Joris Voorn
The Dutch DJ shares the wisdom behind his recent take on Paul Simon’s
Because I didn’t know Graceland as much as others might, I listened carefully and I really liked Homeless. It was so stripped down, I thought I could do something special with it.” What’s the most crucial thing to do when you start working on a remix? “First I listen very carefully to the parts. In this case the parts were phenomenal – it was a very well-recorded album, and it was done in the ’80s so it was done with the best possible technical setup. I had acappellas for the choir parts and I had Paul Simon himself. They were all mixed in a really nice way, and even though there was some bleed between all the mics, it sounded great to begin with.
“Sometimes the answer is in the parts. The first time you listen to the parts you kind of mute and unmute Homeless some of them, and that’s when the main idea comes to life.” It feels like you’ve added a new melody and chord progression… “The other reason I wanted to do Homeless was because there was a demo version on Spotify (bit.ly/ HomelessDemo). The demo had a guitar arpeggio part in there. I took the melody of that and that became the melody and the chord progression of the song. You won’t find this melody on the album version.
“Once I put the melody and the chord progression into Ableton, I just started building on that. First I made a version that didn’t have any beats – just a kick drum. I made a million versions and tried them out all through the summer!” Did you have to make any sacrifices compared to your original idea? “The original guitar arpeggio was a lot slower. I had to speed it up to around 125bpm and then I felt it was getting too crowded, with the drums, arpeggio and vocals so I had to strip down the vocals.” What’s your approach to remixing? “I don’t have one particular approach – it always depends on what you get to work with. If you get really great stems from a great band, singer or producer, you have a lot to work with. That’s a lot easier than when you just get five loops from a track made in the ’90s by a dance producer who doesn’t have the parts any more! Then you have to build something completely new, but I prefer having really nice parts and stems that give you a lot of creative freedom.”
Which remix are you most proud of, and/or which was the hardest?
“This Homeless remix was actually quite complicated. It was mastered and in the end I thought something was missing. I made a new version and offered to pay for new mastering. These things happen sometimes.
“But other times it goes quicker – I remember doing a Royksopp remix once [ I Had This Thing, bit.ly/ JorisIHTT] that was done fairly quickly and works really well.
“I’m quite proud of my Lykke Li Remix [bit.ly/JorisNoRest]. I worked on it really hard, but I couldn’t really find the right balance between dancefloor vs giving respect to the original song. In the end I threw away all the parts and started all over again, and then in half a day I had the remix completely set up.”
I made a million versions and tried them out all through the summer!