T.O.B's Remix Tutorial

[DJ T.O.B]

here's a mix tutorial based on cockos reaper (but you can do the same with other programs if you know how to change the bpm of a track):

Step 1 - 2: Downloading Programs
1. download any version of cockos reaper
for example try this link: http://www.chip.de/downloads/c1_down...804638&v=3600&

2. download mixmeister bpm analyzer

http://www.chip.de/downloads/BPM-Analyzer_49167653.html

Step 3 - 7: Detecting the BPM, loading the tracks
3. load your instrumental into the the bpm analyzer -> it will give you a bpm (beats per minute), for example 90.01 bpm
4. load the official track (album or og version) of the acapella you want to mix into reaper, for example temptations
5. load the temptations acapella into reaper

VERY IMPORTANT STEP
6. check if your acapella and your original track have the same tempo/bpm, by moving the acapella over the track
7. If they do you can get over to step 9, if they dont you have to go to step 8.

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a fast way to find out a bpm would be the tapping method, u probably can do it with your program, i use this site for it:
http://www.all8.com/tools/bpm.htm, just tap every snare, if it gives you a bpm of 44 for example the real bpm is 88 (doubled up)
side note: this isn't very acurate of course
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Step 8 - 21: Tutorial based on Reaper
8. do a cut (by pressing s on you keyboard) at the moment the acapella is exactly over the track
9. then move your mouse to then ending of the acapella track, press alt and fasten or slow down the acapella (by moving your mouse and pressing alt at the same time) [everything over 1,0 means ur making it faster, everything below means ur slowing it down, to slow it down detailed, you have to zoom in to some point!!!]
10. check if your acapella fits its original track now, if it does, step 11
11. NEVER LOAD AN ACAPELLA IN THE BPM ANALYZER, always use the official track or original, the acapella will always give you a wrong bpm, and also i wouldnt recommend using fanmade mixes, cause they maybe mixed it at a different bpm and their mixes might be offbeat
12. for temptations the bpm analyzer will tell you the bpm is 90.70
13. load your instrumental (90,01 bpm) in the same project the official track and acapella is in, you will have 3 layers now
14. enter the bpm of the track you want to change into the bpm box (you want to change the acapella, so for this example enter 90.7 in the bpm box)
15. right click the acapella >item settings>set item timebase to beat position, length, ... (tick this 1)
16. right click the official track >item settings>set item timebase to beat position, length, ... (tick this 1)
17. enter the bpm you want to change it to (90.01 bpm) in the bpm box now (notice how your official track and acapella got slowed down to 90.01 bpm, the official track, and in this case the acapella aswell is at 0,992 of the original speed, which means it got slowed down)

your nearly done now, your instrumental and your acapella are the same bpm/tempo now
all you gotta do now is to move the verse to the right bar

you know what snares are? if not you should inform yourself about what snares are, still actually you can also see them, i will make an ^for every snare
^ tell me baby are you lo^nely Don't wanna rush^ya
I can help ya if ya o^nly, let me touch^ ya
If I'm wrong love te^ ll me, cause I get cau^ght up
and the life I live is He^ll see, I never thought^I'd see
the day when I would c^alm down, you ain't^heard
I've been known to clown and^Get Around, that's my wo^rd

and so on ..

18. your instrumental got snares aswell, due to the fact that all your layers are the same bpm now (90.01) the distance between the snares in the instrumental have the same distance as the snares in the official track
19. move the first VERSE SNARE of your instrumental at the same place the first VERSE SNARE of the official track is at
20. mute the official track
21. congrats you got you first onbeat and onbar remix done (atleast it starts onbar, if you layed it on the right first VERSE SNARE)

it might get offbar, if the instrumental is build up with another schema/different bar lenght, but this can be solved by looping

looping is another story, but its not a hard one, i knew how to loop before i knew how to mix
you just cut a part of the instrumental and lay it at a different part where the kicks, snares and all the other instruments are the same/very similar
then you just blend it and you got a loop

mixing actually is piss easy once you know these steps,
with these steps i could make a mix onbar and onbeat without even using my ears, for working more detailed and for mixing & mastering you need ears for sure

anyways good luck & have fun mixing


made some quick video tutorials on
1. how to mix onbeat
2. how to loop out a tag
3. how to mix onbar/how to loop the beat if its too short/too long


1. how to mix onbeat

0:00 step 1-7 already done (noticed acapella got a bit of a different bpm than the original track) step 11 - 13 done too
0:10 - 1:00 step 8
1:00 - 1:45 step 9 and 10
1:45 - 2:20 step 14 - 18
2:20 - 3:30 step 19 - 20
at 3:30 you can see it needs manual fixing
3:30 - 3:50 manual fixing


2. how to loop out a tag

3. how to mix onbar/how to loop the beat if its too short/too long

[VenomRx]

Original bpm:

instrumental 90.01
acapella 90.7

Goal:

Decreasing the original acapella bpm to 90.01 from 90.7

Correct? Simple. But what if the analyzers give a wrong bpm, usually for the acapella?



Example, I have been trying to mix "Better Days" but its been difficult.

Original BPMs according to mixmeister:

instrumental 89.16 (accurate)

Better days 90.89 (not sure)

Any advice?

[DJ T.O.B]

Original bpm:

instrumental 90.01
acapella 90.7

Goal:

Decreasing the original acapella bpm to 90.01 from 90.7

Correct? Simple.

correct, you gotta change the pella bpm from 90.7 to 90.01
or change the beat from 90.01 to 90.7
it doesnt matter which way you choose but the acapella and the beat need to have the same bpm

But what if the analyzers give a wrong bpm, usually for the acapella?

11. NEVER LOAD AN ACAPELLA IN THE BPM ANALYZER, always use the official track or original, the acapella will always give you a wrong bpm, and also i wouldnt recommend using fanmade mixes, cause they maybe mixed it at a different bpm and their mixes might be offbeat

^^ this
bpm analyzer wont work with acapellas because acapellas usually dont contain drums or other instruments, analyzing might work with drumpellas, but id always use a the album track/og version for detecting the bpm

Example, I have been trying to mix "Better Days" but its been difficult.

Original BPMs according to mixmeister:

instrumental 89.16 (accurate)

Better days 90.89 (not sure)

Any advice?

better dayz acapella is a whole different story

6. check if your acapella and your original track have the same tempo/bpm, by moving the acapella over the track

if you press play and they get offsync, then the acapella got a different bpm, you can fix that by stretching the acapella until they sync eachother through the whole verse/whole track
for better dayz that doesnt work because the bpm within the acapella is changing
so before mixing you need to arrange/fix the acapella so it syncs the album/og version
when you done that you can analyze the bpm of the album/og version and you got your acapellas bpm

then you can follow step 14

[VenomRx]

I meant "Better Days" the official track not the acapella I loaded.

Hmm. I never tried matching the pella to the original track and creating a fixed version, like in the "Better Days" situation.

After finals, and during spring break, I will try this out and I'll let you know how it went.

Thanks for the knowledge mate!

[Mr. Kennedy]

My own personal method that I've learned myself is simply listening for the words in the original song that land on a snare/clap and base everything around that.

(Instead of the orthodox BPM method)