Snoman R. Dance Music Manual: Tools, Toys, and Techniques

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the vocal melody being played on an instrument; this will then be replaced

with the vocals during the verse and ‘hook’ chorus, before being replaced again

with an instrumental version of the ‘hook’ vocals during the breakdown. In

some cases this instrumental hook then appears again at the end of the track to

ﬁ nally drive the message home.

These instrumental ‘clones’ are not always played on the same instruments,

though, so as not to appear to repetitive; rather they may be played on piano,

followed by a wind section, then a string section to ﬁ nish. This is where we,

the listeners, derive the main melody or hook from a record, but there are also

other hooks that although not driven home as much can still form a propor-

tional part of the music we hear.

Alongside the main hook of the record there will be any number of secondary

hooks that are used to maintain listener’s interest. These are commonly short

riffs, motifs or small vocal ad-libs that appear between the lines of a song and

are created to ﬁ ll in the gaps. These ad-lib hooks and vocals are often ignored

because we’re concentrating on the main hook, but they are still subcon-

sciously imprinted on our minds as part of the record. Just using these small

ad-libs and synthesizing the remainder of a track can produce a remix that still

remains immediately recognizable without having to worry whether the main

hook will suit the genre you have in mind.

At this stage, it’s also worthwhile envisaging the ﬁ nal arrangement as this will

often determine which parts of the original are to be kept aside. There’s usually

little need to worry too much about how the ﬁ nished product will sound, but

rather have a good idea of how the arrangement will ﬁ t together using some of

the parts from the original recording. It’s also at this song mapping stage that

you can determine what genre of music the remix is aimed at: is it going to be

trance, house, garage etc.

As with all forms of music this isn’t a ﬁ xed method and every artist will use

their own methods and ideals; however, it’s only on very rare occurrences, or

bootlegs, that you will be given total freedom from musical style. If a record

company requests a remix from an artist, they have been carefully chosen by the

A&R department because of the style of music they have produced in the past.

It’s not contemptuous to believe that some big-name remixers are approached

simply because of the name that would be attached to a recording for the sole

purpose of proﬁ t margins but, optimistically, they are solicited simply through

their previous stylistic endeavours. By requesting Oakenfold to produce a

remix, they wouldn’t expect a hip-hop recital; instead, they would expect a club-

style hit typical of his previous releases. After all, there is little point in tak-

ing a record that is already a hit in R ‘n’ B circles and reworking it in the same

style – the public market is the same and, in many instances, only the diehard

fans of the original will want to purchase the remix. The result is that it hasn’t

been promoted, but is merely an over (or under) produced original aimed at

the same listeners.

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Another beneﬁ t from using this form of ‘song mapping ’ is that it can often help

to envisage the remix in more ways than one. Along with helping with ﬁ guring

out which of the original samples are going to be used, it can also offer an idea

for the general tempo of the piece. As already discussed in earlier chapters the

tempo can divulge a great deal about any piece of music, especially in dance

music circles. As the original will most probably require some time stretching

to suit the new tempo, it’s an idea to stick to your chosen tempo to avoid intro-

ducing unwanted digital distortion from continually stretching a piece of audio

each time you change your mind.

These days it can be difﬁ cult to encapsulate a tempo for any remix as they are

constantly being reinvented but, roughly speaking, most tend to fall between

120 and 145 BPM. Very few remixers with a tempo over this have ever reached

mainstream clubs and even fewer will be accepted by a record company. This

is because the vast majority of regular club goers are not able to dance to a

rhythm at this speed while still managing to look cool, and if nobody can

dance to it then the DJ isn’t going to play it.

A 180 BPM drum ‘n’ bass remix of Madonna’s latest hit may capture the imagin-

ation of some but this is only a small percentage when compared to the mil-

lions of clubbers who go dancing every weekend. On this same note, creating

a remix that constantly switches between, say, 4/4 and 3/4 signatures or has

a constantly ﬂ uctuating tempo will only serve to confuse and alienate listen-

ers further. While it may seem inequitable to suggest that the public is ﬁ ckle,

unimaginative and short of attention span, a great deal of today’s popular art-

ists have released experimental work that has failed despondently because they

ignored the elements that their fans have become comfortable with.

