OCR04534 - *YES* Sonic the Hedgehog 2 & Super Metroid "The Brinstar Chemical"

[Emunator]

·      Your ReMixer name

o   Kyaku

·      Your real name

o   Richard Westbrook

·      Your email address

o   

·      Your website(s)

o   N/A

·      Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile

o   38541-kyaku

 

·      Name of game(s) arranged

o   Sonic 2 and Super Metroid

·      Name of arrangement

o   The Brinstar Chemical

·      Name of individual song(s) arranged

o   Sonic 2: Chemical Zone and Super Metroid: Brinstar Jungle Floor

·      Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site)

o   Both are popular songs for remixes so I imagine I can’t add much more here, though please let me know if I need to.  First timer!

·      Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site)

o   Sonic 2: https://youtu.be/-LYB7iLZNWE

o   Super Metroid: https://youtu.be/tVUYyVfydqY 

·      Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, how the source material was referenced in the arrangement, etc.

o   I attempted a little bit of a mash up, and though I started out with a vapory 80’s theme in mind, it probably isn’t too true to that genre in total.  This is my first submission after being a lister many years past, so here goes nothing!  No matter the outcome, not planning on this being my last.  Thanks for your time!

[Emunator]

There's a great deal of subtlety and restraint at work here, this is not the kind of remix that jumps out and immediately demands attention. That said, the fusion of source material here is really seamless and yields some downright beautiful results. The melody treatment is the star of the show, but your sound design is also very immersive, and the production is clean as a whistle.

Cheers to many more from here!

YES

[Liontamer]

The instrumentation and writing reminded me a bit of Ben Prunty's "Hot Machine, Cold Surface".

The intro was pretty long, and just had brief repeating pieces of the "Chemical Plant" theme I recognized. Once :50 brought in the full "Chemical Plant" melody, it also had the Brinstar theme creatively used as backing writing (from :50.5-1:42 & louder from 2:58.5-3:50 with the inclusion of that countermelody as well); agreed with Emu that it was a clever idea with subtle interplay. Then at 1:42, pieces of the "Brinstar" theme very quietly were the only VGM going on until "Chemical Plant" returned at 2:07.

One of the lines cut out abruptly at 1:50 & 2:03, but it may have been intentional and wasn't a big deal anyway.

By 2:33, one could argue more variation needed to be going on, but the arrangement was so interpretive with the treatment that it could bear the repetition, IMO. Good stuff, Richard!

YES

[MindWanderer]

Hoo, opens up with a loud wash of reverb right in your face. The whole intro, through 0:50, is a wall of sound for me. All I can make out is beats and echoes. I can hardly even distinguish individual notes.

Then the melody kicks in, and I hear notes, but they're on the quiet side compared to that continuing morass of reverb. At times, e.g. 1:31-1:40, I can barely even tell whether the lead is playing.  It took me multiple listens to even notice there was even a melody in 2:09-2:58.  Did I even listen to the same track as the judges above? It must be, because it's definitely Chemical Plant + Brinstar, but this isn't "clean" production by any stretch of my imagination.

It's a great idea, but I can't hear half of it and I can't appreciate the rest. It's all echoes on echoes on echoes.

NO

[prophetik music]

the intro's chill vibe is great. there is the right balance of verby tones next to crisp percussion. the melodic material comes in at 0:51, and it is indeed heavily reverbed but not so much that i can't hear what's happening. there's a lot of subtlety with the various synths and getting just the right amount of bite to their tone.

there's a break at 1:42, focusing more on the glassy bells and some lighter instances of elements we've heard up to this point. the groove is back in at 2:09, and we get a more involved recap of the melodic material at about 2:57. this is very similar to what's happening earlier - in fact i think it's the same material as at 0:51 just with bigger drums. similar to before, there's a break at 3:50 that's almost the same as before but slightly bigger, and this kind of suddenly ends, not even on the root.

i did not like the ending's sudden end (it just sounds like the end of a loop) or the copypasta from 2:57 to the end, which is not quite a third of the piece. however, the arrangement is clever, the synth work is nuanced, and i felt the mastering was pretty good throughout and didn't have too much reverb. there's a lot of sub-40hz content that didn't get rolled off but that's my only real complaint in that area.

this is a neat idea that's executed pretty well. in the future, i'd encourage you to always make your recapitulation section more different - particularly in the handling of the melodic material, which at that point has usually already been repeated several times. the last time through is a great chance to leave a mark in the listener.

 

 

YES

[Chimpazilla]

Mix opens with a huge amount of reverb, and I love it!  It sounds great against the more crisp perc groove.  Love the laid-back, dreamy synthwave feel of this.  Arrangement is a nice mix of both sources; they go together well.  Lots of writing variation throughout even while keeping the soundscape the same.  Arrangement is pretty repetitive, but it works in this context and there are enough details added along the way to keep it fresh.  Love the subtle wubs happening at 2:32-2:33, kinda wishing there were more like that (if there are more, they are more of a texture than a feature, i.e. I can't hear them).  This arrangement would fit perfectly in any 80s movie.  Mixing and mastering are working well. Simple and effective, luscious and dreamy.

YES