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OCR01376 - Sonic & Knuckles "Lava Reach"


djpretzel
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Nooooooo! Israfel was one of my favorites. I felt a familiarity on the panel, seeing one who appreciates form and development so. Well, thanks to Israfel for providing the service for so long. I imagine it's a fairly taxing job, what with the massive flow of submissions. Hope to see some mixes from him soon.

Almost forgot to mention THIS mix! Very nice! Welcome back to the site, Jive!

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Well, I've been listening to OCRemix for the past couple of years. Enjoying mostly everything that DJP and the Judge Panel has pumped out for download.

I've enjoyed Jivemasters older mixes. 'Sonic the Hedgehog 3' - Dub Island comes to mind. I thought that arrangement was great, one've my favourites.

This new arrangement of 'Sonic the Hedgehog 3' - Lava Reach just blew that opinion out of the water there.

The opening synth I thought was a nice rendition for preluding the mix. Drums and hihats seem very crisp and not so post-human.

Overall I really enjoy your mix.

YES

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Welcome back, Joel. I missed you! Where have you been??!?!

Well anyway, this song got me to download your other songs. I already had them but when several years pass, .mp3 files are bound to disappear :).

Listening to your older songs again after such a long time just reminded me of how awesome this site really is, or was, or whatever. Being on this site for so long sorta made me forget that, I suppose. Makes me want to... submit a song :D but I have nothing good enough right now.

Anyways, I have a question, Jive! What happened to your rock band? :) Quite some time ago, you posted some band demos or something, and it was this rock band! I was like "Jivemaster, Mr. Techno in a rock band?!" and it was pretty interesting. Anyways, how goes the band?

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Anyways, I have a question, Jive! What happened to your rock band? :) Quite some time ago, you posted some band demos or something, and it was this rock band! I was like "Jivemaster, Mr. Techno in a rock band?!" and it was pretty interesting. Anyways, how goes the band?

Hi guys, thanks for the comments on the mix. Glad to be back officially.

Seattle, the original group I was part of has since disbanded, however my new group The Melicious Neo Zeed is alive and kicking. Songs from the album are available on the site.

-Jive

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This piece reminds me alot more of flashy Amiga games ,than of Sonic ones. Although it's a nice effort (especially the rock part towards the middle), it would take me some time to fully appriciate the wholeness of the tune itself. It's just almost too chaotic. But i'm probably delusional, since chaos is what Sonic games are all about :twisted:

Nice work there Jivemaster.

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Jivemaster is really good. His old mixes are still enjoyed. And this is probably his best work.

It is very wide, aww... 6:40 of fun. The resources of instrumentation are quite awesome. The drums are very powerful and the selection of synths are very good. The guitar was played nicely, and the electronic voices did an excellent contrast here. I like the technique of filter used on the transition, the invasion of stereo field is really great on this ReMix. The arrangement is my favourite part: Lava Reef and Hidden Palace Zone are a good choice to do a song of electronic style.

Very clean, not repetitive, not boring...really solid and great job! :)

YES.

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It's Jive!

I like this, from my initial listen. I have heard some of those sounds before too, but not for a while, and they are a welcome familiarity. They remind me of the good techno that I don't have anymore. I like what you did with Lava Reef. You took the catchy bits, made them deeper, and had them dance around in the bassline. Good work.

And I'm glad you're back. I never knew of you when you were around, but I knew of your mixes, and I like them (I'm a big Sonic fan too, so I'm glad you covered those in such breadth).

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It's pretty good.. it has a decent amount of groove to it, very fun and tasty... but by the time I remembered the source tune (which was closer to the end... the last minute) it dawned on me that THAT was my favourite part.

Left me wanting either more, or a fresh take.

Meh, I'm just complaining... I'll definitely listen again soon.

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um... this is over 6 megs. Did the limit increase or something?

Nope. Size: 6,219,776 bytes

Submission Instructions & Standards]ReMixes should be no larger than 6MB (6,291,456 bytes).

And just to stay relevant, this mix be double dope dope.

EDIT: Bah, Gray ya smelly bum, stealing my damn thunder!

I hope Jeremy Soule sends in another mix that's 6,291,457 bytes. :P

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Sweet, new Jivemaster. During my early days of downloading music here, this guy dominated a good amount of my playlist and to see him come back with some more material after a 3 year hiatus brighened up a good part of the past week for me. I did have some thought over the qualities of degrading elder mixers over time, but with other people achieving similar feats on this site recently (Shael Riley, Krispy and EgM spring to mind here) it’s inevitable that they still have what it takes, and I respect that. :D

So yeah, having checked out a good range of his material in the past it’s fair that I come back with some feedback on this one.

