ReMix:F-Zero "Voices Broken" 3:52

By JJT

Arranging the music of one song...

"Mute City"

Primary Game: F-Zero (Nintendo , 1990, SNES), music by Naoto Ishida, Yumiko Kanki

Posted 2006-04-05, evaluated by the judges panel


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

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Black_Doom
on 2017-01-23 15:06:32

Man, this song rocks so hard! Definitely one of my favorite remixes on OCR. The balance between raw, gritty, in-your-face parts and the softer, groovy ones is just perfect - feels like a small, but wild ride ;) Jon nailed this one for sure!

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JagerBaBomb
on 2011-12-05 15:56:25

Is there anywhere I can find this in some kind of lower compression/uncompressed format? Because, damn man, this is the shiz. :)

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evktalo
on 2011-02-06 11:25:16

Awesome style, and quite unique to OCR from what I've heard. JJT's track on Voices of the Lifestream really caught my ear when I started to listen to OCR offerings more. When I listened to his other OCR stuff, this was the track that I came to love the most. I was very much into indie/alternative rock stuff in the 90s (I feel so old) so I'm very fond of how this piece is done.

--Eino

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mjwes
on 2011-02-05 16:12:02

This does definitely have some of the Seattle Indie-rock feel. The lead guitar felt a little weak to me, but it was passable to be sure. Being what it is, I am definitely going to be listening to it seeing as I am an Indie-rock junkie hehehe.

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tweex
on 2010-08-04 22:14:42

Wow, very different sound from Jon this time around! We haven't heard this kind of heavy indie rock from him yet. It's a little chaotic, but I can hear that you find the pocket pretty quickly. The drums sound much better in this mix than your others that also utilize the more acoustic sounding kits. They are compressed as hell, but it matches the genre well. I do wish the kick had a little more oomph to it, but hey, what can you do :). The guitar solo with the rockin' drums was a great part! I would have loved to have heard the guitar parts doubled to give them a little more depth, but they still have character as is. The mellow delay guitar has a great tone to it. The ending was very abrupt, but there you go :). It's great to hear Jon step out of what he had been doing!

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MechaFone
on 2010-05-29 18:33:11

I can't imagine F-Zero any other way. A good hard rock song with a few breaks for cruise speed. Excellent job!

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chenjesu
on 2010-04-10 02:32:59

always an amazing song

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underthesun
on 2009-12-27 05:34:26

was just listening to this song which I've downloaded quite a long time ago, and it really does rock. Great props to JJT!

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K.B.
on 2009-01-28 18:59:57

Didn't we all become depressed and reclusive, find solace in music, and lose our scholarships sophomore year? ...no? oh. ...doppelganger?

This is phenomenal. The production is raw, the guitars are dirty, and the percussion is in-your-face. That in itself is a recipe for awesomeness. But the energy... the energy is what truly makes this remix. It's passive-aggressive. The drums and guitars floor you right off the bat then leave just as abruptly, leaving you dazed with some almost-soothing bass noodling and contradictorily tense drumming. Then another guitar explosion! Then more subdued tension - with, like before, a six-string playing backup to the bass, and that's just freaking cool. Then the final kick-it-out starts at 2:23 and never lets up. I can't not air guitar this entire section, and 3:02... yesssss. Plus I hear a touch of angst throughout the song, and that makes it all the more moshable. For me, Mute City has literally become Voices Broken. The only reason I can imagine revisiting the source is for a little extra nostalgia, but even then this remix is simply too kickass to go back.

Rawk indeed.

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Latency
on 2007-02-19 18:24:35

Great job with the guitar, especially the part at 2:24. The drums sounded appropriate to the genre of this remix, and I don't have any problem with them.

Awesome job!

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watkinzez
on 2006-08-29 19:51:02

This song kicks ass. I love how you can get so many genres out of Jon and still have such class.

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MojoHamster
on 2006-07-06 10:56:44

Don't listen to the haters man. Some of us like to hear something a little different. Not every song should need to fit a 'Perfect Pop Outline' imo. Would love to know your influences, can hear some awesome styles in there.

Edit: Forgot to mention, this is the best mix I've heard on OC so far. I'm not a fan of overproduction, I think the idea of what actually sounds real gets lost on some folks and what they think sounds real is some crystal clear abomination of the truth.

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Perrsun
on 2006-05-02 23:01:15

The best way I can describe what I think about this song is: You know what should be coming up, but when it doesn't, you're OK with it. I like this one a lot.

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jorgandar
on 2006-05-02 14:20:24

i hate this kind(genre) of music.

but even I kinda like this one. so, that's saying a lot, while saying very little. oh the irony

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MaxFrost
on 2006-04-20 01:52:24

hey, I hadn't bowled in freaking 2 years....give me a break...

plus, I think someone bowled a worse game then I did next to me...

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
F-Zero (Nintendo , 1990, SNES)
Music by Naoto Ishida,Yumiko Kanki
Songs:
"Mute City"

Tags (2)


Genre:
Rock
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Electric Guitar
Additional:

File Information


Name:
F-Zero_Voices_Broken_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,661,775 bytes
MD5:
3e5a88f21181f60f9d76f565eb1bcdbe
Bitrate:
192Kbps
Duration:
3:52

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