This article is not to miss. A complete answer to remixing, including techniques and proper sample acquisition. Only on InternetDJ.
Remixes are today such an essential part of promoting a single that you can tell if something is a hit just by looking at the names in the brackets like Morales, Basoski, Calderone, Negro, Tiesto, Maas, Hybrid.... And there is nothing more artistically challenging than using something that already is a hit and turning it into something even better. There are, of course, issues with bootleg remixes that are actually dubs of the original version, but I will get to that a bit later. The point of it all is that both the author and the remixer benefit from the remix: the author still has the copyright and all that goes with it and gets more airplay (even if the original is long forgotten, or did not do well upon its first release), and the remixer gets to reap some of the benefits of having a hit without the hassle of doing everything from scratch. This is important because many aspiring artists do not bother to ask for permission to do a remix, but simply cut up the track, do a new layer of drums or a new bass line over the original and slap on the words "so-and-so’s remix", thus negating the fore mentioned concept of a remix being a mutual thing. Moreover, this bootlegged version of the song can only be called a dub (if anything), but certainly not a remix. There is some dispute over whether bootlegged "remixes" are a free way of promoting your published song, with the idea being that the people who, for instance, download the bootleg "remix", will be so kind as to buy the original, but that seems as utopian as thinking the "remixer" will not sample your original and publish it as his or her own work. Doing a good remix basically comes down to getting the samples from the author (the legitimate way), keeping the focal points of the original and adding your own flavour to it. Everything else is up to the remixer and his or her artistic and technical ability to produce a good track. Here are some details on what to do and how to do it: Step 1: getting the samples of the original from the author Most producers today keep their original samples. You will need to contact the author of the song you want to remix and ask for the samples along with a written permission to do the remix. This is the most boring and stressful part of the process but the legally most important. A label that holds the copyright or a person holding the copyright will then choose whether to give you the samples or not. The problem is that most people want to go for the big ones, but the big ones want the bigger ones to do the remix, and there we go back to mutual interest. Luckily, today many aspiring labels need remixes of their artists' work for promotion (remember the brackets I mentioned before) so they offer downloadable samplepacks for people to remix. There is a disclaimer on the page (traditionally long and boring as legal disclaimers tend to be) about them holding the copyright and you getting the promotion you want only through them (which is fine, since otherwise, they would be contacting you as the bigger one). After downloading the samplepack (generally in .zip or .mp3 format), you will need to convert the file in order to be able to use it (most commonly into a .wav format). If the samplepack is already in the desired format you can go right on to Step 2. Now that the boring legal part is over and you have the samples, you can get down to business. Step 2: keeping the focal points of the original A good remix has all the good things the original does, and more. But it is as important to know what the good features of the original are, as it is to put your own samples in. This means that you will need to listen to the original at least a dozen times in order to hear (or feel) where the focal points are: it could be the vocal highpoints, the bass line, the melody, the instruments used, the chords, the filtering...Just be careful not to keep all of those things, because you will be left with an overproduction of the original. One thing that helps wi…