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Remix

As a fellow Sonic fan/mixer, I can say that similarities to both sources are pretty much evident here, which is what I have often come to expect from Jivemaster's work. I understand this is a remake of a creation from 3 years ago, but there are some parts of the execution that could have been looked into - going towards that opening synth in the intro, I wasn't too down with some of the B flats and E flats in the opening progressions; that made the music sound a bit more menacing than the usual if not a bit too chaotic. Some may also think that the restriction of the chord structures in the Lava Reef section have brought that area down, but for me I found it to showcase in a pleasing fashion. There's plenty of variance on some of the backing components of the theme as well as a good amount of original components to be able to make it stand out. I appreciate the two-half structure of the song, given the first 3 and a half minutes or so is dedicated to Lava Reef and the other 3 and a half for Hidden Palace, so that was well clever. However, if there's something that I think could do with a look into it would be the transition into the two halves; seemed to feel a bit sudden for me with some of the synths slowing down and some of the instrumentation continuing on at a regular tempo. Even there I felt there could have been a bit more going on during the Hidden Palace segment but it has still coped fine. I know that I have criticized this portion a lot, but even here I still found it funky enough to make sure it stood alone for what it was, as well as offering just as much variety for a Lava Reef arrangement as Malcos's and Rayza's posted adaptations here.

Creativity

The two-half structure has got a lot of life granted to them both; the Lava Reef area is shown to be very deep and menacing, while the Hidden Palace has carried things over to a more mellow situation. So I can say the structuring of the two different moods and much of the original components have done well to make sure they stood out well enough to make them feel part of the mix instead of being two separate songs in one file. For a groove-based piece there's a fair amount of added components placed within the track to be able to refresh it every now and again, and for that I managed to dig what came through. In terms of repetition I barely sensed much at all given the feel granted to both sides - if anything it may be with some accompaniment riffs early on but other than that I barely sensed anything. In terms of the entertainment factor I found this to be very clever stuff, and I felt this has worked as an affective return to OCR. Even with that in mind I know he can kick ass a lot more than this, but it's still got a lot of charm that has made it stand steady.

Production

I think for an electronica mix some of the elements have aged/are ageing a bit, especially some of the synth guitars and the drum progressions, but even here I found much of the synth textures to be very unique to be able to call their own and fitting for Jivemaster's style. Even his attention towards EQs and sound processing is well refined enough to add a good amount of life towards the sounds, so that has shown he has been able to add enough polish to make them stand well defined. The voice samples integrated into the track ("now, it is time" being an example of which) have managed to add enough of a flavor towards the atmosphere; even though some of the recording qualities sound a bit lo-fi, much of the processing, especially with the panning techniques at around 2:40, have still worked well to aid towards some added flavor here. The sound levels are also decently done and have added as much energy as expected with Jive's material, so I can say this has done fine to maintain a strong quality of the audience's interest. I found the panning to be well defined and spacious enough to fit in its place; some may find it to run a bit thin at first but I was still able to identify with what came through here. In terms of technical aspects some of the stylistic traits of this user are slightly ageing but even here I still feel that much of the technical aspects still show that he has what it takes to generate some interesting coverage to make it stand onto the site. Very solid stuff to hear even after a 3 year hiatus. :)

---

After looking at the judges' decisions I understand the close vote. I feel that some of the executional aspects have hindered this more so than not, as well as a few light tech concerns. Even though some of his skills are ageing you can't deny that the overall arrangement is very clever and well thought out. There's a good amount of defining between the two sources to make the structure work well enough, and can be seen as pretty much of an epic mix to take in.

so yeah, even though I feel this isn't one of Jive's best mixes out there, it's still very good to hear from him again. Well done, and let's see him contribute a bit more to the site.

The people at OCR have been spoiled rotten with some fab Sonic stuff as of late, I hope they enjoy this too.

Aw man, I'm priviledged. :lol:

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I was browsing mixes tonight, unable to find anything I really liked, and then I saw that Jivemaster - the master himself - finally had a new mix out.

Once again, I am blown away.

Thank you, Jivemaster. This mix is outstanding. =D

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After looking at the judges' decisions I understand the close vote.

Well, just to clarify, after Joel read the in-progress judges decision vote that I sent him (at the time 4Y/5N), he really did a phenomenal job revising this mix thanks to some perspective from other judges as well as listening to the mix again with a fresh set of ears. If the posted form of this mix had hit the panel with the production & arrangement revisions it now has, it would have easily went 4Y, though I'd honestly say that it would have been direct posted actually.

And for those glad to see some older faces back on the OC front page, we've got another one coming back relatively soon that will make you very happy definitely.

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