I have no doubt that many unsuccessful musicians and remixers will undoubt-

edly argue this point, insisting that they create mixes to please only themselves,

yet the most successful are the ones who know what the clubbing generation

want and how to deliver it. Morales, Oakenfold, Deep Dish, BT, Joey Negro,

Tiesto and Timo Maas have continually proven these points and, as a result, are

currently considered some of the best in club land.

Of course, there is certainly nothing wrong with innovation but unless you’re

already a well-known remixer with a fan base it certainly doesn’t have the same pro-

motional power as the more conventional four-to-the-ﬂ oor club mixes. It is import-

ant to have a distinctive style but it’s equally as important not to get too carried away.

Dance music is an exact science, and close scrutiny of the current market is crucial.

This is one of the key reasons why DJs usually produce the best club remixes.

Another important factor as far as the tempo is concerned lies with that of the

original recording. If you’re remixing on behalf of a record company then the

chances are that you’ll be given the original working tempo of the track, or in

some rare events, you may even receive the original track sheets. These are written

records usually taken by the tape ops at the time of the original recording and

note the start times, EQ settings, channel assignments and general working

tempo. Having these to hand obviously makes remixing much easier, and if

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you’re not automatically supplied with one, it is worth asking if there is one

available. There are no guarantees that there will be, though, as the ﬁ ling system

in most studios usually consists of throwing them into the nearest cardboard

box and some don’t even bother compiling track sheets at all. Notably of every

remix I’ve been requested to do, I have never received a working tempo sheet;

original track sheets and the audio parts have been somewhat lacking too.

If you are provided with a tempo of the original, it still shouldn’t be taken

for granted that it will be this quoted tempo when you begin working with it.

A mistake often made is not taking into account the clock in the sampler or

computer being used for the remix which can often lead to small discrepancies

in tempo as the track progresses. While it would seem natural that something

recorded at, say, 120 BPM would remain the same on everything, all computers

and samplers utilize a crystal clock that controls the rate they execute their

instructions and not all crystals operate at exactly the same speed.

Additionally, the operating system being used can also affect this clock result-

ing in a stated tempo of 120 BPM being anything between 1 and 2 BPM faster

or slower. This is signiﬁ cant if you decide to approach a remix using the cut,

drag and drop method – a system mainly used as an idea generator consist-

ing of importing the original track into a sequencer, cutting it up into bars and

then moving the segments around.

Consequently, it’s worth calculating the tempo yourself, even if you’ve been

supplied with the original tempo. Most of today’s sequencers offer various

methods for calculating the tempo of any piece of music. Generally speaking

you can import a segment of the original track; select 4 or 8 bars of the sound

ﬁ le and then tell the sequencer how many bars are present. The sequencer will

then determine the BPM and adjust the tempo to suit. This method isn’t appli-

cable to all audio sequencers and some, such as Steinberg’s Cubase SX, require

you to tap in the tempo of a piece of music using the keyboard before it calcu-

lates it. Using this method can be a little hit and miss, so a preferred method is

to calculate the tempo manually.

To begin with you need to place the original track into a wave editor and

cut out a 4-bar loop for importing into the sequencer. It’s usually best if you

choose a segment where there is a drum solo featuring just the kick, but any

part where the kick is present will be suitable as this allows you to see exactly

where the beats occur allowing you to determine a 4-bar loop. It’s vital that

the loop starts with a kick and ends just before the ﬁ nal kick so that it can

loop over and over with no glitches. Once achieved, this loop can then be

imported into a sequencer set to constantly cycle over these 4 bars whereby you

can manually adjust the sequencer’s tempo until the audio ﬁ le loops clearly.

Alternatively, if you know the length of the loop in seconds and the number of

beats in a measure then it’s possible to use mathematics to calculate the tempo:

60 divided by loop length in seconds ⫽ N

N ⫻ 8 (assuming you have 2 bars) ⫽ BPM

(The 8 is for 2, 4 beat measures.)

