Underground 2 Remix
Bran Bast
In 1994 this was one of my first international artist remix. Bjrk had just left her Sugarcubes band to go solo, and she was only mildly know back then. I was commissioned to remix Human Behaviour by Island France who were releasing it domestically. I did 2 sets of mixes and they were grouped on a single promo 12" that was pressed to only 500 copies making it a pretty rare item today. She apparently didn't like the remix much and it stayed commercially unreleased. Luckily for me, I had a chance meeting with David Morales at the time and gave him 2 copies. Months later I was told he and DEF mix partner Frankie Knuckles were killing it in the NY clubs. Thanks to them my name got out of France and it kickstarted my carreer outside of my country.
Tony Hawk's Underground 2: Remix is a skateboarding video game in the Tony Hawk's series. The game, developed by Neversoft and Shaba Games and published by Activision, was released on March 24, 2005, as a launch title for the PlayStation Portable. Primarily a port of its console counterpart, the game featured a different progression, with four exclusive levels (Santa Cruz, Atlanta, Kyoto and Las Vegas), exclusive characters, and new cutscenes. "Create-a-Park" was notably absent in the game, with some graphics and other aspects toned-down from the console version.
The gameplay in Tony Hawk's Underground 2: Remix is similar to that of previous Tony Hawk games: the player skates around in a 3D environment modeled after various cities and attempts to complete various goals. Most goals involve skating on or over various objects or performing combos. Scores are calculated by adding the sum of the point value of each trick strung together in a combo and then multiplying by the number of tricks in the combo.
A sequel to Underground was first announced in January 2004.[1] During development, developer Neversoft sent its members to locations featured in-game in order to get more acquainted with the areas.[2] Shaba Games, who had previously developed Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX and the port of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 for the PlayStation, adapted the game to the handheld.
The game received generally positive reviews upon release. Chris Roper of IGN called Underground 2: Remix "a nearly perfect extended port of the console version", while rating it 8.7/10.[5] GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann commented that "this 'remixed' version of the original delivers almost everything that was great about the console versions, and with the inclusion of four new levels, the single-player experience has gotten even better", giving it an 8.5/10.[6]
I have done many remixes over the years. In 2010, my remix of Shakedown by Joan Reyes went to #1 on the BeatPort overall chart. It then went on to be the highest selling track on BeatPort for that year. (seriously)
It is a unique and fun thing about electronic music and hip hop. We can take one song of any genre, and reinterpret it in our own style. We can make remixes of popular songs, underground songs or anything we like.
Yes. You could do it with any DAW or editing software. Garageband, Audacity, FL Studio or even in a mobile app, but you might find it a lot easier on Ableton Live. Or something else that has easy time stretching and pitch shifting for music production.
Or, you can make a bootleg. Find a song, acapella, (or Traktor stems from Beatport) you like and start chopping it up. But, you might need to separate the sounds for your remix using some audio trickery.
Your goal is to reinterpret the original song in your own unique style. Kinda like when a rock band covers a chilled song. They might make it more heavy and aggressive, but the original song is identifiable.
For official remixes, you should ask the artist/label when they expect it to be completed. For remix competitions, they usually have an official deadline. For bootlegs, you should create your own deadline and stick to it. Two to four weeks is a good starting point.
e.g. if your goal temp is 125bpm and the original song is at 80bpm, you would increase the original by 45bpm to match. This will make the original sound very fast. what you could do here is then halve the tempo of the original to 62.5bpm. That is closer to 80bpm and might sound more natural.
Impressive Tony Hawk games that arrive simultaneously with portable hardware launches are nothing new. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 took the series to the Game Boy Advance with winning results. But at the same time, you couldn't help but feel like you were playing a different game entirely. Now, just in time for the PSP launch, Activision is set to offer up a portable version of Tony Hawk's Underground 2, which was released on consoles last year. This "remixed" version of the original delivers almost everything that was great about the console versions, and with the inclusion of four new levels, the single-player experience has gotten even better.
For those unfamiliar with the series, the world of Tony Hawk is all about fast-moving freestyle skateboarding. The game is mostly goal-oriented, with challenges based on scoring, creating long combos of tricks, and some objective-based stuff, like pulling a specific trick on a certain object, which often results in a scene of mass destruction. But while the goals are the main point of the game, the control and gameplay is fun enough that simply skating around and tricking off of objects is a very worthwhile and fufilling activity.
