ReMix:Flimbo's Quest "Pearly Gates" 2:41

The game may not be familiar - "Flimbo's Quest" isn't exactly a household name, unless your surname happens to BE "Flimbo," in which case... sorry about that - but hopefully "Sir_NutS" rings a bell, and specifically a bell that represents high-octane EDM arrangements bursting with energy & creativity. This is a synth-poppier, more upbeat electronic style than NutS' usual, working in some funk, plenty of SID stylings, and mucho positive vibes - this is musical happy sauce for your soul, and you're GOING to smile:

"So, I feel like I have a lot to say about this one, which is strange being such a short mix, so bear with me. This was done in just a few hours for PRC #262 (Shoutout to all the PRC regulars!). I liked the results -- some funky stuff + C64 goodness. I only remixed this because Sadorf challenged me to do it, but it worked out pretty well in the end.

So, this is quite a funky, catchy, chippy, and overly happy remix, but I guess the original is like that too. I wanted to keep it short, because I believe fun songs like this are better if they're shorter than usual (thinking about "Teen Turtle Tryp" as a good example). Anyways, this is quite different from what people expect when they see a remix from me, but I've been trying to branch out a bit for some years now.

For this remix, I wanted some funky leads, so I immediately think of djp. "Fortuna Favors the Funk" came to my mind, so I loaded a synth I recently bought for my Reason rack: the "ReDominator" which is a Juno-60 emulator that sounds fairly authentic. I absolutely LOVE my vintage synths. Anyhoo, I figured djp managed a clever use of notch filter modulation for those leads, so I tried to emulate that and also add a bit of flavor of my own with more layered sounds and the slight wah-wah effect. The organ-like instrument is a mix of a Rhodes and a custom-made synth, because I thought the Rhodes sounded too real and I wanted a more synthetic sound for this. The bass is pure Juno-60 goodness. Then all the other sounds aren't very special - SID-like sounds mixed with NES-like pulse waves, and other custom-made sounds with the Juno. Drums are a mix of Linn 9000, E-mu SP-1200 and other assorted drum samples. All in all, the use of vintage stuff helped the song come together as a very funky mix.

About the arrangement, it's fairly conservative and the variations are based on modifications to the original to funkify it (new word!) a bit more, as well as some call-and-response between different instruments. The EP section is a good example of those. The section at around 1:19 is mostly new stuff, just using motifs from both the chorus and the verse. Towards the second half and nearing the end, the song structure breaks a bit (in a good, intended way XD) with a lot of syncopation with the drums, melodies and bass.

There's a little bit of pumping with the sidechaining between the drums, bass and pads, and that's intended, because I wanted to keep a little bit of a house/disco feel in some of the four-on-the-floor sections. If you're still awake after all that (sorry, as you may know by now, I'm a production geek), then here's the song. The original theme is Flimbo's Quest Loader theme for the C64."

First above all, awesome comments from Mr. Molina, and I'm not just saying that because he mentioned my old Star Fox mix, which I'm glad anyone remembers :) I'm a synth/gear geek so I like to hear things like Juno-60, Linn 9000, SP-1200, etc., because those (iconic) model #'s actually mean something to me. A loooooong time ago, when I bought my first synth (CZ-101) through the Want Ads (pre-eBay, pre-Craigslist, pre-indoor plumbing, etc.), the guy selling it ALSO gave me like... 15 years of back issues of Keyboard magazine. For FREE. You rock, man whose name I have long since forgotten!! I spent the next several years reading them all, cover-to-cover, so when I see even more obscure models like the U-20, SY99, T3, HR-16, etc., they usually ring a bell. But enough talk about bell ringing; fun mix from Sir, who put things together quickly, compo-style, but still took the time to program some infectious leads, funky synth squelches, and staple C64 arp chords, in addition to employing some good variety. It's unabashedly, unapologetically happy, and employs a lot of synth textures that reflect that happiness. Larry writes:

"Anyone unfamiliar with Flimbo's Quest shouldn't let that stop them from checking this out OR any of Sir_NutS' other great ReMixes including his intense, can't-miss take on Supremacy posted on our 15th anniversary. All I really have to say for this mix is that it's excellent, short and sweet. It's awesome to have Sir_N increase our C64 representation on OCR, and we're also long overdue for something representing Reyn Ouwehand! Good energy and groove with this catchy, funky trip from Mike! :-)"

Props to the PRC for encouraging diversity & props to NutS for coming through in a major way with some C64 love that's too chippy AND chipper not to love. BECOME ONE WITH FLIMBO AND JOIN HIM ON HIS QUEST!! You will not regret it.