To this definition I would add, and so much more!

Remixing has been around for quite awhile, having got its start before even the disco years and the hip-hop pioneers (such as Grandmaster Flash and Jam Master Jay). Seminal remixing truly began in the late 1960s, with the sound of Jamaican dub (an offshoot of ska and dancehall raggae). Jamaican DJs (such as Rudolph “Ruddy” Redwood) discovered that people enjoyed dancing to instrumental versions of ska hits. To spice up and personalize these instrumentals, artists like King Tubby and Lee “Scratch” Perry began adding their own parts (such as horn stabs and percussive fills) using a 4-track cassette recorder and echo effects. These permutations of the original instrumental where called “dubs’ (for “doubles”) and their low-fidelity, bass heavy, effected tracks (partly a byproduct of repeatedly bouncing tracks down on 4-track tape) became an integral part of the dub sound.  This sound and style of the original dub pioneers has transcended time and geography to become part of today’s remixes.

Fortunately, we no longer need to struggle with 4-track cassette machines and splicing analog tape.  Now we have amazing music production software tools (such as Live, Reason, and Pro Tools) in which we can remix, quite literally, anything.  You could turn a country song into a dubstep tune, or a jazz ballad into an electro house banger.  There’s really no limit to the possibilities.

As a result of these amazing tools, and so many wonderfully talented and creative people that have pushed forward the art of remixing, remix production has become a critical skill for many working producers and hip-hop and EDM (electronic dance music) artists. Business savvy music industry entrepreneurs recognize that remixing songs is a great way to generate income, publicity, attract new fans, and keep their catalog relevant. Remixing is also a whole lot of fun and gives you the opportunity to join a thriving online community of remixers who share their music on the Web and enter remix competitions (on sites such as indabamusic.com and play.beatport.com) with substantial prizes (from cash, to gear, and label deals)

With this current swirl of activity around remixing, it feels to me like a remixing renaissance.  Not that remixing ever disappeared, it’s just enjoying a surge of popularity thanks to all the cool software tools and community support.  Remixing is a wonderful form of self-expression for both novices and pros alike, and Web sites like play.beatport.com make it super easy to jump right into the mix (or, remix) with both feet and start exchanging feedback and ideas with fellow music producers from all over the globe.  It’s on this crest of remixing exuberance that I am pleased to announce a series of remixing tutorials for beginners, in partnership with Berkleemusic and Beatport.  Check out the videos on play.beatport.com, and feel free to let me know on my YouTube channel (Erik Hawk’s Music Education Channel at youtube.com/muzicali) if you have any suggestions for a remixing topic.

Reason makes developing such sounds as easy as plug and play, like simple object oriented programming.  You don’t need to be a technically minded, sound designer whiz to cook up great sounding patches using just a combinator and some simple layering techniques.  This is how I make a lot of my sounds that you can hear in my productions.  In this video, Easy Sound Design with Reason (or, Building a Cool Electro Bass), I demonstrate how you can easily and quickly build your own custom sounds without needing to understand anything to technical.

As a rule, when I hit the show room floor I’m keeping my eyes open for specific products, as well as anything groundbreaking that might make my job easier and inspire my music production work.  This year I was looking out for studio monitor control devices, mid-sized studio monitors with great bass response, MIDI controllers with finger pads, and innovative work surfaces.

The monitor controller that caught my eye was the Oculus by Shadow Hills.  Its fat, ergonomic level knob felt great, and its toggle switches for selecting input and monitor sources were a pleasant change from the usual push buttons.  Most impressive of all, it was wireless!  The company’s demo guy handed me the Oculus controller, sat me in front of an array of Barefoot Sound monitors, and asked me what I wanted to hear.  Of course I asked, “Got some dance music with good bass?”  He happily obliged my musical preference and the next thing you know I’m banging an EDM track while fluidly switching between three sets of speakers.  Selecting speakers with the Oculus was a real pleasure, and the Barefoot Monitors sounded amazing.  I was especially impressed by their smooth, consistent mid and high frequency response across three different sized speakers: MicroMain35, MicroMain27, and MiniMain12.  The large MiniMain12 and mid-sized MicroMain27 speakers both had excellent, tight bass response.  I was impressed.

Oculus by Shadow Hills

Barefoot Monitors

While fantasizing that I could somehow fit the MiniMain12 speakers into my home studio, much less afford them ($19,950 a pair, ouch!) I heard two people behind me say, “We’ve got these speakers in a room at Berklee.”  I turn around to see Mark Wessel and Leanne Ungar, both Berklee College of Music Associate Professors in the Music Production and Engineering department.  Pretty cool!  It’s always a lot of fun to meet people at these shows, especially fellow Berklee folk.

Akai also had a booth at which the new Akai MPC Renaissance and its little brother, the Akai MPC Studio were on display.  Of course I had to try out some finger drumming on the pads to see if they felt at all similar to the classic MPC pads.  I was not disappointed.  The MPC Renaissance felt especially good, with a solid feel, responsive pads that are velocity and after touch sensitive, and a bank of sixteen very grab-and-turn friendly rotary knobs.  The Renaissance is a surefire hit for folks wanting that classic MPC feel in a fully integrated MIDI controller and beat making platform.  The MPC Studio’s pads felt identical to the Renaissance, but its dials felt decidedly inferior to the Renaissance’s rotary knobs.  I found myself wondering why you would design a controller with dials that feel like mini plastic plates rather than knobs you can grab between your thumb and forefinger?  Maybe they’re for spinning rather than turning and I’m missing the point?  In any case, some knobs on the Studio would be nice.

