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OCR02874 - *YES* Sonic CD (US) 'Road Trip'


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ReMixer Name: KingTiger

Real Name: R. Corey Oltman

Website: http://kingtigermusic.com

User ID: 13997

Name of game arranged: Sonic CD

Name of arrangement: Road Trip

Name of original songs arranged: Stardust Speedway (US) (Present/Bad Future/Good Future), cameos: Palmtree Panic (US) (Present), Tidal Tempest (US) (Present), and Sonic 3D Blast (Sega Genesis/Mega Drive) Panic Puppet (Act 1)

Source usage breakdown, along with links to original source tunes:

0:00 - 1:21: Present "A" melody.

1:22 - 1:53: Present "B" melody.

1:54 - 2:10: Present "A" bassline, with some Bad Future in the background (see next time reference).

2:10 - 2:58: Present "A" melody, with some Bad Future in the background (the percussive, effected piano part - in the source it's the at the very beginning of the song).

2:59 - 3:33: Present "B" melody, with some Good Future waaay in the background (it's the part starting at 0:25 in the source), and a couple other things going on:

* 2:59 - 3:14: Palmtree Panic (US) present - main melody starting at 0:18 in the source

* 3:15 - 3:23: Tidal Tempest (US) present - the bassline right at the beginning of the source

* 3:31: Bad Future - the "Staaaarduuuuust" whispered here is from 0:55 in the source

3:33 - 4:05: The very beginning of Good Future, the bassline and other licks from the beginning of Good Future, as well as a melody from the Genesis version of Sonic 3D Blast's Panic Puppet Zone Act 1 (3:50 - 4:02), which was my theme in the 2012 SZRC (in the source it begins at 0:25)

4:05 - 4:22: Present "A" chordal structure, with more of the Bad Future piano-y part exposed.

4:23: there's that "Staaaaarduuuust" whisper again.

This is a track from an unreleased OCR project.

Thoughts/comments:

I am extremely proud to be a part of the Sonic CD project on OCR, and very proud of how this track turned out. I've always been pretty good at creativity in my musical arrangements and compositions, but my production/mixing has always been a bit lacking. Thankfully, the Temporal Duality project is staffed with some very knowledgeable and very helpful folks, and, thanks to their great input, I have grown immensely in those areas, as is hopefully demonstrated in this remix.

All that aside, Sonic CD has always been a bit of a underground favorite of mine - "underground" because it was rare for me to be able to play it, seeing as I've never owned a Sega CD. I was able to play the Sega PC Windows version for a while, and when I discovered the existence of two separate soundtracks, I tried various things to get my PC to play the Japanese soundtrack in place of the US one, with limited success.

Imagine my joy when I discovered the re-mastered re-release of Sonic CD on Steam, complete with the option to switch between both soundtracks! Not only did this re-kindle my love of the game but also inspired me to make this mix of one of my favorite levels and favorite tracks from the US version of the game.

This is a rather house-ish remix, with some lo-fi bits and lots and lots of added flair. I hope you all enjoy it!

~KingTiger

aka R. Corey Oltman

Stardust Speedway (Present)

Stardust Speedway (Bad Future)

Stardust Speedway (Good Future)

---------------------------------------------------------------

The intro was a weak point in this remix - the timing doesn't sound quite on and the random vocal clips are very low-quality - but once the drums are added, this picks up. There's quality detail work all over this and once the scratching and glitch sections come on, this starts to gel a lot better. Some fake strings enter the picture as the B-section melody is used, and the sequencing is clearly fake, but it sounds fine in the context the remix is painting.

By the end, I was impressed how much mileage was eked out of the Speedway Present melody, which gets the most screen time by far among the sources used. Overall, this is quirky and creative with some really pretty moments. There's a number of things that could have been tightened up or excised (the ending whisper didn't do much for me), but the concept comes across pretty well.

YES

Edited by djpretzel
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To me, this is a fantastic example of what a track can sound like after multiple revisions with input from a lot of people. As one of the folks who helped Corey out a lot with this track, I've heard it go through many different iterations. It started off with a lot of production and pacing problems, but Corey took all the feedback to heart and really put in the work on this one.

I think all this hard work really shows. The production is very clean at this point, and the song never drags on to me, even though it's a bit repetitive in its source usage. Clearly uses source throughout most of it, too.

Folks, take notice--this is how you you elaborate on a sparse source without getting boring. You take the source, and play through it, and then do it again with variation, and then change up filtering and sounds, and cool stuff like that. Add some sound effects here, some scratching there. Change the backing track as it goes on. There's always something new and cool to hear, even if it's the same basic notes. This is also a neat exercise in having a 4-on-the-floor track without a completely in-your-face kick drum. I mean, it's there, but it's not very deep and it's not smacking you in the head every time it hits. Usually that just means it's a wimpy kick, but this track manages to pull it off to where it actually sounds like it belongs, due to how well the rest of the percussion meshes with the track as well, and how well everything is mixed together spectrum-wise.

It's a very unique-sounding electronica track, and I think it's a worthy addition to the front page. I'm proud to give this one a....

YES

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Drums felt pretty weak to me overall, but the groove was fine. There was a lot of variation overall, but 4:30 felt long and after the 3 min point on repeated listens I lost focus. I think the issue is the lead synth stays the same for so long. It does mix up eventually, and the variation throughout is good, but I do recommend you keep working on production. i also didn't think the whisper at the end made much sense in context. It's a creepy stardust, and the track was so upbeat it seemed odd.

Still, I think it is pretty close, but I am fine going Yes on this.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The pace of this starts out feeling a bit plodding, after hearing the source, but picks up pretty well after the intro. The sounds are really good, even with the stiff sequencing. The glitching, vocal, and scratch effects are dynamite. Lots of nice little synth fills. Track is mixed quite well. The arrangement is fairly straightforward. Bass has good presence and nice upper-end buzz. Synth strings work well. Fun soloing. Piano is a nice addition at the end. The bridge/breakdown at 1:21 is a bit plainly written, but it'll work. I'm liking this a lot overall.

YES

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