Why Don't Remixers - - -

matt collins said:
Yep, moreso than you probably realise, FFS don't insult my intelligence, you are but a pup. DJ for 20 years and then we'll talk. (By that point of course I'll have been doing it for 31 and will still bat you away.)

The point of leaving out a part of a song is that you don't like it or it doesn't work or maybe they just don't want to use it. There are also sampling issues maybe they have to pay through the nose to use the bit that is so obvious. Maybe they just want to REmix it. In which case there is no reason to use the elements of the original

If you dont give examples the discussion is pointless.

Matthew B's Billie Jean remix for example doesn't play the best bit of the song till the final 2 minutes. But it's all about the build and getting there IF the dj so wishes to let the crowd have that bit.
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Until the last 2 minutes, but it still gets there. Don't underestimate me just because you've been Djing for long enough to rock the bingo halls.

Ok, have you heard that remix of sweet child of mine? It plays the melody as a build up, then when the beat comes back in, it kinda of like, echoes it out. Thats an example I'm reffering to. The melody has been used so obviously theres no royalty issues, and even if it teased us for the first two build ups, that'd still be cool, but I think to hear that riff, over that dance beat, with everything, the kicks, hats, snares, bass etc would have been REALLY good. Because this particular remix never does that, it never reaches what it could be, its kind of a let down.

Now, I've only found thats been happening more recently than before as House/Electro kinda moves into its newer, modern groove. .. Theeeee (Sorry to sound cliche.) but the vibe of club music as it is now is so different to how it was, and it might sound really stupid, but if the music is a let down to the audience, then the whole, industry follows.
Imagine it gets to a stage where people don't know what it sounds like to hear a really good, empowering remix.

Thats why I say its a bit like an artist who paints a bad picture but craps on about the importance of it being bad. It still doesn't make it a good picture. If everyone then starts to follow suit, the standard drops and the next people to come into it are faced with lesser standards and don't know how good it COULD be.
 
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matt collins said:
Right then so you have no interest in actually remixing then... ????

In which case shut the **** up about how people do it. Seriously I'm all for people having opinions but unless you actually try to do something about it I suggest a healthy course of silence.
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So we can't criticise remixing unless we've tried it?

In fairness to NA, I think in essence he's bang on.

Or, patronisations aside, I used to.

Now I find it interesting that some "moron" (joking...i.e. someone with not my exact precise music taste ;) ) decided to take x emelent of a song and not y. And sometimes it can grow on me.

When I was younger (if we're talking about straight up house remixes of non house songs, not house tunes done in the style of another artist etc) by and large all I wanted was pretty much a drum loop behind the original (see Billie Bushwacka). But then as you get older tastes develop and you prefer things a touch subtler, and, say, any techno heads in the house know of the Infusion mix of Running Up That Hill (yes, KB ;) ) can appreciate what I think is an ace remix.

The obvious stuff (Todd Terje's Chic remix) still wins too but you just appreciate there's more to life.

Going back to the original point, and possibly the best example of a tune that's had far too many 'house' remixes/re-edits 95% of which call for the development of an English Gestapo party, and that's Rock The Casbah.

There's about 4 or 5 elements of that track that each dancefloor enthusiast will say they want highlighted in a potential house remix (and I've got versions that cover them all, believe me:oops::lol:), and I suppose that's what it's all about. Variety being the spice of life.
 
NakedAge said:
Ok, have you heard that remix of sweet child of mine? It plays the melody as a build up, then when the beat comes back in, it kinda of like, echoes it out. Thats an example I'm reffering to.
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Julian the angel - Sweet child of mine (dario nunez remix) ????

Dude that **** is sweet, the reason it drops out is to make the guitar all the sweeter. That drum track is absolutely spot on as well so it doesn't need the guitar and it would never work if the guitar ran all the way through it. So that's the reason

Maybe you could have a trawl through for a track called Guns and Pianos that used the guitar lick a bit more.

EDIT: Don't forget that the particular lick was actually hardly used in the actual song at all in the first place, only the intro and the chorus.
 
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ok, wasn't going to be arsed on this, but might as well start taking this thread seriously now, seeing as Matt and Dan have made some interesting points. Leaving aside old-fashioned straight up house remixes for a minute - a lot of the music which is really getting my beard fluffy at the moment is music which isn't house, techno or disco or balearic but something in between

there's a very good monthly night on at the star of bethnal green called esp and they showcase all sorts of interesting music loosely based on lesser-known dance records from the 70s and early 80s, which sounds totally ahead of its time, and which is now being reinvented for a new era. Some of my fave remixes/re-edits of the last couple of years or so have been very much more on that kind of disco/balearic tip - stuff like the beyond the wizards sleeve remixes of midlake, findlay brown, chemical brothers, tracy thorn or leo elstob's edits - see djh mixes forum to get an idea

good piece on the History Clock bods who throw those parties here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/jul/07/history-clock-strikes-gold

Having said that, there is still a hell of upfront house which does still excite me (eg reggie dokes, motorcity drum ensemble, afefe iku) and very occasionally old-fashioned house like the knuckles mix of Blind still reminds me of why we fell in love with it all in the first place - and radioslave & the rekids crew, the Germans at innervisions and diynamic of course too.

Straying slightly there from the main discussion about remixing (still not entirely sure what the original poster was trying to say) - but yeah I think the purpose should always be to stamp your identity on a record without sacrificing too much of the original track. I remember tin tin out bizarrely remixed mark morrison's crazy in 1996 into a bit of a camp big room banger and the only element from the original rnb record to survive was him bellowing out CRAZY! which kinda defeats the point.

where remixes become really pointless is where they are simply commissioned as filler for b-sides - still shudder thinking about those nasty dancing divaz versions of old commercial dance tunes, I used to wade through - utter cannon fodder... :rolleyes:

then there were remixers who ensured every track sounded exactly the same - step forward HARDFLOOR who i loved for acperience and their robert armani remix but who managed to butcher mory kante, mary kiani and new order with identikit reworkings! :lol:

the ultimate king of the remix used to be weatherall in my youth but for some time now and by some distance - I would say it is carl craig. to give an example - just listen to what he did to angola by cesaria evora - that is a MASTER at work (no pun) and an education in reinterpeting music for the head and feet
 
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NakedAge said:
whats an anorak?
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it denotes someone with geek-esque tendencies, usually male, and with borderline OCD - the original uniform of choice for train/plane-spotters.. read/watch nick hornby high fidelity and you'll soon understand
 
of course, when girls talk about hair products, handbags or shoes with similar obsessive zeal, that isn't remotely geeky ;)
 
NakedAge said:
.. What about when blokes talk about **** like Dj stuff? Or cars? Or womens bits? Or tools and building ****?
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when it stretches to 88954564 pages of going round and round and round in the same circle where no one is going to agree then I reserve the right to call anyone an anorak... :lol::lol:

the amount of time you all spent arguing about it - NA could have gone off and practiced and produced a couple of decent remix tracks :lol::lol: ;)
 
I actually did. :) You think I'm stupid? :p My computers next to my dj ****, thus, I kinda do 3 things at once. Mix, forum whore, track list, msn, face book etc etc all at once.

I'm multi talented ya know ;)
 
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