Remixing musicA very very very short introduction

What is a remix?

A music remix, in general, is a reinterpretation of a pre-existing song, meaning that the “aura” of the original will

be dominant in the remixed version.

– Jim Jarmusch

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your

imagination …  Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother

concealing your thievery — celebrate it if you feel like it.”

Pick your remix - two choices

Sheezus by Lily Allen

OR

Breathing The Bass by Stangeztep

Garage BandA tool for working with audio recordings and

synthesised music

How Garage Band works

!!

A quick look at its features

Setting up the project

Create a new empty project in Garage Band

Set the tempo to the correct tempo for your chosen remix

Sheezus is at 130 bpm

Breathing The Bass is at 174 bpm

Drag audio files in from Finder to Garage Band workspace

First things to do

Lower the volume on all tracks BEFORE you first play the track, they will be up too high by default

Listen to each track individually first to hear them in isolation

Basic approach to remixing

“Artistic” techniques of remixing

Arrangement: Moving audio around the timeline

Leave some parts out at certain points

This is especially effective with drums and vocals

Effects: Changing the sound of audio clips

Add new material: Compose new musical parts

Mixing!: Setting the volume levels of each track so that…

The overall volume shouldn’t be too high, to avoid distortion

The listener can hear the important aspects of the music

Generally, the vocalist or soloist will have preference over backing instruments

Small embellishments should not be very loud

–Dr. Seuss

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the

thinks you can think up if only you try!”