ReMix:Sonic the Hedgehog "Tactile Snowfall" 5:59

Merry Xmas! Once again, Christmas time is here! The OCR forum-goers (shepherded in the manger, if you will, by The Coop) have delivered our savior once again with the annual An OverClocked Christmas album, reaching a record volume 14! ;-) In addition, we've got a separate featured Sonic (2006) mixpost from Rexy (Beverley Wooff), rocking a wintry theme with some 90s-style dance:

"Over a year ago, I sent a track from the Sonic Stadium Music Adventure 2012 for the Dreamcast's 20th anniversary. And for the holidays, I reached out to the same album! Staying with making all my tracks unique, this one had me handle 90s EDM, specifically the dream trance subgenre.

During my catchup on mainline Sonic games after the release of Generations, the dreaded Sonic 06 happened. And relax - I'm not beating a dead horse. We know the consensus is "crappy game, but the OST has some bangers," so it doesn't bear repeating. When I first got to White Acropolis in Sonic's story, the music immediately impressed me and worked with the snowboard-bound plight to Eggman's base. The cheesy four-on-the-floor dance and icy palette co-operated with the scenery, and it made me think, "This track needs a dream trance remix at some point."

Like all music ideas that poke through - if nothing exists, make it exist. That's what I did, breaking the few melodic ideas there and structuring in this form. Even the palette was a deliberate homage to work of that era by the late Robert Miles - the echoed piano, the off-beat bass, the stripped-back percussion that evolve throughout, the less frantic synth work - it all adds up here. So if you've heard this before and thought, "This remix sounds like 'Children,'" you know why.

However, I didn't initially submit it to OCR on album release for one good reason - EDM wasn't (and still isn't) a strong suit of mine. The dance and techno tracks on this site collectively make me wonder how they got such impeccable sound design. Thankfully, Larry was happy to listen to the original render (mastered initially by EAR, no less) and offered feedback for this overhauled render. I find it amusing that the Gamma piano solo stayed as it was before posting here, yet the technomanga one had me coming out of my shell - and I'm all for learning new tricks!

Nevertheless, keep trucking on, and have a happy holiday season! :)"

Indeed! The strings here, which have some jazz/blues flavor thrown in, actually remind me more of straight-up disco, but the electronic underpinnings keep things grounded in EDM-land. Santa Oji helped deliver this mix on Xmas day by working w/ Bev, & writes:

"It was a pleasure to give Bev some crits this one to get it ready for our annual Christmas celebration, where we always have SOMETHING -- ice, snow, frost, cold, chill, frozen, WHATEVER -- thematically fitting the winter holiday. :-) The original TSS album version was a solid arrangement, but dynamically needed to be more varied and energetic. Rexy kindly revisited the source files on this one, and, within just a couple of hours, applied her artistic growth since 2012 to easily add both enough substance and ear candy to really make this track much more vibrant. The usage of the source tunes was straightforward yet creative in authentically fusing them with Robert Miles' styles and techniques, so I hope you enjoy the ride!

2020 has professionally been a very difficult one for me, not because I don't love my day job, but because the added responsibilities and success I've had there have unfortunately had me pull back a lot of time and energy normally given to OC ReMix. I say that particularly to highlight that Bev has stepped up and been the lifeblood this year of keeping our judges panel running hard, running fast (just like our boy, Sonic, you see what I did there!) in tackling the many submissions that come through, and I see great progress and results continuing for the panel in the coming year. Thank you to Rexy and all of the other judges who have given their time and energy to helping evaluate and promote the music of the greatest music community out there, the VGM arrangement community! Merry Christmas!"

This year hasn't been easy on anyone, and keeping a non-commercial/volunteer operation going through such conditions is tough - we couldn't have done it without Bev's help, and while all OCR staff who have come through deserve major props, Rexy gets a special callout for stepping up, as Larry writes, and making sure that the evaluation process continues moving forward. Her gift to all of us & to me specifically has been OCR's persistence in the face of this pandemic... but this revised arrangement is a nice stocking stuffer, too :) Merry Xmas to all, enjoy the mix!