DiGi Valentine

Ok. Real talk. And no direct offence intended when i say this. This project has not been handled well at all and i feel it's already caved in on itself. Firstly, communications have been really sparse, there has been no solid drive or focus on getting the mixers here to stay on course with deadlines. Secondly, raising the track-count to 50 is insane and a terrible idea when this project is clearly having trouble getting people to claim even a third of the current sources. You should be trimming down the track list, not adding more to it. You just said so yourself that you think you've bitten off more than you can chew by starting this project. You are also now thinking of stepping down as director after just raising the track amount to 50. So .... you're potentially going to leave it to somebody else to try and recruit mixers for 50 different songs? Because nobody is going to want a responsibility like that, people around OCR are busy enough as it is. I think this project should be shelved for the minute. Seriously. It's clearly in no state to continue stumbling along like this. Put it to the side and maybe someone can come along, dust it off a year from now and start it again, providing they know what they want to do with it. Again, no offence but this was not how i imagined a project of this scope to be handled. Really disappointed, quite frankly. Shame

Lol, it was more along the lines of the fact that i had not really heard much of your work up until this point, truth be told. I honestly did not know what to expect at all. Of course, as i said i was blown away when i did hear your track. Let me put it like this - you made me flip a coin because i just couldn't choose between the two, even though i'm clearly a fan of SupX's work. It's fair to say you really impressed me! XD

More like SuperiorSex ..... i'll shut up now. Happy Birthday, dude.

Oh hey! I didn't know this got wrapped up! Even more surprised to scroll down my Facebook feed yesterday and see OCR's post saying it was released. Let me just grab myself a download real quick! Cheers~ -edit- I'm so glad i get that Cid Highwind 'banana' joke, regarding that piece of art by FoxxDragon! XD

Finally voted for SuperiorX, though that really wasn't an easy match up at all. I truly couldn't choose between the two as both were such strong entries and jnWake's track had surprised me a lot, i wasn't expecting SupX to face such strong opposition. Remarkable work, jnWake. Honestly. Your track was awesome. But i really couldn't decide so i put it down to the flip of the coin, SupX got the vote.

Pics or it didn't happen! lol, actually i'm heading out right now, i'll see if i can find a copy anywhere. If not, someone else may have to provide a scan! Thanks for the tip! This could have honestly passed us by. Back within the hour~

I feel the need to quote an old Jay Z line if i may but it seems to go hand in hand with your trail of thought there - "do you fools listen to music or do you just skim through it?" And honestly, i think that might some of the biggest problems that face musicians these days, especially in such an online world where music is practically dropping out the sky from everyone and their grandmothers mothers mothers. People don't seem to actually want to invest the 4 minutes it takes to listen to a song right the way through, they'll just listen to the first 10% and if it has not grabbed them by that point they'll skip the whole track and say it was shit and they didn't like it. I've kinda been noticing it a lot from people all over the place. Talk to some of your peers and fellow associate musicians about the plays they get on their bandcamp pages and see how many tell you they get a majority of 'red lines' in their song statistics. It does feel like people will not pay attention if it does not instantly grab them. And i find that quite sad as there's so much great music out there to listen to, if only you give it the chance it requires. I mean, ya know. The internet is serious business, there's clearly no time to waste listening to a 4 minute song when the next 10 hours of your day are going to be spent playing MMO's or posting on 4chan.

