14. SEBASTIEN TELLIER ‘Oh Malheur Chez O’Malley’ (2003)

Speaking of songs, they’re, of course, the main material you’re provided with before starting to tweak. Now, there are two kind of songs you have to deal with: the ones you already like in the first place, and the ones you don’t. Sometimes it’s better to work on a track you care for. Sometimes you’ll want to take it all back to the acapella and re-create a whole new arrangement. And sometimes you’re almost scared to touch it because it’s already so good.

Seb Tellier’s ‘Oh Malheur’ is a masterpiece. This remix was part of a special present my crew (the Club75) made for Busy Pedro’s 30th birthday. The sole reason I ruined the original is because I knew how much the birthday boy loved it, so I was giving him a version only he could play out. I’m glad Tellier liked it enough to let me use it here.

13. CHROMEO ‘Waiting for you’ (2007)

When it comes to this remix game, I have only one rule: first there is THE BEAT. Remixing = beatmaking + having fun.

As a matter of fact, sometimes the beat and the bass are the only things I change from the original song, and I just keep the rest. It’s almost the case on this Chromeo joint. Originally, it was a demo I prepared when they asked me to produce a song for their ‘Fancy Footwork’ album. But DaveOne didn’t want to use it because, I quote, it sounded too much like a remix!

I love Chromeo, by the way, and I love this song.

12. SEB MARTEL ‘Serge Dylan’  (2003)

Right now unofficial remixes are the new demo.

I personally love to get unsolicited remixes of my own songs, and I also have my own share of bootlegs. For example, I remixed Biggie, Nas, Jay-Z, and TuPac in 2004, using acapellas I found on Napster. Unfortunately I couldn’t include them on this record, because of copyright clearance. Other official remixes of mine that I couldn’t get: ‘Charlie Brown’ by Ghostface Killa, ‘AKH’ by Akhenaton,  and ‘Make The World Go Round’ by Busta Rhymes. It’s a real shame because I would’ve love this  compilation to have more Rap on it.

11. ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI ‘In case we die”  (2006)

Here’s a little insider info for you: the remix business is the last field where old and twisted industry jive is still taking place. “Change this, change that” or ” at 1′34 can you change the reverb and put the hihat louder?”, or the absolute classic “why is it only 3 minutes long? Can you make it longer, like 4′30 ?”.  For a long time, I thought I was the only one going through this, I didn’t even want to talk about it.  Now I know the truth: accepting money to make music will always somehow oblige you to comply to the payer’s wishes.

In the case of Architecture In Helsinki, I have to admit, it was probably the smoothest transaction ever made. They asked, I said yes. I did it, they said yes. Thank them.

10. SAM SPARRO ’21st Century Life’ (2007)

My other favourite remixers are Pete Rock, Maurice Fulton, Justice and Mr Oizo. In my opinion, they keep the best balance when it comes to sounding like a proper song/doing computer music. That’s one thing I always strive for. And then there’s the acoustics. The dance-floor factor. The résumé. The class.

This SPARRO track is about the only attempt I ever made to produce a 4/4 house music song. It’s one strange thing to produce (and almost exclusively listen to) a kind of music I never get to play myself in a club when I DJ. This is another head-wrecker of mine, and I have yet to find the solution to this dilemma: should my production style get closer to my DJ bag, or the opposite?