These days, remixing is assumed to be something that every DJ can do. It is, however, not a very difficult job. It is almost just like making loops. In this case also, every artist has his/her own style of making remixes. I will describe here my own very simple method of making remixes. These may sound a little primitive to some people, but please keep in mind that these are meant for the amateur DJ.
The first and foremost step is to select the song which you will remix (duh!). A song can be remixed in two ways. The first one is to make a completely new remix. By "new" I mean that you start from scratch. A singer is made to sing the song, and completely new loops are designed for the songs. They are then mixed with the new vocals. The second way is to take the original songs' vocals and mix the loops with it. It is quite cumbersome, but compared to the first method, it is relatively easier. Both the methods are basically the same, the only difference being that of the vocals. The first method can be used to remix any song, but the applicability of the second one is limited. For example, "Heavy Metal" songs cannot be remixed this way.
To make a remix through the first method described above, you will first have to design loops for the song. To do this, please read the section on loops. The loops mentioned here are the same loops. However, the difference between the elements of a layer of the loop must be equal to that of the original song. You will have to listen to the original song very carefully to find this out. Also, you may like to add the "tune" of the original song to the remix. That can be done by playing the tune on a synthesizer and mixing it to the loops at an appropriate stage. Now, when this is done, you will have to record the vocals. To do this, you will need a multimedia headphone set with a microphone. You will need to set an appropriate volume for the microphone. Connect the microphone to the microphone jack and the headphone plug to the headphone jack. Now, you will need a good audio recording program to record. I suggest Microsoft Windows Media Encoder 9 Series for this purpose. It supports media recording at high bit rates with no frame droppings. Moreover, it's free! You can choose any program you like. Using the sound properties in control panel, set the recording source to Mic in. Play the loops using a media player so that the singer can hear them on the headphone jack. Tell him/her to select a beat/drum from the loop and start singing to it. After recording, check the full song for errors, and enhance it appropriately using any audio editor. After this is complete, just mix the vocals with the loops and you're done! Once you're proficient in this art, you can improve your remixes in many ways.
To make a remix using the second method, you will have to use the vocals from the original song. To do this, you will need to eliminate the existing beat rhythms from the song. You can do this by using an equalizer. Keep in mind that the beats cannot be completely eliminated. They can only be minimized to a certain extent. After you have done this, you will have to mix the loops with the vocals. Loops for this type of mix can be made by the same method as used in the above. Now, you will have to make sure that the volume of the loops is enough to drown out the volume of the original beats of the song, but the vocals must still be audible. This can be judged only through experience. Also, it is always a wise idea to use the original beats to your advantage. This can be performed by designing the loops in such a way that they compliment the original beats. However, this can be a problem if the song has unusual drums. You can create a variety of your own drums by mixing together, flanging or otherwise editing existing drums. To add extra spice to your creation, try adding bass effects to the remix. You can easily create professional bass effects by using your synthesizer. If you're one with an artificial sounding cheap synthesizer (like me), you can always edit the bass and other effects to your preference using an audio editor. Like bass, you can use your synthesizer to produce innumerable other effects. Hey! Don't get all scared if you see too much use of the word synthesizer here. They are really cheap to buy. I bought mine at just 40$. Still cheaper are also available. You can also use an MIDI synthesizer if you want.
These finer points of enlightenment will make a good remix great, if used perfectly.
- Sometimes, the remix rhythm and the original vocals sound different from each other, i.e. it seems as if two separate songs are being played together. This can be rectified by channel mixing or by adding reverb to the original vocals before mixing them with the loops. The reverb frequencies will overlap those of the loops and improve the integration of the song.
- Some audio editors allow mixing the tracks directly into the MP3 format. This can result in degraded quality of the mix. It would be better to first mix the songs into the Microsoft PCM Wave format, since it is a lossless format. You can later convert them to MP3's or any other compression formats.
- When burning audio CD's of your mixes, be sure not to use any filters etc. Doing so may cause unnecessary and undesirable changes to the mix.
- Avoid time compression of the mixes after a remix is complete. This would cause the loops and vocals to go out of rhythm.
- While working on a remix, be sure to save your work periodically. This would help minimize loss of data in case of power failures, system hang-ups etc.
- Last but not the least, back up all important data on a regular basis. It is better to be safe than sorry.
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