ReMix: Top Gear 2 'Rolling Start'

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Last but never least, our official "Old Man River" award goes to Hayden Petrie, alias Rayza. Of course technically I can't laugh because I've been here even longer, but Rayza's been around OCR long enough to be entitled to some sort of badge or trophy or perhaps just free Rogaine and Depends samples - I'm there, too, so I can make these comments with impunity :) Hayden's covered an admirable variety of games in his years, from mainstream stuff like Sonic to the depths of obscurity with Tinhead, but one thing that's been consistent is his quality and thoughtful arrangement. He also has a track record of nothing but direct posts, with many of his mixes coming before the establishment of the judges panel and the rest being direct posted. This mix from Top Gear 2 (he also covered the first game) was originally going to be part of an entire project/album for the SNES racing sequel, but apparently that's fallen through so Rayza's just going ahead with posting it.

This mix starts off with an electronica emphasis that makes it sound like there won't be the types of breaks and melodic bits that follow, using a strong kick and fading attack strings to create a heavy dance atmosphere. Hayden takes things in a different direction, though, going for a more melodic push with piano, cross-panned synths, and a soaring mono-glide synth lead. He also incorporates presumably in-game announcer vocal fx, triggering them straight but also stuttering them later on. There's also a cool high-pass filter effect that's applied to the whole piece right before the beat drops back in; slick. The melody here is really catchy; I'm not sure how many of you out there have played Top Gear 2, but my strong suspicion is that those of you haven't will still be able to dig this piece big time due to its approachable and memorable source tune. It's one of Rayza's catchiest to date, and all of his stuff is very accessible and toe-tappin'-friendly.

This mix concludes our Old School Mini-Flood; hopefully those of you not familiar with these artists due to their not having anything posted recently will see the light and go back and check some of their older stuff, and hopefully those of you who are already fans have gotten the same rush of excitement I did upon seeing these familiar names pop-up with shiny new ReMixes next to them. Four mixes, five mixers, many years of hiatus and legacy, but - most importantly - some great music!

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.

Tremendous effort here. Noone can weave synth tapestries quite like Rayza, and his comeback has produced on of his best works.
The musicality of every miniature element in this is off the charts. Actually that's exactly what this mix represents for me; soaring past safe levels and into alarming amounts of awesome.
A welcome return from one of the more memorable signature artists of OCR.

- Marmiduke on June 16, 2009

Never played the game. Don't care.
Mix is amaaaaaaaaaaaaaazzzzzingg.

- rainmanbk on December 26, 2008

wait w-w-go now
wait w-w-wait w-w-go now
wait w-w-go now
wait w-w-go-go-here we go now
This is a great remix right here and that bit has been stuck in my head forever.

- Jaybell on August 24, 2008

This has a great early-OCR sound as far as creativity, but the production is way better than the songs of the area. The pad idea in the beginning was excellent, what a creative and cool surprise. The song is in it for the long haul, focusing on an extended drive, rather than going all out right away. It's very effective, and even the sound effects come across as adding to the song, rather than being annoying. The transition sweeps are great, and the synth used in the for the halfway point solo is beautiful.
Great work all around. This is a classic mix.

- OA on March 21, 2008

Amru;330725 wrote: Rayza's "Track1(FinalNitro)"

Funnily enough, Track1 immediately came to my mind when I listened to the remix at hand for the first time.
Once again, awesome work by Rayza, bringing back oldschool OCR. Here's to hope that he'll continue down that road and bring us more wonderful remixes.

- Martin Penwald on November 7, 2007

I must say that I have been waiting for this exact tune to be remixed since I stumbled upon OCRemix in 2002. I am so extremely pleased that not only was this tune remixed by such a great remixer, but that it was done so well. The use of the original announcer sfx from the game blew my socks off. THANK YOU! :-P

- ymitsuda on November 6, 2007

Absolutely love the way you introduced the kicks, and the... intermission at 2:02... if you could call it that.

- CyAnIdE on November 4, 2007

Man, that was cool. I was waiting for the kick and then the pad turned into it. The textures were really interesting and nice.
It's good to hear from you again, Rayza.

- Linearity on November 4, 2007

Those are some pretty fat kicks. Awesome.

- Dafydd on October 18, 2007

Although our project didn't come to completion, I'm VERY glad it got posted. I fell in love with this song since the first demo, it's too damn groovy. Awesome work Rayza, I didn't tell you this before but this might very well my favorite song from you.
I hope you decide to cover some of the other songs from the game too XD. And people there will be more mixes from this game getting submitted (and most likely posted) soon, so look forwards to that.

- Sir_NutS on October 18, 2007

Love the head, love the tail, love it all.
Outstanding arrangement.

- Flare4War on October 15, 2007

Wow, what a comeback! Dis ish aweshome... Three cheers for Rayza!

- pixietricks on October 15, 2007

When I saw your name up here on a new remix, it made my day, Rayza. Its great to see you back at it. I hope you continue on the comeback trail.
As for the remix; what can I say? It has your usual high production values, and a solid groove. Musically, its a joy to listen to.
Excellent work!

- spacepony on October 15, 2007

First, I just want to say that Rayza's "Track1(FinalNitro)" was one of the very first remixes I downloaded from OCR. I'm always blown away by how the integration of a simple theme, great rhythm, and spine-tingling vocal effects create a song that never fails to inspire me for more speed.
Top Gear 2 is one of my personal key SNES games. In fact, it's in my console right now as I'm on a quest to reconquer it on "championship" mode. In my younger days, my older brother would listen to the main start up theme as we prepared to race against each other, always noting the distinct way the announcer says "you might be missing some of the benefits that stereo can provide". And in those days, we were missing some of the benefits, gaming on old mono RCA.
So naturally, I was thrilled to find that Rayza had posted up his remix of this theme. I know all I can provide here is a layman's assessment, but THIS MIX IS AWESOME! Rayza has taken the them and given it a distinct different view in his classic rocking-your-balls-off style. And I absolutely love the way he seamlessly integrated both "here we go now" and "missing the benefits that stereo can provide" into the compostition. I can tell you right now that when I'm biking or running, this mix will be playing in my head. Keep up the excellent work, Rayza! Thank you so much! :nicework:
And on a final note (again, I know I'm just a layman here), I would definitely support and love to see an OCR Top Gear 2 remix project. While the project would probably not be very large, it's easy to see that with a starting track like Rayza's latest masterpiece, it wouldn't rock any less! :-D

- Amru on October 14, 2007

Woah, it's been a long time since Club Del Toro. Glad to see the signature style's still there. The breakneck speed and completely unashamed use of very synthetic patches... it really brings a ton of energy to the mix. I liked the slow lead in before you beat the hell out of me with the backbeat. Maybe it's just me, but the entire mix has a sort of echoing, call and response feel to it, like it's bouncing off a cliff wall or something. Makes for a really interesting beat. The chopped notes and voices added a nice touch as well. Good stuff. Maybe someday I'll know enough about music to say something truly useful; until then, rock on!

- Shadow Wolf on October 14, 2007

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