Re-mixing a song is so much fun! You must have heard of a remix, or a re-arranged song, such as a 70s ballad that was rearranged to bring out a new feel. Changing parts of the song, harmonizing the melody, adding additional elements, and other aspects of the remixing process can make a remixed song have a different style (genre), nuance, and even emotional meaning. A remix sounds like a magical magic that can only be done in a music studio, but actually you can do it yourself. By learning the basics of using a sound editing app like Audacity, you can remix any song you want.
Step
Step 1. Use a good sound editing app
Most of the remixing process is done in a sound editing application. You can input your music tracks into your digital audio workstation (known by the acronym DAW) application that you have. The tracks include music beat tracks (e.g. drum accompaniment), instrument tracks, vocal tracks, sound effects, and more. Some applications have features where you can perform more complex processes such as equalizing the tempo of the music or adjusting the basic notes of the music. In general, almost all sound editing applications have features such as slicing or cutting a part of the music, transposing or raising/decreasing the base note, reversing or reversing the flow of music, and timestretching (the process of speeding up or slowing down the music without changing the basic pitch of the music).
- If you have limited funds, you can use the Audacity app. The application can be downloaded for free and can run on all major operating systems (such as Windows and MacOS). Try to learn the application because by studying it, you can create edits that are no less great than the edits made in superior sound editing applications.
- If you have sufficient funds, Ableton can be a good choice of paid application. Sold for around 500 dollars (or about 5 million rupiah), Ableton is an application intended for live performances. Of course you can prepare your remixes at home, but you can also remix them live on stage if you prefer.
Step 2. Choose the song you want to remix
Remixing is a form of derivative art. This means that the work is based on (at least) one other work. Music selection is the most important part of the remixing process. There are several things you need to consider in choosing a song for you to remix:
- Choose a song that has a hook (the part of the song that catches the eye and is easy for listeners to remember), a melody, refrain, or other musical element that you find interesting. The remixing process usually involves repeating parts of a song in succession. Therefore, choose a song that you not only like, but also don't sound boring quickly.
- For example, hooks can be words, such as the lyrics to "Bam Rattattata" in 2NE1's I Am The Best, or sounds, such as the melodic whistle in Maroon 5's Moves Like Jagger.
- Usually, the track that you will use is the end result of the mixing process (combining all musical elements and adjusting the sound balance for each track) and obtained directly from the CD of the song. This means that musical elements such as beats track, instrument track, and vocal track have been merged into one stereo track and cannot be separated into separate tracks. It will be easier for you if you can get the tracks separately from the recording artist directly, especially for vocal tracks. This can make your remix sound more “clean” because the tracks (such as vocal tracks) that you include don't mix with the tracks of other elements.
- While nothing is as good and clean as separate original music tracks, you can still have separate tracks (especially for vocal tracks) using the features found in the Audacity and Ableton apps. With this feature, you can remove vocal parts from a song (usually this feature is used to create karaoke background music), or remove all parts except vocal parts. Although it is a bit difficult and not 100% effective, with this feature you can turn down the volume of other tracks so that it looks as if there are only vocal tracks. You can also use a noise removal plugin in your sound editing application. These plugins are useful for separating the loud or vocal frequencies from the melodic frequencies of the music you want to keep.
Step 3. Add your own custom sound elements
These elements mark your contribution to the remix you create. The sound elements or accompaniment tracks you include can change the mood of the song, or make the song sound chaotic.
Step 4. Remember to always pay attention to copyright laws if you plan to sell or display your remixes live on stage
Using someone else's work without their permission can land you in a legal case.
Think about the part of the song that you like the most. Think about what elements to keep and what elements to change. If necessary, listen to the song a few more times to help you get a final idea of the remix you want to make
Step 5. Separate the musical elements you want from the song
For example, if you want to have only the vocal elements of a song, then you must separate the vocal elements of the song you are using by reducing or eliminating other elements through the sound frequency setting (equalizer settings). As a result, you will have a separate vocal track. To make work easier (and also to produce separate, "clean" tracks), don't just eliminate the frequencies of the melodic elements (such as piano accompaniment), but also the frequencies of the rhythmic elements (such as drum sounds or percussion).
- You can perform the split process in a sound editing application such as Ableton or Audacity. The application also makes it easy when you want to cut a part of a song for you to make a loop (a melody pattern or part of a song that is repeated).
- The loop cutting process is fairly easy. First, listen to the song you're using and decide which part of the song you want to loop. Then, use a sound editing application to select and trim the part you want to redo into separate parts (also known as the trimming process) and make sure the selected one is trimmed properly. To test the loop, you just need to loop through the selected section. If the section doesn't sound right when played over and over (for example, when you reach the end of a section and return to the beginning of the section there are truncated lyrics or significant pauses), the section may be too long or too short.
- If you can play while making adjustments to the end point of the loop at the same time in the application you are using, start playing the loop from the beginning and adjust the starting point of the loop first. Make sure that the loop starts exactly where you want it to start. When you're done with starting point adjustments, check the end points of the loop and make changes to the loop length until, when played over and over, the loop sounds just right, natural, and-most importantly-in tune with the tempo.
- Watch for loops that have echo elements at their endpoints or cymbal sound elements. The echoing elements and cymbal sound usually don't stop at the end of the loop, resulting in a longer loop duration. But if you can manipulate it in such a way, cutting out echoing elements like that can actually produce an interesting effect.
- By ensuring that the loops you create are cut precisely and according to the tempo, the tempo correction for your entire song will be more accurate. This is especially important if you are using Sonar and Acid applications which use the same tempo improvement method.
