REMIXING WORKFLOW

> In remixing, workflow is a necessary evil. Yes, nobody wants to do the housekeeping, but when you’re staring down a project in the middle of the creative flow, trying to hold onto the ideas in your head, you’ll be glad that you know where all your elements are. Stopping for ten minutes to track down that part you found during the listening sessions is like throwing icy water over your creative fervour. After your initial ‘salvaging’ sessions, you should have a folder of elements that you’ve gathered from the original track. You won’t have to load the parts again – just this one folder. So make sure you know exactly where it’s located, both in your OS’s file browser and in your DAW.

But where do all the other elements come from? Our recommended workflow is to first build the scaffolding of your new track out of the elements of the old, 100%. This means using every drum from the original, only vocals from the original, and even crafting things like risers out of elements of the original. After this, it’s time to start replacing the original elements with new ones. This ‘replacement only’ strategy means that you’re forced to try using as many elements from the original as creatively as possible. If they truly don’t work, it’s time to replace them.