This month I've been chosen to be one of the main remixers for Crack4DJs. They are one of the premiere websites for bootlegs, re-drums, and edits for working DJs worldwide.
Crack4DJs is a sister site to the world famous Crooklyn Clan (CrooklynClan.net). My plan is to prove myself on Crack4DJs and get promoted as remixer on Crooklyn Clan. For those who are not familiar with Crooklyn Clan. They have produced some of the most famous party break remixes heard on dancefloors. Check out this clip so that you know.
Here are the releases that I've contributed to Crack4DJs so far. Every week they'll be new additions from a wide range of music genres (House, Urban, Rock, Pop).
Here is a bootleg I've been using on my club gigs and radio mix-shows. I carefully edited the track to fit the vocals and interchanged the choruses/hooks from both "Fade into Darkness" and "Dancing on my own" to play on each other. What do you think?
Recently, I got to read an article on Wired magazine titled "Pop Music is Boring". The article went on to describe how today's pop music all sounds the same. And she used the following mashup by vissagan as an example to prove her point.
She also goes on to argue that in today's Pop culture the words "club", "hands", "party", and "alcohol" are used repeatedly in song lyrics.
Now I produce mashups on a weekly basis for my club gigs and radio mix-shows, so I understand there are relationships between songs that may be predictable but also unlikely. In the above example, the person who created the Pop mashup just put a bunch of vocal parts on the same beat. Some elements I can clearly hear that he modified the key of the singer to fit the key of the song. In my opinion, the entire mashup was a mess. But if the goal was to showcase how Pop music is so similar these days, by taking different vocals and layering them on the same beat, I have a counter to that argument.
In the example below, I take a well known House track that many may consider a House anthem and layered it with thirteen different vocals from the same genre. The only exception being "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, which many might consider a classic and beyond pop-bashing.
You can hear that the vocal elements I use fit the melodic progression and key of the song, but they are different. Different verses, hooks, choruses. If you listen to the content of the lyrics, many sing about "Dancing", "Clubbing", and "Love". My point is that based on my mashup example, it does not prove that House music is boring. And based on vissagan's Pop mashup above, the argument that Pop music is boring also has no merit.
What is true is that people have opinions. And at the end of the day you have to qualify your assertion by stating "This is my opinion only". The writer of the article, Holt Kay, heard the Pop mashup and came to the conclusion "Aha, this means Pop music is repetitive and boring". It's clear she does not have experience producing music, or creating mashups. To a mashup artist, we understand that songs have a relationship with one another on some level. As a result, it's possible to combine songs together and exploit those tonal relationships. That is what we mashup artists do on the regular.
As for the criticism directed to the lyrics in Pop music today. it's not that much different than it was 20-30 years ago. Since when does Pop music have to be so serious? Pop music today is intended for people to dance and party, not take life so seriously. That's like criticizing a bar for selling alcohol. Even the quintessential Hip-Hop song "Rapper's Delight" (1979) by The Sugarhill Gang, is all about partying, sex, cars, money, status, competition, and more sex. Nothing deep going on there folks. And to top it off, it uses a breakbeat from the Disco hit "Good Times" by Chic.
Personally, I can appreciate all types of music and take it for what it is. I can enjoy Jazz and Classical music, but understand that it may not resonate well at a party or night club. And I can respect that some songs aim to tell us a story or make us reflect. And I am present enough to realize that as I get older and as music evolves, I may fall out of favor with the current trends and reminisce of the days gone past when I believed music was "real". But in reality, that would just signify that I have fallen behind with the times and that is what I think has happened with Ms. Holt in writing her piece on Pop music. But that is just my opinion on that. ;)
Sometimes you hear a track and get an idea for what may sound good on it. But when you put the elements together you realize that they don't sound quite right. The progression or flow is there but it sounds off key. With today's production tools it's a simple matter of changing the semitone of a key up or down the scale to to fit the track you want the sample to sound in key with.
In the following example, you have the instrumental track by Chris Brown - "Turn up the Music". I placed the vocal / acapella of Ne-Yo - "Let's go" on it and played it at it's original key.
If you listen, the chord progression between the two songs match, but Ne-Yo's vocals sound off. The issue is that he's singing on a different key than the melody of the instrumental track.
What I did in the second example was simply alter the key of the instrumental track one semitone lower. By changing the key one semitone lower, it fitted Ne-Yo's vocals properly. Listen below:
The question you may ask is "Why not change Ne-Yo's vocals? Why change the key on the instrumental?"
My answer is that you have to listen to what sounds better. In this example, changing Ne-Yo's vocals did not sound very good to my ears. But changing the key of the instrumental did not sound bad and it fitted Ne-Yo vocals well. Sometimes, you may have to alter the key of the vocal, or the melodic elements you're working with.
I hope this helps you in some way. Comment and share.
For months it was hinted that Paris Hilton was learning to DJ from her mentor and rumored boyfriend, DJ/Producer Afrojack. This month she got behind the decks at the Pop Music Festival in São Paulo, Brazil.
Based on the few videos posted on YouTube documenting parts of her set, it's clear to see and hear that her performance was a disaster. She appeared to be spending most of the time waving her hands in the air, swaying her arms and body to the music, talking on the mic, and waving flags. Never do you see her looking down at her equipment to cue up a song, and working a transition.
The most noticeable error is when you hear a song by Rihanna come on while she starts to sing over one of her own tracks that Afrojack had produced. Strangely, you don't see where she might have accidentally pressed a button to cause that error, which suggests that it was some sort of pre-recorded mix that went bad.
At one point she's working the effects controls on the mixer but that seemed to be more for showmanship than anything substantial. She then gets on the mic and attempts to emcee the crowd, and then sing a portion of the song's hook "Oh sometimes I get a good feeling". It sounded hideous.
Video #1
Video #2
Recently, Afrojack was interviewd by BPM on SiriusXM regarding the incident. He did his best to not criticize her, but he confirmed that she had in fact played a pre-recorded mix. He also added that if anybody is going to try to be a DJ, to learn the equipment first before attempting to get in front of a crowd. You can listen to the interview below.