Sorry, sorry. I've just been finding it a tad difficult to find the time to sit down and actually get voting on these this week. Plus, this was a really difficult round for me to vote on. I mean ....jeeeez ...wow! O_O halc vs wildfire: Oh MAN! Without a single doubt in my mind, out of all the match ups and rounds we've had this year and 2012's contest, this has to be my favourite round ever. Hands down! halc's beat was so on point, i nearly tried to made another guest appearance again, but i had to tear myself away from this tune as it wasn't my place to jump on. This was definitely a rematch of epic proportions and as much as i utterly loved what halc did with the source and that funky ass beat i just didn't want to 'appear' just for the sake of it. This was his battle, i didn't want to distract him from it. halc, my man! Bro, i don't know how you're doing it, but you are the fastest evolving MC i've seen in all my time doing this. You have probably only rapped on about 6 songs in total since you've started, but in each one you have progressively gotten sharper and more in time with your flow. I'm not some kinda sensei or some shit but it makes me proud to hear just how well you've developed your style in such a short amount of time. Seriously, people. I don't know how he's doing it. I gave the vote to you because this rapping thing is something you're new to but bloody hell are you really taking it on board and running with it. Wildfire. I swear, if you had taken on anybody else in the WORLD for this round then i would have given you my vote for this song in a heartbeat. Hell, Michael Jackson himself could rise from the grave with Tupac to battle you here and i still probably would have given you the vote, lol. You may never know how much i truly loved what you did to this track. And you had to get my good ol' friend Level 99 in on it too, apparently the dude can rap now. Does this mean that after 7 something years this guy has finally levelled up? XD Seriously though, this song is like an easter egg that keeps on giving. A pingas egg. Yeah! It's true, i had your chorus stuck in my head for ages ..which never sounds good when you find yourself accidentally singing it in public, lol. It was funny, clever, full of innuendo and i honestly love it. Great track. Not that the pair of you didn't already have it before, but you've won my respect! Sir_Nuts How do we know this dude isn't just visiting his competition every week and sniping them off from across the street? o_O Lol, man. Seriously though, great track. I just wish i had something to put it up against but since you lack an opponent (again) i'll give you your dues and say good job, well done, man! Hakstock vs Amphibious Had to go with Amphy here. That was funky as hell, Amph. And i'm really digging that sound, that was wicked! It's got a great pace to it, just gliding beautifully along. Nice one! Hakstock. That was definitely a slick tune and i really loved the guitar work in this. Regardless of my vote, this was a solid round for both contestants. SuperiorX vs jnWake Daaaamn. I have not voted yet. I don't know how i'm going to vote. SupX's synth work is just always top tier, i dig this guys wizardry SO much! But jnWake ...wtf ...that was some smooth shit you just pulled. That's that 'midnight driving through London city' kinda sound that i like. I wasn't expecting this! D: I'm so honestly torn here, i don't know. Do i go with SupX's synths that i'm a major fan of ...or jnWake's smooth as hell track which surprised me the most this round? I'll have to think it over some more, but seriously, you both did fantastic work. This has probably been the toughest round for me, considering halc's AWESOME rematch with Wildfire and SupX vs jnWake has left me in a bit of a pickle. Great work, all of you. Seriously.

Then i stand corrected on one part. You've been involved at Retro longer than you've been with us. I had presumed you just recently went there. Might be why your actions of posting there confused me. In hindsight, i will retract my last post about speaking on terms using OCR's name as a whole to bring weight to my argument too. Of course i can't speak for everybody, that was probably wrong of me to do so as well. But there does seem to be levels of respect within this community that some of us go by, the kind of respect which you disregarded and in turn had a bunch of us clearly annoyed/confused/etc ...which you've acknowledged anyway so, yeah. This will definitely be my last post on this though, i just wanted to take the opportunity to tidy up my point. I'm starting to remind myself why i just don't do this forum drama-shit anymore

Yeah, you have kinda stuck your foot in it. I don't even know what else to say, i've kinda covered my entire thoughts on all of this already. I don't particularly feel like dragging this out either. It's ok to not like other peoples work. If you don't like something then don't like it. Nobody has a gun to your head. You seem to understand why your actions can been taken as offensive by some of us, so i won't spend time covering that. But the reason for going there in the first place still baffles me. Maybe you wanted to fit in at Retro and come off as being 'one of them' so you'd figure you could score some points by running our names through the shit, i don't know. Honestly, the reason for doing it is confusing me, i can't figure it out nor am i going to spend any more of my time trying to do so. But i'll say this in closing and leave it be. We (as in all of us) worked together, as a team, for a joint project because we shared the same love for a soundtrack and the video game series it came from. We are under the same OCR banner during these times. Whether we like each others styles of music or not should not give us a green light to run a comrade or two through the fucking ground by dissing them in such manners. I don't know if respect is anything you care about but for me a mutual respect is a very valid thing. But at the end of the day, you're going to do whatever you want. All i'm doing is telling you how i see it and i'd rather tell you to your face that i didn't like what i saw. You've apologised, it's done, i'm done with this. Let's just close the book on this whole thing and get back to whatever the hell it was we were doing before this kicked off.

