Remixing

Audio Sequencing Techniques for Remixing

Choosing Parts for A Remix

When choosing parts for a remix, it is important to think about what you, as a remix artist, find the most interesting and unique to the song (besides the lead vocals). If the vocals are just put over a completely new track, while it is still technically a remix, it only bares that similarity to the original, which is not as creative and imaginative as finely picking through the various riffs and drum fills that are immediately associated with the song in the listener's mind. These can then be completely reimagined and reused to interact with the new arrangement that accompanies it. For example, a remix of 'Believer' by Imagine Dragons might include the drum beat, as this is iconic to the song, especially when it is most noticeable, in the intro. A remix of 'Rhinestone Eyes' by Gorillaz might include the iconic riff. These are both examples of something that a listener could hear on its own and automatically associate with the song.

It is also important to consider the key, tempo and time signature of the song when choosing parts for a remix. This is because these areas can affect how well specific techniques, such as looping, can be achieved. For example, if there is a key change in a song in the middle of a section that the remix artist wants to loop, they will have to consider whether they will be able to accommodate this key change, change it, or whether they will have to scrap it. It is always best to avoid key changes, tempo changes and time signature changes when choosing parts for a remix, as this makes the remixing process much more complicated.

In Andrew Weatherall's Remix of "I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have" by Primal Scream, called "Loaded", his technique was to use only a few seconds of bassline and slide guitar from the original. These parts aren't very obvious and the remix sounds very different. Weatherall had originally "basically slung a kick drum under the original", before Andrew Innes told him to "just fucking destroy it". He then went from choosing basically the entire song exactly as it was, to just a few seconds from it. This is important because it shows how there is an art and a specific technique to simply choosing which parts of the remix the remix artist uses. While it is important to use enough for it to actually class as a remix and bear similarity to the original, the remix is unimaginative and poor if the remix artist is doesn't include enough of their own original work.

Toxic by Britney Spears was remixed by Altégo and Ginuwine. The remix leaves Spears' vocals in the same structure and timings, instead of chopping up little samples from the vocals and spreading them across the remix in a different order. The remixer adopts the specific technique of using unique and interesting samples from the song, such as a variety of the string parts because these are iconic to the song. This is important for showing the listener how the remix artist interprets the song and what they think are the most interesting parts of the song for them to adopt into their remix. This gives the remix artist the chance to re-imagine the song in their own creative, imaginative way.

When choosing audio samples for a remix, it is important to be able to loop any audio used. The technique used to do this is to find the 'zero crossing' on the audio loop. This is the point at which the waveform returns to the zero line. If a remix artist does not find this point, then the speaker has to jump from the position it is at, to the position it is going to, which can be very different and causes clipping. Another mutual point can be used for a seamless loop, but the zero crossing is most commonly used due to the ease of identifying it. Another useful technique is crossfading the loops, which is where one stem fades out as another fades in, to create a smooth transition and prevent obvious stopping/starting/cutting in and out. This is important because it makes the transition barely noticeable. If the remix artist doesn't crossfade, there might be a sudden, audible transition to the next stem/loop, which makes the technique less professional.

Using Effects and Dynamic Processors

A notable specific creative processing technique in the 'Toxic' remix is the subtle but effective use of an EQ bandpass filter (where only frequencies below and above the cut high and low ends are audible) in the pre-chorus when Spears sings "Too high, can't come down", when the very low end and very high end are cut using a lowpass filter (cuts high frequencies, letting low ones through the filter) and highpass filter (cuts the low frequencies, letting high frequencies through the filter), before being lifted again at "spinnin' round and round". This is important because so much of the dominant instrumentation in this remix sits at the very low end (kick, bass) and the very high end (snare 'wire', hi hats), and cutting these frequencies makes more emphasis on the vocals (which sit in the middle), but reduces the gain of the bulk of the instruments, bringing them 'down' (which I believe is supposed to accompany this word in the lyrics, as a creative technique to create more interaction between the vocals and instruments).

