Arwen

Star Salzman is easily one of the best vocalists on this site, perhaps the best. I love the raw emotion in this song, but what I love best is the constant vascillation between weight and weightlessness. Dare I say it, it feels as if you are a grain of sand in an hourglass that's being turned end-to-end. At times you feel suspended in air, sort of like when you're on a roller-coaster just about to plummet 40 feet. And at other times, you feel compressed, as if gravity has twice its normal pull. It's quite a ride, and quite a mix of genres and timbres wrapped up in one song. It's not for the faint of heart or perhaps a musical purist, but I love it.

This is one of the most visually evocative pieces on OCReMix. I can see the gently swirling snow under the grey sky. I can see the dead lying in pools of blood staining the perfect white, their shattered armor glinting dimly in the hazy, pale sun. I can see the dying clinging to their last frozen breaths, while the living crouch to hear their last words or give them the mercy stroke. I can see the victors standing solemnly, unable to celebrate the victory that came at such a high cost. I can hear the grim, metallic reality of the section that begins at 2:22. I can feel the hope (around 3:12) that comes from such devastation--the promise of better future that tragically had to be borne of fighting. I can hear the hope in the hearts of the victors that perhaps they will never have to give birth to such a future in this way again--that maybe next time, instead of a place stained with blood and broken with shattered metal, there will be merely a beautiful, undisturbed snowfield.

This is a high-quality mix with a lot going on. I think my favorite part is the chanting--I'm impressed the remixer did his own vocals. Maybe my affection for this track hearkens back to the days of watching spaghetti westerns with my dad, but regardless, it's a melodic piece that makes me happy, and that's what counts most to me.

A beautiful piece. I love music that is about a state of being, not just about this particular interval and that particular drumset. It has a zenlike quality of just being what it is, which inspires you to do the same.

This track has gotten stuck in my head of late, and I love it. It has this great 80s groove feel to it that creates a cool but energetic feel for the listener. I'm surprised it hasn't received more reviews; this track stood out to me among OCRemixes because of its obvious quality and sheer spiffiness.

I love most of the Sonic tracks out there. This one is not my favorite, mostly because of the intro. The reversed Sega effect was quite cool, however, and the ring sound effects were well-placed. The instruments seem a little off to me, but I can't quite place why. It's not a bad mix, it's just not quite for me though.

What an awesome track. Very soothing, very spacey, very powerful in an understated way. It flows beautifully, and feels free but never unfocused. Great piece, and one that will make it on to my short list of favorite OCReMixes.

I had this piece playing when someone who doesn't know much about video games walked in the room. They asked what movie this was from so they could buy the soundtrack. I have a short playlist of particularly beautiful and meaningful OCReMixes, and this was one of the first on the list. Very well done!

Holy cow...I love this mix. Lava Reef was one of my favorite zones because of the music. This remix captures the mystery, the chaos, and the danger of the zone. I know there are some others who didn't like it, but as someone who was nuts about Sonic, I am really happy to have it. It's true to the original feel of the game and it brings back some very happy moments from my early teen years.

What a mixture of funk and magic! I loved every second, although I'm partial to the beginning.

Beautiful, serene, just a little sad, with an undercurrent of hope. Just the way I like 'em! I think it takes a few listens to get the "groove" part of the song but fortunately this is an easy track to put on repeat. I remember when this game came out for Saturn and my sister and I were admiring the water effects as we played I believe it was the first level. Good times. Great track!

An absolutely gorgeous piece--very meditative. It is magical in its delicacy. The choice of instruments is very effective and the soft singing is just divine. I particularly liked the harp flourishes. This is a tender tribute to an important suite of music that contains a lot of love for the original material.

I am really impressed with the quality of production on this track. So much so that while this is not my favorite type of music, I like this song quite a bit nonetheless. It's laidback and groovy and very airy in a gritty say. It's hard to describe what I think about the vocalist, so I'll say his voice has character and presence, and its uniqueness matches the uniqueness of the song.

I don't know what more I can add that hasn't been said before but I'll try anyway: to say this is gorgeous, moving, well-done, and a genius of a song, not just a remix, is a total understatement. The vocals are just perfect, the guitar work is amazing, the lyrics are soothing, the timing is awesome. This is going to go on my short list of remixes to listen to over and over.

This is truly awesome. Consider me a big fan!

I've been going through a hard time of things lately. I won't go into details, but for whatever reason, I have latched onto this song to help get me through. There is something so beautifully soothing about it, so deep and understanding and hopeful, that I cannot get it out of my head. And that's a good thing--it has given me some peace. Thank you truly for it.

