‘Bupy exnuaa s1snue 54 quae Og NO NOLLOgS UMOOASSUII Jif Ud XIMAd DISH z sendy)28 id interesting, shapes (see excellent example of how rad le as a given song). ferently in an age when technology ments. themselves to rework and_ reshape through the create their interpretations or reinterpreta How is remixing different from the creation of mu nology? One key difference is that re given song (oF songs) bits of pre: the Navas (20074, no taken away, “1 draws. Thus, there is an inherent tens of (re)interpretation inal song might be dominant in a remix, it is always in danger of being jongst the sounds added or subtracted to the final track. In this way remix “challenges the aura of the original and claims autor carries the name of the original” (ibid.). The ing.a song before it becomes somet can also be asked at the other end of the continuum: How much Is chorus enough to justify adding “remixed by— song? For amateur DIYers, ight not be so pres ly debated and difficult shat remix tends to call attenti n to its own use of samples. “Samp! sense refer to discrete bits ly recorded. are placed i rhythm, a gui nd, a bit of a vocal). Remixers often expect their audiences to experi ence recognizing samples as part of the enjoy listening. Indeed, part joyment 0 the “original” sound within the cor to Dr Who or Inspector Gadget recognition often draws on a attention 10). In this way, erpretation as Coltrang original lows re ng. For exai resource that ssame samp! to the remix and ge O are just so many parts that don’t hang. how they did it, but so wh; n experimenting with editing tapes 1B tape recorders as instruments as early as the 1950s, re took off in popular music in the 1960s and the 1970s, Two common forms and of remix from, as two ends of a remix con! Ar one end there are remixes in which the “aura” of dominant. At the other hat represent pretation—they pose que how far a remix of an orig, ir ¢ of the original are often created to be dance floor friendly, Remixers reshape aspects of the song to get people move. At some level this represents gem € the mid-1960s, DJs in imental track (“riddim for taking the top. mental 1¢ 1970s, producers took know songs (e.g,, Blondie’s Atomic), added additional percussion (or emph: atin other ways) and extencled the Of the track so dropped into a seamless mix created b "s DY. Al was first associated with 0 that even punk ixes of certain songs (sce vaioF — ‘ous mixes of their song Magnificent Seven, for example). Whether new vocals have been layered over an existing instrumental track or the beats under an ing vocal track have been altered, these types of remixes tend t0 be leas the song in the tile At of the continuum are remixes that exemplify a cut-and: paste aesthetic that challenges the idea of “the aura of the original remixes songs are radically reshaped, sometimes with the use of les from a variety of sources. For example, the birth of United States is grounded in DJs taking the drum breaks and other parts of funk and rock records (c.g, James Brown, Aerosmith, etc.) and using record seratching, and sampling, le the MC rapped ver the top. Unlike Jamaican riddims, hip-hop DJs didn’t simply take one fnewrumental track and have their MCs rap over them—they created alto- gether new instrumental tracks from previously existing ones. Yet these Instrumental tracks called attention to the source material and thus to them: selves as a form of remix, For example, the fist mainstream rap success, the Sang's Rapper's Delight, did not hide the fact that it was sampling. hic’s Good Tims. In fact, hearing the Sugarhill Gang rap over the 2 Good Times was part of the fun ofthe song. This, ea of remix to its logical extreme; the edge wher the “aura” of the original source and the remix’s ing new. Thus, Rapper’s Delight is a song in its id not exist without Good Times. Tn the 1970s, remixing was happening both in the production studio (with high-end technology) and in the street (with turntables and mixers, ic devices for combining different audio sources). By the mid-1980s ‘critics were suggesting that hip-hop represented the cutting edge of ‘creation, and that remixing was an art form that captured the zeit “femix” came to be seen as a cultural process more gen (rather than just limited to music), and the cut-and-paste aesthetic was seen as a claim to some new sorts of knowledge (see the lowering of post Inodernist writing about culture, for example). At a more concrete lev Ivhat caught people’s attention was that rather than reworking old forms like folk and the blues on traditional instruments, people engaged in remix were interpreting songs without actually using instruments, 1c 1980s and early 1990s, remixing became part of the m: ‘studio. pop acts started using pre-existing recorded music as ‘ome of these artists focused on sampling a diverse a create complex compositions (see the Beastie Boys’ crit “aly lauded album Paul’ Bewcique), others worked with just one or two rec- ‘gnizable bits of songs (see Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve, built on a Sample from the Rolling Stones” Sympathy for she Devil, or MC Hammer's U Pant 1: Aupio MEDIA the listener recognizes bot! for recognizing som Musie remix in the classroom —_ ]|_31 Can't Touch This, w! consisted of him rapping over Rick James? Id gospel vocal tracks set to «critical debate about Play did on ongoing arg (“How does race factor takes place in b samples for u cation betwee advent of a popular form of remixing «: across the globe, Websites provide hat rooms al songs are very in different ng made by different ar aan attempt to be fanny by 1@-a Britney mong those y reasons for why pe do so for pleasuee, p .