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- Kanye West - Love Lockdown
- Radiohead - Reckoner
Both Kanye West and Radiohead are participating in a long overdue trend that seems to now be emerging where musical artists are beginning to release “stems” from their tracks. Until recently, a mashup or remix artist would feel lucky just to find an instrumental version or acapella (vocals only) of a favorite track. But these musical stems allow us much more control.
Most modern recordings have many tracks, usually more than ten, and sometimes more than a hundred. Each track typically represents a single recording or electronic sound. Traditionally, before all these tracks are mixed down into a final stereo mix, it is first mixed down into about four to eight separate audio files (stems). All the foreground vocals might be on one stem, all the drums on another, while the guitars and keyboards might be on yet another. When all the stems are added together, you hear the song as it was originally meant to be heard. The traditional purpose of these stems was to enable the mastering engineer to give the final mixdown just the right sound for various formats (radio or club, CD or vinyl).
Now, with DIY remix culture exploding, we sonic manipulators are growing hungry for disassembled pop music, and the music industry is beginning to see the benefit of increased exposure through releasing stems directly to the public, allowing us much greater freedom than if they had simply released the instrumentals and acapellas. Now we can choose which instruments are playing.
This new trend augers well for us in the mashup community, and I look forward to the practice expanding. Thank you Kanye, thank you Radiohead, and thanks to all the other musicians (and music execs) that are starting to see the light!
October 7th, 2008 at 5:03 am
YES.
October 7th, 2008 at 5:42 am
What a beautiful mix! After reading about the ’stems’ and how they are becoming more popular, its truly exciting to think of what is possible for the future of music and mixes! As usual, wonderful and amazing music! Thank you Earworm!
October 7th, 2008 at 6:32 am
Yes, Yes, Yes, where did this kid come from and what next? Every time I listen to another mash-up from Earworm, I get the feeling that a revolution is about to hit us; and every time he just smashes the senses. Dude, you are the bomb.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:43 am
Yes! Earworm, one of your best mash-ups yet. Between this, “Gimme Freaks” and “Over the Confluence of Giants”, you have been on fire lately. I can’t wait till I hear from you next. Keep it up man.
October 7th, 2008 at 7:08 am
I am not familiar with either tracks at all. If I didn’t know any better then they were meant to be together in the first place - and that’s what makes every single Earworm mix so special…………
October 7th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Dj You send us to the outer planets ! Thank you !
October 7th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Gorgeous remix!
October 7th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Earworm - youdeman!
Talent that is worldwide recognised mate - well done!
October 7th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
AwEsOmEnEsS…
October 8th, 2008 at 2:01 am
amazing. better than the original version by kanye.
October 8th, 2008 at 5:32 am
Remix culture certainly is exploding and music will be all the better for it. For those of you who like remixing, you should check out www.mixmatchmusic.com. Whether you are a musician, a DJ with audio editing equipment, or a nonmusician with no software, you can use it to make new music, collaborate with other musicians, remix other people’s songs and stems, and actually profit from your work too.
If you’re a musician and want to let your fans easily remix your stems, check out the remix wizard: http://remixwizard.mixmatchmusic.com. Free, customizable, and embeddable.
October 8th, 2008 at 8:31 am
[…] Remix Culture is Exploding Published October 7, 2008 DIY , by Sandra , culture , future of music , genres , music , music law , politics , remixing Tags: Girl Talk, Help Sarah Make Sense, mashups, radiohead, remix, Sarah Palin, The Bayliens DIY music mashups are becoming increasingly prevalent as more and more musicians see the value of interacting with their fans. Luckily, as DJ Earworm points out, “the music industry is beginning to see the benefit of increased exposure through releasing st…. […]
October 9th, 2008 at 12:45 am
Another incredible mix!
I had no idea that stems were finally getting released mainstream. This does auger well for Mash-ups & remixers!
October 11th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Great Mashup
October 11th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
beautiful job
October 12th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Incredible work… and that video, man. Pretty sure you win the award for best mashup music video ever.
October 12th, 2008 at 11:50 am
sounds incredible.. great job
October 14th, 2008 at 2:16 am
[…] his blog, Earworm has created an incredible mix of both tracks. Here’s how he explained it on his blog: Now, with DIY remix culture exploding, we sonic manipulators are growing hungry for disassembled […]
October 14th, 2008 at 4:29 am
Nice job on the mashup, son. Oh and thanks for the explanation on stems. Now I know why mashups are so easy nowadays that even an earworm can pull one off. It ain’t like the ol’ days when us DJ’s had to dig to China to find a good sample and juggle it down by hand. We didn’t have any of this computer voodoo to wipe our ass for us. But all the same, you did good. Hope the record companies keep throwin’ you a bone every now and then.
