"Remix" defined?

Posted by: DrMark on 24 June 2012

I am sure I will get at least some passionate rebuttals to what I am about to say, but I am interested in the responses both pro & con, and this is just my opinion, so that is all it is.

It seems to me that the word "remix" can be defined as "we're going to take a tune and overdub it with a computer and just f*ck it up about as much as we possibly can. You may find it find it easier to dance to, but it will now be otherwise un-listenable."

What say ye?

Posted on: 25 June 2012 by Mike Hughes

I hear few remixes that involve any overdubbing whatsoever. The nature of a remix is that it takes the original tracks and does something with them. I also don't see that it's anything intrinsic to a computer as much remixing is analogue. That said, I simply do not buy anything with the word remix in it. Few are inventive or original or even interesting.

Posted on: 25 June 2012 by Steve2701

Kraftwerk - The Mix.

Yello - Touch - special edition with 6 extra tracks.

They may change your opinion.

Posted on: 25 June 2012 by JamieL_v2

This is possibly my favourite remix, and quite different from the 'take a riff, loop it and throw on a drum computer' model.

Bill Lazwell (producer & bassist) took the extended jams from Miles Davis' electric studio sessions, and edited them down, added a few sounds to link, and made an very good album indeed. Some of Davis' 70s music can meander, and this makes it much more concise and accessible.

I really reccomend this album for Miles fans.

I do like a few dance artists, and some have done good remixes, Underworld took the beat away from Depeche Mode's 'Barrel of a Gun' and made this lovely mix. Perhaps the opposite of what many think of as a remix.

Some bands have also released some good aternate mixes of thier own music, notably Kraftwerk which Steve mentions above.

I do agree that many remixes are just dross, but then that could be said of a lot of music anyway, but a lot of the time, it seems an easy way to make an sell music without adding anything of value it seems, but there are a few gems in there, not a genre to completely dismiss.

Posted on: 25 June 2012 by Guido Fawkes

A remix live the one of Zappa's We're Only In It For The Money seems worth the while to me and enjoyable; Steve Wilson's work on Caravan albums likewise. The DP remix of their classic Machine Head again is excellent.

However, I've zero interest in dance, techno or hip-hop remixes, but that was to be expected as it is not my kind of music.

Posted on: 25 June 2012 by Mike Hughes

I have and really like The Mix by Kraftwerk but the point stands. There's nothing much new in there and I find it drives me back to their original albums which I then prefer. There are always good remixes but I suspect the proportion is much lower than good to bad music etc.

Posted on: 26 June 2012 by JamieL_v2

I wonder where people would draw the line between remix and remaster? It is only words, semantics I know.

I would have thought that what Steven Wilson has done is more of a remaster, tidying the sound, but not adding new instruments, or fundamentally changing the songs. I like the recent Pearl Jam anniversary editions for that, they make the albums sound sharper, and with a more rock production.

Mike, interesting what you say about Kraftwerk 'The Mix', for most of the tracks I like those versions, mostly because with drum computers they swing the beat, where as the originals were much more straight. I also like the 'umph' of the modern synths. I like the recent live album for the same reasons.

The original albums do stand as albums in their own right, and the sounds often bring more emotion, so depending on my mood I chose between them for energy or emotion, or even nostalgia.

One band who I really hate how they mess with old versions of their tracks is Tangerine Dream, I have a couple of albums, where Froese has overdubbed modern synths on to the original recording, and it is simply unnecessary and annoying.

Posted on: 26 June 2012 by Mike Hughes

I think the distinction is anything but semantics. A remix takes the original stuff through the desk and it's a case of anything goes. A remaster occurs in preparation for transfer to disk and has other specific considerations around level adjustment etc. The distinction is undoubtedly being blurred bit it is still there.