Andy Zipf, The Art of Remix, and New Musical Assets
January 8th, 2010 | Published in Album, DIY, Music Business, Recording and Production | 2 Comments
One of my favorite forms of music expression exists as a mashup. Also know as the remix, music mashups allow one creative expression to be interpreted and then merged with another.
Three examples of my favorite remixes are:
- Bob Marley: Dreams of Freedom: Ambient Translations of Bob Marley in Dub
The Cure: Mixed Up
Jaydiohead: The Encore
What I love most about these particular albums is the cross genre appeal and creative exploration. All three albums leave their original genre to be merged with another, thereby opening previously released music to a whole new market of listeners and diving into new forms of expression. This is great for the musician, especially indie artist, as it broaden their fan/listener base.
While mixing and mastering Andy Zipf’s Cowards Choir, I fell in love with the track Should Have Told You. I kept hearing a remix that had to be made or it would have burned in me for the rest of my life every time I heard the song. Using Pro Tools and Reason, I went to work.
The song is written with an AABAB form, which I was careful not to build too aggressivly. In order to accomplish this, I only used subtle variation in the A section of the song which allowed his story to take precedence over the remix. Because Andy’s poetry and voice commands the attention of the listener, this particular remix also required that I leave the whole of the vocal track in tact. My goal for this remix was not to change the core message, but to add the piece of expression the song led me every time I heard it.
Below you will find both the original mix and the remix my soul demanded.
02 Should Have Told You
01 Should Have Told You – Tanacea Remix
Tanacea is The Music Spazz and you can follow him @tanacea.
Andy Zipf, The Art of Remix, and New Musical Assets
January 8th, 2010 at 5:03 PM (#)
The remix is dope. I liked the drums and that one higher pitched synth that comes in occasionally – A real Radiohead-esque OK Computer type path – nice.
I like that one tom drum with the delay that comes at the end of the pattern.
ah – that arrpegiation is cool too. Nice panning on the drums
its dope man nice work – i like it better than the original
January 11th, 2010 at 5:57 PM (#)
It occurred to me the other day as I was driving in my car and listening to a song on the radio with vague and cryptic lyrics. The vocal melody wasn’t anything special, the guitars were pretty boring, and the drums patterns were uninvented. However, I realized the song construction was almost identical to a band that I have grown to love in recent years. I realized that if they put a drum machine to it and added a couple synthesizers I would probably love it.
I guess that would be a good example on how remixes can bring the same song to a different audience.
One of my favorite examples is the Fatboy Slim remix of Dave Matthews Band – Crash. The original song was pretty boring (I didn’t really like it), but when you chop and layer the drums it becomes something more interesting.
Anyhow, great work on the remix. I love it.