Erykah Badu - On & On (Max Jones Remix)

Music Discovery & Curation Tracks & Remixes
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Erykah Badu - On & On (Max Jones Remix)

Here’s a new tune i’ve just finished using an acapella from Erykah Badu’s track “On & On”. I’ve been influenced by Cinematic Orchestra and Bonobo as well as artists like James Blake and Mount Kimbie and hopefully created something reasonably individual. Let me know what you think.

https://soundcloud.com/rubberdub/erykah-badu-on-on-max-jones/

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b.um.p.

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I listened to your remix. It was alright. I guess overall I was slightly underwhelmed with the music? I think the music and the vocals were blended pretty well. I listened on laptop speakers. I appreciate the concept, and I didn’t dislike it. On the other hand I didn’t especially like it, or feel that it improved on the original.

I guess that’s all the feedback I have. Keep at it! :slight_smile:

!!! AWESOMER !!!

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Cool. I want to further explore this concept of “underwhelming” music. Was it the structure that was underwhelming? The composition? Or was it the textures of the sounds? If it was the latter, I urge you to listen on something with a bit more definition. The thing I’m trying to achieve in all my tracks at the moment is interesting texture. I’m not trying to make you like my music, i’m just looking for more objective points of view, mostly because this is the first song i’ve made that I could see myself downloading if it were made by someone else and I found it.

Also, do you think a remix should better the original? I think a good remix should be uncomparable to the original, because it’s made it different, and fits a different mood and purpose. I’d be interested to hear your views on this.

Thanks for taking an interest.

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My GF and I listened to your remix on the Klipsches with the subwoofer turned on. Here’s our feedback, which should address some of your questions above.

  • While the vocal is “on beat”, we feel like it isn’t “in the pocket.” As an experiment, if you were to move the entire vocal track backwards approximately one beat, I believe it would be in the pocket and “relate” to the musical backing better. My GF says, “right now it sounds like you’re in the mix” as opposed to in the remix I suppose?

  • I feel like Badu’s vocal on the original track is about the push-and-pull of her sing-songy lyrical freedom in the vocal and the.. droney call-and-response of the chorus, “on and on and on and on…”. You mostly use the verse bits, and I feel like this point/counterpoint is somewhat lost. Is it going.. on and on and on and on.. mkay?

  • My GF referred to the “crunchiness” of the overall track, and pointed out that it lacks punch in the drums and that there is a general lack of instrumentation in the lower mid-range. I understand that the vocal lives in this range, but it seems like the mix currently has a sonic hole there, especially when the vocal is not actively playing.

  • The “crunchiness” is probably part of what you are referring to with “textures” and I agree that it does add sonic interest. But its isolation in the high end, and the frequency with which relatively complex textures are playing in that high end leads to an overall impression of slightly busy crunchiness.

I think a remix should generally try to.. “do justice” to the original, especially when the original has an.. iconic.. vocal?

I don’t think that means every remix has to “sound like” the original, but if it does sound approximately similar, then I want it to do more than make me think “I’d like to listen to the original track”? It doesn’t have to be better but it does have to.. have.. enough.. (?) for me to put aside the original.

This does mean that, for example, IMO pretty much nobody should ever remix a Beatles song, or Michael Jackson, or Prince. The likelihood that their remix will do anything other than “steal” a bit of the personality of the culturally ubiquitous original seems.. low. “On and On” is not quite a Beatles song, but it is very much what it is.. and when you remix a track which people have an intimate relationship with, I feel you have to.. acknowledge.. that song’s “canon” and make a sincere attempt to add to it?

!!! AWESOMER !!!

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Thanks for all the feedback. I’m not sure I agree with all of it (mostly the stuff about the “sonic hole”… I’m pretty sure there’s a piano standing in it…) but it’s good to get others’ perspective. Cheers!

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dling, will let u know

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Bump