Remixing Techniques: Arranging and Song Form

Arrange songs for radio play and club remixes using four different digital audio workstations: Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Logic, and Reason.

Introduction

• Welcome
• What you should know before watching this course
• Why did we record this course in four different DAWs?
• Using the exercise files

1. Arranging: An Overview

• A general overview of musical arranging
• An overview of remix arranging
• An overview of radio and club arranging

2. Arranging for the Radio

• Referencing the original or demo version of the song
• Listening to stems and deciding on the musical direction
• Creating a sketch arrangement
• Developing the drums and bass
• Adding synths
• Adding guitars
• Arranging the rest of the song

3. Arranging for the Club

• Referencing the original or demo version of the song
• Listening to stems and deciding on the musical direction
• Time stretching stems and creating a sketch arrangement
• Developing the drums and bass
• Adding synths
• Working from the hype backwards
• Arranging the rest of the song

4. Creating a Radio Edit from a Club Mix

• Trimming down the club version
• Identifying arrangement changes within the body of the song
• Listening through the final arrangement

5. Adding Arrangement Ear Candy

• Adding a vocoder
• Adding filtered delays to vocals
• Adding drum fills

6. Final Listens

• Listening through the final radio mix
• Listening through the final club mix
• Listening through the final radio edit

Conclusion

• Final thoughts and next steps