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While these are the widely accepted for determining the tempo of any piece of

music, if the original was recorded before the 1980s the process can be a little

more difﬁ cult. Before this and the intervention of step-time drum machines,

tracks often speeded up naturally as they progressed and frequently the pro-

ducer would also slow down the tape machine by 8.5% on the ﬁ nal mix.

The reason behind this is that when the track is played back at normal speed

the mix becomes a semitone higher in pitch, in effect tightening up the play-

ing and adding an additional polish. This clearly makes calculating the tempo

throughout the entire song a complex procedure as it can ﬂ uctuate by as much

as 10 –15 BPM throughout the track. If this is the case, then it’s advisable to

import each loop from the original that you plan to use in the remix and time

stretch each constituent loop to the tempo that the remix will be.

Time stretching is available on most audio sequencers, audio editors and sam-

plers but the resulting quality relies entirely on the algorithms that are used

and the material being stretched. Time stretching adjusts the length of a sample

(effectively changing its BPM) while also leaving the pitch unchanged. It does

this by cutting or adding samples at various intervals during the course of the

sample so that it reaches the desired length, while, to a certain extent, smooth-

ing out the side-effects of this process on the quality and timbre of the sound.

This is quite obviously a complex, processor-intensive process and is not suit-

able for extreme stretching. For instance, stretching an 87 BPM loop into 137

will undoubtedly introduce unpleasantness to the rhythmic ﬂ ow of a loop,

producing a side-effect often referred to as digital clutter.

Occasionally, this digital clutter can be used to good effect, but on riffs and

more especially vocals, it’s unadvisable to stretch them by any more 25 BPM.

In fact vocals, more than any other instrument, can be adversely affected by the

process, even if it’s only stretched by a small amount. The problem with stretch-

ing vocals derives from when vibrato is used while singing. We’ve become

accustomed to the human voice so even small time-stretching adjustments

can become immediately obvious, more so if there is an element of vibrato

involved. With the advancements in technology, there are various methods to

avoid vocals sounding deliberately affected, often involving spending days cut-

ting vocals into individual syllables to make them ﬁ t a new groove.

We’ve already seen the uses of sample splicing software in earlier chapters as a

form of reconﬁ guring and rewriting sampled loops, but it can be equally use-

ful as a form of stretching audio. By placing cuts manually at speciﬁ c points

throughout a riff or vocal line it’s possible to change the tempo without intro-

ducing any unwanted digital artefacts. The basic principle is that if you need

to stretch a vocal from 80 to 140 BPM, you can thinly slice the audio and after

importing them into a sampler or audio sequencer at this new tempo, the

decay of each sliced sample will be stretched or reduced to prevent gaps or any

overlapping.

Yet another advantage of taking this approach is that when a loop is sliced, each

slice is allocated a different MIDI note gradually ascending in semitone steps.

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These MIDI notes, or the audio slices if you prefer, can then be rearranged to

produce alternative vocal lines or riffs from the original ( Figure 22.1 ).

Clearly, this type of editing can be an incredibly time-consuming affair and,

in the majority of cases, doesn’t work too well if there are vibrato or legato

phrases in a vocal performance. To get around this, a common practice is to

‘ comp’ the stretched vocals with the original vibrato or legato parts. Comping

plays an important part of any production process and consists of mixing

numerous vocal takes together to produce the ﬁ nished article. In the context of

remixing, this often involves cutting each word of a vocal phrase into separate

segments and stretching each to suit the mix. Using this method if there are

any vibrato, legato or held notes they can be paired up with the stretched parts

and cross-faded together to produce a more natural sound.

Failing this, another popular method involves pitch-shifting, rather than time

stretching the audio to get it in time. By importing the vocals into a sampler,

you can use the pitch-bend wheel of an attached controller keyboard to ﬁ nd

the best speed. Clearly, this affects not only the speed but also the pitch; how-

ever, by using a sequencer’s controller editor you can try various pitch-bend

values until you ﬁ nd the right speed, and then use a good-quality pitch-shifter

to move the vocals back to the correct pitch. This often removes the additional

digital ‘clutter’ introduced by more conventional time stretching.

