ReMix: F-Zero 'Voices Broken'

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So yes, the whole "OverClocked ReMix Subscriber Account" was strictly an April Fools arrangement. One, however, that as some of you noted did potentially help remind people that the site's considerable bandwidth is provided at no charge, and that there's implications to that. Special thanks to Jesse and Jon for putting together a truly anthematic mix that well illustrated the dangers of long-form arranging: as doctors have shown in labs, it can clearly lead to goofy lyrics, sax/piano contusions, and meandering lapses into "Peanuts" and "Hey Jude"... tis potent stuff. Not that there aren't potentially those rarest of rare cases where mixes longer and and larger than 6MB would be completely and utterly justified, but to clarify, we are retaining our six megabyte limit, which has served us well in the past and shall continue to do so. In other news, in the next couple weeks you should be seeing some fairly significant changes to OCR's layout and design. The basic guts are being retained, along with the color scheme and menuing system, but there'll be a bit more definition to the left and right columns, more consistency on ReMix, song, game, composer, and ReMixer detail screens, consistent sorting and paging options, and in my estimation a slightly shnazzier look and feel to tables and other page content elements. It's the first phase of a series of changes to the site, the next being our migration of the forums away from phpBB towards vBulletin, and will lead the way towards other site improvements in '06. Also, I'm personally psyched, because I'm getting a room in my downstairs basement finished, and for the first time ever I'll have a dedicated home studio with concrete walls, so I can blast things at 2AM in the morning without wakin' the neighbors. Groovy.

JJT returns, sans Jesse, with an ACTUAL ReMix, his second from the F-Zero OST. The ReMixer writes:

"In 2003 I was a sophomore in college. My roommate owned a crappy Danelectro guitar, a crappy Squier P-Bass and an extensive collection of indie rock. This combination turned into a pretty effective outlet, and I would spend hours fumbling my clumsy piano fingers over a fretboard and experimenting with VST plugins. Time passed. Two semesters later I woke up and realized that I had lost an academic scholarship, gained a sense of alienation from my peers, and had somehow created a Cakewalk project full of sloppily recorded guitar/bass parts. They were fashioned into a crude likeness of the Mute City theme, and carried traces of the bands that had devoured my soul over the last year, especially Sunny Day Real Estate and The Pixies. It sounded cool in a raw sort of way, and I got some encouraging feedback from guys like Suzuembachi, Vigilante, and Ailsean.

Ultimately, I opted to forgo the project and channel my energy into starting unsuccessful bands and being a mediocre student athlete. Time passed. When I joined the panel in late 05 I decided to sit down and finish mixing this, because OCR doesn't have enough gritty mixes that sound like they were recorded in a Seattle area garage circa 1994. Rawk."

There you go - half biography, half ReMix etymology, the rise and fall of a second-rate Mr. T who never got a chance to pity the fool, yet still triumphed through courage, hard work, and student athlete mediocrity - we salute you. Far different from the solo piano landscape of 'Silent Progression', Jiggin's sojourn into the heart of Mute City (lots of signage there, I've heard) is a rockier ride, with the cackling grunge of electric guitars and drumming that has all of the energy of an epileptic fit, without the messy arhythmic side effects. The mix title sounds like it could be a song about male puberty, and in a way I suppose it is... or not, really. The source material is easily identifiable at 0'18", with the progression being setup beforehand, things mellowing out afterwards, and a cool, quick drum groove setting in at 0'54" as a ride cymbal picks up stage right and cleaner, warmer guitar takes over with the melody. 1'28" kicks it back to electric for a little break/chorus/what-have-you, then we jump back in, this time with rapid hi-hat action stage left. 2'23" cuts loose with an original electric guitar-hero lead, and things flow on from there. zircon writes:

"I like this. Very creative in the arrangement, and also in the timbral choices. The production is a little weird at first - it's not your standard rock song by any means. But the choices made are not necessarily bad and listening to it a few times, I don't think there are any major problems. The lead is a little soft comparatively but that is not a big deal. Lots of creativity, enjoyable."

I'd wholeheartedly agree that it's not mixed with orthodox rock levels, particularly with the decibel-impaired lead, but not all rock music is mixed the same, and bands like The Velvet Underground, The Strokes, and The Pixies all challenge rock/punk production comfort levels, so why can't mediocre student athletes? A compelling question, and one that JJT answers admirably. If you prefer your rock straight-edged, this isn't the droid you're looking for, but if you've a hankerin' for some edgier, alterna-garage-flannel videogame ReMixifyin', then here comes your mix.

― djpretzel