¢ with traditional instruments, people hat it can be done on computer isa creative gies to produce new sofiware or hardware b be as straightforward as adding a vo 1g track (e.g., dropy o a song). Some sce the for fe and part of a larger cu of art. For x itself as ideologi ideas and assumptions abo son, reworking parts of22 ing. For example, the band Negativland was sued by U2 and others for a x of I Sill Haven't Found What V'm Looking For that sample act might have extended the remix culture became involved, and the continued distribution of ing became a political act (see Ayers, 2006, for an account), Although the Grey Album Iprated case of remix asa pol ical act to date, many peopl are interested in the own ctual of artistic creations. ies in the music prod ire reject tradition: service, Wikipedi remix can be seen as a democr wybody with a relevant set of software and hardware and access to samples «can be sampled) can become an artist. People create songs or with the expectation and hope that ind make something out of them in ta way of greater debates abot mean to create or to own a piece of artwork (cf. Lessig, 2008). It also extends lessons of punk rock. Punk taught people that you don’t have to arly, the computer ink, the expectation is not that you are remixing to idea is that F (DIY) is a worthwhile ‘There are a number of websites where y listed below current world es discussed an explore t trate many of fea of mi (a) ceMixter (htp://cemixter.org) ‘The site describes itselfin this way Music remix in the classroom good work available via Artists can upl we. Data ich songs have ter.org/forums/7) where people pose specific q process, ask for pants. Sample and “Compositional spend time on, obtain a sense of4 1 SECTION TWO How to make your own basic remise ¢ programs that are wre proprietary and thus for Mac (¢.2.5 Loops, M-Audio Session Soft ‘two versions: the basic need to be GarageBar the user’s computer, line. For example, Remix Galaxy (Ihttp://www.remixgalaxy.com) is a website at has a sequencer and samples that can be used to create new remixes. ic or remix software program there tends to be Regardless of which platform is ly the same. Multiple audio files are added as mbined to form an integrated piece of mu options. For example, the user can change the volume, t tempo of the sounds they input into the file. Most procedures and-paste processes. That is, the user highlights parts ofa song they want to copy, copies this selection to the computer's clipboard, and then pastes the jon into a track in its new form. When possible, the vocal track can be separated from the instrument complex remixes take advantage of higher-end fi ate their first remix without having to master very man} or the purposes of this chapter, we will look at rem which is available free online (as part of a Creative Commons tions given below for how to ct resources (see also, Chapter 3 in this vo the steps covered will bi remix program. be the same for any kind of remixing and m create a new file to “Project” oniers can find pauses or breaks i, which is helpful when selecting y section of the file by moving the cu “play” b igure 2.1, top left cord, pause, stop, the upper part of the window. hand side) provide additional typical audio fast forward, and rewind). 2. Work with Samples Once the focal song has been imported, users can begin remixing by adding additi move to the menu bar and « “Project” fnew track Mavis Si n Tmade was to take parts of the song itself to use in the remix. The be of the song, hhas a few measures of a slow drumbeat w y ked this part st T could layer some vocals from other sources on top of it. To create this sample I listened to the track again and stopped the cursor at point where I wanted the sample to end ( tern of the drumbeat). I then scrolled back to the beginning of the song to ‘When I was sure it was what I wanted, 1 in the drop-down “Edit” menu). Next I went back to “Project” in the main menu and added bblank—audio track. In that blank audio track I pasted the copy of the sample iad just created (by using Command + V) (see Figure 2.2). This is a basic copy-and-paste procedure and it can be used throughout the process of mak ing. a remix with Audacity (as well as other remixing software). re 2.2 shows, the isolated sample of the drumbeat is very short. ‘To create a longer passage that can provide a context for or background to tiple copies of the sample side-by-side ‘song, moving the cursor forward, and then under “Pro: selecting “Align Tracks,” and then “Align with Cursor.” This isolates ental section so that [ can easily add other si 2.3 shows what my project now looks like on-screen at listen ne proj, g 10 Iso create new sound les by recornot required to do this. All you need are a few cheap cs store to have your computer serve as both receiver Most computers havea jack for headphones and an audio inpa on the side of laptops and on the front of desktop computer boxes). By using a cable to connect ig into one, and the cord the audio input jack ean go into the other. For this project, I am interested in grabbing a sa King, Jn I don’t have a copy alread copy and paste to grab the samples I want for my remix. 2.4 shows the section of the program I use for this part of the process ‘The record key oon it, and the chart to the right information about the volume of the input (see Fi Figur 25: Creating loop of aus pus stretches of siance lence 1 desire. and then third track down comprises the Mart ime of each track, c- / + scale changes t ased the vo 3. Build the Remize I track has nd added to the proj hange speed, and change pit inds of things that are covered * Reworking voice records * Vocal removalPaar Aunio Mii port and feedback are offered at the sites mentioned in the first ceMixter.org). ny “We Shall Not Be Moved” remix project, 1 er own recorded version of “We Not Be Movec cd to add samples from the Martin t the project = Ladded vocals from a Spanish-language version of the song (“No Nos Moverin”) and several other versions of the song (by the Almanac Singers, the See ome un-attributed singers who were part