FIGURE 22.1

Slicing vocals into

smaller segments for

stretching

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On some occasions, while most popular remixes will retain the vocals from

the original there isn’t the need to use all of them. In most forms of music they

commonly form the most inﬂ uential and dynamic part and many producers

will treat them with the utmost care but in dance music and remixing the part

they play is negligible. Pure dance music commonly has very little lyrical con-

tent, dealing in just one thing – feel. Vocals in dance are simply a form of dis-

traction from the main event: the underpinning groove, the rhythm that keeps

everyone up on the ﬂ oor, the DJ in work and the record companies in proﬁ ts.

Subsequently, when remixing popular music that consists of the typical vocal

verse/chorus for the dance ﬂ oor, there is little need to keep all the vocals intact

and running throughout the remix. In reality, it’s common practice to lift just

the most prominent parts of the vocal performance, that is those that make the

track instantly identiﬁ able, and disregard the rest.

Eric Prydz’s number one remix of Valerie is an excellent example of this tech-

nique. He ignored a large proportion of the vocals choosing to keep just a few

small unaltered vocal snippets, practising the ‘minimal vocals for minimal

attention spans ’ technique.

Having said that, even if you cut up vocals or use the various methods to trans-

form and stretch them, there is a limit as to how much of a tempo adjustment

you can make from the original. This is not solely down to the vocals as stretch-

ing riffs can also introduce unwanted artefacts, so after auditioning the original

parts the song’s tempo must be determined in order to have a starting point from

which to derive the remix’s tempo. If a song is already 120 BPM a house remix

will be a pretty easy stretch assuming you actually want to make the record faster,

but if the song is 90 BPM, reaching this tempo is going to be much more difﬁ cult.

It’s signiﬁ cant, therefore, to consider the remixes tempo carefully because the less

you time-stretch (or time-compress) a track, the better it’s going to sound.

As an example, suppose that you’ve been given an original vocal recording with

a tempo of 90 BPM and that you want to produce a remix of 130 BPM – a tempo

that’s typical for most club records. You have two options: either stretch up to 130

or go down to 65, half the tempo of 130. Considering that 90 –130 is a stretch of

40 BPM, it would be prudent to compress down to 65 as this is only a difference

of 25 BPM and in the mix have the vocals doing half-time to the 130 beat.

That said, keep in mind that not all songs have been written close to a dance

tempo and some hooks that make the original what it is will not suit any other

tempo. As we’ve seen, using the aforementioned techniques it may be possible

to make anything ﬁ t any tempo if you’re willing to put the additional time into

it, but stretching some hooks can ruin the integrity of the original song. It isn’t

worth ripping the foundations of a track apart and sacriﬁ cing artistry just to

pump out a mix at 130 BPM.

Of course, not all remixes use unaltered vocals and there are many popular tech-

niques for twisting vocals, and riffs, in remixes, although in many cases the tech-

niques employed will depend entirely on the artist that’s being remixed. What

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follows is by no means an exhaustive list of possibilities as the market is constantly

changing but currently these techniques are proving to be the most popular.

■ Import large sections of vocals into sample splicing software such as

Wavesurgeon and use this to slice the vocals/melodies into individual

phrases. Once completed, use either MIDI note commands to a sampler

or the actual audio and rephrase the line. This technique is more popu-

lar with melodies as the timbre remains the same as the original, yet the

melody is different.

■ On this same note, assign each vocal/melodic phrase to a speciﬁ c key

in a sampler and then use a keyboard to play different pitches, layering

them over one another to create chords.

■ Vocals and melodies can also beneﬁ t from low-pass, high-pass and band-

pass ﬁ lters. By assigning a controller keyboards mod wheel to control

the ﬁ lter it allows you to ﬁ lter speciﬁ c phrases live. A variation on this

technique that’s also popular is to use different ﬁ lters every few phrases.

■ Although the stutter effect is becoming rather clich é it is helpful in

bringing attention to the vocals or riff. These can be created by setting

a sampler to play a sample only while the key is held and then sending

1/32nd or 16th MIDI note on commands to the sampler.

■ An alternative to the previous method is to import a riff or vocal into an

audio sequencer and then place cuts every 1/16th before deleting every

other 1/16th. This recreates the typical gating effect.