The biggest change made for the PSP remix of THUG2 is the addition of four new levels. Kyoto, Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Santa Cruz have been worked into the main story mode, meaning you'll hear some new dialogue in the between-level cutscenes that make these new levels fit. Each of these levels is a fine addition, and each fits right into the lineup of existing levels very well. Other things that fans of the console games will notice is that the graphics, while insanely impressive and very comparable to the PlayStation 2 version, have been scaled back slightly. Also, there's no in-level voice work at all. But the important things, like the ultra-tight control and gameplay the series is known for, are all shockingly intact. At times, you'll wonder how, exactly, Shaba Games managed to fit the PS2 version onto a portable system with so much of it completely unchanged.
While Tony Hawk's name may be on the cover, THUG 2 Remix has a lot to do with professional shopping cart destroyer Bam Margera and his brand of destructive fun, which figures much more heavily into the latest Tony Hawk game. The game's story mode essentially plays out like a Viva La Bam scavenger hunt, with two teams--one led by Tony Hawk and the other by Bam Margera--setting out on the World Destruction Tour. So your goals don't focus so much on becoming a star of the skateboarding world; here, you're just trying to fly around the world to break stuff.
THUG2's story mode is a whirlwind tour that gives you four skaters and a mess of goals to accomplish in each level. You start out each level as your created skater, though you'll also pick a pro skater as a partner. You'll also find two other skaters--or at least people who ride skateboards, since it seems weird to call Ben Franklin, a high-rolling cowboy, or a shrimp vendor "skaters"--hidden in various spots on each level, and each time you encounter a new skater, you'll unlock another set of goals for that level. Some of these new characters don't even ride boards. You'll run into Steve-O, who rides around on a wheeled mechanical bull, and you'll meet an Australian in a small go-kart.
At the beginning of each level, you're given a list and set off into the world. There aren't any onscreen indicators to point you in the direction of a goal, though if you happen to do a trick off a piece that is part of a combo goal, the rest of the pieces will light up. If you want the skinny on what, exactly, you're supposed to be doing, you have to pause the game and go into your view goals screen, which will give you more details on what you need to do. While this approach frees the game of clutter and onscreen icons, it also means you're going to be spending a lot more time reading text in the pause menu. Each goal is worth a different amount of points. Once you've earned a specific number of goal points, you'll be able to move forward. This also triggers a cutscene, which puts some more backstory in the Bam versus Tony adventure. All in all, the story mode is satisfying in its structure. The PSP version works in four optional levels in the story mode, which is a nice change of pace that gives you some choices to make, unlike the console versions' rigid pace. Despite having three difficulty levels, players should be able to burn through the story mode in around seven to 10 hours. Fortunately, that's not all THUG2 has to offer.
Underground 2 also contains "classic mode," which brings back the two-minute run timer and goal structure of the first three Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games. Many of the levels are the same ones you see in the story mode, but a number of levels from previous entries in the series--all the way back to the school and downhill jam levels from the very first game--appear here. While it's nice to have a separate mode like this, the concept of working to unlock levels that you've either already played in the story mode or remember from earlier entries in the series makes the mode a little underwhelming.
The gameplay in THUG2 starts with THUG, which added the ability to get off your board to run around, and expands from there. Probably the most important addition in THUG2 is the sticker slap, which is an airborne wall plant that shoves you off with a good deal of acceleration, making it perfect for finding your way back onto a rail and continuing a combo by going back the way you came. The rest of the gameplay changes aren't really as useful. You can also execute vertical wall plants while going up some ramps, giving you an extra height boost that you'll rarely need to actually use but will occasionally come in handy. You can now spray graffiti tags when you're off your board, which factors into some goals. When you're special, you can enter "focus mode" by flicking the analog disc, though it's little more than a glorified slow-motion effect. A few goals in story mode require it, but beyond that, all focus will do for you is make it slightly easier to land cleanly or to balance on rails, lips, and manuals for longer periods of time. If this is your first experience with the Tony Hawk series, you might find that useful, but anyone with even limited experience with the games won't need the help very often. There is also a new move called the natas spin, which lets you spin in place on top of poles, fire hydrants, trash cans, and other pointy items. It, like most of the other new moves, figures into a couple of goals, but doesn't really seem all that necessary.
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