of uther King, Jr. speech mp3 plays default save file as 2 “project” that can ie editing you to pick may be done in several different ways. exporting files into formats like mp3. Audacity does not. The Audacity User's Guide ex cannot encode MP3 files by itself because the MP3 is patented and cannot be legally usd in free programs. Hi 1s been programmed to recognize other existing Mi tan download separately. All you ha 1 Audacity website (hitp://audacitysourceforge.net/) provides links run on Windows, Linux/Unix and Macintosh plat forms. There will be similar information for other platforms at their own, tes, oF an internet search will help you find what you need. Musie remix in the classroom — iene — 1 r) alone song. SECTION THREE The educational benefits of music remie it & Madden, 2005; cited by these content producers are n experiences, skills and knowledge the world of tomorrow” (Je+ Simulation: world processes Appropriation: The al 1 Mattitasking: The abi tosalient details + Distributed Cognition: The abiiy co interact meanings Intelligence: The ability t0 pool knowledge and compare notes ality to follow the How of stores and informa + Networking: The a size, and disseminate The ability to travel across diverse comm: ple perspectives, and gras + Nagai (Jenkins* report ne for react it is worthwhile to note that engaging in remix deper nce and development of a number of the skills identified. Certainly, remix- for play and performance wt). Remixers work with new technologies and né onally, remix as a po ntent to songs or by distributing (¢ remixing) is grounded in a deep praxis where performance. Music remix in the classroom 4B For example, in 2007 the m Planes. The base of the song is the melody and eh; Straight 10 Hell, and M.L.A. raps over a remixed vei In remixing lation the t by as an ‘street cred” and political 1e working-poor Diaspora, Many of o their own homemade re identities and bord ns, Most importan 1g the source son; 1g the song on ents getting, for theI property” (Jenkins, 2006, p. can be framed as negative (e-8., y expressed concerns about illegal file sharing or the “stealing” of is perspective, young people wh concern for copyright are described as paras fiting from the ‘others without paying their fair share. However, this “changed att tude” toward intellectual property can also be framed as a positive if itis derstood as escaping from the weight of priv ical tradition (compare, for example, 20" ¢ which artists played with intellectual proper moustache on a copy of the Mona game for reinterpretation and ever} (re)inteepretation. Indet tion of appropriatio 1006, p. 4). This is a creative act that depends on using pre ” How- operty and of appropria work ichamp painting a Jing treats everything as fair ‘somebody's putting your name on it. Jenkins (2006) ion, which isa key dimension of remix: joles both analysis and comm: al reseevoir res lrstood as a process th femixing requires an ropriation as a creative act (of which music ren attention to two key aspects of the creation of art just one exai have access (€.2., , appropriation understor fies the kind of conversations we see happ response to other ig in other art ary on other art n so abstract that students structured pedagogical ive analogies berween a recording of a tr providing students wit plots, chat started putt speare to is s0 well loved above countless them to think deeply abou ‘This analogy bs extended ossibly capture or express thengaging (jazz music i Ning is that rather than xes of music offen These are not exact s)- What is different about recreations of those passages, dircet quotations, they have a di (e.g, instrumentation, new opporti remixing, «taposition of sampled elem “This requires a certain kind of mastery. In the case of complex remix—as di tinct from ist take the vocals from one song and overlay it on the mi ‘comprehen upon an under: nding of the original sources of the samples he contexts within which they were created) and a sense of the new context being created by the remix For exampl chapter, the use of the Martin L ¢ ways, His powerful voice and words heard against a som e melody of We Shall Not Be Moved can evoke optimism evoke m and grief that he did not live to devoted jove the listener to cold and uninterested either due to the topi the preceding se. that saw for the first time an African America as—president. This poten ceners, regardless of their ow would be as productive as “What I meant t0 say than writing down their own remix to with this poem ts respond to poems by writing their own eech, 2001, for a story told that experie ‘Music remix in the classroom a7 of oral or written language to can also pretat menting on a work of art music in the est and open-minded. Pei have a better chance her ly are comm interventions based on full par cover and develop the of Troilus and Cressida, For some kind of discussion and‘erm te eso i//oewcprojectaml.org/ies working (2008). Remix: ‘The at and or ccators and others students have to ddraw on that cultural reservoir. Although we c people have access to and expertise with the kind of technology described. this chapter, many do, and we can ing to them abot e making can also be a rich opportunity time educators think about ways to draw on what th ‘outside of the classroom they run the risk of leaching nto just another schoolish assignment (sce exam tioned” graffiti spaces, for Id not be reduced to being a gateway to tradi jonal print work, or us logy for other academic work, It should first and foremost be recognized asa valuable acti ity in its own right. Once it has been es at is at stake remix does not have to be demic goals, moving the discuss more orgat much more students al ples of how example). M 1 22, 2008, from brep://audse 2/reierence html i's Dangermouse. In M, Ayers ( 8, shersounds, 20, 2008, from husp//wwwcerister (2001), Lae tha dp, New York: Harper Trophy: