B L E N D I N G [tutorial]

I'm sure most of you out there already know this remixing method, but for those of you that don't, here is an easy way to make a remix. NOW, this can be done the following ways.

(a) 2 DJ CD Players & DJ Mixer
(b) 2 DJ Turntables & DJ Mixer
(c) 2 CD Turntables & DJ Mixer

What ever option you choose, is all about preference. In my opinion, I think option (b) is the best and [I will discuss why in a moment]. So, the first thing to do is get an instrumental version of a song and then get an acapella of a song. The acapella has to be on it's own seperate CD/Vinyl, and the instrumental has to be on it's own CD/Vinyl as well. Now, the reason why I said option (b) was the best, is because certain vinyl has instrumental and acapella versions of songs. You will most likely find this vinyl as a single (i.e. ARTIST - Quasimoto, TITLE - The Broad Factor). The Broad Factor is a song from Quasimoto's new album. I have this single, and it comes with 5 different versions of the same song, one of them being the acapella. Once you have your acapella, you need to find an instrumental version of a song. Quasimoto is in the hip-hop category, so the instrumental will have to be in the hip-hop category as well, so that the BPM is the same as the acaeplla. Once I have an instrumental version of a song, I have to make sure the BPM (Beats Per Minute) is around the same BPM as the acapella. You are probably asking your self how to find the BPM, well, some CD players & Mixers come with a TAP button, which allows you to find the BPM. BPM is key when making remixes. Turntables do not come with tap buttons, but you can buy an external device that has that feature, and connect it to the tuntable. SO, to get the BPM of the instrumental, just play a song on the turnable/cd player and hit the tap button every time the song HITS. Do not count the measures (BARS). Counting measures would be like this (for a song with approx. 90 BPM), 1...2...3...4... Counting every time it HITS would go like this, 1.2.3.4.1.2.3.4. It's kind of hard to explain BPM, but once you have the BPM of the instrumental song you found, then you gotta get BPM of the acapella. To get the BPM of the acapella, you have to play the original song that the acapella came from, and get that BPM. If the BPM of that acapella is around the same as the instrumental beat, then it will be very easy to remix. It's ok if the BPM is off by a little (i.e. The Broad Factor acapella - 90 BPM, Instrumental Beat - 92 BPM).

SO...

You have you beat and your acapella. NOW, to make the remix, have the instrumental beat loaded in one deck, and have the acapella loaded in the other deck. Start the acapella and the instrumental beat at the exact same time, unless there is an intro to the beat you have. When the acapella is playing with the beat, adjust the PITCH lower or higher, according to how the song plays (i.e. there might be a part in the acapella where the lyrics are going to fast for the beat, so you would lower the pitch. If the lyrics go slower than the beat and it sounds kind of sh*t, raise the pitch so that it will be exact. Once you get the hang of this method, it's really fun to do.

Experiment with different acapellas and beats, until you are satisfied with how it sounds when it is played together. Your probably saying it's only useful at a live performance, well that's not true. You could connect a multi-track recorder to your cd players/turntables and record all your remixes. Once you have a few remixes made, you can mix them all together (i.e. put 10 remixes on 1 CD and 10 on another CD, insert the first cd in 1 deck and the second cd in the other and mix the beats. Record your entire performance to the multi-track recorder and you have a MIXDOWN). This is very cool and fun to do, I have done this many times. I may show you how to mix in another tutorial based on how many posts I get for this message.

This method of remixing is more for DJ's than beatmakers. The beat makers would make their own beat and then put acapella over it.

ENJOY!

The Beat Conductor wrote:
This method of remixing is more for DJ's than beatmakers. The beat makers would make their own beat and then put acapella over it.

ENJOY!

so true, good read, but if you notice majority of cats in here make beats, so if you could post up one with how you do it with your mpc, tht would be fab, or how you do it in software, with two totally beats and rhymes.

good looking though

Just get the instrumental of the original track to mix with the instrumental of the new one to get the speed, check where the vocals drop and try and do it with the acapella onto the new beat. However, even if it is at the right speed, some acapellas just don't go.

Kinda easy, you made it sound a right kerfuffle.

Dave_1, your right about the acapellas, thats why you gotta experiment...
I know its better to make the beat. But this is good for people who make beats and dj as well.

(a) 2 DJ CD Players & DJ Mixer
(b) 2 DJ Turntables & DJ Mixer
(c) 2 CD Turntables & DJ Mixer

(d) 1 turntable, 1 cd player plus mixer
(e) A sampler with loads of RAM
(f) - (j) More combinations of CD players, turntables & samplers
(k) - In a computer

But putting a vocal from one record over the instrumental of another is a lot more interesting when you don't take both parts from the same genre of music. So with all those bootleg tracks that used the Missy Elliot acapella, the ones that were really clever put it over the intro to AC/DC's "Back In Black" or George Michael's "Faith" ...not just sticking it on another current hip hop track.

This guy is a genius at this:Go Home Productions

Your exactly correct featherboy. I wrote the tutorial for n00bz, once they get the hang of it. Then they can be articulate with sh*t like that.

i thought remixing was where you got the original tracks of a song and mde it into somethibng new with a nod to the original- sounds like you are just describing mixing to me...

greg

isnt this just mixing?

It's how DJs remix at their live performances.

u have to be one hell of a dj to pull this off and make it sound like a professional blend. For those of us not names don't begin with z and end with trip we have to start our blend like the djs and then record on separate tracks and fiddle around with em on the computer.

theassfathasescaped wrote:u have to be one hell of a dj to pull this off and make it sound like a professional blend. For those of us not names don't begin with z and end with trip we have to start our blend like the djs and then record on separate tracks and fiddle around with em on the computer.

not really mate, it's pretty easy to stick an acapella over a beat and find one which goes. It is just mixing!!?!?!?!

I guess...

Dave_1 wrote:

theassfathasescaped wrote:u have to be one hell of a dj to pull this off and make it sound like a professional blend. For those of us not names don't begin with z and end with trip we have to start our blend like the djs and then record on separate tracks and fiddle around with em on the computer.

not really mate, it's pretty easy to stick an acapella over a beat and find one which goes. It is just mixing!!?!?!?!

ur probably just a better dj. if i have something running together for three or four minutes i'm riding the pitch shifter and i'd rather not do that on a something i want to sound that slick...