there were any chance in hell, heaven, eden,utopia, asgard, midgard, nefelheim, paradise, Mt Olympus, or Valhalla I could use this and create a remix for this site to hear...I would.

I do believe that honestly they would like it(being that this beat is so far up my alley you need the "Jaws of Life" to pry it away. 8)

P.S. I had it on repeat as I posted this.

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Syl
on 2004-05-20 15:49:43

This is the type of music i dig, This song has been stuck in my head for 2 days now.

congrats on the awesome piece. Slightly repetetive as said, but i don't mind that at all.

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Axe Canabrava
on 2004-05-16 02:27:46

I think it's pretty good.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega , 1991, GEN)
Music by Masato Nakamura
Songs:
"Final Zone"

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File Information


Name:
Sonic_the_Hedgehog_Collision_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,059,048 bytes
MD5:
3cc45b3987988b899aae284f3d123101
Bitrate:
160Kbps
Duration:
4:09

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