Remixing, where do I start?

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WhatsUpBro

New member
So ive been listening to remixes lately and have wanted to try doing my own. But i have no clue where to start and havent been able to find any solid information. One remix i really like is Martin Garrix "I cant feel my face" and i noticed how he completely swapped out the melody and chords and used his own, is this common? Also where do I find good quality vocals, i know i would need an acapella but where do i find good quality acapellas? Will i need to pay? Any videos, information, personal tricks you learned over the years would be greatly appreciated :)
Thanks and Cheers !!
 
Yes it's common. Remixing gives you the opportunity to take your favourite song and do it your way - wether it's just a better version in your mind or a completely different track with just some stems from the original.

The proper way to get the stems, acapellas etc, is to contact the artist's management - and hope for the best. You can also enter remix competitions if you want to access some material, check out Indaba.com.
There are other ways to get the material, buuut they're probably not perfectly legal (I won't point out what other ways as then I'll receive a warning from the mods in my inbox about promoting illegal activities), and they're not as good to use anyway - probably poor quality and with unwanted FX on them.
You could however remix an instrumental song, then you may not need anything more than laying down the same melody and such. You may still run into copyright issues though if you upload it on Soundcloud and/or YouTube.
 
^This. You can also search soundcloud for a track you would like to remix, and ask the artist directly for stems or individual tracks. There are tons of people on soundcloud that are potentially interested in collaborations, so don't be shy.

Like mentioned above, you really have total creative freedom with a remix. You can go from just giving a song sort of a facelift, making it more suitable for clubs or radio, to totally changing it's tempo, genre and structure. I like to keep the main melodic elements and build something around that.
 
A common PR move by up and coming (and established) bands is to have remix competitions to promote their new songs - I've seen a few bands with an established fan base release their stems to the public, they generate interest in their own work and allow a platform for budding producers also, so that could be a good idea to try? Just google 'remix competition' :)
 
You can typically google search to find acapella tracks to popular songs.
There are free online communities (Indaba, for example) that offer up remix contests that provide all the stems to a song.
Soundcloud artists are typically open to having someone remix their stuff too.

Sometimes songs are sparse enough arrangement-wise to just filter out freqs below and above the vocals. It'll sound weird playing alone, but freq masking takes care of that once you add your own drums and instruments.

My favorite remixes typically create a brand new arrangement for songs and add their own hook with really exciting/rewarding synth leads/melodies.
 
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