Another specific remixing technique that Altégo uses is automating (programming automatic movement in the parameters of the tracks, such as volume, panning or, in this case, parameters of processors and effects) the frequency of the bandpass filter to rise as the iconic buzzing that leads into the chorus plays. This is important for creating an increase in tension leading into the chorus which creates a 'drop' when the chorus starts. A drop is where a build in tension is released as the changes that are made slowly, during the rise, are suddenly changed (or 'dropped') again in an instant. This is a technique which is very popular in remixing and is very commonly used (as well as often easy to achieve).

MIDI Sequencing Techniques for Remixing

Manipulating MIDI

When producing a remix, you can sometimes get MIDI files for that song, which you can then download, input into your project and manipulate, or you can create your own parts. Downloading MIDI (as opposed to programming your own) can be beneficial for songs with very unique parts, such as the complicated rhythms of melodies, the way chords are played, or instruments that interact in a very precise way. This is important because it allows you to keep the unique parts of that song to make it still recognisable. However, these can be quite difficult to get hold of and can often be created by people who are not the original artist, which raises questions about their quality and whether they are actually accurate to the original song's arrangement 9and whether they're legal). If the song's arrangement is simple enough for the remix artist to be able to hear the rhythms and melodies, then they can often look at the chords or key online, or even hear it for themselves, and programme the MIDI themselves. With the downloaded MIDI, the manipulation will be focused more on creativity, as the person who wrote the MIDI arrangement will have ensured that the MIDI information will be as close to the original song as possible (if the files are legitimate), so any manipulations will be moving the MIDI away from the original song. Examples of the kind of creative manipulation techniques that a remix artist will do may include changing note lengths, maybe to make them longer and fewer when using an arpeggiator sampler instrument to utilise the instrument's full rhythmic movement. If you write your own MIDI, the first technique you might use might be quantisation, if you don't play very accurately, in terms of tempo. You may also need to delete notes you accidentally played, or changed the velocity of ones you played too hard or too soft. When the MIDI is corrected, the remix artist will then move on to manipulating it creatively. One creative MIDI technique could be the use of MIDI FX, such as the arpeggiator, note repeater, modulator, chord trigger, modifier, randomiser and transposer (and more). All of these FX can be applied to MIDI information to make more interesting arrangements. For example, the arpeggiator allows you to manipulate the rhythm, range, note direction and other parameters to make a unique arpeggiator for the various parts of your own remix. The chord trigger takes notes within a selected key and turns them into chords to add texture to your remix. Using FX such as these is important for adding variety to a remix and making it more interesting. These can be used very creatively to easily come up with unique variations of the arrangement from the original song.

Manipulating MIDI

When producing a remix, you can sometimes get MIDI files for that song, which you can then download, input into your project and manipulate, or you can create your own parts. Downloading MIDI (as opposed to programming your own) can be beneficial for songs with very unique parts, such as the complicated rhythms of melodies, the way chords are played, or instruments that interact in a very precise way. This is important because it allows you to keep the unique parts of that song to make it still recognisable. However, these can be quite difficult to get hold of and can often be created by people who are not the original artist, which raises questions about their quality and whether they are actually accurate to the original song's arrangement 9and whether they're legal). If the song's arrangement is simple enough for the remix artist to be able to hear the rhythms and melodies, then they can often look at the chords or key online, or even hear it for themselves, and programme the MIDI themselves. With the downloaded MIDI, the manipulation will be focused more on creativity, as the person who wrote the MIDI arrangement will have ensured that the MIDI information will be as close to the original song as possible (if the files are legitimate), so any manipulations will be moving the MIDI away from the original song. Examples of the kind of creative manipulation techniques that a remix artist will do may include changing note lengths, maybe to make them longer and fewer when using an arpeggiator sampler instrument to utilise the instrument's full rhythmic movement. If you write your own MIDI, the first technique you might use might be quantisation, if you don't play very accurately, in terms of tempo. You may also need to delete notes you accidentally played, or changed the velocity of ones you played too hard or too soft. When the MIDI is corrected, the remix artist will then move on to manipulating it creatively. One creative MIDI technique could be the use of MIDI FX, such as the arpeggiator, note repeater, modulator, chord trigger, modifier, randomiser and transposer (and more). All of these FX can be applied to MIDI information to make more interesting arrangements. For example, the arpeggiator allows you to manipulate the rhythm, range, note direction and other parameters to make a unique arpeggiator for the various parts of your own remix. The chord trigger takes notes within a selected key and turns them into chords to add texture to your remix. Using FX such as these is important for adding variety to a remix and making it more interesting. These can be used very creatively to easily come up with unique variations of the arrangement from the original song.

