This was my first project being considered staff, and I was much more present for giving feedback in the beginning of the project than I was toward the end. The whole thing came together in under a year (!!), and even though it's one of the quickest album projects I've ever seen come out of OCR, the quality of the mixes doesn't skimp one bit. It doesn't hurt that we were working with ridiculously great source material either, and even though I've never played Sonic CD personally, the tunes are really outstanding. There was lots of immense talent and a general willingness to work together to create an excellent product. Working with Matt and all the other staff and artists on the project was an absolute blast. I’m truly proud of what each of you has created for this amazing album! It was my honor to work alongside each of you and get to know many of you very well. And lastly, my very special thanks to each and every artist who contributed to the project. My sincere thanks to the original composers Masafumi Ogata, Naofumi Hataya, Spencer Nilsen, and Sterling Crew, whose amazing original work inspired us all to create this tribute album. Special thanks to Beverley "Rexy" Wooff for proposing the original project idea and supporting the album throughout. He helped with numerous things behind-the-scenes and recruited our visual artist, TheSmai, who provided the absolutely beautiful art you see accompanying the album. His passion around Sonic and SEGA was so contagious, and his connections within the Sonic community were invaluable. Special thanks to Niyazi ‘DiGi Valentine’ Sonmez, who was definitely one of the project’s biggest supporters from the onset. He also provided key insights and feedback that helped shape so many of the tracks on the project. First I persuaded him to help out on a few arrangements, which turned into a few more arrangements, which resulted in him mastering/producing a handful of tracks for the project. Special thanks to Jordan ‘Sir Jordanius’ Etienne, who became more and more involved in the project as time went on. His help and dedication really helped ensure a certain level of quality on the album. Special thanks to Pete ‘Phonetic Hero’ Lepley, my assistant director, who listened to countless WIPs and provided critical feedback on numerous tracks along the way. Without their help this project wouldn’t have been possible. There are numerous people I’d like to thank. Everyone really brought their A-game to this project and I think the end result is truly a top-quality album that spans numerous musical genres that any Sonic fan will enjoy! Throughout the process, interest continued to grow around the project and I was fortunate to be able to include so many talented musicians from all around the Sonic fan community. I wanted to arrange both Sonic CD soundtracks and re-capture the general feel of the originals, while still allowing artists the flexibility to bring their own personal touch to the album. This was the last of the “classic” Sonic games to receive the remix album treatment and I knew we had to deliver big-time. Given how successful the previous OCR Sonic albums were and just how popular Sonic is in general, I knew I had my work cut out for me. After some discussions back and forth in the forums, I decided to head up the project. I have to admit, I never had the opportunity to play Sonic CD until it was re-released on PS3/Xbox/Steam in 2011, but I was familiar with the soundtrack and really loved both the JP/EU and US versions. I think I first felt comfortable undertaking this project shortly after I had hosted The Sonic Zone Remix Competition in 2012 and Rexy (Beverley Wooff) had created a thread to generate interest for a Sonic CD project. Fast forward nearly a decade, and I had since joined the OCR forums and checked out the site much more frequently. I first discovered OverClocked ReMix in the early 2000’s, when I was in high school, and absolutely loved checking out the various Sonic remixes that existed at the time. One birthday I received a little Yamaha keyboard and was so excited to try to learn and play the Sonic soundtracks myself.
I remember going through the Sound Test menus just scrolling through all the original tunes, because they were just so much fun and so addicting to listen to. I have many fond memories playing those games, especially Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and 3, with my family, and watching the cheesy 90’s Saturday morning Sonic cartoons.
The bundled game was, of course, the original Sonic the Hedgehog. Growing up my family had an NES, but when it came time for the next generation we decided to get a SEGA Genesis.
#SONIC CD SOUNDTRACK BOOM SERIES#
The Sonic the Hedgehog series has always been very special to me.
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