It's never possible to please everybody so naturally when you've created something that gets a bit of attention and goes widespread you're going to catch a hater or two. Honestly, i'm used to that, that's not the problem and is expected of the music we create as individuals. What concerns me is G-Mixer's rather destructive approach to disliking something. He was part of the Sonic CD project and is a very active member in this community, popping up in topics all over the forums here and making connections/friendships with a lot of us (me included). Instead of telling us directly what his opinions of us were/are he decided to go to another forum to talk shit about us there and then act like some cartoon villain in that thread, talking about "If they catch me LOLing this statement I'm going to get in some serious trouble - G-Mixer (Garrett Williamson)" Really though, exactly what kind of bullshit is that? That's some school playground shit. That's going to put you in a bad light with a lot of people. I'm wondering if dude was just begging for drama or something. It seemed so out of left field, i'm not even sure how else to describe it. Just ...bizarre. But, eh nevermind. Everyone's entitled their own opinions, i have mine now too. It's done. Over. Yes sir!!! Let's see how many people we can piss off! Apparently, i can't rap so our collaboration is fucked right out the gates!

Well said, sir. Oh wait, shit, no! That must mean i'll be accused of circle jerking now because i just happen to agree with a very valid and constructed point you've made. Quick, pass the tissues! D: You're making me say things i didn't say! T_T

Hell yeah! A collab was going to happen at some point down the line anyway. Now it's set in stone! XD

Lol, maybe me and Wildfire should collab! As for G-Mixer. Pretty low, dude. Pretty low. I'm not quite sure what i expected of you, but that was not it.

It means i really REALLY like your song. And now voting is going to be painful for me because i'm stuck in this no-mans land between the pair of them XD I'll write a proper review tomorrow sometime but for the record, when halc asked you to bring it ....jeeeeez ....you brought it. That was fun and probably my favourite round and match from the Sonic Zone Remix Competition in it's entire existence, including 2012's contest entries. ...also, your damn chorus is stuck in my head

Well, i'm fucked. That Wildfire vs halc match has absolutely destroyed me.

Wait, we are? ... o_O I mean i know i was keen for this project but daym! XDThough, i was toying with the idea of re-recording my vocals as i reckon i could get them to sound clearer than how i originally recorded them. If i decide to do that, would that be ok and how long would i have to do this? Cheers~

Tuberz - Without fail, you opened up the Robotnik bracket with a fantastically strong entry. Perfect way to start the show. I would not have expected any less of you. Great track, man! Sterling Ortiz - Nice try but it just sounded a little too empty. Sorry Garpocalypse - You really surprised me with this one. I don't know why it surprised me, but it did. And i really liked it. Feels very 80's to me, that could be why. But anyways, seriously though, bloody great tune. DusK - And then this also surprised me. Oddly enough, the style seems to suit you. I'm used to hearing rock and vox coming from your tracks so this was a nice surprise and change of pace. Good track. TheGuitahHeroe - Can not fault a good produced song, not when it hits like this. And i'm the kinda guy who's a little tired of DubStep but you really won me over here. Great work. Eino Keskitalo - i am definitely hearing that old rock sound here. I can't remember who said it now but someone (edit - it was Flexstyles) mentioned it reminded them of Dire Straits, and i totally agree. Nice song. Honestly, you could have probably got someone like Brandon Strader on to drop some vocals and this track would have been an absolute killer. therex - You definitely had the stronger song out of your match up, the production was on point and it sounded kicking. That switch up at 1:21 was beautiful. You did absolutely great with this track. BrothaDom - There's a reason i voted for you out of your bout with therex. As i mentioned above, out of your match up he definitely had the stronger produced track, i can't deny that. The reason i voted for you is because i know you and i know you've got a lot to give, you have a lot of great idea's but sometimes one thing or another seems to let you down or hold your song back. I want to truly see the day where you absolutely blast those bars, man. Like the "let's go!" moment in the beginning of your track, i would have LOVED to have heard you really yell that, just take it to town, let people really hear energy in your voice. You have a charming way of writing lyrics, i totally love the homage to the Ninja Turtles too and your choice of rhymes were good (he's been hitting the gym/ no one's stronger than him/ etc). Clearly you have great idea's for tracks and song ideas, i would just like to see the day where your vocal skills are used to their full potential and you completely cut loose. Go absolutely Super Sonic Saiyan Kaio Ken x20 on that microphone, man. So, i'm voting on you because i know you have way more to give, you just need the right moment to make it happen. You did have a very strong opponent here, i won't lie, but seriously i have major respect for you holding your own. So take my vote but keep working hard and bring out that style of yours more, ok? TheShaggyFreak - Jazz is one style of music i truly love, and you handled it well in this song. I enjoyed that, good work. Flexstyle - Oh. My. God. I mean ....jeeez ...phenomenal. Can't fault it. Not at all. That was superb. urdailywater - A great use of both the sources, with a seriously thumping head nodding kick. Good stuff. BlackPanther - I nearly voted on you. I had your name typed out and everything. I changed my mind at the last second because just having Spring Yard appear at the end like that seemed so ...i don't know, it's a shame :/ One extra minute. Hell, 30 extra seconds and maybe an attempt to at least use the second source a bit more fully and you would have won me over. This song is chilled, it's nice, it's got a beautiful feel to it and i was really reaaaally enjoying it, i was nodding my head and just sitting back in my chair listening to it ...until that abrupt ending kinda came in and totally killed the mood that the whole song had been building. Great song, just an utter shame it's not finished. Phonetic - Oh, hey. You brought a Briggs to the party. Yeah, of course i liked it, what did you think i was going to say? XD Shame your opponent couldn't submit something in time, it would have been nice to have seen this hard hitting track actually go up against something. Chernabogue - Epic! Nothing else to say, just epic! Arceace - Really good energy, very active. Nice work.

