The Remixing and The Remix

 Desperately wanting to "do" music, but completely dry of "new" material, I turn to the remix.  I consider it practice, a honing of skills, a creative outlet.  Sometimes it whets my appetite for other ideas, so it can serve as a spark as well, although technically it hasn't!  I haven't written a song in like two years, really.  I think the last true original was "love love", the JPOP song.

https://soundcloud.com/nancy-cartonio/ai-shite-iru?in=nancy-cartonio/sets/dance-music-28

 Recently, I was cleaning out my computer and I found the Aquatronic stuff.  I looked and listened and examined the tracks, and I was embarrassed.  I didn't know half of what I know now in the technical sense, so the recordings were all fucked.  And it was too bad, because some of the tracks were good and had potential.  My fave was this:

http://www.myspace.com/aquatronic/music/songs/alien-sexcapade-16267047

I am generally not into rap, but this one is clever and fun, I love the lyrics.   Also I liked Pharaoh's idea of using two different voices (both him) and making the song a conversation.  Also, the beat we started with was Pharaoh's.  I just felt like the song was naked, and wanted to be dressed up.  With a little help from Joanna in the beat department, this is what happened:

https://soundcloud.com/nancy-cartonio/alien-sexcapade


I wanted to present the before and after so people could identify what I did with what I had.  Now I love it even more.  And the video too!


http://www.youtube.com/user/nancycartonio?feature=mhee

headphones vs speakers

It is very frustrating indeed!

 I spend all day working on a song, in my room using headphones.  By the time I finish, I am in love with it.  I listen to it over and over until I feel like it belongs on the internet.  During the "over and over" part I have finished my third glass of merlot, which may be why I love the song so much.   The frustrating part is listening to the song on speakers.  It always sounds different, worse.  I have recorded, mixed and mastered under many a different circumstance and I still can't figure out how to "nail it".   And there are days when I listen to all the songs I have ever done and I think they all suck.  That may be why I do a lot of remixing/reworking old songs.  If I almost love it, or only like a couple bits, I will take it apart and play with it for awhile...  But goddammit I swear it sounds amazing in my headphones so why does it sound like crap when I plug in the speakers?!  It's a pickle alright.