Feedback on my Remix?

[RyanMW]

Hey guys,

I made this remix of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep." I'm only about halfway through so it's a work in progress. I haven't done any automation yet so it's all center mass..and the mixing is a bit of a rush job, so my apologies. I'd really love whatever constructive criticism you could offer. it doesn't quite "Pop" the way I want it to....



http://soundcloud.com/redtrex

[rainstick]

I'm only about halfway through so it's a work in progress. I haven't done any automation yet so it's all center mass..and the mixing is a bit of a rush job, so my apologies

i find with writing music its always the little things, all the thing's that you think ' ill come back and do that in a sec, ill just listen to this section through ' that actually comprise the track.... I generally find that thing's should be done as soon as there thought (you always have back ups, right, ? ) and tracks are finished quicker and to a higher standard as a result...

So no critique on the track - just sounds like it needs finishing!

[RyanMW]

So you're saying that your best results come when you just stick with a track and finish it asap? I'm new to this and I'm VERY prone to laziness and procrastination in most of my work, so it seems to be bleeding over here haha

[rainstick]

pretty much - you have to work out the best way you personally work, but it's my opinion that that's the best way by far...

Just do everything that you think of, don't be 'scared' to print thing's to audio for fear of wanting to change the sound later, just dive into everything... You'll definitely make mistakes but you'll also surprise yourself with how often thing's actually work out, or thing's you didn't think of come as a result of you just following thing's through, you need to put yourself in a position for that to happen though.

so basically yeh - just finish stuff ! half of it is just learning to finish...

[RyanMW]

thanks man

[tristancalvaire]

I don't know where you intend to go with this, but to me at the moment, it sounds a lot more like an entirely new track that simply sampled Rolling in the Deep, than a remix ^^;

For example, compare:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmexOmLyuVU – An original song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzunjg9RuKQ – A completely different song, that samples the first's vocals, but otherwise stands on its own.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s4n76ti3Xs – A remix of the previous track, as it heavily references it and is recognizable as such.

[rainstick]

theres no rules on what a remix needs to sound like, can sample as much or as little as you like, as long as theres a distinguishable element of the original in it it's a remix i think

[tristancalvaire]

Would you say that Daft Punk's "One More Time" is a remix of Eddie Johns "More Spell On You"?

They sound almost entirely different–
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53p7ogqJqqs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6RTF4OPzf8

Yet the Daft Punk song samples the Eddie Johns song.

Generally, when I think of the term remix, I simply think of a song that sounds close to the original and has very similar passages– usually the entire vocal riff– and is simply a different stylistic take on the song. It's almost a cover of sorts, except using some of the original recorded material.

What the OP seems to be doing is creating an original song entirely- unless what's posted so far is simply a build-up for the rest of the vocals later in the song. I definitely enjoy it; I'm simply curious what direction the OP is intending to take it.

[rainstick]

yeh, if they wanted to say it was a remix then it's a remix, if they want to say it's something else then it's something else... I certainly think it (and the thousands of other tracks that sample) are welcome to call themselves original tracks (although the composition contains samples)

i could make a whole track and use a bit of a vocal and call it a remix... and it'd be a remix.

off course everyone's welcome to their opinion, but there's no ' that's not a remix it doesn't sound enough like the original ' , at least not objectively.

[tristancalvaire]

yeh, if they wanted to say it was a remix then it's a remix, if they want to say it's something else then it's something else... I certainly think it (and the thousands of other tracks that sample) are welcome to call themselves original tracks (although the composition contains samples)

i could make a whole track and use a bit of a vocal and call it a remix... and it'd be a remix.

off course everyone's welcome to their opinion, but there's no ' that's not a remix it doesn't sound enough like the original ' , at least not objectively.

By that Logic (ba dum tish), one could say Madonna is a country singer, David Guetta a Baroque-esque composer and Nicki Minaj a power ballad singer.

Genres and labels exist for a reason- to make different stylings of music easy to acquire. It's always good to break genre rules, and they'll always be evolving. Furthermore, only listening to one genre of music (and conversely, not listening to only one genre of music) is a bad idea, as there are plenty of great musical pieces under the entire realm of genres.

However, they're a necessity in that it makes it a lot easier for the music consumer to find what their particularly in the mood for at a time– somebody preparing a set for a dance floor won't need to wade through hours of classical music to find what they need, and somebody in the mood for some aggressive metal won't find themselves listening to Adele.

I'm all for giving the artist freedom, but if Lady Antebellum starts calling what she does Hip-hop, I'm not going to believe it. The whole point of labels and words for them is to define something as being within a set of rules or sharing similar characteristics to it.

Anyways, getting back to my original point– I was simply curious if the original poster intended to include a more remix like feel later on (including the full vocals for people to sing along, etc.) or if they merely intended to continue with this pretty awesome glitchy style throughout.

[rainstick]

of course your welcome to call anything you like, there your word's and your interpretations of them... Whether the majority agree with you or not is another thing, and whether or not the majority decision is correct and to be adhered to is again another thing...

However, there are numerous remixs that have been released containing only a short recognizable element from the original track... And they are still remix's, been approved by labels / artists etc etc...

so based on that - all it needs to be a remix is a recognizable element from the original..... sometimes it doesn't even have that, and it's still a remix.

[RyanMW]

Man, a semantics argument broke out .

I only called it a remix because I didn't know what other nomenclature to go with. Everything aside from her vocal is brand new and original. I really REALLY hate the original song. I started doing this as a project where i would take songs I hated and constantly complained to everyone about, like this song and just about anything by Drake and try to build a new song around it that I liked. I figured it would help with my general musical negativity as well as serving to help me learn logic.

I plan to put the chorus vocals in there after the part where it ends, but beyond that, i'll probably just go back to the stutter and another verse/chorus before i end it. I'm not a big fan of her vocal styling and she's actually pretty pitchy on the original recording.

I really appreciate the responses even if they were about the teminology . I'm really new to this and it's a lot like walking through the dark woods.

[rainstick]

i wouldn't worry about it... personally i think adele and drake are immense! each to their own...

all i would say (like before) is finish... it can be hard to present a finished product to people, you might find whenever you play your material to other's it's with the prefix ' still got to mix it ' ' needs a bit here and there ' etc etc.... of course you'll have friends who you show stuff every now and then, but you have to learn to finish!

[RyanMW]

You're totally right, rainstick. I initially mixed it down for a friend of mine (a girl of course ) who kept bothering me to hear it. Then I decided to post it here to see if more experienced music producers could tell me if i was on the right path or not. Really though, like you said, having it unfinished allows me to make excuses and kind of deflect the criticism in the vein of like "oh yeah, i'm not quite finished anyway, so your critique is invalid", just like what you said. Thanks for the advice. Saying "just finish" is so simple but so important. I'll get back to the grindstone and hopefully i'll be posting a full 4:30-5ish minutes here in a month or so