FREE Mashup Niceness

[color color=#BF0000:uapicmo0][size size=150:uapicmo0]Thanks for the support and feedback guys.[/size:uapicmo0][/color:uapicmo0]

Thanks for listening and for the feedback.

I mostly come up with the ideas for my mashups from the tunes I like and the mixability of available acapellas, For instance the Q-Tip Vs Maculate one (as with a lot of others) came about during a practise session at home, I have a playlist full of acapellas and one of Instrumentals and I just play around seeing what will mix well live with a few cue-points. Others like the Beastie Boys ones were a labour of love, in so much as I had a fat stack of acapellas by the B-Boys and I spent ages trying to pitch the vocals correctly to go with the instrumental and added a whole heap of little vocal snippets from other tunes by them, I’m never overly bothered about mixing these things in key (especially with the Beasties as each member has a distinct flow and spits in a different key anyway), I just try as much as possible to keep refering back to the original tracks (both the instrumental and the acapella) without letting them limit me. At the end of the day you’re only limited by your imagination and to a lesser extent the limitations of whatever software you use. Never let the genre you are trying to produce in dictate the way you make a track happen, try things that You think might sound good (a lot of the time they’re the ones that just sound the best), it’s a lot of trial and error really.

My advice would always be to combine the things you like in as sympathetic a way as possible (it really does show when you’ve made the effort to keep things at a similar pitch).

Don’t get bogged down with just one project at a time, I find it helps to have a number of different mashups on the go at the same time so if I run into a creative block with one I can focus on another or just leave it alone for a while (sometimes that spark of inspiration will come from the strangest of places, I’ve been struck by inspiration at the most peculiar of times, during a movie, a meal, sat on the toilet, even during sex). Always keep a notepad (or a device with a similar function) handy, as you might have a great idea which could evaporate away into the ether without ever being acted upon.

Always be true to yourself (yeah it’s a cliche but it’s easy to hear when someone has forced themselves into a creative cul-de-sac or restricted their usage of tracks to a specific genre or artist).

I hope this has helped in some small way.

Stay blessed and keep at it.