ReMix:Sonic the Hedgehog "Sonicquarium" 3:31

The Cynic Project (Alex Smith) debuted on OCR back in 2011 with a memorable, creative arrangement of 'Green Hill Zone,' and now he returns in 2013 with... a memorable, creative arrangement of 'Green Hill Zone'!?! Yep, and the two ReMixes are really rather different, which is both required by our standards AND kinda nifty; such source revisiting reminds me of Sadorf's two takes on 'Vents of Medusa' from Ecco GG. The artist writes:

"The intro to this mix is based off my own track "Julie's Aquarium" which is where Sonicquarium comes from (credit to my wonderful wife Julie for the name). My goal for this remix was to create a lush arrangement with high production value using the EWQL symphonic orchestra library. When I began work this winter, I had just bought the "close mics" expansion for EWQL which was the primary inspiration for the instrumentation. I developed and reworked this mix over a long period of time and made many drafts so I could capture a variety of techniques I was learning about orchestral arrangement at the time (like the trills on flute/violin and programming for contrabass)

This mix is intended as sort of a sequel to my previous mix April Rain, and a conclusion to my series of GHZ remixes so that I can focus on remixing other tracks from the Sonic series."

Contrasted with "April Rain," this mix is less upbeat & poppish and has a floatier, mellower sound that blossoms into much more of an orchestral vibe as things progress. Harp & chromatic percussion intro with faint ethereal choral elements & pads, creating a delicate, bubbling, underwater atmosphere before picking up with ensemble strings @ 1'02" and then rolling snares @ 1'20" - nice alternate pizzicato articulation on the strings! Any significant similarity to its predecessor would probably be related to the clarity, spacing, and EQ - everything is discrete & clean, reverb is used frugally, and even during larger ensemble portions, there's a really good sense of immediacy and presence. Great stuff from The Cynic Project, whose arrangements have a paradoxically positive attitude to them and who has now provided us with TWO very different but equally creative & enjoyable mixes of the same source!