Polaroid Kiss - Pay Your Dues (Assemblage 23 Rmx)

Polaroid Kiss - Pay Your Dues (Assemblage 23 Remix) by Polaroid Kiss

I don't post my own work here very often, but I thought I'd share this remix I completed earlier this week as it includes sounds from both the Waveformless Soundware DUNE Spiceflow soundset as well as the recently released Omnisphere Encompass set.

Remix Queen

No, that's not my nickname, but rather a way of telling you that Talenthouse and Queen have announced a remix competition. Stems for the Queen track "Don't Stop Me Now" are now available for your remixing pleasure. Deadline is December 13 and prizes include a $1000 Pro Tools rig, studio time at Metropolis Mastering, and more. For more info, check out the Talenthouse website.

[via Sonicstate]

Beatport Announces Erasure Remix Contest

Ever wanted to have a crack at remixing synth-pop legends Erasure? Beatport is now offering that opportunity (for a price) and is offering prizes from Native Instruments, Novation, Elektron, iZotope, and more. You can download the stems for $3.99 and remix them to your heart's content. Submissions are accepted from October 25th to November 7th, and the public will then vote for their favorite remixes between November 8th and 22nd.

How do you all feel about paying to download stems to remix? I have kind of mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, back in the 80's and 90's, I probably would've paid many times the asking price for access to the isolated tracks from my favorite bands, but in the present climate the music industry is in, it seems a bit odd to me for some reason.

Listen to Royksopp's Remix of Depeche Mode's Puppets

As any of you Mode-o-philes out there probably already know, Depeche Mode is releasing an album of remixes of their hits throughout the years. The collection includes remixes from former Depeche Mode members Vince Clarke and Alan Wilder, as well as Eric Prydz and other big names. Pitchfork has Royksopp's extremely creative remix of 1981's "Puppets" available to stream and they more or less turn it into an entirely new track by placing the vocal in a very different context. The album will be released on June 7th.

[via Pitchfork]

Everything is a Remix

Everything is a Remix from kirby1 on Vimeo.

"Remixing is a folk art but the techniques involved — collecting material, combining it, transforming it — are the same ones used at any level of creation. You could even say that everything is a remix.
everythingisaremix.info/​"

Free Sample Friday: Sub Drops

Today's selection is a pack of 5 sub bass drops perfect for putting in the breakdown of your next club mix. (Might be good for Dubstep and Drum n' Bass too...) Drops were made with a Virus B, Logic ES2, FXpansion Strobe, Sonic Charge Microtonic, and TAL Bassline. Drops were then processed with various compressors and other smashy effects. As always, 24-bit, 44.1k

GO GET THEM!

Mixing It Up

So today I'm going to be starting on a remix for another band. The process of remixing is quite a bit different from writing a song from scratch in that you usually have at least one piece (say, a vocal) from a finished song that you have to build your remix around. In a sense, you're putting together a puzzle. Unlike a regular puzzle, however, the remixing puzzle has several ways it can be assembled "properly". So today I thought I'd talk a little bit about how I go through the process..

1. First, I give the original song a listen. This is helpful in getting an idea of the basic song structure and the general sound of the track. I personally like to approach remixes almost like writing an entirely new track that just happens to have the same vocal as the original. So usually during this time I'm listening for things I can do differently from the original. After I've listened once or twice, I don't listen to the original version again until I am finished.

2. After setting my DAW's tempo to the tempo of the track, I drop the vocal track into Logic. I usually call up an instance of StylusRMX with a simple drum loop in it to keep time. Most of the time, I then create a new track with a bass sound of some sort. I set up a section of the vocal to loop and begin trying out different basslines/note progressions against the vocal until I find something I like.

3. Once I've done the above for any intros, verses, chorus, and bridges, I copy and paste these parts throughout the entire song to build the structure of the track. If I want to structure things differently, add a break-down, etc., I usually handle that during this stage too.

4. The bulk of the work at this point entails 'coloring in' this basic skeleton of a song. I try to get the sounds as close to what I think I'll want in the final mix, but it's more important to write the actual synth parts and flesh out the drum parts at this stage.

5. The final stage before actual mixdown is usually spent fine-tuning and layering sounds, applying appropriate effects, adding special effects and ear candy, etc. For me, this is one of the most fun parts of the process.

Once I have everything just about where I wanted it, I record the tracks, mix them down, and give it a final listen compared to the original. I make some last minute tweaks, as necessary, and then I usually let it sit for a day or two so I can come back to it and listen again with fresh ears to make final adjustments. Of course, sometimes you don't have this luxury (I've had to turn around remixes in 24 hours before), but I almost always find something I feel needs to be adjusted.

This is just one possible path. Just about everyone who does remixes has their own preferred method and, of course, there really is no 'wrong' way to do it. What's your remixing process like?

Get $50 Off an Assemblage 23 Remix!

In the spirit of the holiday season, I've decided to discount my standard remix fee by $50 for anyone who wants an Assemblage 23 or Nerve Filter remix between now and the end of December. I expect these slots will get snapped up fairly quickly, so don't hesitate to email me to ask about the fee and availability to reserve your spot! (Also of possible interest to A23 fans, between now and December 19th you can get $5 off your order at the Assemblage 23 Online Store! Check out the news section of Assemblage23.com for details.