DragonAvenger Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Your ReMixer name Beckett007 Your real name Rich Douglas Your email address Your website http://www.richdouglas.net Your userid 7038 Name of Game: Sonic 3 Name of Arrangement: Ice Cap Zone Rescue Link to My Remix: Name of Song Arranged: Ice Cap Zone - Sonic 3 Additional Info: Well, I'm back to my old epic tricks with this one. I know I know.. Ice Cap Zone has been remixed more times than I can count over the last 10 years or so... but to my knowledge has never been done in my signature epic style. So while I'm one of the 5 peeps on the planet who hasn't tried to remix this amazing source material, figured I'd give it a shot. When I re listened to the source recently I immediately thought of slowing it down by half, adding a full orchestra, and a full on choir... making it, in my opinion, one of my most epic and well orchestrated remixes to date. Something fitting for a rescue sequence, hence the name. Thematically, this is amazing stuff, and after hearing it orchestrated will definitely remind many of you of such pieces like "Arrival to Earth" from Transformers by Steve Jablonsky and "Time" from Inception by Hans Zimmer.... which was definitely the vibe I was going for here. -------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 The slowed down version works pretty good, but I couldn't help myself wishing for a rhythmic changeup of the blocky source chords.The dynamics are great, and the counter melodies are nice, but it feels pretty vanilla, somehow. It may just be that i've heard the track a million times. Some of the canned vocal lines dip a little out of the song's key, as well, which makes it a little awkward in spots, but they resolve fine, making it a minor annoyance rather than a song-killer. When all is said and done, the samples are pretty good, there is a good personalization of the source, and while it's not quite doing it for me on a personal level, I think it clears the bar based on both the arrangement and production criteria. Yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted September 26, 2011 Author Share Posted September 26, 2011 I love the epic intro, and overall I'm a sucker for epic anything, so you're on a good track with me. Overall, I will have to say that I don't think the Ice Cap theme works as well as you'd like in this style; it's just not conveying that sense of strong emotion. Could just be me, and it's not as though it's completely out of place either. Everything is arranged well, and the counter-melodies and percussion are nice to listen to. I'm agreeing with Andrew pretty much on everything, except I'm a lot more bugged by the vocals stuff going out of key. It's especially apparent in the first vocal line that comes in, and I think it really pulls the track down. I think if it came down to it I could go either way, but for now I'd like a conditional on the vox. YES (conditional on vocals) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 I do really appreciate the adaptation of an oft-mixed source to something unique. There's a reason that Ice Cap Zone has been tackled so many times and I'm glad remixers are still finding new ways to work with it This is overall a pretty solid attempt. It doesn't ever reaches a proper climax to me, though. Right before the outro, it feels like those staccato strings are building up to something really awesome, but then it just sort of drops unexpectedly. Also, when the section strings are playing the lead Ice Cap melody, the attack feels way too slow and the melody doesn't quite work as you'd expect. I'd suggest tweaking the articulations instead of just using that same slow attack for each note. Production here is what I've come to expect from your work - extremely solid and engaging. I appreciate the vocal additions and the piano as well, they add some neat texture to an already-unique orchestral arrangement. I may be in the minority here but I feel like there's a few things that could be polished here, and that it would really benefit from a climax, similar to what you have going on at 1:04 but perhaps with even more of an epic drum pattern to carry it. To me, it just feels weird to have the last half of the remix at such a low energy level, considering what you achieved with that one section. I'd like to see what everyone else thinks, I might be willing to flip my vote here but I do feel like this has the potential to be an OCR classic with a little bit more tweaking on the arrangement and a few minor production polishes. NO (resub!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 I like the slowed, dramatic pace you've set here. Rich always aims for the blockbuster movie soundtrack feel and with his ability and samples [/envy] he really pulls it off well. I hear what the other j's are saying on the canned vocals, but as Andrew mentioned, they resolve well so it's a minor point to me. Production for the most part is pulled off very nicely with clear separation of parts, even in the loud section. The kit felt a little small in comparison to the big orchestra/choir and orch drums - especially those cymbal crashes starting at 1:21. I guess if you're going for the live recorded feel, this could be plausible, though personally I'd recommend a little more powah. Arrangement is a very creative take on an oft-remixed track, so double props there. There's no question what's being remixed, but that doesn't mean the track is predictable by any stretch. I actually almost entered this PRC round myself as I had some arrangement ideas I wanted to try out, but time constraints kept me on the sideline - which in hindsight now sounds like a good thing. I may be in the minority here but I feel like there's a few things that could be polished here, and that it would really benefit from a climax, similar to what you have going on at 1:04 but perhaps with even more of an epic drum pattern to carry it. To me, it just feels weird to have the last half of the remix at such a low energy level, considering what you achieved with that one section.NO (resub!) I hear what you're saying here Wes, but in my view this is more of a remixer arrangement choice vs. judge preference. If the transition doesn't work or if the arrangement choice really is off kilter to the point where it's a severe detriment to the track, I'd be on board with sending it back. As is, though, both high and low energy sections work and it's transitioned effectively in between, so personally I don't really see this an an issue with site criteria. Yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 You know, you bring up an excellent point and I do feel like I was a little unfair with my vote here. As much as I still stand by everything I said and wish I could hear the concept more fleshed out, I agree that it was a bit out of line to reject the track on those grounds. My apologies. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I'm agreeing with Andrew pretty much on everything, except I'm a lot more bugged by the vocals stuff going out of key. It's especially apparent in the first vocal line that comes in, and I think it really pulls the track down. I think if it came down to it I could go either way, but for now I'd like a conditional on the vox. The solo vox definitely stuck out to me too, in what was otherwise an excellent arrangement. It sounded like it was meant for a key that shared most of the same notes but not all. I have to imagine the dissonance is intentional on Rich's part (or at least acknowledged), but it was a weak spot in my book. I was actually more bothered by the end than the intro, because the same solo vocal clip was used multiple times in a row, with the same off key note. Not a dealbreaker but I also think other people will get bothered by it. The song never builds to full bombast but does a lot with controlled tension. Very nicely executed overall. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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