Remixing

[Legion]

I'm terrible at remixing. I always have been. And I honestly cannot figure out why for the life of me. Whenever I'm trying to remix something, the ideas just straight up abandon my head, and the finished product is not even a fraction the quality of my original music. My question to you guys: how do you go about remixing? Where do you draw your inspiration from? This has been driving me crazy lately and I'd like to hear from others.

[Freewave]

Well for technique I'd recommend my thread over here.
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2630

Ultimately your asking some different questions though.

First you should have an idea on what you are going to change with a remix. You really need to have a concept or spin and likely a genre in mind. Don't be afraid for your project to change as you tinker with it as sometimes that concept will mutate into something different then what you intended it to be. But to remix you likely need the tools given by the original artists (a midi file, fl project, or stems) so make youo have that as its really hard to have something impressive from a re-edit but it CAN be done.

Ultimately too you need vst's on par with the original or they'll sounds rather weak in comparison. I'm finishing up a remix of a Makkon track (stay tuned this week, PLUG) and while I'll never come even close to his orchestral vst's I went the electronic route so that its not very similar at all. With a JefftheStrider track I did I kept his amazing original instruments in wav and then added rhythm and dance beats that weren't in the original. Ultimately keep what you like if you can and discard what you don't need or doesn't fit with the style.

[Legion]

Insert text here

Helpful as always, DJ, thanks.

Honestly, I think part of my problem is that up until reading this, the thought of using anything from a song besides the vocals went right by me. That's something I might consider. Well, I'll have the weekend to work on music, so I'll definitely think about all this and make another attempt at... something, anyways. See what happens.

[Sonarch]

I'm late to this party, but I figured I may as well drop in my personal observations about remixing.
First off, there are a few different things you can do with a remix, i've noticed. You can dump the old instrumental and put in your own in a completely different style if it's a vocal song, you can alter the manner in which the song progresses by making the verses or parts appear in a different order, if you have a particular genre in mind you can change the instruments to suit that style (replace the bass with some heavy wub type stuff for dubstep, add some distorted guitars for a metal type feel, etc...), and really, you change the song the way you like it. If there is a particular riff or vocal that you really like, maybe your favorite part of the whole song, make that appear more often! Make it the way it would be had you created the song yourself, add a funky beat, and just have fun with it! Good luck!

[Captain Ironhelm]

Take the tune/vocals themselves, then forget everything else and do it your way.

[Ed Viper]

You should ask 3m0 for help. He's remixing one of my songs, and it honestly sounds better than the original so far.

Honestly what I do is just look at the stems a bit and think "if I made this song, what would I have done?" Then do that.

[K3WRO]

Take the tune/vocals themselves, then forget everything else and do it your way.

Remixing in a nutshell, it's all you need to do

[Möller]

If you got the stems, try to rebuild the track and then add in new sounds, drums, up and downlifters and stuff like that.

[jackupthoseapples]

Take the tune/vocals themselves, then forget everything else and do it your way.

this

[Lavender_Harmony]

I'm terrible at remixing. I always have been. And I honestly cannot figure out why for the life of me. Whenever I'm trying to remix something, the ideas just straight up abandon my head, and the finished product is not even a fraction the quality of my original music. My question to you guys: how do you go about remixing? Where do you draw your inspiration from? This has been driving me crazy lately and I'd like to hear from others.

A lot of people have the misconception that a remix has to take the original song and wrap a new genre around it. This often lands you in the territory of bland remix, no matter what the quality of your composition is at the end, it's still not going to stand out.

I'm still working towards being able to do remixes myself, it's a very difficult thing to do. One of the exercises I learned to do was before a remix, I should try and recreate the original as closely as possible. That way I get a more in-depth insight into how the piece was constructed, and I also end up with a toolkit of sounds from the original that I can implement.

It's as already mentioned, you shouldn't be copying the original into a new style, you should take what you can from it, be it the main melody, the vocal line or something that makes that piece unique, and compose something original from it. Taking a vocal or piano melody, stripping it of any chords will give you numerous possibilities. Completely changing the chord progression while remaining in key is a very good way to get started, and you're certainly not limited to the relative key either. Every note could be a key change, as long as you can make it sound good, the possibilities are endless.