Remixes. WTF?

milltown

Lately I've been busily tracking down digital copies of my old record collection and reminded of the whole mix/remix issue that used to annoy me back when I was buying records. Lately I think of the name of a track, find it, download it, listen to it, then think "that sounds nothing like what I was looking for!".

In my buying days I'd pick up a bunch of records in Abbey Discs and bring them home for a spin only to be back in a few days later to return one or two.

Do the producers of the original work never raise an eyebrow when they ask someone to do a mix, then get back what is basically a completely, and I mean completely, different track? Like the remixer just had one of his own tracks lying around and sent it back regardless.

Is this still the case? I sold my decks a good ten years ago so my finger is pretty far from the pulse of modern dance music.

tman

Have never really had that issue tbh, I've never really been into any scene that releases a multitude of remixes of one song... There's usually just the original and then a remix or second original track on the flip, so it's kind of hard to get confused by it...

jtsuited

milltown wrote: »

Lately I've been busily tracking down digital copies of my old record collection and reminded of the whole mix/remix issue that used to annoy me back when I was buying records. Lately I think of the name of a track, find it, download it, listen to it, then think "that sounds nothing like what I was looking for!".

In my buying days I'd pick up a bunch of records in Abbey Discs and bring them home for a spin only to be back in a few days later to return one or two.

Do the producers of the original work never raise an eyebrow when they ask someone to do a mix, then get back what is basically a completely, and I mean completely, different track? Like the remixer just had one of his own tracks lying around and sent it back regardless.

Is this still the case? I sold my decks a good ten years ago so my finger is pretty far from the pulse of modern dance music.

funnily enough I got a remix back yesterday that sounds nothing like the original. But I friggin love it, so it's definitely going out on the release!

I see what you're saying though. I think it's just important to always remember tracks as either 'original mix' or 'whatever remix'. saves confusion in the long run.

milltown

Obviously knowing exactly what you're after is the way to go but not always easy if you just heard it on the radio or as part of a set.

Anyway, the bulk of my post was just anecdotal, this was the bit I thought might merit discussion:

milltown wrote: »

Do the producers of the original work never raise an eyebrow when they ask someone to do a mix, then get back what is basically a completely, and I mean completely, different track? Like the remixer just had one of his own tracks lying around and sent it back regardless.

seannash

milltown wrote: »

Obviously knowing exactly what you're after is the way to go but not always easy if you just heard it on the radio or as part of a set.

Anyway, the bulk of my post was just anecdotal, this was the bit I thought might merit discussion:

its not really down to the producer,its down to the label.ive done remixes that havent sounded remotely like the original,but thats the point right.i always use at least 1 element(vocal,bassline or whatever)
sometimes the song your asked to remix isnt that good and rather than just rehash and rearrange some already bad material i make a totally different track so i can disatnce my remix from the original but still have 1 or 2 elements of the original in there