Well, i sense some shit's about to go down!

Wait, sorry. We're taking this seriously? Because that text font with those colours, i really thought someone was trying to be funny. Eh, whatever then. Carry on~

Hello. I'm DiGi Valentine and what the fuck is this?

Ah, understood. Yeah, those chorus hooks and the vocoded vocals turned out great. Very Talkbox-y. Love that robotic sound!

Going to take this opportunity to say some stuff. Because, why not, eh? First and foremost, Disambiguity. I really REALLY want to say thank you for still bringing us a battle. I know there was a moment where you considered not submitting your work so the fact that you still showed up wins my respect. I would have honestly given you my vote for that alone, but this ended up becoming somewhat of a (and i don't know how) Zone Runners debut for us and i would probably kick myself later if i didn't vote for my zone running homie, lol. But seriously, thanks for battling us and whoever ends up winning our bout i'll still salute you for a good match! No doubt. Thank you. On to other matters, quick thoughts Wildfire - bloody loved it. I was getting OutRun vibes from this. Hoping you're bringing some of this flavour to that Sonic R project of yours because, hell YES PLEASE! Jason - if you had given me an extra minute of that song chances are you might have honestly gotten my vote. Just wished it could have been a minute or so longer. Great work, those lyrics are very catchy too. halc - doc, i don't even want to know how we made this song so fast. We have songs on the album that have taken months to craft, and then for a SZRC battle we knock a full tune out within 5 days. Zone Runners, baby. Aoooow!~♪ ((seriously, when did this guy start rapping anyway? Why am i even here?)) Sir NutS - Absolutely unepxected, but very well made, i thoroughly enjoyed that. Which one of your two was rapping on that tune, out of curiosity? DJ Max-E - This match up was tough for me to vote on. Max-E, honestly, i've been listening to your music for a long time and i'm a supporter of your work. I can't fault your production skills, you are great at what you create. It will be good to see how far you do go in this competition since this is your first time around. I wanted to give you my vote but ...just ...something about your opponents track caught my ear and wouldn't leave. But you got the skills down, i know you've got it in you to go far in this competition. Xenonetix - Let me put it to you like this. You somehow stopped me from voting for Max-E. I don't know what it was about your song but i really felt that tune. It ...i dunno ...weird as it may seem, i was getting Phantasy Star Online vibes from this track. Almost felt like battle music, at points. That might have been what swung my vote. But seriously, nice one and great work. Hakstok - What can i say? Beautiful. Ryan Jobson - That bassline was most definitely kicking, i really liked what you did with that. Amphibious - well, you don't mess around, huh? Right out the gate with the smoothness. That transition in to Marble zone was flawless. Just, yeah. Take my vote and run with it. Cash - Very fun, very bouncy, you have a nice little song here. Good stuff. SupX - You already know how much of a fan i am of your synth works, dude. You seriously didn't disappoint with this track. The added scratch samples are real neat. Anybody might start thinking you've been hanging with those O'ssembled boys too much, you're getting all street and urban now, lol XD Trism - You really did hit hard with this track. Them drums, man. Jeeez. jnWake - Love that Green Hill breakdown in the middle, very nice touch. Good song overall, loving the guitars. Brandon Strader - You was all about bringing the Butt Hill zone. I turn up to see if there is any Butt Hill zone. There's no Butt Hill zone. Next time you'd better bring double the Butt! Alright, i'm done. Bloody hell, i never write an abridged version of these comments, do i? x_x;;

It's Knuckles' 20th Birthday today. Just saying~

I'll echo what everyone else has been saying and say go for it, regardless. Submitting something is better than being a no-show to a throwdown like this, trust me