Characteristics of A Successful Remix

Appropriate Techniques and Production Values Relevant to Genre

Genre is so important for remix artists to identify, not only the audience of people who they want to aim the remix at, but also the settings, such as nightclubs.

It is important for a remix artist to avoid key changes, time signature changes and tempo changes if they are remixing to a genre that may be DJed. This is because these changes can stop a track mixing with another, either rhythmically or harmonically, which can ruin the DJ set. Avoiding these changes in a remix can make the ability to DJ the remix much more successful in this kind of setting. Techniques used to achieve this include: avoiding the parts with these changes, for example, only using the parts of a song in only one of they keys, or time signatures, etc, or the remix artist can remove the change to make it fit with the rest of the remix. An example of a technique to do this would be, if a song is in 4/4 time, but has a 6/4 bar, the remix artist may be able to cut the extra 2 beats, making the 6/4 bar another 4/4 bar, which would fit.

When Marshmello remixed Amr Diab's 'Bayen Habeit', he took a relaxed folk/pop song and transformed it into an electronic track. The first technique Marshmello used to start to this transformation was increasing the tempo of the song. This is because Amr Diab's original song is supposed to be romantic and slow in nature, but Marshmello's is more supposed to be danced to. This is important because a faster tempo will make people more likely to move and dance in a more 'club-like' setting. Another technique he used was including more electronic instrumentation, and stripping some of Diab's more acoustic, delicate instrumentation. For example, in the introduction, Diab's finger-picked acoustic guitar is removed, leaving only the accordion from the original track's intro, and Marshmello includes heavily-filtered/effected electronic keys. This is important because using the correct instrumentation can immediately associate a song with a certain style much more easily. The rhythm of Marshmello's electronic keys is kept consistent throughout the remix. I feel like these keys do not play on the beat (which would be expected of electronic music), which is used as a technique as it later integrates itself into the drum's on-beat rhythm to make a more interesting rhythmic arrangement. As the listener expects on-beat rhythm, they can subconsciously predict that the on-beat drums are coming soon at a 'drop', which creates a tense build-up.

Appropriate Structure Relevant to Structure

The structure of a remix is often based on accommodating a DJ in a club setting. For example, according to Berklee Music's Erik Hawkins, a common technique in remix structure is to have 16 bars of 'mix in' and 'mix out' at the start and end of a remix, which he claims are to "allow the DJ to segway in and out of other songs", which means allowing them to transition between songs, smoothly. This is important for making the DJ's job easier by (as Hawkins talks about, due to the features of these sections, which include consistent rhythm and little/no "harmonic elements" (pitch)) allowing them to be overlapped with another song without the risk of the keys clashing. Good examples of the kind of sounds that can be used are drums, such as kicks, snares and hi hats, but also white noise, which is quite commonly used in remixes as a technique to build to a drop or to use in a breakdown. This is important because it can also have a similar effect in mix ins and mix outs. It creates a similar effect to increases in instrumentation, but is a much more simple and effective technique than increasing instrumentation because the sound consistently has the same effect, whereas the effect of increased instrumentation varies depending on the instruments used, and using white noise only requires a sample of the sound with automated volume increase to make the rise.

Remix structures mainly consist of the main sections, breakdowns and drops. These sections play various roles, which all involve controlling the atmosphere and the energy of the environment. For example, a breakdown is supposed to create a slightly more relaxed, slow (not 'slow' relating to literal speed or tempo, although this can be used as a technique) atmosphere, which often builds in tension using instrumentation, processing, such as EQ, and arrangement, such as a kick drum going from playing 4 beats in a bar, to playing 8, then 16, and so on, or a melody being halved repeatedly, to create a more rapid build in tension. Techniques such as these are important for transitioning the quiet, calm breakdown into the energetic drop gradually, so that the audience knows what to expect and can enjoy and embrace the change, without being taken by surprise.