ReMix: Ducktales 'Moondust'

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With apologies to texx sound, whose excellent, nostalgic Ducktales ReMix I talk about further down the page, it's time for the annual "State of the ReMix Address", where we do a little year-end reviewing of OCR's ups and downs, in this case for 2003. 2002 was a great year for OC ReMix - we debuted the database-driven site redesign and PHPBB2 forums, integrated reader reviews for the first time, and made several other improvements all of which involved a good deal of work on my part and a good deal of help from others. Looking back, compared to '02, I'd have to say that 2003 was not as key a year, and that the fault was primarily mine in not getting a lot of things done that should have been done. The good: the judges panel has been very productive - members have been rotated once in awhile as was needed, the process has gone a bit quicker, and the level of quality and consistency in application of standards has improved. Also, the rate and quality of submissions has continued to be great this year, with some really amazing pieces that I know I'll still be playing decades from now. Also, it's only been mentioned on the forums and not elsewhere on the site, but now's as good a time as any to mention that we have an Official BitTorrent Distribution that can and should be used if you intend to download large portions of the site's many ReMixes.

Now, the bad: I'd intended to unveil a redesign of the site sometime this year, to address what I feel are some issues regarding certain data being "hidden" or not as easily navigable and the general layout and HTML code of the site being rather antiquated. This redesign is unfortunately still not complete. The good news is, I've made more progress this Winter break than in the last four months. 2003's been a weird, hectic year for me personally, and I really regret not having made a single ReMix since August, as part of the reason I started the site was to keep music production as a regular part of my life. There've been a couple side projects that have also fallen by the wayside that I'm now much more optimistic about completing, so in a sense the "bad" for 2003 is going to be the good for '04 - I'm more upbeat about this next year for OverClocked ReMix really moving forward than any previous year, actually. I think 2003 can safely be considered a necessary year of "downtime" in terms of major developments, and that '04 will be... more interesting. I'll leave it at that.

Now, to the ReMix: texx sound gives us a very accessible, nostalgic Ducktales mix with a thick, 80's style synth bass, FM electric piano, acoustic drums, and a basic waveform synth lead for a retro, slightly sentimental feel. At 1'30" there's a nice greasy organ that comes in, leading up to - surprise - a solo violin, pizzicato and cello accompaniment section. texx makes you wait for it, but this addition is then integrated into the piece, fleshing it out and making it into a more satisfying whole, with the cello continuing after the synth's come back in, and the whole thing ending with a reprise of the violin solo. This manages to capture the feel of the original while also making some unique instrumentation decisions that are well-placed and deliberate. Nothing too fancy or elaborate, just a solid arrangement that does synth nostalgia and sugary-sweet string arrangement equally as well. Good stuff.

That's it for 2003. As mentioned above, while it's been a great year musically, expect 2004 to contain more significant changes and improvements to the site itself. But for now, don't worry about any of that, get some champagne or similarly celebratory alcoholic beverage, download the latest mixes, and enjoy your New Year's :)

― djpretzel