Rexy Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 ReMixer Name: The Good Ice ID: 36903 Email: Game: Sonic Unleashed Song: Jungle Joyride (Night) Composer: Sega Sound Team, Kenichi Tokoi Arrangement Title: Rainfall Rush Hello! My friend and I are thrilled to be launching our new music project, The Good Ice. What started as a quick and dirty chill trap sketch eventually blossomed into this 6+ minute thing, which we hope will be the site's debut track for Sonic Unleashed. I've never played the game myself, but upon introduction to the source I was immediately hooked by the atmosphere. A dark jungle kissed by twilight, the rays scattered by rivers and waterfalls. An ancient temple silhouetted against the horizon; a hog of hedges and memes. This piece is quite the departure from our normal fare, both technically and creatively. I could not even begin to list all the new techniques we attempted, compounded by being on the literal opposite ends of the country mid-quarantine, but we're very happy with the result so far. We hope to bring more music in the future! Thanks and enjoy, The Good Ice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 What an incredible journey this track has taken! It's been a treat hearing it evolve since its inception; I know this originated as a simple trap sketch, but your commitment to the concept and willingness to experiment with non-traditional trap instrumentation, such as kit drums, electric guitar, or brass, elevates this to much higher levels. Although it starts off unassuming enough, each additional layer, instrument, and melody introduced serves to amplify the drama. It's a wonderful contrast to the mellow new-age instrumentation beneath it. Of particular note to me are the deep brass/guitar chugs that first enter at 2:43, and the flittering that follow, and the full-blown commitment to the 4-on-the-floor trance rhythm at 3:42. When you finally reach the climax at 4:41, everything clicks perfectly into place and fully delivers on the potential that's been teased up til that point. It's such a badass, cathartic release of tension that speaks to your skills as arrangers and sound designers. Your submission letter doesn't do justice to how much work went into getting this track to this point, but I'm glad you got here! Bravo. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 evocative instrumentation up front on this one. nice work on the articulations on the lead instrument in the opening minute. there's some fun sounds being explored throughout the intro. when the drums come in, there's some really fun volumization/automation on some chirpy pads that i really liked. the guitar lead was fairly straightforward but had some good distortion on it. the break around 2:00 was well handled though in that it gave the track a bit of room to breath and did a good job of keeping up energy without a drum beat. 2:27's build to 2:43 is really fun. there's a lot of drama in that section, and the combination of guitar and brass is interesting. the part at 3:15, with a few heavily-effected leads going at it, is great, and does a great job continuing to build that energy. and of course 3:42 is fantastic. 4:41 is great. the energy is huge, the balance sounds great, and there's a ton of interesting stuff going on. i really liked the attention paid to the ending, as well, starting around 5:35 and going from there. stellar work. this is a great track. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 It still has the jungle vibe, with the wood blocks and the deep, open reverb, but otherwise it's a totally different approach from the original. It evolves, too; you can see its trap roots come out about halfway through, after it builds up as an ambient synth-rock piece. There's nothing here that breaks the mold, but it's still creative and unique. No question about source usage; there are some gaps for breakdowns, but they're brief. I will say that production could be a little crisper when the guitar is playing. The electric guitar is a greedy instrument, frequency-wise, and it's pretty common for it to result in some soundscape muffling, which is what happens here. It leaps out because the rest of the soundscape is deep and lush. The pads in the climax have the same effect: there's just so much going on that the space doesn't have room to breathe. Not a dealbreaker, just something to keep an eye on in the future. Overall, really excellent work. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 Cool source! I always appreciate VGM with crystalline/glassy instrumentation, e.g. Dark Dizzy's theme from Mega Man X5. It turns out Faseeh & Joshua Kruszyna submitted their take on this same theme 3 months before The Good Ice, so this won't be the first Sonic Unleashed piece on OCR, but it's nonetheless a great sophomore representation and a trememdous contrast that stands apart on its own. The wholly original countermelody used right from :00-:59, 1:58-2:13, and then lightly again from 5:39 until the end fit this like a glove. It fit so comfortably and with such synergy, I kept trying to find it in both the source tune and "Jungle Joyride (Day)." Maybe it's found somewhere else, but I dug it. The melody at :58 (from :36 of the source) also reminds me of the melody first used in 1:06 of "G" from the Zuntata Live 1997 ~Cineteque Rave~ album. I thought the snare tone was more vanilla-sounding than it should have been (a little bit more of a trailoff to those hits would have been good, IMO), but it's just a minor nitpick as the percussion was produced well and I enjoyed the effects employed to beef up the sound. Would have loved to have heard the bass writing (which was great) also not be mixed so, so subtly; it may be intentional, but the notes tended to mud together indistinctly. BASS! Hey, you! Come out and play! I also felt that the guitar lead at 1:28 was mixed too quietly; it sounds like it should be wailing and the master volume was just turned down; actually, as the track goes on, the overall mixing and levels of this aren't ideal, but you can just bump up the overall volume. It's not a ding against the track, just a subjective mixing choice; everything still sounds super strong. That said, I dug the other sound design and dynamics more, so it made up for any other choices I didn't agree with personally; definitely professional, commericial arrangement album quality! Lots of cool sonic flourishes underneath the melodies here that give the listener things to enjoy and rewind for. Great track for late-night highway driving too, IMO; reminds me of Module's Shatter OST in that respect. Dunno what you'd call this genre, but this rocks out the original in such a creative way. I enjoyed switching back and forth between the source tune and your version to follow along with the structure and appreciate the way you guys personalized the arrangement. Small critiques aside, very creative, and a new personal favorite that I'm looping! I'm genuinely honored you submitted this for OCR to host and promote; this'll be a lifetime favorite of mine. Definitely looking forward to hearing more from the LongBoxofChocolate alums, now as The Good Ice! Should be "The Great Ice" with musicianship like this. ;-) YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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