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Home > iZotope Blog > Music Production Search

How to Remix a Song

by Gri?n Brown, iZotope Contributor April 4, 2019

Learning how to remix a song is one of the best ways to get into
U S E R X I N YO U R
music production. Much of the songwriting and song structure work
NEXT REMIX
is already done, and it’s enjoyable to put your own spin on a song
 you love. Remixes can even go viral due to the original song’s
success, so can sometimes be the gateway for producers trying to
move up in the industry.

In this article, we’ll be covering a few tips on how you should go

about remixing a song. This will focus on how to legally remix a
track, how to set up your project to be most e?cient, how to Mgure
RX 7 out which parts of the original to include or reference, and how you
LEARN MORE
can set your remix apart from others.

The benefits of remixing

Reverb If you’re a beginner music producer, remixes are your best friend.
Making original tracks can be daunting, especially if you’re not yet
and RX conMdent with your composition abilities. As we mentioned, remixing
Sale a track takes a lot of the original compositional work off your
shoulders, allowing you to focus on giving the original track your
own artistic aesthetic.

Additionally, remixes are a great way for you to develop your brand
as an artist. Listeners are naturally drawn to remixes of songs they
already like, which could lead to new people listening to your music.
Many successful artist / producers began building their audiences
SHOP
NOW by remixing popular songs that people were already listening to.

And Mnally, remixing is just a great way to practice your skills as a

producer. With so many compositional choices already made by the
original artist, remixes are easy to start and generally take much less
time to complete than an original track. This accessibility can allow
you to dive into the project and continue honing your craft.

Any time you spend working is time you’re improving. Gotta get
those 10,000 hours in...

How to remix a song—legally

Before you dive right in, let’s make sure that you don’t get into legal
trouble by making this remix. For the sake of this article, we’re
discussing legality based on United States copyright law.

A remix is technically deMned as a “derivative work,” meaning that it

has been created based off an original work. Because of this, the
copyright owner for the original track (often the artist or releasing
label) has the legal ability to grant or deny you permission to make a
remix.

If you make a remix without the consent of the copyright holder, or if

you are denied permission and make the remix anyway, this is an
example of copyright infringement. We won’t go into the bloody
details, just know that big artists and labels take infringement of
their copyrights VERY seriously and do not hesitate to take legal
action.

However, an aspect of copyright law called Fair Use can provide an

exception to the necessity for permission. Fair Use exists in order to
prevent copyright holders from stiZing innovation and parody.

If an uno?cial remix is claimed as copyright infringement, the

infringing remixer can claim Fair Use on the basis of four main
points:

1. The purpose and character of using the original copyrighted

material

2. The nature of the original copyrighted material itself

3. The amount and importance of original copyrighted material

used

4. The effect that using the original copyrighted material will

have on its value

As you can probably tell, these are all rather uncertain questions in
the case of a remix. Additionally, if you were accused of copyright
infringement, you would have to prove that your remix is Fair Use;
the accuser would not have to prove it isn’t.

Therefore, while Fair Use exists and can be used to defend a remix
done without permission, it isn’t a good idea to assume Fair Use will
be proven. And larger artists and labels (those whose work is more
likely to be remixed) tend to have bigger budgets for lawyers and
legal action than the accused. Overall, it’s best to make sure that
your remix is not infringing on anyone’s copyright.

“So how can I actually make a legal remix?”

The best case scenario is to get permission from the copyright

holder. This can be done through a variety of ways, most commonly
through an o?cial remix. A remix (or even an EP of remixes) can
extend the shelf life of an expiring song, giving the original artist and
/ or label an incentive to grant permission to create a derivative
work.

If you’ve gained some traction as a producer, artists and labels will

see the opportunity to tap into another market and may approach
you to create a remix. This is a mutually beneMcial situation,
especially if you as the potential remixer are a smaller artist than the
original.

Otherwise, directly reaching out to artists and labels isn’t necessarily

a bad idea if you hear a track that you’d like to remix. Keep in mind
that cold-calling like this can be inconsistent, especially if you’re
approaching bigger artists and labels who likely receive plenty of
similar requests.

However, one email back saying “yes” could completely change your
career, so asking is worth a shot if done in a respectful, professional,
and non-intrusive way.

Apart from o?cial remixes, another great option is to enter remix

contests. There are plenty of these contests available through
several platforms online, all of which can be big opportunities for
growing producers.

Remix contests generally have prizes for the winning and / or high-
ranking entries. This can include o?cial releases on record labels,
conversations with the original artist, equipment and software, and
more. All of these reasons alone are enough to make entering a
contest worth your time, as they’re just potential bonuses on top of
practicing your production and having content for your running artist
portfolio.
Our partners over at Splice offer plenty of resources for remixers, as
their library of samples is a helpful tool for any producer.