- You can make tempo corrections and timing adjustments by redefining the tempo of the loop which, normally, is automatically detected by sound editing applications. The tempo you enter must be in BPM or beats per minute (beats per minute). In addition, you can also insert beat markers or beat markers in the loop inspection window to mark the fall of beats in the loop. Both methods are similar to the process of cutting and looping, but do not necessarily change the original song.
- You can also make some modifications to your loop. If you are using a song that has gone through the final mixing process but want to bring out certain vocal elements or instrument elements in your loop, use the equalizer settings to bring out those elements. By raising or lowering a few frequencies, you can bring out the elements of the music you want.
- It's important to remember that there's no way you can actually separate the instrument elements or vocal elements from a final-mixed song because the tracks of the separate elements have been combined into a single stereo track. However, you can still highlight certain musical elements from others. For example, if you want to highlight vocal elements, use the equalizer setting and lower the lower frequencies slider (located on the far left). These frequencies are the frequencies for the drum and bass accompaniment elements. By lowering the low frequencies, the vocal elements in the loop will sound more prominent and not be obscured by the accompaniment elements of the drums and bass. In general, to produce a louder sound, increase the frequency slider 3-5khz (treble frequency). On the other hand, for a heavier sound, with a more dominant bass element, increase the lower frequencies slider.
Step 6. Start experimenting
Try out all the sound effects available in your sound editing application or digital audio workstation to see what it would look like if they were applied to your song. There are many effects that you can choose from, such as delay (repeating sound at a certain time interval), phaser, chorus (simulation of choir or orchestra sound), flanger, sound filters and other types of equalizers, reverb (simulation of room echo effects).), amplitude modulation, ring modulation (derivative of amplitude modulation), frequency modulation, time stretching (the process of accelerating or slowing down a song without changing the basic tone), changing or improving the basic tone, vocoder, and others. By trying out these effects, you can determine what effects you like and want to apply to your musical elements. In addition, it can also help train your ear sensitivity. Keep in mind that a simple piece will sound better than one that has too many effects or modifications. Therefore, use effects that are simple, but still sound interesting.
Step 7. Rearrange the parts of your music
But before you rearrange the parts, first set the tempo for the whole music (in BPM units) and the music beat (popular music usually has a 4/4 beat, but some have a 3/4 beat) in the app sound editor. Then, enter the loop track you have created. Make timing adjustments to the loop track and after that, you can adjust the tempo of the loop track to match the overall tempo of the music. Although there may be a decrease in the sound quality of the loop track when the tempo of the loop track is readjusted, the decrease in quality is not significant. Once all the adjustments have been made, you are now ready to reorder your pieces of music.
When you're rearranging parts of your song, an easy (and also safe) way to rearrange the parts is to follow the original composition of the song. Usually the song parts are arranged as follows: intro, first stanza, refrain, second stanza, bridge (short stanza) and final refrain. However, you can also change the original layout and create your own. You can incorporate vocals from the verse into the chorus, so that the verse of the song seems to be setting the chorus. You can also select parts of the verse and take only the vocal elements for you to make separate vocal tracks. After that, you overwrite the vocal tracks you've separated into the same verse, but apply a reverse effect to the separate vocal tracks to create a unique effect. Also, try re-harmonizing vocal tracks or lyrics that stand out by adding different elements. Experiment with your work and enjoy the process
Step 8. Save your remix
This step is also known as the mastering step. If you have finished working on your remix and are quite satisfied with it, you can save the work. Save it in WAV or AIFF format and don't convert it into MP3 format just yet. Once you've saved it to WAV or AIFF format, open your work in a sound editor and normalize the volume. In the sound editor application interface, you will see a sound wave representation of your music, with different heights of wave crests. Through the normalization process of 99%, you will notice an increase in the peak height of your music sound waves. This means that all parts of the sound wave are amplified evenly so that your music can reach its maximum volume. In addition, you can also increase the volume of your remix by adding a compressor effect before performing the volume normalization process.
Step 9. It is recommended to re-master your remix
This step is actually optional. In this step, you'll apply effects to accentuate certain elements of your remix (for example, bringing out the entire bass element or making the sound sound louder by adjusting the treble). You need to know that a good mastering process can make the quality of the work you create as good as the quality of the work produced in a recording studio.
Step 10. Release your remix
Use your existing MP3 converter application to convert your work to MP3 format, then distribute your work.
Tips
- In the world of popular music, remix works are usually functional and more than just a form of expression for their composers, where composers rearrange pop or rock music into EDM (electronic dance music) genre music so that it can be played in nightclubs or discotheques.. But the most important thing is that a remix must have a unique element or touch from the composer, regardless of the genre of the work (such as dub reggae, hip-hop, house, or others). Music composers must retain the essential elements of the original song, but also add elements that characterize them.
- If you're using the Ableton Live app, there are plenty of sound samples that you can immediately use as loops, so you don't have to go through the hassle of creating loops for yourself to use. Ableton is the most flexible loop creation app on the market. You can perform granular-based pitch and time correction, freely define the starting point of song playback and adjust the loop duration, and get a simple graphical interface for the timing improvement process.
- When converting formats, pay attention to the quality of your remix work. Usually, in the conversion process the selected quality level is 128 kbit/s (kilo bits per second), but this level of quality can still result in some flaws that you can hear while your work is playing. The minimum recommended quality level is 192 kbit/s, but if you want the best quality, convert your remix to a lossless format such as FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec).
- Make sure you select a time fixing mode or method that is appropriate for the type of sample used if you are using the Ableton Live application. For drum samples, you can use beat mode as a timed correction mode, but this mode is not suitable for vocal samples. Texture mode can be used for all types of samples, but often this mode slightly affects the basic tone of the sample used. As the safest option, you can use a tone mode that is suitable for all types of samples without affecting the basic tone of the sample.
