Music Remastered

Nice work with those tweaks mario. Vast improvements to the 1-up theme from before, and the drowning theme is coming along very nicely as well. As for CPZ, the main horns are too soft overall, but it definitely has the right feel there. The funk undertone doesn't do a whole lot for me on it's own, but it does mesh well with the style you have in mind for this remaster.

 

I can hardly believe it, but someone has finally made me like CPZ. The volume levels definitely still need to be tweaked a bit (I.e. turn up the sax), but I love the arrangement. For three 3 note phrases that start at 0:41, try having the third note kick in a little quicker and give it a little more volume than the first two. The funk is just too strong to not jazz it up a little more. :D

 

I can't remember if I ever posted 320kbps versions of Hilltop and Chemical Plant. I recently went back and tweaked both songs every so slightly (mainly drums), so I figure I'd repost them:

http://blazemp3.sepwich.com/musictemp/hilltop_4.mp3
http://blazemp3.sepwich.com/musictemp/chemicalplant_4.mp3

It's worth mentioning that the original MIDIs to both of these were done by an awesome guy named Teck, so most of my work on these was soundfonting, effects, and rendering.

 

Way to go Blaze. Now that's what I'd call an ideal remaster of CPZ!

 

If it were at all possible to replace mario's tenor sax with the sax in this rendition, we would have a perfect Chemical Plant Zone remaster.

No, it totally is possible. Mario, send Blaze your work minus the sax (even if it has to be .mp3 or other read-only file type); and Blaze, you send Mario just the saxophone from your submission (again, even if it has to be read-only). With two people both working with two excellent remastered parts, we're bound to get absolute perfection.

 

Sure, just contact me at msn (supersonicgp3 @ hotmail . com) and we can work together, share soundfonts, midis, mixing/mastering techniques (not that I need the last... erm well...), etc

This Hill Top has put a smile on my face I'd love to listen to a version with a harmonica replacing the sax. The bends and vibratos are perfect. And maybe an usual fingered bass instead of a slapy one, but it's just curiosity.

CPZ is updated:

Chemical Plant Zone
Note lengths adjusted as commented, on both lead and fills (brass trio). The trio has now some volume tweaks.

1-Up Theme
Drowning Theme
Both above haven't been changed.

 

Agh! So close, but you made a change to the sax notes in a place that you shouldn't have.

Now I don't have any decent sound fonts, but I do have some sound editing software, so I can help out through an audio file. The file below is mario's 4th version Chemical Plant rendition, with 0:28-0:41 replaced with the 3rd version. This is how the sax ought to sound. Additionally, at around 0:58, I've "highlighted" a very small portion of the song by dropping the tempo and key. In this "highlighted" part, you should break up the notes of the sax.

Chemical Plant

 

Chemical Plant Zone
I've listened to the original very carefully. I think I nailed the melody this time.
The 1-2-3 section (0:41) is also better now. I had fixed the brass, but the organ still was way too legato.

1-Up Theme
Drowning Theme
Both above haven't been changed.

 

While that Chemical Plant rendition sounds great, I can't help but feel that the start of the song sounds a bit too crowded, since the original featured just the main instruments, and then the rest of the instruments would follow later. It made the beginning of the song sligthly less repetitive.

Also, I think the very last part of the saxophone should sound more "clean". The effect it's using now sounds a bit like whoever's playing it just drooled inside the instrument. =|



The main theme of Snatcher makes some extensive use of the saxophone, which in my oppinion sounds more or less how it would ideally sound like in here.

 

Alright folks! inclusion or not, here's my final Metropolis! I hope you all enjoy! Now onto other things!



www.ransomrath.com/planetskill/metropolis.mp3

 

Very interesting!

EDIT:
However, the only thing that I feel could be fixed is the accord used at 0:09, which is not supposed to sound exactly like the accord at 0:13 (If I remember they are the same accords Cmaj, but played differently, first time is is C0-E0-G0, the next time it is E0-G0-C1. Don't ask me how to play that on a guitar). Maybe I am just hearing bad? -> Probably in this case.

 

Hey guys, I'm not unfamilair with this project but haven't seen a reason in the past to sign up, but now I have.

