Photo credit: Jason Boose

ED. – In The Trenches is a new, regular column exclusive to DTC and hosted by Dan Clark of Stromkern, Null Device and The Dark Clan focusing on music from the perspective of a recording/touring artist. Our hope is that through this and other guest blogs music fans and admirers might gain a new perspective on what it’s like from the musician’s side of the table – or stage, as the case may be.

My Approach To Remixing

Remixing, like death or virtue, has degrees. Some remixes are so subtly different from the original one can hardly tell the two apart while others are so different one would hardly be able to guess the original they were derived from even if the two were played back-to-back. While theses two examples are a little extreme, to be sure, they represent what are essentially the two main approaches to remixing one tends to encounter; use lots of parts from the original but add some unique touches or find one interesting part from the original, extract it, and compose a new song around it. Personally, my favorite remixes tend to fall into the latter category probably because that’s how I myself tend to do remixes. It’s particularly easy if there’s a vocal because then I only need three things (well, two, really, plus a nice-to-have) to complete a remix:

1. a completely, totally dry bounce of the vocal
2. the tempo
3. the key signature (this is the nice-to-have)

Since the vocal of a song is often what the majority of listeners focus on and remember from a song and since it’s also most often where the big hooks reside it’s safe to structure a remix around just a vocal line and still be able to call it a “remix” as opposed to “a whole new song.” The BPM is necessary, obviously, for syncing up new loops, samples, parts, programming and of course the click track if one is adding new live parts to a remix. The key signature isn’t necessary for me to do a remix because I can pick it up by ear from the original but it’s nice to have it just given to me as it saves me a bit of time.

My approach to remixing is quite simple to sum up: when I remix a song I’m re-writing it the way I would have done it in the first place. This isn’t to say that the original artist did anything wrong with their composition it’s just that given the same materials, i.e. the lyrics and melody, the remix is what I would have done. I don’t completely cast aside the original – I’ll listen to it a few times, transcribe the melody and chord changes, listen closely to the lyrics, do a formal analysis of where the peaks and valleys are; the tension, release, and climax of the song and then get started. It sounds like a lot but it usually doesn’t take more than a half-hour or so for me to completely disassemble a pop song of whatever genre down to its constituent parts so I can get to work. I do all this analysis so I don’t duplicate what the original artist has already done and so I can get a firm grasp on what they were going for. My first decision then is what is my goal for this remix? In general I aim for one of three things, usually in this order:

1. To use the track as a way to experiment with a certain sound I want to try out
2. To go in a completely different direction from the original track
3. To out-Herod Herod, i.e. to do the same thing as the original only more so

I’ve always got some current musical obsession going on which is why the first option is what it is. It’s rare there’s not something I want to experiment with. An example of this is my remix (as The Dark Clan) for the Null Device album Recursions. I had been listening to a lot of post-rock like Pretty Girls Make Graves and Bloc Party and such and wanted to experiment with a very particular vibe as well as the angular, choppy guitar lines and biting rhythm sections common to that genre. Option two is really common, I think, for all artists. One doesn’t want to risk covering the same ground as the original and if the remix is being done for an all-remix CD then one really doesn’t want to risk covering the same ground as any of the other artists on the disc so going completely Out There on a remix is a good way to avoid that. An example of this is my remix of “Solution” (again, as The Dark Clan) for XUBERX on their album Intelligence : Revised. I’m a big fan of Euro Majestic Metal anyway and Dominique from XUBERX has some serious opera chops so doing a remix in that style was a bit of a no-brainer. As for option three, my remix of “Baselead” for Dharmata 101 is probably the best recent example of that/ JSun’s work is already pretty bombastic in its own way and that’s a trait he and I have in common so since his original parts were already geared that way it wasn’t a big stretch for me to push them even farther in that direction.

If it seems like a lot of unnecessary work to write a whole new song around just an existing vocal line I submit that for some artists it’s actually easier, or at least quicker. There are a couple reasons for this. Some artists are very fecund and can reharmonize and generate new lines and/or chord changes around a melody very quickly, much more quickly than taking the time for many repeat listens to the original to decide on a part or two that they think they could emphasize, learning and internalizing the existing structure to the extent they can tweak it just a bit – and in a cool way – rather than doing something terrible to it. Another reason is sometimes you get a remix kit and it’s just terrible. Things are recorded poorly or effects are printed to tape or lines aren’t quite in sync, etc. Granted, I’ve never encountered a kit that’s so bad as to be unusable but I’ve heard horror stories from other remixers who have. Anyway, it’s just one of those personal things and neither style is “better” than the other. They’re just a couple different ways of approaching the same activity.

So that having been said, once I know the approach I want to take with a remix I get going on applying whatever compositional techniques I deem appropriate to the original track. The first thing I usually look for is opportunities to improve (to my ears, anyway) or at least switch around the chord changes in order to add interest and to re-harmonize the melody. I look for ways to add counterpoint or harmony to the melody. Depending on my approach I may elect to flatten the peaks and valleys of release and tension in the melody by changing the amount of texture and support in the underscore, or increase same by emphasizing those same peaks and valleys in a different or more exaggerated way. I won’t hesitate to add harmonies, either by learning the lyrics and singing them myself, or getting other singers to come in and do it, or using Melodyne. That’s really it; the same principles and techniques I put into my own songs I apply to remixes. The only difference is I’m working with a given constant, namely the existing melody. It’s like writing new counterpoint over an existing cantus.

So my advice to anyone just starting to learn the art of remixing would be to first of all learn what remixing technique works best for you. Are you a “start from scratch” remixer or a “tweak what’s there” remixer? Knowing best how you’re most comfortable working is by far the most important first step you can take as it’ll greatly ease your path. After that what you need to do will be pretty self-explanatory but in the interest of hopefully providing some ideas to help out and to wrap this piece up here are a few suggestions to try anytime you’re just starting a remix, or if you’re stuck, or if you have some time and want to learn something new to improve your remixes:

1. Mutate an existing sound so that it’s recognizable from the original, but can now be called your own.
2. Whatever it is you’re working on, whether it’s the whole concept or one snare drum hit, go in the complete opposite direction of where it currently is. So if vocal is super effected dry that sucker out completely.
3. Use species counterpoint on the melody.
4. If the melody has a harmony line remove it. If it doesn’t, add one.
5. Try contrasting motion in a melodic line or bass line.
6. Get away from starting everything on the I or i chord; try beginning your bassline on other chord tones, for example.
7. Use harmonic suspensions.
8. Clean it up! Turn off all your effects and listen dry.
9. Dirty it up! Start adding FX and just see what happens.
10. Add a new beat.
11. Remove genre trappings; in other words if you’re remixing a Futurepop track and there’s that characteristic arpeggiated synth sound rip it out and see what’s left.
12. Take one key element from a different song that you love and try to add it to the remix.
13. Use the remix as an excuse to learn an instrument or technique with which you’re unfamiliar.
14. Randomly swap a couple sections of the song.

…and so on. These are just a few suggestions. Dig in, and happy remixing!