■ To bring more attention to the vocals, an often practiced method is to

create a vocal phrase that is physically impossible to sing. The methods

used to create this are varied but often include the use of autotuners set

to adjust the key of some phrases by a large amount so that the side-

effects are noticeable.

■ Time stretching can also help towards creating phrases that, in the real

world, would be impossible. By stretching some vocal phrases by a

large amount and leaving others unaffected, the vocal line can take on a

whole new meaning. Similarly, using cross-fading techniques try to loop

part of a vocal phrase for longer than would be physically possible so

that it still sounds natural.

■ Reverse parts of a vocal phrase while leaving others playing normally.

■ Effects play a large role in creating interesting melodies and vocals.

Simply double tracking the vocals and offsetting one from the other by

just a few clicks can create an interesting effect.

■ Reverse reverb can also work particularly well, especially if you do not

want to affect the vocals too much. This can be accomplished by revers-

ing the vocal phrase and then applying reverb with a large hall setting,

or similar, applying it to the waveform and then re-reversing the vocals

so that they’re the correct way again. Using this method the reverb will

build up slowly to the vocal line creating a sweeping effect.

■ Specialist effects, such as Steinberg’s GRM Tool’s version one and two,

Voice Machine or Spektral Designs Ultra Voice, can be used to create

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strange results. The pitch accumulation from GRM Tools v1 is a popular

effect in many remixes, creating a culmination of pitching and ﬁ ltering.

■ EQ should also not be underestimated; rather than save it solely for mix-

ing. Use it to remove the bottom end from vocals to create a ‘telephone’

or ‘megaphone’ vocal by rolling off all frequencies above 3 kHz and

below 1 kHz.

■ If you have access to a hardware reverb unit, use a long decay and apply

it to the vocal line. While playing back the vocal, record only the reverb’s

return signal and then offset this against the vocal phrase.

These are only suggestions and, as always, experimentation and close scrutiny

of the current market is essential for creating great effects. A visit to a local

record store frequented by club DJs with £30 in your pocket will help you fol-

low the latest manipulation trends with remixing.

Before you begin to splice, dice or mangle vocals in any way it is worth check-

ing with the record company ﬁ rst, or if it’s an illegal dub remix, avoiding over-

processing altogether. Whereas some styles of music such as happy hardcore

almost invariably use ‘chipmunk’ style vocals and the current trend is leaning

towards additional processing with effects such as Antares Auto-Tune, a pro-

portionate amount of labels do not approve of their ‘selling-point vocals ’ being

mutated into something totally incomprehensible. Getting too carried away

with vocal manipulation may not only annoy the label, who coincidentally

will probably demand that they remain unaltered anyway, but also upset the

original artist and alienate the audience.

ARRANGING

The method for arranging a remix varies from producer to producer, but while

it’s quite probable that the familiar verse/chorus will be used in the original

mix, this does not mean to say that the remix should follow suit. Indeed, for

clubs it’s quite rare for any track to follow this structure and most will follow

the atypical ‘club’ structure that, incidentally, is very similar to classical music.

In other words, you begin with a theme followed by a variation, before eventu-

ally returning back to the original theme. Although how this style of arrange-

ment is approached varies widely, a typical example is given in Table 22.1 .

This type of structure often forms a vital part of any remix since most need to

be at least 8 min long and the original track will more than likely be half of

this. Additionally, even though the given table is an example and isn’t a strict

rule it is considered a rule to keep both the intro and outro as drums only and

leave them 32 bars in length. Most DJs prefer to mix beats than mix tuned

instruments from one track to another (known as harmonic mixing) since they

have to adjust the pitch accurately on the ﬂ y, plus it can also make some tuned

instruments sound utterly terrible. By keeping with a percussive intro and

outro, they only have to mix the beats, so they are more likely to play the mix.

More importantly, to create an 8 min mix from only 4 min of music, many of

the bars are continually repeated, and to maintain interest and keep the mix

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Example of a Club Arrangement

Part of

Arrangement

Length

in Bars

Analysis

Intro 32 Commonly consists of nothing more than a

building of the drum track as to allow the DJ to

mix the track in with another record.