I was of the impression that OCRemix judges tended to send creators of mixes back to improve and resubmit mixes if they were somewhat rough around the edges. I'm guessing this one "slipped through" because it is an impressive effort given it seems to have been thrown together at the last minute. Seems a shame that more time wasn't taken to make it more polished. There's nothing terrible about this mix, although a love story in the middle of Sonic 3/Sonic and Knuckles just feels really "off" to me. Pixie is off-key (she seems to tend to start out sharp and then get on pitch for most of the notes in the song except the beginning and end "ahhs") and too loud on the harmony, shonen is okay but the production doesn't do him any favors (reverb or something might have helped his voice sound richer), and D-lux's spoken part just sounded out of place (there was a bit of an effect added to his voice but it would have helped a lot to play more with effects). GeoffreyTaucer's guitar work is about the only thing that seems spot-on. I would love to hear an off-vocal version of this just to appreciate what sounds like an excellent instrumental track. Something like this is hard to pull off so I don't intend to be harsh; it just seems a little out of place given the apparent insistence on polished work around here. I think this track could have been something truly spectacular had there been more time put into it--more effects for the vocals, better balancing, and more time to practice and get comfy with the song for the vocalists. As it is, it is very good all things considered, but at the same time hard for me to listen to.

It's a beautiful mix that evokes all the right emotions. It's expansive and chilly and I could easily see it floating across an icy sea. The time signature seems genius to me, and keeps the whole thing interesting. I think it also lends some "coolness" to the song, in every sense of the word. There is something that bothers me, however. I have noticed in Pixie's mixes that she tends to go a little sharp (as in pitch) on many notes. It's a problem I think for anyone with a very pure voice. The other problem with a pure voice is that it is hard to bring punch to a song, and I felt this one could have used a little more punch. There was some harmony which helped, and I would have liked to hear more; I think that would have given the song a little more oomph without going overboard. At any rate, that's my nitpicking...overall it's still a beautiful track and represents a great effort from its contributors.

This is breathtaking. This piece evokes a sense of circular motion--that at the end, we come back to the beginning, yet it's different because we can look back on that beginning with greater wisdom. I think this is because of the constant crescendo and decrescendo of the piano, but I also see this reflected in the overall structure of the piece. The quieter times in which the piano shines through like sun through clouds are my favorite parts. This piece is tentative and delicate and reminds me of so many things that seem fragile but have an undercurrent of strength. I could listen to it all day. Beautiful job.

Everyone needs a chilled track like this. I actually liked the same-ness of the chord progression, it seems to be part of the point of the piece. The whispering around 1:25 is excellent and rounds out the track's cool mystery. I particularly like the harmony. I have not noticed as much use of harmony in pixietricks' other pieces, but I think that harmony helps a lot when you have a voice that is pure like hers. I think it's harder on someone with a pure voice because the ear gets very unforgiving for straying off-key even an ioda, but harmony can help compensate for that. All in all it's a dreamlike piece with an icy edge that really kindles the imagination!

I feel compelled to review this song because "infectious" as another poster said it is really putting it mildly. I have had this song stuck in my head for the better part of the week and am loving it! I only wish I understood Italian so I could memorize the words faster and sing along. There is an undercurrent of grace, strength and beauty in this song--partly from the language and partly from the arrangement. Simona is easily the most talented vocalist I've heard out of OCR. Now, if anyone could tell me where I can find more Italian pop like this, I'd really appreciate it.

I've lurked around here for a while, and have been aware of OCR for while before that. I'm not really part of the community--just someone who likes good music and thinks video game music has been terribly overlooked. I recently downloaded the torrent files of all of OCR because I was just looking for some good instrumental music, and I knew I'd be missing out if I only downloaded songs from games I knew. I've had many hours of listening pleasure over the past couple months and have been very impressed with the creative and talented mixers and the quality of pieces on this site. The mission of this site really speaks to me. As a teenager, it was not easy being a girl more interested in video game magazines than the latest issue of Cosmo, but my skill with video games (which was as good or better than the boys around me) gave me confidence that I should pursue a career in IT despite the fact that I knew I'd be distinctly in the minority. People tend to underestimate the importance of games (and all aspects of games, including design, art, and music), but they opened up a world to me. Looks like many others have had a similar experience, which is a big "take that!" to those who blow off video games or see only negatives in them. I'd especially like to say thanks for giving the attention you have to the Sonic series--those games have always been my favorites, and bring back good memories of Christmas mornings popping in a new cartridge and having a blast. I would sometimes sit in a level and let the music run just because I enjoyed it so much. It's good to hear that there are others out there who appreciated Sonic and the music as much as I did. I have one suggestion for those who may be looking for their next project: Lunar the Silver Star and Lunar Eternal Blue were my next favorite games after the Sonic series. I haven't seen a lot around here of Lunar remixes, but there are some tracks that were good to begin with (especially one sometimes translated as "Field to Tomorrow" from Eternal Blue), and I'd love to see what new perspective the folks around here can bring to them. Anyway, I knew there was a lot of work that went into this site, but I am glad to know more of the full story behind it so I can better appreciate it. Thank you again to djpretzel for putting together an amazing place (with a nice layout on top of that) and thank you to all those who have shared their work here for lurkers like me to enjoy. ~Arwen