OCR02986 - *YES* Sonic the Hedgehog 'Did a Hedgehog Just Come Through Here?' *RESUB*

[Liontamer]

Your ReMixer names: Skolar, Argle

Name of game(s) arranged: Sonic the Hedgehog

Name of individual song(s) arranged: Green Hill Zone -

Name of arrangement: Did a Hedgehog Just Come Through Here?

Skolar:

Argle offered to provide violin for my original version. I was happy that someone was interested enough in my remix to help with it, but I knew that in the state it was in, my remix wouldn't come close to doing a live instrument recording justice. Fortunately, that problem was solved a few days later when Argle - apparently just for fun - completely remade the remix into this polished orchestral-electronic-I-don't-even-know-what-to-call-it. I can't pretend to take credit for how cool it sounds at this point, but I'm proud to have participated in something that wound up sounding this awesome

Argle:

I initially offered to do some recording for Skolar, cuz sampled violin makes me a sad panda. Since he sent me a MIDI to work from and I had to patch everything to samples anyway to get a working mix, I figured I'd make a tweak here. And a tweak there. All of the sudden I had a mix that was fairly different from Skolar's original track, yet built on the foundation of it. Moral of the story is sending me a project MIDI is a dangerous thing. Many thanks to him for inspiring me with this tune; it's a source I probably never would have chosen on my own.

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[Liontamer]

Oof. Those were VERY bland, flimsy, plodding, repetitive beats at :50 that undermined the track every single time they were in play. Yes, I just thew the book at 'em, but you've got to change the tone and/or vary the rhythms of that beat to create a more cohesive fit that actually drives the song forward. The mixing was also pretty muddy, and there's not really any synergy with the orchestral elements and beats.

The sax cameo from 1:30-1:42 was decent, but should have been tighter and not as exposed; it could have had a bit more delay and been more couched into the soundscape, not unlike how the violin from 1:43-2:08 sounded (though the texture was still too muddy for that section).

The transition at 2:27 actually came off pretty awkward; not sure why the shift had to be that sudden, but I'm not sure it worked.

When the bleh beats aren't in there, you have a pretty winning arrangement. Fix the beats and increase the clarity of the soundscape (compare http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01186/) for the win.

Normally, I'd panel this, but we're working to catch up the backlog and there's no doubt in my mind this would be a NO (resubmit), so I'm making the call now. I believe you guys could get it to a point where it could pass. If you still have any interest in that, just be sure to note that you're resubmitting.

It's funny the things you become blind to during the course of making a song. You are right, of course, the beats were very quiet and anemic. I punched them up in a big way. Also used more synth bass, which I think has a gluing effect between the drums and other instruments. Cleaned up some of the mud in the other instruments. More blending on the sax. Tried to smooth out the transition at 2:27 a bit. Also a bunch of tweaks that were done before the email. Let me know.

So, originally, the beats were really weak and a legit dealbreaker issue, not just me being an old man per the usual. I form letterered it to speed up the process and Argle was cool enough to respond back with some resubmission tweaks that fix the issue and get the piece solidly there, IMO.

I still though the beat-writing was metronome-ish in places, which didn't drive the track forward in the way I think was intended. But the beats in this resub did have that denser sound needed to properly fill things out. The arrangement was relatively conservative to start but expanded with new part-writing and personalized well with the instrumentation. The live instruments starting at 1:30 added beautiful interpretive touches to things in the second half, and it was nothing but goodness all around. Nice job on this, guys!

YES

[Fishy]

I wasn't really convinced by the first minute. It also feels like you've not got the harmony for the main riff quite right, something was a little bit off. Once the boom tiss started it was a little cookie cutter but the live stuff certainly offered something different. I liked the way you used the B-sections to mix things up (1:17 etc).

I'm just about ok with this, though it's a little bit borderline because of how long it takes to get interesting and the slightly weird harmony interpretation.

YES (borderline)

[Nutritious]

I get this random Secret of Mana vibe from the strings in the intro.

Hmm, while I hear what Cain is saying about the harmonies not matching the original, I more view it as creative interpretation rather than being "wrong" per se. That said, I heard a bit of clashing between the string stabs and the bells on the lead on a few of the chords. Not a big deal to me, though.

I really wanted the break at either 1:16 to be much bigger and fuller as I think it would've been more effective. Even just adding some string harmonies to fill it out probably would've done the job.

2:22 and 2:28 transitions were a bit jarring to me. Seemed like something you'd have in a wip as a placeholder until you've figured out how to handle the changeover.

Beats aren't super awesome fantastic, but they do the job of driving the tempo to keep the energy level. Strings & keys/bells are sounding nice throughout here. Arrangement is a fresh take on a pretty well-covered source, so props there as well.

Overall, a bit of room for improvement to take home for next time, but good stuff here.

YES

[DarkeSword]

Feels a little weird to listen to given how familiar I am with the source track; some of the harmonic changes are interesting. They all work though.

This piece really comes together once that live violin hits. Really smooth stuff. I recommend we post this around the holidays.

UES