How Do People Go About Doing Remixes?

Tips & Tricks
1

Just started trying to do a few remixes, but they don’t really tend to work too well, has anyone managed to get anything decent out of working in renoise?

what sort of things do you do? Time stretching, splitting up parts etc…

What other software do you use? Just the whole shebang really…

ummm, yeah cheers

2

I normally start with making a whole new song, and then integrating the original artists parts into it.

Have a listen to my Bulletproof remix for Laroux, completely in Renoise.

http://soundcloud.com/davidlouispaul/larou…paul-deep-remix

3

Really great remix, how did you pitch it correctly and make it stay in time? what software etc?
i only dream of getting that many hits, lol

also the gated effect!! HOW!!!

cheers

4

Nice tune, David!

Sounds like he’s using my Glitch plug-in: http://illformed.org/plugins/glitch/

5

Timing is just a manual thing, trial and error, though I always break accapellas up into more manageable parts.

Everything on there is done in Renoise, no other software.

6

Nice :) Doing it by hand is always best, I think.

7

I usually get the bpm for the original tune, then go about laying down a basic beat in the ± 5-6 bpm range of the original. I mostly work just with the original vocals, very seldom use any other stems. Anyways… once I get a decent base going I stretch & cut the vocals into manageable pieces using Cubase, after that it’s just a bout piecing it all together nicely. Everything is Renoise, except the stretching/cutting bit on the vocals. (With cutting I mean just cutting it into pieces, not the badly faked scratch thing on the hh tune, which is all renoise.)
That’s my typical workflow when it comes to remixes.

Here’s two examples… one hip-hop tune & one (rushed) dubstep tune. On both I’ve just used the vocals off the original.

http://soundcloud.com/magowl/magowl-vs-pro…artist-goes-pop

http://soundcloud.com/kvartersakuten/don-g…ersakuten-remix

8

Yep, Glitch on the main vocal chorus. The plug in is a little unstable sometimes on my comp (depending on CPU load?) so (luckily) makes some random effects.

9

I have done a remix for an upcoming single, and this is what I did…

  • First, I cheat by loading the vocals into Ableton and slightly correct their timing, cutting them into shorter samples. IMHO this works better than using 09xx effects all over the place
  • Play one or more vocal samples in Renoise on loop, playing around with some pads or bass samples to find some chords that fit the vocals and are different from the original. I don’t like keeping the original “sound” and just adding a new drum loop or bassline
  • If I find something cool, I keep adding more tracks, fleshing out the drums etc. until it sounds like the peak of the track - then I start to rip it apart again
  • Build a rough version of your mix - Intro, Verses, Refrain, Breakdown etc.
  • Add some variation to the patterns, so you don’t play the same patterns over and over again. Usually the drums are best for this :drummer:
  • Never hestitate adding a new track to keep things moving. My big problem is lack of variation in my tracks, so fight it wherever you can
  • If everything sounds good at home, I burn my track to a CD (or my iPod) and play it on my car stereo. It’s just a standard stereo, no expensive speakers, but that’s where the mix has to sound right