Let me begin with saying that y'all have done a fantastic job, and I really hope that the project will someday be distributed around the internet as the Sonic game to play. That being said, let me come to the point of this post (and the whole reason of joining)...

I know that the goal of the project is to faithfully remaster Sonic 2. I was just wondering, though, isn't there a way to incorporate a little bit of artistic freedom? I'm specifically talking about the whole transformation to Super Sonic. In every game we've seen up until today, when you transform in Super Sonic, the theme that accompanies him is the Invincibility theme, or a theme that has a close resemblance to the it. But even how nice it is... It gets boring after a while, don't you think? That's why I am going to propose something that might not fall good with everyone, but here goes anyway:

Why not include a "Super Sonic Remix" of all the levels in the final game?

I know, this is a lot of work for the composers, but I think that it can give a really unique twist to the game and give you guys a bit of artistic freedom. Hey, if what I'm saying sounds like heresy to your ears, don't sweat; I'm just pitching in ideas :v:

[EDIT] Edited for factchecking

 

Chemical Plant Zone
Alternative intro, following ICEknights' comments.

1-Up Theme
Drowning Theme
Both above haven't been changed.

SuperSonic Theme
Very, very early beta.

 

Thanks BorgMan,

What we've actually believed on S2HD development is to achieve that you speak of, and firmly stands nowadays even more than we could have imagined back then. (256 colours I.e.) ^^

As already stated, given a quality remaster of an high enough standard, we do have room for both version "remastered" and "remixed".
By "remixed" I'm speaking on ransomrath's kind.


(p.s. Please note we ultimately accept remasterings in .OGG 320Kbs file)

 

NOW you're talking!

 

Welcome to the project BorgMan. If you've got an idea for a track, either remastered or remixed, by all means post it up. While the goal for the primary levels is remastering first, good remixes will definitely be considered as well for variety pieces. I think you'll find this to be a great environment for receiving feedback.

 

Just on what BorgMan has said, maybe it would be an idea to include one or two versions of each song, and than the player has go the option of either choosing between the tracks and/or unlocking them?

I am not fully aware of all the goals set about for this project, but I would assume that being HD it would want to have the highest quality audio possible and be in stereo.

It is the worst in terms of size, as it contains every bit of the recording (although of course that depends on the bitrates set etc.), but there is no higher-quality format (from what I know), otherwise it wouldn't be industry standard (I am speaking of music/film production here). Formats such as mp3 just remove parts of the WAV file that will not be noticed by the listener, beginning with sub-bass and highs. It leaves a much smaller foot-print but it is nowhere near as good, and is easily noticed (even 320kb/s) on a good sound-system.

Again, from my understanding of things, Flac is similar to a ZIP file in that it compresses it without degrading the quality of the file. You can convert in and out of Flac and Wav without any loss of audio-quality, as it is not trimming down the audio frequencies. In the applications I use, Ableton Live and Logic pro (production), and Traktor Pro (DJ'ing), they convert the FLAC into a WAV to work with, so I don't see how it could be any better than WAV when this is occurring?

For surround sound I would imagine it would be easier because it would all be contained in the one file, rather than having to access each individual file for each audio channel?


Please keep in mind I only have experience in the music industry, not the video game industry, so things may be different.

haha, thanks =] ..it kinda is my own interpretation of it, rather than trying to create an exact copy of the original.

Haven't had much time to work on it, been sick and final year of High School is killing all my music/fun time, but I have had a look at adding a bassline. Atm its a sub-ish one I really liked yesterday, because I felt other styles of bass were too prominent in the mix, but listening today its not strong enough, so I need to tweak that up a bit. Also wanna change the drums, the ones in it atm a pretty stock-standard, and too plain.

This is my first time creating music for a game, so is there anything I should keep in mind? like with the looping (if it was used in-game) or the arrangement of it etc?

Thanks,
Shane

 

Just to clarify, by this you mean loading in a remixed version of the current level tune when the player transforms, correct?

 

Sciz, you are correct in that assumption I have in mind that there would be a sort of splash tune between the normal level music and the SS Remix, so as to smoothen the transition between the two.

Unfortunately, I'm not a music composer, though I'm planning on starting on that soon. I'll probably be good enough for the project in a few years Thanks for the warm welcome though guys

 

Why not just double up the drum beat and call it a day?