This ReMix is a milestone in more ways than one! First of all, it's an OCR debut, as newcomer Rom Tom makes a splash, both literally and figuratively, with his progressive and tropical take on "Aquatic Ambiance" from Donkey Kong Country. Second of all, this is our 30th remix of this particular track, making it tied with Chrono Trigger's "Corridor of Time" for the track with the 5th-most mixposts as of this writing. And what a milestone ReMix it is! RT provided quite a bit of background on everything that went into this piece, but let's hear his thoughts from the first time this track came before the panel last October:

"This is what a remix sounds like when you're a hobbyist musician who only has spare time and energy outside of regular Joe working hours to engage in this hobby, among other hobbies (video games, of course). But actually, in all honesty, this is technically a resub, though the first and only submission prior was a fair number of years ago. I am thankful it was rejected, as it allowed for the various refinements that resulted in the current version of this remix. Not only have I learned the electric guitar and the Arturia MicroBrute since then, I had also been interested in refining my sound, which included long hours of mixing and mastering for the fun of it. Needless to say, I haven't been working on this song this whole time, only refining little bits here and there on a small number of occasions over the years, whenever I fancied the effort.

My choice of DAW has been FL Studio (since version 4), and the guitar amp I currently employ is Guitar Rig. My guitar is a "House of Blues" Washburn, and I think it needs better strings. I used a fair number of VST instruments, some from FL Studio, some free-to-use ones from the internet, like the drum kit, which is the MT Power Drum Kit 2. And, as I mentioned earlier, the MicroBrute was used for the first instance of the melody, a square lead with tone modulations, as well as for the following sections, as the "bass wubs", for lack of better terminology.

The remix itself is, in a word, progressive, as I strive to be as minimally repetitive. In fact, the melody doesn't occur until 2:30 using the square lead mentioned above. That being said, I feel there is no single genre this can be categorized under, as there is a section best described as reggae, with a separate one later best described as heavy metal, though the whole song maintains the same BPM.

The song encapsulates an auditory journey from the shore, above the waters, into the depths of the ocean. You are accompanied along the way with some familiar sound effects, which include a familiar swordfish, as well as the collection of some bananas and the KONG letters. I hope you enjoy the ride!

Though I feel that I have accomplished the vast majority of what I would like to accomplish with this song, as any artist understands, one's art never really feels complete. And so, I figured its time to get this remix out there! Been a long-time fan of OC ReMix, now I would like to join the ranks!

I am always happy to hear any feedback and criticisms, and can make any adjustments if there is anything standing out that I didn't catch. The sense of proficiency I feel towards music production after working on this song makes me hopeful that I can get more done now, better than ever before. There are a few on the backburner, already."

Well, I certainly hope we hear more from you in the future, Rom Tom, because this is an absolutely smashing debut, and I most certainly enjoyed the ride! Although the judges fell in love with this mix from the start, an unforeseen issue on the production side ultimately sank it on its first pass. However, Tom was undeterred by the rejection and instead took it as a learning opportunity, troubleshooting and ultimately fixing that problem, as well as cleaning up a couple other production nitpicks the judges had. When he brought it to the panel again, they resoundingly agreed that his attention to detail and willingness to take constructive criticism to heart was evident in the finished product. Ultimately, it's Hemophiliac's vote that best sums up my own feelings toward the track:

"There's a good use of the stereo space in this one, filled up with a lot of sonic goodies and ear candy. The dive into the water with a temporary EQ to filter everything to sound like being underwater was handled nicely. Glad that didn't last very long, as it's icing and not the whole cake.

The overall structure of this is slower than the original and it does take a while to get to its fullest, but that's part of the charm of this one. It's taking you on a journey.

While it's mostly conservative there's plenty of new ideas sprinkled throughout to give this your own personalization, and they're great to hear especially when the source has been done to death."

Agreed on all points, Hemo! RT has done an excellent job putting his own spin on a classic and oft-remixed tune. This mix truly is a journey, ear candy to be found at every turn as it experiments with quite a few different genres in quick succession. While that could easily lead to a disjointed piece of music in less capable hands, Rom Tom ensures that the consistent vibe and pace of the track as well as the constant presence of melodic material from the source create cohesion between sections, while the progressive nature of the arrangement ensures that it never gets stale over the course of its almost 6-minute runtime. This is certainly an appropriate 30th mixpost for such a well-loved source, as well as an ambitious and impactful debut from the artist; with this heatwave we've had recently (at least here in North America), you can't go wrong diving straight into it!

From one newcomer to another: welcome aboard, Rom Tom!

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