Music Remastered

Use filedropper to host your music if you want.

 

Cheers bud, here you go

Casino Night Zone

 

Could do with using better Refills. Scubasteve has mentioned that he uses Reason and has done some amazing brass work. Maybe he could advise on what is the best sounding. That is if he used Refills for his versions.

Check out his version of WFZ. The brass in that is amazing.

 

Hey guys!

First of all, let me congratulate you on a truly remarkable and ambitious project! Your work is fantastic! Sonic 2 is my favourite game ever! Everything about it I love! I don't know why you picked Sonic 2 for this project, but I'm sure glad you did!

I'd like to contribute to this project. I'm not a good graphic designer. However, I am a musician and maybe I can contribute in such way.

I play guitar, so if there's any song in which you have intricate/simple parts that you'd like to hear on guitar, I'm your guy! I can also work on transcribing and give opinions.

However, I am not good with programming midi, which seems to be the main working way here.

Anyway, if you feel I may contribute, please let me know!

 

Indeed. Again not to nitpick Compsense, but any chance you can add the what sounds like a 4th at the very beginning? it's the 3 sets of 3 notes that compose the intro melody that I'm talking about. Just probably needs to be the same instrument playing the doubled note but to the off channel. I'm not trying to be an ass (I swear! :P), just feel like it needs a lighter (and thus the higher) note completing the sound there.

 

First let me say just from a fan of sonic music and the Sonic 2 HD project has come up with some of the best remastered tracks I have ever listened to. Remixes are ok but to hear someone bring the 16bit sonic music to new life like this is very exciting.

This is my question though, In the S2HD resources site much of the music has been marked complete, I was wondering if someone could point out which tracks have been selected for the official sound track.

Again, great work, It would not be truly be Sonic 2 without great music.

PS - Sorry if I am breaking the conversation flow, I just have this obsession with sonic music.

 

I think most of those are actually just marked as complete because they have tracks done for them that can potentially be used. We haven't really set any songs in stone for the final thing yet, so it's still mostly open. However, we do have a few tracks that are outstanding that will most likely be used in the game. There are a few tracks that spring to mind, but I think there's a couple others. I'm kinda tired so forgive me. Anyways, for some reason the Oil Ocean music section is screwy so we need to fix that up, in the meantime, I just uploaded all three of the songs for you.

Get 'em here.

Canned Karma should be able to tell you the others that are great. He's got every submission for music saved on his hard drive.

 

I'll work on the brass for Casino Night. I would like to work on Oil Ocean but my hands forbid me and instead told me to do the boss theme. I'll fix Casino Night, remaster Wing Fortress and Aquatic Ruin and then do Oil Ocean.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Boss Theme

 

I'll tell you right now that working on Oil Ocean or Metropolis is basically a waste of your time, since those are essentially locked in for inclusion. If you want to do it just for kicks, then have at.

As for your take on the boss theme, I would strongly recommend looking at scubaSteve's tips that are in the OP. It really needs reworking.

 

Er, I'm not very "music smart", but I assumed a "4th" was four whole notes up. I added that in, and went ahead and updated the brass (mostly the trombones (low brasses)) a bit to give it a slightly fuller sound, especially at the end. Also used OGG format, because I don't believe I have before (and it being a requirement and all).

Sky Chase Zone

 

The way that opening line was originally scored is as follows:


The motive is built around a G major chord and the parallel fourths only occur on the last mordent.

For anyone that hasn't noticed, this kind of doubling in thirds is reasonably common in the soundtrack. It has the advantage of simultaneously adding significant melodic and harmonic weight to a line and at the cost of only one FM channel.

If you'd like a stylistic opinion, I'd say that the use of so much brass, especially low brass, makes the track sound a little heavy for SCZ. The original track was relatively light and a bit less grandiose. I don't mean to imply that such an arrangement is by any means bad in and of itself, but part of the experience with SCZ and WFZ is the stark contrast between their musical styles. To play the game with a fanfare-esque SCZ arrangement will lessen the impact of the inherently bombastic piece that is WFZ. You might disagree, but that's my sense of it.

