Remix as Art: Bon Iver Remixed

After presenting our group remix project on Monday, I felt it was important to discuss the process of creating our remixes further, as the process influence and shaped our finished remix products.

For me, the most significant part of the process of creating the first remix was sitting down and working with the producer who helped us and experiencing first hand some of the barriers that DJs and producers face on a regular basis. Initailly, Maddalen wanted to remix a classic rock artist, like Bob Dylan or The Beatles, only to find out that, unless we had the money to pay to access the separated tracks (drums, bass, vocals, harmony, etc.), which are also known as stems, we could not do so. As a musician, I knew that a song was made up of different layers, but I had never considered the resources you would need to access them, especially with the availability of digital music online. Our solution was for me to cover the vocals of the song we chose, and from that, the producer would build up an entirely new track from scratch using only my vocals. For me, this was the epitome of what we were trying to prove with our music remix, that DJs and producers are talented and creative musicians who create music, and do not just add a "tacky drum loop" to an existing song. We worked with the producer to try to decide what we wanted to remix to sound like which he interpreted and used to create an entirely new song, which only shared the lyrics with the original.

After deciding to remix "Skinny Love" by Bon Iver, which would provide a stark contrast between the original and our remix, as it featured female vocals, a new tempo and a different genre of music altogether. We wanted to turn it into a dubstep remix, because, not only does it create an entirely different emotional vibe and feeling, it has become increasingly popular with DJs and producers and in mainstream music, which presents the possibility of appealing to a new audience.

I am very proud of the music remixes we created and believe they strongly exemplify remix as a valued artistic and creative expression. Enjoy!

"Heavy Love (Bon Iver Remix)" by DJ ft. Kristine Lippett by kristinelippett

"Heavy Love(less) (Bon Iver Remix)" by Mix Master Matt ft. Kristine Lippett by kristinelippett