October 14th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Man, that’s some good stuff. I wrote a very short blog on the mix. It’s actually one of the better Reckoner mixes I heard. Props. brknears.blogspot.com, thats the link if you wanna drop by. I hope to hear some future mixes soon.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:31 am
brilliant mix … thanks for the aural candy …
October 15th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Hey dude can u forward the track, ‘dont cha’ remix done by u. Plz forward it to my email id. thankz!
October 16th, 2008 at 11:09 am
GREAT GREAT GREAT
October 16th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Been following your mashups for a couple of years… this is definitely one of my absolute favorites (and it’s currently among my favorite of all songs.)
Really great work. Thank you!
October 18th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
[…] You have to love musicians like Ye and Yorke for putting stems to their songs on the net, so we can wonderful collaborations like this!!!!! Download from DJ Earworm’s site now […]
October 19th, 2008 at 1:00 am
[…] What a great mashup, DJ Earworm put together Kanye West´s Love Lockdown and Radiohead´s Reckoner. Download Reckoner Lockdown here. […]
October 19th, 2008 at 3:17 am
AWESOME!! i love it!!
October 19th, 2008 at 4:28 am
[…] Kanye/Radiohead - RECKONER / LOCKDOWN By DJ Earworm, if you’re a DJ, like yours truly, then check out this kat’s website for a shit load of dope Mashups that will tear down any club… […]
October 19th, 2008 at 5:15 am
Damn its a hit ,now its something I wont ever forgot you can miX …..props to ya…
October 19th, 2008 at 9:25 am
I cannot get enough of this mix. It’s better than either song alone. I love it man. Great job.
October 19th, 2008 at 11:15 am
[…] WOW! Amazing Mash-up. Stream/Download it here. […]
October 19th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
pretty good
download my mashup of
Drop It Like Its Hot
Still Ballin
The Next Episode
Grindin
for free @ www.reverbnation.com/djremike
October 20th, 2008 at 2:12 am
[…] DOWNLOAD: KANYE WEST x RADIOHEAD “LOCKDOWN RECKONER” Categories: ENTERTAINMENTTags: ENTERTAINMENT, kayne west, radio head About the Authormike w3st […]
October 20th, 2008 at 2:30 am
[…] get at it here […]
October 20th, 2008 at 8:00 am
he put it on his own blog. cool.
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:16 am
this is so SICK
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:23 am
wow man this is really sick imma have to check up on u alot but can anyone tell me how to download lol.
October 25th, 2008 at 3:37 am
Wow! amazing mix! I’m taking music tech at school, and you are like, my idol! Awesome stuff =] xx
October 25th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
wow, this is not just refreshing, this is necessary -this is art. i came across DSICOs mash ups years ago and now I’m sad to say they are hard to find on the ‘net. Please please archive these somewhere where they’ll be around forever, because a piece of art that like this deserves to be cherished, in the true sense of the word. if you have a mailing list, put me down for news and updates on what you are doing next!
October 25th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
HEY!
This made the Toronto Star newspapers Anti-Hit-List!
Congrats!
Quote from newspaper:”A brilliant recasting of the former’s ambivalently received new single, “Love Lockdown,” with elements of the latter’s In Rainbows favourite, “Reckoner.” If nothing else, it’ll make you rethink West’s lyrics (”You can’t wait for life/We’re just racing time”) as not just the thing that accompanies the music, but the thing that determines it.”
November 1st, 2008 at 12:01 am
This is unreal. I love “Reckoner” and don’t know the Kanye song. At this point, I don’t think I WANT to know the Kanye song; this mashup is all I need. I haven’t been able to get this out of my head for days — absolutely stunning.
November 1st, 2008 at 3:39 am
SO WELL DONE AND SO AWESOME TO LISTEN TOO.
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:27 pm
[…] 02.) Kanye West vs. Radiohead - Reckoner / Lockdown […]
November 9th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
very nice work, new favorite song. great remix.,thanks
November 19th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Hott shitt. Your blog’s layout is the shiznit too homie. 5 stars alllll day.
November 20th, 2008 at 12:16 am
Your Music is on fire, Thanks for all the clips you put on your site. Keep the trend going!!
November 20th, 2008 at 5:56 am
Wow…this is amazing. I loved Kanye’s “Love Lockdown” single from the get-go, a great pop song, but Radiohead’s otherworldly, beautiful backing music provides a perfect contrast. This is much better than the original “Love Lockdown” - this is a work of true beauty. I’d like to know how the sampled artists feel about it…I know Kanye has commented on Yorke’s genius in the past (and even sampled Yorke’s solo song “The Eraser”). Anything to bring attention to Radiohead’s excellent ‘In Rainbows’ can only be a good thing.