CK, I assume your post does not mean "we are no longer accepting submissions for OOZ and MZ", but more like "we have submissions that are approved to be the default tracks for these zones".

 

BlueStreak, that's correct. If someone wants to do OOZ or MZ, they should know that they're up against submissions of superior quality. Since it sounds like most people are for multiple tracks for each zone as a selectable option, we will be needing more than one excellent piece per zone for that to come true.

 

I did a Aquatic Ruin a long time ago, about a year or so ago in this project and have since updated it.

Aquatic Ruin Zone

 

The, um, thing that you used for the lead sounds rather dry and gross, man. And the part at 23 seconds—has been destroyed.

The other instruments sound pretty good though. Just get rid of the Tom Carvel sounding saw wave lead and change the 23 second part back, and you would have a good rendition.

Sorry about the rant, it's just that ARZ has by far my favorite music of the game, and to see something that could possibly deface it annoys me. You have definitely more skill than me at making this kind of music, it's just that you used it in the wrong way.

 

I'm sorry, I don't really get what you mean by this.

I'll work on some new sounds for the lead or change it, just if you could elaborate on what you mean by the "23 second part"

 

Sorry. The part at 23 seconds in the preview you left a link to. It just seems, incomplete, like half the notes are missing.

 

Sounds to me like the lead is taking away from the songs original melody. Talking about 0:23. Its still in there but it isn't on lead. It sounds far to electronic for the game's most organic level.

 

Taking into consideration some of the things said in feedback I have improved the previous submission.

Some say that the level is Organic and therefore needs an organic sound. However I listen to the original music from Sonic 2 for this Zone and don't feel much organic in the song. With Casino Night I can visualize a dark club with a Jazz band playing that theme, but with this one I visualize Excitement, Speed and Adventure. Exploring a past civilization. I tried to add some kind of Mayan/Aztec sounds to the song, they kind of work but I am trying to recreate the sound of the zone from my perspective. If I go for Woodwinds, tribal sounds etc. I feel that it takes away the excitement from the Zone. I just can't do it.

Eitherway, I said my piece, so here is my other piece.

Aquatic Ruin Zone attempt 2

 

That's a nice take. However. I feel the instruments sound a little too "round". Needs a bit more edge. I dislike the lead synth sounds. The mix needs a lot of work. The bass is too loud, the lead is a bit too loud and the percussion is too soft. I don't like the percussion at all. The percussion should sound much more alive, be louder and have better/more adequate samples. (notice how percussive the climb on 28sec sounds.)

Sorry if I'm being harsh. Aquatic Ruin is one of my favourite songs from the Sonic 2 sound track and I haven't heard any version that sounds at least as good as the original. It just sounds much better.

Just my opinion.

 

Sonic 2 Aquatic Ruin Orchestra Remix by Blake Robinson [dummeh]


Sonic 2 - Aquatic Ruin Zone (2009) - Remake by Olivier Sirois [ubergrau]


Both these remixers are awesome and they have other tracks that are all great and I've downloaded them all!
As amazing as the orchestra track is I don't think it is the sound I'm personally looking for when actually playing. I like ubergrau's remixes because it is very faithful to the original scores, the one thing you really notice in his remixes is that the lead isn't overpowering like in so many other remixes you'll find of anything. It just gels and its right. For even more of an example is his Angel Island Zone remix. You kind of expect the lead to kind of drop in hard but it doesn't. It is done so tastefully. I think most remixers/remixes are geared toward people that have heard and loved the track, especially for its melodic riffs so when looking for a remix you kind of want that melody in your face.

The melody in your face doesn't really work when it is supposed to be gameplay music. It needs to flow with the visuals so it isn't distracting or overpowering.

This is just music that I've discovered a while back when trying to find the ideal remixes that are out on the web that I personally enjoy.

I've taken the Video Game Orchestra's rendition of Wing Fortress Zone and looped it.

I still have not found a faithful rendition of Chemical Plant Zone or Death Egg Zone. That was my main reason for searching out for good remixes.