Splice remix contests

How to set up a song for remixing

WorkZow is a very personal aspect of production, and as a producer,
you probably know the best way for you to work. Some like to be
super organized while others just like to get ideas into their DAW
without being bogged down by organization.

When remixing, however, there are a few additional organizational

steps that we can take to make working a lot easier and a lot
quicker.

The basic idea is to organize the project as if it is an original track,

and then exchange some original parts for your own. This makes
sure that nothing from the original track gets lost in the shufe of
creating a new project and allows you to easily consider including
anything from the original track.

Ideally, you should have the stems of the original song. Stems are
audio Mles, each of which being an element (drum, instrument, vocal,
etc.) from the original. Sometimes stems are separated so that each
channel in the original project is bounced as its own Mle, other times
stems are grouped. For example, all the drums could be given as one
stem.

If you’re doing an o?cial remix or a remix contest, you should be

given stems. This is often just a folder of audio Mles, so the best Mrst
step to remixing a song is to arrange all the stems in a project to
recreate the original song.

If you normally group instruments or send them to submasters, this

is a good time to do that. Do whatever color-coding and naming you
need to do to feel like this is your track that you’re working on.

Even if you don’t normally do this, try it out. The time it’ll save you
over the course of working on this remix will be worth the 20–30
minutes it will take to organize at the beginning.

It’s also a good idea to delete any silences in the stems, separating
each stem into multiple regions in your DAW.

While this doesn’t have any impact on the sound, doing this will
neatly visually divide the project. This allows you to Mnd speciMc
elements in the project quickly and will reveal the original song’s
song structure. Knowing this will help when making decisions on
how to change the original track.

If you don’t have the stems, there are still a few options available for
remixers. These options will generally only yield an acapella vocal,
not each individual stem, but for many remixes this is enough to
work with.

I’ll be using Fytch’s “Saltwater” for demonstration:

Fytch - Saltwater (O0cial Lyric Video)

The Mrst method for isolating the vocal uses the Music Rebalance
feature in RX 7. This tool allows you to adjust the volume of various
elements in a mono, stereo, or multichannel bounce of a single track.
Voice, bass, percussion, and other instruments all have their own
adjustable level, and sensitivity can be adjusted to determine what
audio is identiMed as each type of element.

Music Rebalance parameters

Here are the settings we’ll use to isolate the vocal in “Saltwater.”
Music Rebalance example

Listen to how much quieter the instruments and drums are now.
Some EQing and additional processing can remove most of what’s
left over. This vocal can now be used in a completely new track.

SALTWATER - MUSIC

For more info on how to use Music Rebalance, check out this video.

The next method involves the idea of phase cancellation. We

covered constructive and deconstructive interference a bit in our
article on chorus, Langers, and phasers, and the same concept
applies here.

Theoretically, if we can Mnd a way to eliminate the instruments, we

should be left with just the vocals. One way we can do this is using
phase cancellation and instrumental tracks.

What we’ll need is the original track and an instrumental, both of

which need to be at the same sample rate.

All you need to perform this phase cancelation is some way to Zip
the phase of an audio Mle. Many DAW’s have a way to do this, but
we’ll use RX 7’s Phase module to do so.

First, I bring one of the two Mles into RX 7. Today, we’ll phase-Zip the
instrumental. I apply the Phase module to it, and rotate the phase for
the left and right channels 180 degrees each. This Zips the
instrumental’s phase, where peaks in the audio become troughs and
troughs become peaks. You can also just select the “Invert the
Waveform” preset to do the same thing.

RX 7 phase Lip

I export from RX 7 to get a phase-Zipped version of the instrumental.

Look at the original instrumental and the phase-Zipped version
below to see how the audio Mle is affected:
Phase invert

Next, I bring the phase-Zipped instrumental into my DAW. On another

channel, I insert the full master. I make sure the the two Mles are
exactly lined up.

Phase-Lipped instrumental and master lined up

Ideally, the phase-Zipped instrumental and the instruments in the

original will have completely opposite phases and will cancel out. As
you can hear, the instruments are mostly muted, leaving the vocal
nearly untouched. Listen to the phase canceled version compared to
the original:

SALTWATER - MASTER
 SALTWATER - PHASE

We can even use these two methods together. The audio example
below is the phase cancelled version run through Music Rebalance.

SALTWATER - MUSIC

Keep in mind that this isn’t an exact science. This method, even if
done in the most optimal way, will likely still leave some artifacts in
the new vocal stem. This can include some digital garbage caused
by phasing and / or some instruments still bleeding through.

