ReMix: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I 'The Obsequious Heterophobia of Dr. Melefam Buttfink'
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- Game: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I (Sega, 2010, WII)
- ReMixer(s): Meteo Xavier, bLiNd
- Composer(s): Jun Senoue
- Song(s): 'Splash Hill Zone 1'
- Posted: 2012-05-15, evaluated by the judges
Yes, D3 dropped today, but so did Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II, and just in time for the release, we've got our FIRST arrangement of the music from the first Sonic 4 episode, courtesy Meteo Xavier & bLiNd!!
...and that CERTAINLY is one humdinger of a mix title. Buttfink indeed; what matters, of course, is the music - Meteo writes:
"Howdy. I am Meteo Xavier delivering yet another remix attempt that was mastered by bLiNd. Jordan was extremely generous in doing this for me so I would like to list him as a collaborator.
As usual, I had strict possibly idiosyncratic artistic ideas and goals for how I wanted to do it. This time, I wanted to use this track, which I claimed I would remix someday anyway when it was first leaked, as a means to pay tribute to the earliest music I can remember moving me - which is super robotic sequenced 80's late 90's super happy and super cheesy electronic music. This time my goal was not to shy away from my remix weaknesses: mechanized sequencing, repetitive drums, overproduction, etc. but dive right into it and build on them into a unique track. All the repetitiveness, and cheesy guitar samples and all that is intentional. I wanted a track that sounded more conventional and played with the main melodies (see below) much more than my previous mixes and really really interpret and work with them. I cite Erasure, "Waiting for a Star to Fall" by Boy Meets Girl, "Vivid" by Hiroki Kikuta, Pretty Hate Machine by NIN, and "Blue Monday" by New Order as my main sources for this track, among others.
And, also as usual, this remix eventually developed major problems that I could not fix... The synth drop out at 1:44 is one example and if it didn't do it there, it would do it elsewhere. Thankfully, bLiNd was willing to work on it some more and help me get a better balance out of it, and he did it for free because he's the awesomest guy in the world."
Man, I think I used the SAME EXACT cheesy rhythm guitar sample in my M.U.S.H.A. ReMix back in 2001! Deja vu!
Speaking of Jordan, he JUST released his first ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK to a game, it's some really outstanding music, and you should check it out & support an artist who's contributed tons of amazing free mixes to OCR over the years!
Now back to the mix... Meteo has definitely embraced the 80's, and specifically the synth-pop, over-the-top, just-can't-stop 80's where it was okay to use fakey guitar samples and bust the white man boogie to an octave-jumping bassline. Well, okay in CERTAIN circles, at least. Not quite sure where the Pretty Hate Machine influence is in this track - that's a pretty angry, angsty album, and this is some pretty happy, carefree music. The New Order influence is abundantly obvious, though, and sorta crystallizes for me what this mix is primarily channeling; halc writes:
"nice blend of source and original material. the arrangement is a strong point here for me - I really loved everything after the texture drop at 2:35; a welcome change of pace. fadeout ending was a copout, but oh well. this suffers from some minor, basic issues that Meteo even addressed in his sub-letter, but ultimately I think it's a pretty solid track with a great arrangement and passable production."
OA adds:
"There are a few issues for me, like those drums, but they are authentic. Overall I really liked the arrangement. Production seems fine enough."
Even within the intentional trappings of the target genre, there was a little room for improvement on production, but I think Meteo was coloring outside the box on this one a bit, and was also wise to get Jordan's gracious assistance to polish things up. The end result is a fun synth-pop throwback with some pretty authentic 80's staple ingredients that's energetic & does a great job of paying retro-homage to a modern soundtrack which ITSELF pays retro-homage to a classic 16-bit soundtrack. Meta!
Discussion: Latest 12 comments/reviews; view the Thanks for the compliment dude - it's good to see people are still enjoying it. It was a much bigger hit on Youtube than it was here. :)
- Meteo Xavier on September 6, 2012
- rainmanbk on September 6, 2012
The song has a happy/cheesy sound to it, but it does the job. Not a fan of the ending here, but it's not a huge deal. The song works for the most part, although I would've liked to see it longer.
- Bahamut on July 15, 2012
- Meteo Xavier on May 19, 2012
The title of the track has to be the best on the site, though! It sounds like a title of a novel that's a cross between Lovecraft, Dickens and some random chick-lit author. XD
Great mix, guys. =D More titles like these, please!
- Archangel on May 19, 2012
- pw2374 on May 18, 2012
Yes it has its little issues but the feel is there and the source works better here than it ever did in its original context. You also have an epic moment during that breakdown, I love the attention to detail, and the use of reverb really sort of gives this a spacious feel at that point. Typical 80's butt-rock, could have been better with tweaking and a real guitar, and fadeout was a slight copout, but its pretty good as it is, cause 80's is good. Consider me a happy chappy!
- WillRock on May 17, 2012
- Meteo Xavier on May 17, 2012
- Kasperakuma on May 17, 2012
It wasn't until I went back to start reworking things that I had some major problems with the mix though. For some reason, nothing seemed to work right - even going back to mix it again from scratch just wouldn't do it. Then some of the synth leads were having issues - one of which made it keep dropping out at weird times (like you heard in there). I still don't know what was causing that, but at the time I couldn't abandon the track either, I had already put a bunch of time into it and had to justify the effort.
Then bLiNd came in and worked his wonders on it, and the rest is history. That man is literally supernal and I intend to show my appreciation of his help by purchasing his [URL="http://jordansteven.bandcamp.com/"]soundtrack[/URL] when my security deposit comes back from my previous apartment. You should too!
Thanks again for everyone supporting this remix. This is the last one I intend to submit with known problems in there, and all my submissions from here on out will be proper high quality with compromise. Thanks again!
- Meteo Xavier on May 15, 2012
The Arrangement is pretty slow paced but , that's hardly a problem. In fact the pace is one of it's strengths I think in contrast to the really fast pace the original song had and it really gives you feelings reminiscent of late 80's early 90's material.
Synth bass is really great ,as well as the leads.
The Synth or sampled guitar (whichever it is) sounds pretty bad honestly.
But everything overall sounds nice.
- BONKERS on May 15, 2012
