ReMix:Sonic the Hedgehog 3 "What We Left Behind" 4:45

By Aviators

Posted 2014-01-01, evaluated by the judges panel


Last but not least, we close out our New Year's Day volley of TEN 2014 MIXES with newcomer Aviators (Tyler Shaw), who offers an upbeat electronic/orchestral arrangement of the ending theme from Sonic 3:

"My favorite Sonic game has been and always will be Sonic 3. When I recently got back into game remixing, it was a clear choice which game to choose. The credits song was so memorable, with its bittersweet melody summing up the entire game as names rolled across the screen... I gave my best shot at doing the original justice with modern electronica elements, combined with orchestral melodies and all kinds of fun stuff."

While judges were unanimous in citing some issues with repetitive arranging and critiquing some of the attack envelopes on the orchestral instrumentation, everyone agreed that the overall piece was solid. Generally speaking, the intro & outro tended to wow the panel less than the meat of the piece, which is a bit more elaborate. Jesse writes:

"Very sleek. Great snare. The drums are too repetitive, as is the writing in general. Just about every section has a few too many 4-bar repetitions. It would be great if you added more details within each section as it repeats to keep things interesting. I'm torn, because the body of this track is very slick and groovy, but I'm feeling like the writing is a bit too repetitive, and it feels like there's not much of a structure, each section more or less similar to the others, save the intro, outro, and bridge.

I think I may be nitpicking too much. It's a good track."

I find it somewhat amusing that Vig himself was repetitive in citing the repetition as an issue ;) Honestly, though, I think he nailed it - overall this piece has great energy, some polished production, and no salient flaws, but there's room for improvement in the arrangement arena with just mixing it up a bit more. A little more contrast, a little more variety & spontaneity on the drums, and that'll take things up a notch. Regardless, this is absolutely still a creative, peppy mix that passed the panel unanimously and proves a strong, high-flying debut for Aviators - hoping to hear what the rest of the year brings!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 9 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Kadosho
on 2014-05-15 14:26:13

Just listened to this track again, and wow it feels both inspiring and haunting at the same time. I remember checking it out when it was first released on here years back. It still feels fresh.

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timaeus222
on 2014-05-15 00:23:36
Mastered for loudness, by the sound of things, and poorly done.

A good master would've left more dynamics in to emphasize the deft orchestral usage, instead of brick-wall-limiting the fuck out of everything and leaving a sonic mess of distorted highs.

Sounds fine to me. The orchestral written as it was would have sounded pretty much the same even if the mastering was a smidge quieter. In fact, I don't have substantial complaints about the mastering at all. I can hear the bells at 1:32 clearly, and the arp remained distinct beneath the lead at 2:17. Someone musta dropped the bass too hard on your speakers, bro. :)

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metamorphosis
on 2014-05-14 22:45:03

Mastered for loudness, by the sound of things, and poorly done.

A good master would've left more dynamics in to emphasize the deft orchestral usage, instead of brick-wall-limiting the fuck out of everything and leaving a sonic mess of distorted highs.

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Crulex
on 2014-01-05 09:44:06

The ending theme of Sonic 3 is one that I enjoyed for being of the of the few early Sonic endings to not be just a medley of previous stages, making it really feel like an ending. Good to see that spirit and "grand easing finale" feeling represented here. Some production elements are so open, they could be picked over like a vulture picking over Simba if you wanted to, but overall, I think the pros solidly outweigh the cons. Not bad, man.

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HitoriJaNai
on 2014-01-02 00:25:11

It's absolutely crazy when I've been listening to an artist's music on YouTube and then I see some of their remix work end up over here on the good ol' OC. Fantastic job from Aviators as always! Keep up the awesome!

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Black_Doom
on 2014-01-01 20:51:48

This is incredible! Actually, Credits Theme from Sonic 3 is one of the best tracks from Sonic games.

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timaeus222
on 2014-01-01 17:28:56

The strings and brass are definitely sample libraries (they have that mic "air" quality, especially with the rich double bass), but even so, the treatment was good enough in the intro/outro, IMO. It added meat to the presentation, and was a great leadin at the beginning to the Big Beat treatment. Vig's right, it's a great snare!

This actually does sound like Sonic to me, so even without extremely overt melodic references, it feels like Sonic. GREAT 10th New Year's Day ReMix! :D

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SwordBreaker
on 2014-01-01 16:32:10

Very well executed remix to one of Sonic's most underrated tracks. I love the balance between the orchestral and electronica bits as they compliment each other perfectly and do the original a lot of justice. My only critique is the missing "Go" vocal soundbit from the original. I was waiting for it to pop out at some point but sadly it was not to be.

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Liontamer
on 2013-12-31 11:00:25

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Sega , 1994, GEN)
Music by Bobby Brooks,Brad Buxer,C. Cirocco Jones,Darryl Ross,Doug Grigsby III,Geoff Grace,Jun Senoue,Michael Jackson,Tatsuyuki Maeda,Tomonori Sawada
Songs:
"Ending"

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File Information


Name:
Sonic_the_Hedgehog_3_What_We_Left_Behind_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
8,149,595 bytes
MD5:
c3b3069367fbb92fe64d22cf66a66fde
Bitrate:
226Kbps
Duration:
4:45

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