ReMix:Sonic the Hedgehog 2 "Chemical Plant Zone (Subtractive Dispatch Mix)" 3:35

It's officially NOOBWEEK here at OCR, as we celebrate new artists & their debut ReMixes!!

Of course, many (if not most) artists popping up on OC ReMix for the first time are quite far from noobs when it comes to music production in general, so the label is more of an affectionate welcome & not a barometer of general experience. Up first is wauterboi (Isaias) with a gritty, not-quite-dubstep but still aggressively effected EDM take on S2's classic "Chemical Plant Zone" theme:

"So, yeah, this song is definitely a creative accident. Here's what happened: I had a song that is two years old. The percussion was awesome and everything else sucked, so after stripping the song of its awful melodies and horribly explosive synth garbage, I was left with the drums.

I went back to square one with a keyboard and the original beat, and the collective of notes that came after just happened to closely resemble "Chemical Plant Zone." I decided from that point on that I was remixing Sonic, and, a few synths later, it sounded great.

I'm a dolt when it comes to describing my own music, but if I had to say anything about it, I'd say that it takes some of the style from the original track and throws it in a blender full of gritty synthwork, a slower tempo, and even some of the original synths from the game. I mean, they're literally the original synths - they were extracted from the game and played by yours truly. And I guess you could say it's slightly dubsteppy without being vomit-inducing or "super filthy heavy nastiness.""

We tried to contact Isaias to get a 44.1kHz render of the mix to fit with our standards (this is 48kHz), but we never heard back; hopefully seeing his arrangement posted will prompt both a response AND future submissions, as this is an enjoyable & unique take on a popular theme. Grit & grime are out in force, but the other interesting aspect is how things have been slowed down, with latebreaking wobbles being one of the only double-time exceptions to an otherwise reduced pace. It actually provides more of the feel of a factory/plant, where things are being manufactured, which is neat, and the glitchery & mangling are first-rate. OA writes:

"This is pretty damn solid. I really like the constant beat and the 16th note synth pattern, and of course there is a sonic SFX inclusion or two. It's a sonic remix after all! ;-)

The repetition is a little prominent the second time around, but there are minor changes that keep it unique. I do think mixing it up a bit more would have been a little more exciting, but overall I think this is a cool take on a classic and is strong enough to clear the bar as-is."

DarkeSword adds:

"It's dirty as hell but it's there's a lot of control here. Love how you went the other way with this; usually people speed this source up, but you made the deliberate pace really work. I feel like if you played this in a club, you would absolutely wreck the crowd in the best possible way. Very nice."

Well said RE: pacing, which I think ends up defining the arrangement, in a good way. Been a long time since this was submitted, and like I said, for a good chunk of that we were trying to obtain an updated file from the artist. Here's hoping he resurfaces, considers submitting more of his work (check out https://soundcloud.com/wauterboi), and here's to the many newcomers we'll also be featuring this week - stay tuned!