ReMix: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 'Aquatic Pressure'

Download MP3
5,549,716 bytes, 5:48, 128kbps

• Trade-in your Games or Anime DVDs!
• OC ReMix Shirts & Merch
• Games:
  • DS | GBA | GC | PS2 | WII | XBOX | 360
  • Imports & Pre-owned
• Anime:
  • DVDs & Merchandise

In addition to being what Ed Harris experiences as he's falling down the Abyss whilst breathing the funky pink water in James Cameron's late 80's aqueous sci-fi adventure, "Aquatic Pressure" is now also a Sonic 3 mix from newcomer Red Tailed Fox, aka Caio Moraes Ferreira. In addition to having a real name that's approximately twenty-three times cooler than my own, RTF's put together a varied, funky arrangement that Shnabubula pulled an assist for, giving Caio some pointers that helped the overall. Speaking of said assist's contrasting improvements, the bubula offers:

"It strongly reminds me of Janet Jackson's "Pleasure Principle" actually!

I liked the first version but felt that it didn't significantly feature the source and it never settled into a groove without providing enough action to draw attention away from the inconsistency.

Both problems are more than solved. The melody is in there all over the place, and where the action originally became subdued, it now continues to build until we're finally ready for the break at 3:50."

The strength is definitely in the arrangement and variety, as there are still some latent production issues and aspects that sound preset-ish and lack uber-sheen; particularly, the ensemble strings and brass utilized are a bit anemic. Drums at times sound like they're on tracks, but the mixer does a good job of addressing this with some bongo-only breaks that also expand the percussive stereo field nicely. It's essentially a techno mix, with a few hybrid orchestral elements, an arrangement that varies things up and progresses enough to remain interesting throughout, and some mean pitch-bends on the glide lead. I admire the number of ideas and variations Caio's been able to integrate without missing a beat, and while substance is outweighing style on the arrangement-vs-production-o-meter, things are still competently mixed - nearly six minutes of music are filled with more traditional electronica vibes leaning towards jazzier motifs with EP into the third and fourth minutes, and there's nothing glaringly grating to really single out, just a few aspects that aren't as shiny as they could be. analoq's simple, direct words sum up why that ultimately doesn't matter too much:

"i wanted to reject this but i'm hearing a bit too much effort in this one to toss it out at this point. this remix belongs in a time where every keyboard player owned a korg m1 and a minimoog, this has an 80s synth sound that you'd expect to hear on tv either as a themesong or a commercial background. it's not a sound i'm particularly fond of, but it's one that feels reminiscent. while it's entirely possible this wasn't what the remixer was going for, i connect with this at that level. either way, this guy had a lot of fun with the hydrocity zone music, and here he is sharing it with us."

A great first mix, with room to grow, that nevertheless has enthusiasm, energy, and a multitude of well-implemented ideas; hope to see more from Red Tailed Fox in the future.

― djpretzel