PHOTO : PETER SAVIC
DIGITAL MUSIC Lonely Kid is an up-and-coming dance music producer and DJ from Charlottetown , PE . His music can be
defined as high-energy and pop-influenced . Lonely Kid is preparing to release his next EP on Oct . 1 st , 2016 , featuring various artists from around all of Atlantic Canada . Connect with Lonely Kid at :
Facebook . com / lonelykidmusic , Soundcloud . com / lonelykid , Instagram . com / lonely . kid
By Lonely Kid
The Art of the Remix
What Is It ?
In today ’ s digital music world ,“ remix ” has become a bit of a tough word to avoid . We see the word everywhere , with songs such as Mike Posner ’ s “ I Took a Pill in Ibiza ( SEEB Remix )” peaking at number one on Billboard ’ s Mainstream Top 40 charts and famous stars from Selena Gomez to Linkin Park releasing entire remix albums !
In its essence , a song can be considered a remix if it is altered from its original state . In turn , a remix could mean anything from a small portion of the mix of a song being modified to the only thing remaining of the original song being simply the vocals . ( For examples of the latter , search for virtually any EDM remix .)
Remixing a Song Recently , my friend KINLEY and I released a music video for my dance remix of her song “ Blackbird ,” which we dubbed “ Blackbird 2.0 .”
KINLEY , the cool old soul she is , kindly approached me with the original song , asking me to remix it . She ’ d heard another remix I ’ d done and thought something in a similar vein may be cool . After my first listen to the original , I knew there was something I could work with but also knew it was going to be challenging given its calm nature and my affinity for high-energy music . I obliged nonetheless .
KINLEY had her producer send me the individual elements of the song ( thanks Colin !) and I got to work . My process for starting a remix is always similar – listen to the original mix once or twice to pick out the elements I want to work with and then avoid the original like the plague until the remix is done . Avoiding the original song is essential to me as it helps me avoid the risk of losing how I hear the concept of the remix in my head . It also helps avoid the creative ’ s kryptonite : self-doubt .
In this case , I knew the things I wanted to work with were the vocals and possibly a small guitar part . So I turned on my computer and added them into my blank project on FL Studio , my production software of choice .
I knew the intention of the song was to make it a big high-energy dance remix . I tried on three occasions to come up with ideas to make this my biggest , most energetic song to date . The result of these attempts ? Nothing short of tacky , basic dance music that I had no ambition to finish . I was nervous . Was this writer ’ s block ? Did I lose my edge ? Am I going to disappoint KINLEY ?
I went back to the drawing board knowing a few things : high energy wasn ’ t working , I was going to have to do something a bit calmer to match the original , and of course , the most bitter pill for me to swallow : the fact I ’ m not good at calm music .
I slowed the tempo down , something synonymous with more chilled out songs , and a melody immediately came to me . It was a bit of a “ eureka !” moment after the previous attempts . This became the hook .
I also wanted it more natural feeling , so I loaded up a set of virtual strings . Perfect . I quickly put a bass line and simple drum beat beneath it to make sure it all made sense .
From here , I worked outwards . I wrote some chords on the piano that I felt may work for the verse and added various ambient sounds such as reversed vocal reverbs and some pitched-down chops of the vocals . I then filled out the percussion sections and completed the arrangement .
At this point I could ’ ve called it quits , mastered the song , and sent it off , but I felt it was still missing something : guitars . I went to my family ’ s home , grabbed and strung my old electric guitar that I hadn ’ t touched since my teen-angst-emo-band-frontman days of seven years prior and got down to recording .
There it was – the song written in its entirety . I was pleased . Next came the stage that many bedroom producers fear and loathe : the final mix-down . This is where you go back
through your song and make sure all the levels , EQ , compression , etc . are all proper and polished . This wasn ’ t easy , and I knew it wasn ’ t going to be easy going into it . The vocals I ’ d been given had already been processed to fit the tone of the original song and didn ’ t exactly fit in mine – a common issue with remixing another work . I wrestled with these vocals . Trust me , I wrestled .
At last , I was at the final stage of the remix , meaning mastering . Mastering , to keep it short , is when you take the final mix of a song and prepare it for distribution by affecting the overall sound of the final mix . The intention is to make the song sound nice when played on a broad variety of speaker systems . For me , given that I do not have a proper sound-treated studio , this meant making a master using my headphones as reference then testing it on every set of speakers at my disposal – TV surround sound , car speakers , my cell phone ’ s speaker , you name it .
Now I could safely say it was done , so I sent it off .
This song was in fact the most challenging remix I had done . It had affected me on a profound level . It made me question my life choices on several occasions as I sat in front of my computer pulling my hair out and gnawing my teeth .
The music video came out on Aug . 1 st , 2016 and can be seen by searching “ KINLEY and Lonely Kid – Blackbird 2.0 .” I hope you enjoy the track and this insight into remixing a song .
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