I've always felt that remixing electronic songs is kind of difficult. With a rock or pop track, the song is automatically going to sound completely transformed when everything is replaced with electronics, but when something is already electronic based, the question is always "where do you take it?".

The song I remixed is called "Galaxies Collide", and it's going to appear on a deluxe version of Eleventyseven's new album coming out in September on Flicker Records. The original version is a total four-on-the-floor, super slick, ultra upbeat electro-pop track, so my goal was to try and put a different perspective on it. I already decided to put my standard anapop stamp on the entire production, so in addition to that I worked out an old school, Kraftwerkian direction to bring it all together.

In keeping with the "galactic" feel of the song, I went to work on a lot of spacey sound effects to open the song with. The beat comes in right away, with a half dozen effects coming in and out that lead into the opening of the lead riff and bassline. I did a sort of edited version of the lead riff from the original...it just seemed to fit better. For a hi-hat, I used a very clicky hi-pass filter program from the Moog....it really cuts through the mix nicely, too. For the choruses, I built them up slowly, so by the time the third and final one comes in, there's all kinds of riffs and counter melodies moving around the vocal for a good contrast.

Mixing was mainly done as I went along, so by the time I was ready to sit and do it properly, things were almost in the right place. I added just a smidgen of effects to the vocals, which took them in a different direction compared to the heavily treated originals. All sounds were tracked through the TL Audio console and the final mix was also put through the tubes. A good amount of Mooger effects were used with the Moog programs as well, so the mix has a warm, deep feel to it. I had a great time with this one.....

Echoing Green remix is up next...... 

The original version of the song is a punky, Franz Ferdinand meets The Faint style jam with a slight bit of electronics and sequencing sprinkled throughout. After giving it an initial listen, I thought it might work best with an old disco loop for drums and a dirty, rubbery bassline underneath it all. I did a couple of short experiments with that in mind, but after a few takes I thought it might be too much like the original, so I shifted everything over to the Moog to create an "anapop" (all-analog) version of it instead.

My overall goal was to keep the energy up on this one and not betray the pop arrangement of the original. Everyone has different ideas and preferences when it comes to remixes, but I like mine to retain the poppiness of the originals, if that's the kind of song it is. To pair it down even further, I also decided not to use a "gang chant" part in the bridge because I felt it didn't fit well with the song. 

Here's an outline of the some of the sounds used:

Low, sawtooth bassline, which moves around a lot on the verses.

Deep kick and white noise snare, with some sustain. Very lo-fidelity.

Spooky lead line, shaped by the Moog ring modulator.

16th note, mock hi-hat patch, run through the Moog phaser.

Various arpeggios and pulse width patterns on the choruses.

Vocals runned through the Moog delay and triggered from my old sampler. No grids here!

Overall, it turned out to be a very full sounding track, even though there's not too much going on....about twelve tracks worth of music and then the vocals. Everything was mixed through the TL Audio desk, overdriven a little more than usual, which just made it even warmer and thicker sounding.

I don't know when this will be available to the public, but I'll make an announcement when I find out.