Music
How to produce a UK garage remix: 10 tips from Alicai Harley and Toddla T
90 minutes to make a remix? Toddla T and rising dancehall queen Alicai Harley have this one covered.
Toddla T’s back in Red Bull Studios London for another live remix session, once again going against the clock with the audience’s help in real time. Here he links up with Alicai Harley to put a garage spin on their latest collaboration – a dancehall heater titled Instruction. Below, we break down their process to an easy-to-follow 10 step guide that covers everything from picking a tempo and programming drums to the right filters and plug ins to give your track that little extra shine.
1. Choose the direction of your track
Toddla’s a man of many talents, so the first task is to pick which genre to base the remix around. The people spoke and went with garage. Chances you’re already making music in a particular style you favour, so the best bet is to go with whatever genre you’re most comfortable with. Of course, there’s plenty to be said for pushing out into the unknown, but right now it's all about having fun and putting together a banger.
2. Pick a tempo
UK garage covers a pretty broad spectrum tempo-wise, from 120 BPM groovers like the Groove Chronicles remix of UK R&B legends Damage, all the way up to the heady heights of 140 BPM and the speed garage slammers of the late '90s. One way to pick a speed is to loop a section of the original that you’re hoping to use in the remix (more on that in a minute) and flick up and down through a few BPMs until one feels right. It’s all about going with your gut and seeing how the sounds and rhythms from the original work at their new tempo. Also, experiment with the different warping options – lots of classic garage is built around pitched-up vocals, and using the Repitch option will allow you to work with this effect. However you might find it makes sense to retain the feel of the original by keep the pitch as it was – in this case you’re better off using the Complex warping mode, which retains the subtlety of the musical elements.
3. Find some material to work with
Listen through the original at its new speed and chop out any parts or sections that jump out at you. You can be loose with your choices at this point – it’s better to have more material than you need, as you can always edit things down as the track progresses. Here, Toddla identifies a loop right at the start which looks like it could become a key element in the remix. The start and end portions of tracks often provide the best material as they tend to be more stripped back, allowing you to build new sounds around them.
4. Fire up the drums
Once you’ve got a few loops to work from start throwing in some percussion, filling in the gaps and enhancing the original’s rhythmic qualities. How you approach this part depends on how you work. It might be – as in Toddla’s case – by searching for the elements you want and rattling through them until something tickles your ear. Or you may have an idea of how you want your percs to sound and can build them from scratch using synthesis. Whatever works for you, the important thing here is to capture a vibe quickly. It might even be a case of throwing in ‘placeholder’ sounds for now and tweaking or replacing them later on when you’ve got things a bit more locked down.
5. It's time for the bassline
Toddla draws for the SH-02 from Roland, but pretty much any soft synth worth its salt will be capable of making a solid bass sound to work with. Contrary to what some people will have you believe, there’s no shame at all in using presets. A 909 is just a group of preset sounds in a box, after all. Your best bet is to run through the available presets until you land on something close to what you’re after, then tweak the synth’s parameters till you’re happy. And remember to save this tweaked preset! Having a bunch of customised sounds ready to go will not only make the creation process quicker and more intuitive, but will help you build up a sound unique to you.
6. Add in new sounds to create a sense of progression
Now you’ve got a decent skeleton of a track, start adding new sounds to create different sections. An easy place to start is adding percussion elements to keep the ear interested as the track progresses. Shakers, hi-hats, congas – anything goes at this point, just make sure they’re working alongside the rhythm you already have running. Vocal chops are also great, as Toddla demonstrates by throwing in a few ‘hey’ chants to keep things moving.
7. It's time for the melody
It’s true that many of the best garage records are nothing more than some tough drums, a heavy bassline and some choice oneshots, but adding a bit of melody is always worth a shout. Toddla reaches for the classic piano at Alicai’s request, but there are plenty of options available when creating lead lines. When trying to work out notes and/or chords, a good place to start is by taking a look at your bassline. Figure out the root note of that and base your melody around it. Play the same kind of rhythm or work the gaps in between? Follow the progression of the notes or try it inverted? There are any number of ways to create a memorable melody, but working off of that killer bassline you just made is a solid place to begin.
8. Add in some fresh bars
Not everyone gets the opportunity to work on a remix with the original vocalist, and Toddla makes the most of the situation by sourcing brand new verses from Alicai herself, along with a peppering of vocal stabs, doubles and ad-libs to further bring the track to life. A bit further down the line (01:04:21), Toddla adds the CLA Vocals plugin from Waves to process the group of backing vocals, and help them sit nicely in the mix. If you’re writing an instrumental track however, try different melodic ideas while referencing the original material, using the same ideas and techniques as you would for a vocal section.
9. Perfect the arrangement
00:51:30
With Alicai suggesting changes for the intro of the tune, and while she writes her second verse, Toddla gets working on the arrangement. Often the hardest part of any track, figuring out how to get from start to finish in a compelling and exciting way can sometimes be wildly frustrating, especially in instrumental electronic music.
Working with vocals as Toddla is here, there’s something of a traditional structure already in place to work from, as chorus follows verse follows intro in a manner we’re used to from all manner of popular music. One tip if you’re struggling with your instrumental arrangement is to follow these same pop structures, substituting the vocal for different melodic sections of your track. You can then extend and expand on this initial base to suit the style of music you’re creating.
10. And it's time for finishing touches
Toddla ‘prints’ or resamples the drum group as a single stereo file to allow for further editing and fine-tuning. This means you can treat your drums as if they were your own break, allowing you to chop, splice, rearrange and tweak the audio as much as you dare. Toddla creates a whole new section using the existing material by bandpassing the drums, automating their reverb send and moving the bassline up an octave. To finish things off and get the whole mix sounding nice and loud, he slaps Fabfilters’ Pro-L 2 limiter on the master, which brings up the overall level without squashing the transients. And that’s how you write a garage banger in an hour.
Enjoy this? Check out more Studios Live breakdowns led by Toddla at the links below.
