In response to some private emails I get regularly:

ACID is a fantastic tool just “sit down and remix” — even if you don’t have ACID the principles still apply.

Don’t think about “The Remix” at first, just work on recognizing sounds/beats that work together.

Start with a very, very simple drum loop, let that loop while you go through other loops (bass, keyb). Add things very slowly (deciding on one loop every 5-10 minutes is not crazy). What you’re looking for are parts that actually, really, honest to god FIT with each other — not just kinda/sorta but are totally “in the pocket”.

Do this a lot. Every day. For hours. (Seriously) This is remixer’s scale practice, you won’t be good at remixing until your ears can do this.

After a couple weeks/months you’ll get to where that 5-10 minutes becomes seconds (if not faster).

Soon after that you’ll be able to apply the same disciplined ear training results to synth-patches, soundfonts and other non-looped material and start drawing/playing parts in MIDI.

HINT: When in doubt: TAKE NOTES AWAY — especially in the bass part. I’ve noticed through the years that bass parts tend to have about twice as many notes as they actually need to make the point. Gtr and Keyboards have about 33% too many notes.

Taking notes away have only good effects: Your listeners can grasp the emotion you’re going for easier when there is less notes/beats, the chances a part will “fit in the pocket” go up the less notes/beats there are, a part with less notes/beats is more FX friendly (like reverb, delay).

Hope this helps,
Victor

very generous quality advice, thank you sir :)

Thanks for all the information & advice you just posted - this one reminds me a little of Mr. Miagi’s teaching of learning through repetition to the Karate Kid (tracks on / tracks off)…I’m sure you got it right here….. .. .

Wow. This is very well thought out and written. I’m bookmarking this for friends who have asked me to explain to them the best way to start mixing. But I would suggest FL Studio in PAT(loop)mode. Just to be a rebel. ;)


The hint(worth the price of a book IMHO)about taking notes away I just figured out recently. I had the same numbers in my head. Get out of my head Victor. Or am in yours? : )

thanks for sharing the “how to”, Victor.

And remember… less is more!

You don’t need a lot of samples - you just need the “right” ones.