However, since you’ll be adding new sounds around this rough stem,
these artifacts may be masked by everything you add. While not as
nice as working with a completely isolated vocal stem from the
original project, this DIY technique can deMnitely su?ce.

What to leave, what to change?

Now that you’re aware of how to legally remix a track and have
everything set up in your DAW, it’s time to actually start working on
your remix!

Obviously, if you’re trying to set yourself apart as an artist, you’re

likely going to put your own spin on the original track. And it’s
important to do so, as staying too close to the original can be like
stepping on the toes of the original artist.

On the other hand, enough material from the original song needs to
stay for your remix to sound related. This is much easier when the
track you’re remixing has vocals, as those vocals will serve as a
stamp for the original track regardless of the rest of your remix.

It’s this balance that you’ll have to negotiate when completing your
remix.

Often, the best way to start is to decide which signature elements

from the original track you want to keep. Think about why you want
to remix this song in the Mrst place. What makes you like the
original? These sounds can serve as a great foundation for
everything else you do.

These original elements can be left mostly unchanged or can be

completely edited and warped; the choice is yours. But these
characteristic elements can serve as an anchor to the original track,
allowing you to explore other musical and sonic possibilities without
straying too far from the song you’re remixing.

Next, decide on a rough song structure. This will give you a blueprint
to follow when starting your remix, and with your signature elements
chosen will allow you to focus on Mlling the gaps left by what you
decide to take out.

If the remix you’re making is going to be a speciMc genre, there may

already be standard structures to follow. In the case of many genres
of dance music, the length and order of sections is almost
predetermined, meaning your main goal is to Mnd how the original
song can be adjusted to that structure.

If you’re going for a non-formulaic structure, it’s still a good idea to

set up markers for yourself to follow the structure you want. You can
even leave the song structure exactly how it is in the original, but
having a plan will allow you to work quickly, effectively, and creatively
without feeling lost.

With your starting elements and song structure Mgured out, you can
build around the original elements to complete your remix. Your
foundation is likely to change, but it’s easier to give yourself a block
of marble to chisel away than try to create the remix out of thin air.

It’s worth mentioning that, if possible, try not to delete any of the
original stems while you work. If you’re stuck trying Mll some space
or need to add something, it’s always great to have the option to
check if other original elements can work.

Instead of deleting a stem, just group your unused stems and mute
the group. This way, the stems will still be in your project if you need
them but will be out of the way until you do.
Making your remix unique
The way you decide to go about remixing a song is entirely
subjective. To justify adding the words “( ____ Remix)” to the track,
this should be an expression of your own musical identity, not just a
rendition of the original song. That phrase essentially serves as your
artistic signature, so you should be happy with both how you present
your own artistry and how you reference the original track.

The more you can take the listener out of the world of the old track
and into yours, the more yours will stand out. This can be done with
any musical choices you see Mt, and your ability to do this is only
limited by your imagination.

One option is to only use the vocal and create an entirely new track.
As mentioned before, the vocal is the most characteristic element of
most songs, so a remix built around the vocal will both reference the
original and give you the most room to express yourself.

Check out R3HAB’s remix of “One Kiss” by Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa
for an example:

Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa - One Kiss (R3HAB Remi…

Another way to set your remix apart is to use elements from the
original in new ways or a new context. In this scenario, the way you
frame the original elements is your artistic expression. For example,
a support instrument from the original track can be repurposed to
have a more prominent role.
Check out Oliver Heldens’ remix of “Attention” by Charlie Puth. The
tempo is sped up, but Oliver Heldens keeps the clean electric guitar
from the original. With the claps and low synth added, the guitar
serves a new role here.

Or, original elements can be edited and processed so that they’re

almost indistinguishable from their counterparts in the original song.
This obviously references the original track the least, but can be a
strong demonstration of your creativity.

In the case of an o?cial remix, this route could be positive or

negative. The original artist and / or label will probably want the
remix to sound related to the original, but doing this can also set
your remix apart from other remixes that may sound overly related
to the original.

This is deMnitely an interesting option for remix contests, in which

you’ll have to break through the thick layer of entries in which
remixers kept things mostly the same. Setting your remix clearly
apart from the others can help you have a better shot at winning and
reaping the rewards.

Conclusion
Whether you’re tasked to do an o?cial remix, you’re entering a remix
contest, or you’re just learning how to remix a song to work on your
skills, remixes are a quick and “easy” way to continue developing as
a producer.

With all of these points in mind, you should be on your way to

making remixes in no time. They’re simple to start thanks to all the
work that’s already been done, simple to complete if you approach
them in an intentional manner, and the numerous opportunities to
learn and grow make them worth any producer’s time and energy.

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