Akai MPC Renaissance

Raven Multitouch Audio Production Console by Slate Pro Audio

One booth that always had a crowd was Slate Pro Audio, where they were demonstrating the Raven Multitouch Audio Production Console.  It appears to be a truly innovative work surface, a giant touch screen from which to control your DAW program.  I’m always wanting a bigger screen and this definitely fits the bill!  But wait, didn’t I just say I like knobs to turn?  This is more like a really giant iPad.  In any case, it’s a truly innovative concept and it will be interesting to see how the platform develops.  Really amazing technology.

When I did consulting I used to go into home studios and help clients set up their gear for the best results.  When I saw Grammy award winning audio engineer Francis Buckley’s Studio Rescue series (sponsored by Rode Microphones) on YouTube, I said to myself, “Wow, that’s exactly what I would have recommended. I’ve got to tell my students about these YouTube videos.”  They’re really excellent.  Buckley knows what he’s talking about and offers practical advice on working with the space you have, and how to tune it using furniture placement and a few strategically placed Vicoustic foam panels.  Watch this video series if you’re not sure about how to position all the gear in your home studio.  I guarantee you’ll learn a ton.

There are twelve episodes posted so far.  Here are a few direct links:

Studio Rescue – Episode 1

http://youtu.be/02qpJt0hsL0

Studio Rescue – Episode 9

http://youtu.be/pf_7sC9wV8Q

Studio Rescue – Episode 12

http://youtu.be/K0iuj56c_eg

With the release of Reason 6.5 (due sometime in the second quarter of this year) featuring a newly unveiled third party effect development system called Rack Extensions, and a spanking new iOS App called Figure, I’m excited to report that Propellerhead is definitely back in action and firing on all cylinders.  I think that Rack Extensions is a brilliant move both from a business and creative standpoint, and the complaint that Reason doesn’t support third party plug-ins will be a thing of the past.  Plus, Figure looks like an absolute blast and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

While I’m talking about Reason, I should mention that we’ve been having a ball with Reason 6 in my Producing Music With Reason course at Berkleemusic.  The projects students have been cooking up with all its new features and the audio tracks are amazing.  It’s really exciting to be hearing students put all these creative tools in Reason 6 to good use.  I can’t wait to hear what our community does with Rack Extensions in the next version of Reason.  But now, enough of me talking, check out this video detailing the new music-making wonder tools from Propellerhead.

If you would like to hear a couple of the EDM tracks I’ve been producing in Reason lately, check out my new singles,  “Energy” and “Hiccup”.  “Energy” is out now (available everywhere, including iTunes, and soon Beatport), and “Hiccup” will be released next month on my Synchronized Music label.

“Energy” on Juno Download

“Hiccup” on Soundcloud

 
Hiccup (Original Mix) by Erik Hawk Music

Here’s the completed combinator patch that I demonstrate in the video so you can explore how it’s put together right in your own Reason Rack.

Combinator Patch [COMING SOON]

Here’s a video tour of my Pro Tools session explaining how I pulled off this remixing magic.

You can hear the original “Scoot On Over To Scat’s” song here, http://youtu.be/jsXxRFxATaU.  And this is my remix. Enjoy!

Scatman’s Background

Benjamin Sherman Crothers, born May 23rd 1910 in Terre Haute, Indiana (passed away November 22nd, 1986 in Van Nuys, California), started performing in the speak-easy circuit of Chicago in the latter part of the 20s.  In 1931, he got his own radio show on WFMK Dayton, Ohio, billing himself as “Scat Man”. In 1935, he made his first appearance in a film, a short called “Symphony In Black” with Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday. He would go on to act in 45 more motion pictures including “The Shining”, “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”, “Bronco Billy”, “Aristocats”, “The Shootist”, “Silver Streak”, “The Lady Sings The Blues”, “Scavenger Hunt”, “Twilight Zone: The Movie”, and “Transformers: The Movie”.

In 1943, Scatman moved to Hollywood, California and hired an agent. In 1948 he was one of the first African-Americans to land a recurring role on a network TV show, “Dixie Showboat”. Over the next three decades, Scatman appeared in hundreds of TV programs including 65 episodes of NBC’s sitcom “Chico and the Man” as Louis the garbage-man, 18 guest appearances on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show”, and “Colgate Comedy Hour”, “The Jack Benny Show”, “Nat King Cole Show”, “The Steve Allen Show”, “Casablanca”, “Hong Kong Phooey”, “Roots”, “The Super Globetrotters”, and “Sanford and Son”. Scatman Crothers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in front of the Egyptian Theatre.

I timed the vocals into my Pro Tools session, made a slight tempo change, a few beats per minute faster, and found one of my tracks that sort of matched Kerli’s performance. I didn’t want to spend a lot of time on this so using one of my already produced tracks made the most sense. With a key and tempo change, a few new chords, and a couple of structural modifications to the drums I was able to get a tight sounding mashup.

Then, I spent a lot of time making the vocal stems pop in the mix. The magic bullet for this job was iZotop’s Nectar, the “complete vocal suite” plug-in, and the always fun Stutter Edit plug-in (which I’ve blogged about previously, Stutter Edit by BT). I also did a lot of automation on the vocals to remove breaths, background noise, and bleed from the original tracks.

Whew, a lot of work, but I think it came out sounding pretty cool. It was definitely a good warm up before getting back into my busy composing and production schedule. Plus, I got to play with Nectar and Stutter Edit. All the synth and drum sounds are being produced by Reason 5, rewired into Pro Tools 9. Here’s the video tour of my remix session.

I also threw together a cool video montage to go with the remix. You can find it on my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/erikhawkmusic. (Like me on Facebook please.) And, if you feel inspired to do so, you can listen to and vote for my remix on the indaba music site.  Thanks!