Body 1 32 A melodic instrument is introduced. Most usually

the bass to establish the groove of the record

which may be followed 16 bars later with another

melodic instrument. This latter instrument is

rarely a part of the original track but a motif

programmed to sit around the original parts.

Drop 1 16 or 32 Most percussive elements bar the kick are

commonly dropped from the mix followed by

the introduction of a cut-up main hook line or

vocal to establish (or give some clue) that it is a

remix to the clubbers.

Body 2 32 or 64 All the previous elements may return, playing

alongside the cut-up hook. Small ad-libs either

from the original or programmed are sometimes

introduced after 16 bars, mixed among snare

rolls, cymbal crashes and sound effects. Vocals

from the original are sometimes also introduced

here but more often than not they have been

cut-up, so the entire vocals are not revealed,

adding to the tension of the music.

Drop 2 16 or 32 The main drop of the track is often similar to

the ﬁ rst but occasionally the kick is removed

and the main hook may be removed or ﬁ ltered

down. This could be followed with a 16-bar

snare roll with the ﬁ lter cut-off on the main hook

opening, creating a building sensation.

Body 3 32 to 64 All instruments return to the mix, alongside the

full main hook or vocal line. Further ad-libs may

be added after 16 bars, alongside skips in the

rhythm, small breaks, rolls and cymbal crashes.

Breakdown 32 Typically, all the instruments are dropped

gradually from the mix signiﬁ ed by drum rolls

or cymbal crashes so that only the drum track

remains.

Outro 32 bars Similar to the intro this commonly consists of

nothing more than the drum track to allow the

DJ to mix the track in with another record.

Table 22.1

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exciting, production techniques play a vital role. This includes using effects to

create more interesting timbres, cross-fading between samples, creating stut-

ter effects, altering transients (with a transient designer) as the track plays and

using ﬁ lter sweeps to add movement to static areas of the arrangement. Sudden

breaks in the rhythm, snare rolls, small breaks, skips, scratches, sound effects

and slight changes in the drum pattern, melodies and motifs are all used to

add tension and a dynamic edge to the music. As ever, experimentation often

produces the best results.

CONTRACTS

If you’ve been commissioned to remix a tune, you’re obviously going to need

some kind of agreement with the label involved to ensure that you both fully

agree what you’re being paid for. Although remix contracts differ from label to

label, they will all consist of a number of clauses that must be fulﬁ lled if your

remix is to be commercially released.

Firstly, as a remixer you will need to agree on the type of remix that the label

requires, this means that you both need to concur on the genre of music and

a suitable length for the track. Hopefully, the label will have asked you to per-

form the remix based on the same genre of music as your previous releases, if

you’ve had any, but a suitable length of track can vary immensely.

The widely accepted length for a typical club remix is around 8 min, but it is

important that you know exactly how long the label want it to be because if it’s

over or under the speciﬁ ed length they may refuse to pay you. Additionally, you

will need to conﬁ rm with the label how many versions of the remix they want

from you since it’s not uncommon to be asked to supply not only the club mix

with vocals but also an instrumental version.

You also need to agree on the terms of delivery to the label. Most will only

accept your completed mix on DAT; however, CD is becoming a more widely

accepted format. Also there will be a rather annoying clause that states ‘the mix

must be of a commercially acceptable standard ’. All record companies adopt

this and it’s nigh on impossible to persuade them to remove it from the con-

tract. It is particularly vague but essentially it gives them the right to refuse

your remix if they don’t believe there is an acceptable market for it, or it’s been

poorly mixed, produced or mastered.

As previously touched upon, it’s also essential to check what media the label

will use to deliver the original track to you. Although larger labels will only

supply a remix in ADAT format, smaller labels may put it to CD, but more

often, they commonly supply it on DAT with the master tape recorded track by

track with the time code. The beneﬁ t of this is that it’s then possible to accu-

rately recreate the track in a hard disk editor or software sequencer, but of very

little use if you’re working with just a sampler.

Finally, you will also need to be in agreement on when the master tapes will

be delivered to you and, of course, the deadline that they want your completed