Tim Forsyth - Parallax Mini EP - The Past, Present and Future

Track info
Arranged by:
Tim Forsyth Veteran
Member profile:
Original SID:
Original composed by:
Also check out:
Duration:
19:28
Released:
23/05/2022
Charts position:
1. in the year 2022
2. in all-time charts
Score:
99%
Story

I started work on this remix back in January with a sketch of what is now the first 5-6 minutes of the song (aside from the intro) with plenty of nods to Tangerine Dream.

 

As I tried to move the remix on and hit the beats of the original SID, I found myself simply copying the original, which I've personally found to be the sign that I should probably go and do something else for a while, so I put things on hold.

 

Returning to this remix last month, I had an unexpected run of good fortune where ideas seemed to fall out of my fingers week after week and this theme of past, present and future started to come together.

 

I always get a small amount of regret after uploading a new remix as I always find something I had overlooked or became ear blind to. A few things such as the bassline decent at the end of each phrase in the mid section, my choir chants (probably needed some better samples or they're hitting chow tape too hard) and some of the downlifters are a bit of a lazy addition Despite these niggles I'm really pleased with the way this turned out, hope you like it!

 

I've noticed a recent trend on RKO where remixer's list instruments they've used or other technical stuff. I've been enjoying reading these, so here's a few about this remix:

 

- I had to break this remix up into 4 separate projects to save CPU and my sanity

- The whole song uses 194 cubasis tracks.

- The intro and first section are running through Chow Tape Model to give it a nice retro / lo-fi vibe.

- During the clav/rhodes section, I had sampled the drums from the start of Chorozon (Exit) as a placeholder but they became integral to the track, so I recreated the sounds using Ruismaker FM for a better fit in the mix and copyright reasons.

- I obsessed over the lead sounds at the end, both leads are from Zeeon and tweaked from the same preset I used in Lightforce (Future Singer)

- The guitar like arpeggios and rhythms at the end are from Korg Odyssei. A brilliant emulator of the Arp Odyssey and the most fun I've had with an arpeggiator full stop.

- I still have a lot to learn but my mastering chain is Fabfilter Pro-Q 3 -> Cubasis Mastering Strip (Compressor/Stereo widener) -> Waves L1 Ultramaximiser

 

 

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2 c64 charts All Time

1 c64 charts 2022

1 c64 charts May 2022

ROTY 2022

1 Best c64 Remix

Shouts
This remix shouts “I’ve been worked on for months”, brilliant choice of instruments and a very good arrangement as well! Congrats! (Oh, the upoload submit page shouts: 21/05-2022 - Updated max file size. ) Hmmmmm :):):):)
First, I didn't belived my eyes: 19:28 - must be a display error :D - Well but then: I would like to see the Parallax Movie which for you definitly arranged the motion Score!
Excellent, that was 19 minuets that went by in a flash. Nice work 😀
Enjoyed this wonderful musical journey very much!
Brilliant! Sonic bliss, great instruments, as if Tangerine Dream remade the song in the 80's
Great work! "Future" is my favorite, but the other two build up to it excellently!
Wow, this remix is fantastic. Especially liked last 3mins, but all in all a brilliant remix. Thanks Tim!
That's been some massive effort. It is pretty hard to make the listener engaged for even 1 minute, and this is 19+ minutes goodness. Great! Props for the tech description..
What a joy! Thanks!
Best c64 Remix of the Year. The rest of us will have to fight for second place. This is just. Wow!
Tangerine Dream vs. Jean-Michel Jarre vs. Galway!
Perfect! Love this :)
Wow, really impressive work. Almost 20 minutes to celebrate a SID masterpiece. Excellent work. Is just me or at 11:30 there's some Giana's Sisters 😃?
Deserving of the #1 spot. Congrats.. Tnx for the introduction to Tangerine Dream..
Just pure perfection, fantastic remix, and hits the nostalgia centre hard!
That you, Cerrone?
Nice!
Probably the best C64 remix to miss out on ROTY ever (albeit due to a voting error)
This is brilliant.
Wow!
A masterpiece
Review by Tomsk
28/05/2022

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Wow…a master class in beautiful synthetic soundscapes. 19 minutes of pure beautifully mixed arps and nods to TD, a real opus. It's truely blissful to listen to, and you can absolutely appreciate the effort that must have gone into this work. That said, only 194 stems? phhh…Honorabili used to use 200+😉
My only minor feeling is the drums could have benefitted from a bit more variety/fills, but that's just me being picky. This is a synthetic work of art, crafted to exceptional standards. We are indeed lucky people 😊 Thank you.
Review by LaLa
21/05/2022

Technique

Artistic skill

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Tangerine Dream 🍊 does Parallax!If I didn't know the original SID and somebody told me this is a TD album from the 1980s or early 1990s, I would've said yep, sounds about right. Of course, the younger generation knows this as the soundtrack to Stranger Things, so if you advertised it that way, you'd get a ton of listens from the youth, too. 😁I absolutely adore the long arpeggiated sequences and how you weaved them into one another. The middle section that pays homage to TD's Exit album brought a big smile to my face, as that's one of my favorite albums from them. Just excellent, excellent work there.And that last section with the more melodic part - jaw-dropping. The way you build up to it is just amazing. Perfect choice of instruments, total eargasm.Well, I could keep gushing on and on, but I think you get the idea. Who would've thought that after all these decades I could still be surprised by a Parallax remix? This is an epic work that seamlessly mashes the style of Tangerine Dream with Galway's timeless SID opus and it does that superbly. Su-perb-ly! Congrats! This is top stuff. PS: One minor gripe: I wish it didn't end on a fadeout. An epic like this deserves a more definitive ending.
Review by IamnotKen
15/07/2022

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Like Galway meets Cerone in his most awesomeness space-opera era! Very nice twist on my favourite C64 music.