Remix Cultures: Remix as Art

I just studied Rudolph Arnheim’s theory on “Film as Art”, and I want to use his structure to prove remix culture is art. Many educated people would argue film is not art it is just reproducing reality mechanically and Arnheim’s goal is to prove this notion wrong. Many educated people may similarly argue that remixed music is not art, it is just a reproduction of the musical art already created. To prove this wrong Arnheim goes over the basic elements of film medium and how different these images are from reality through using artistic resources and working principles of film art (such as camera lenses, continuity editing, and lighting effects to name a few). Similar to film medium elements that allow film to go beyond recreating reality there are digital audio elements that allow remix to go beyond reproducing a song with options of using slight influence to create a completely different sounding song, or the choice to stay faithful to the original and just make a few tweaks in the guitar sound.

A music producer receives all elements of a song separately—guitars, acapella vocal, drums, bells all on a separate recording so the producer can use them or decide to recreate his own bassline, or drums. Remixed music is the reconstruction and rearrangement of a song using sparing or most of the components of the original piece. The main body of the remixed work is actually original work but new material that is only inspired by, not copied original themes. The artistic resources used are found in the digital audio work station and the series of modern audio techniques they are able to formulate. There is always something distinguishable between the original work and the remix, but the artistic remix work comes into play when the producer uses modern audio techniques that rearrange components, write new components and arrange them in a stylistic, unexpected, and at the same time coherent with the song style.

Arnheim claims “art begins when mechanical reproduction leaves off” meaning images we perceive through film is different from images we receive of physical world (Arnheim, 35). Similar to remix work the art begins when we listen to the finished product and it brings emotions and thoughts into our head that the original work might not have done. Music producers are people that create original works as well as remix other songs. Creator control proves that remix work is considered an art because for film they choose what is in the frame, what is left out, what angle, what is most prominent, filmed backwards in time, create new realities, show reality and subjective reality, etc. Creator control for music is the same, they choose what original elements are left in the song, what are taken out, what instruments will be re-written, what synthesizer they will use etc.

I would like to conclude by stating my belief that film is actually a remix, because it uses elements of reality, but is recreated. It is a mix of reality with fantasy and the producer’s imagination. It is influenced by many works and experiences and can often provoke emotions that reality may not in certain situations.

Here is an example of a remix that I enjoy better then the original song.

Original: Florence and the Machine "Rabbit Heart"