Smashing It Up

Smashing It Up (The Smashing Pumpkins & Le Castle Vania vs. Lil' Jon & The East Side Boyz) [Dirty]

Smashing It Up (The Smashing Pumpkins & Le Castle Vania vs. Lil' Jon & The East Side Boyz) [Dirty] by DJ Dain

My original idea for this mash-up was going to utilize Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back," but Lil' John provided a much "harder" sound which I thought much more suitable. This is meant to be a club-banger in the most literal sense (e.g., head-banging, horn-throwing). Drop this when the crowd's tensing up for a make-shift mosh-pit.

Genesis of a Rockstar

Genesis of a Rockstar (Justice & Datsu vs. R. Kelly Feat. Ludacris & Kid Rock) [Clean]

Genesis of a Rockstar (Justice & Datsu vs. R. Kelly Feat. Ludacris & Kid Rock) [Clean] by DJ Dain

Arguably, I should have also added Fedde Le Grand among the list of artists since I technically tossed in a sample of "Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit" near the end. Datsu's remix of Justice's "Genesis" provided a solid ground for a rocking vocal, and R. Kelly's collaboration proved to be quite complementary. I was rather impressed how the respective arrangements of each track matched up so well.

Dirrty Ghosts Get The Party Started

Dirrty Ghosts Get The Party Started (Deadmau5 vs. Christina Aguilera & Method Man vs. Pink)

Dirrty Ghosts Get The Party Started (Deadmau5 vs. Christina Aguilera & Method Man vs. Pink) by DJ Dain

I love this track. Deadmau5' "Ghosts N Stuff" is such a banger of a track and worked amazingly well with the Club-Pop vocal stylings of Christina and Pink. I incorporated a number of break-beat samples to spice up the breakdowns. I'm extremely pleased with the final result.

Across the Surface of the Universe

Across the Surface of the Universe (The Chemical Brothers vs. The Beatles & Katie Enlow)

Across the Surface of the Universe (The Chemical Brothers vs. The Beatles & Katie Enlow) by DJ Dain

I saw "Across the Universe" a few months back, and I have to say it neither lived up to the hype nor the ferocious disappointment I've encountered from many others about it. It was pretty average overall, and I'm a sucker for stupid puns (e.g., When I'm 64, Max's silver hammer).

Getting Katie Enlow's vocal to match up in terms of pitch was frustrating to say the least. I had to cut out the whole "northing's gonna keep me down" bit because it caused a horrendous key clash. I also realize I may have almost drowned her vocal in reverb, but it didn't feel quite right without it. The Chemical Brother's track called for a big, roomy vocal and that was the only method I could figure out at the time.

Don't Jump For Too Long

Dont Jump For Too Long [Extended Edit] (Daft Punk vs. Kriss Kross, Dave Dirt & Funkanomics)

Dont Jump For Too Long [Extended Edit] (Daft Punk vs. Kriss Kross, Dave Dirt & Funkanomics) by DJ Dain

This one started out as a mini-mix which included a remix of "Jump Around" by House of Pain. It felt to chaotic to upload as a mash-up, so I re-edited the track to follow more of the original arrangement of Daft Punk's "Too Long." It took quite a while to get a number of different sections in this piece just right, including the opening (which actually starts on a down-beat in the original song). It was also a challenge figuring out the best strategy to incorporate the Kriss Kross breakdown without having to over-complicate manipulating the song's tempo. I'm pretty pleased with the result - even if it is literally "too long" for some.

*BONUS UPDATE*

By popular demand:

DJ Dain - Dont Jump Around For Too Long [Mini-Mix] (Daft Punk vs. Kriss Kross & Dave Dirt & Funkanomics vs. House of Pain & Micky Slim)

Bleed Love for the Trouble in Miami & Atlanta

Bleed Love for the Trouble in Miami & Atlanta (Pryda vs. Leona Lewis vs. A.D.O.R.)

Bleed Love for the Trouble in Miami & Atlanta (Pryda vs. Leona Lewis vs. A.D.O.R.) by DJ Dain

I think it was around the time I started working on this mash-up that I began to experiment with manipulating the pitch function in Ableton. That's probably a no-brainer for a lot of other remixers out there, but I had been previously approaching most projects with "natural" harmonies between the instrumentals and A cappelas I had been using.

Getting the right tag information for A.D.O.R. resulted in a number of title changes for this track, which is why the file name might be different from the ID3 tag info.

New content on the way!

I've got a whole bunch of new mash-ups ready to be released over the next few weeks. Ideally, I'd like to update every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I'll do my best to maintain that format.

In the meantime, I must share this gem my friend "Toug" from over at Aptitude Test posted via Twitter: Mash-ups MST3K style!

Halfsies Night at the GCSU Backlot

Friday, January 16 is Halfsies Night! Half of admissions will be won by someone at the end of the Night. Entertainment provided by DJ Raven and friends (featuring DJ Dain). Cover is only $4.00. Doors Open 8:30 PM, Show Starts 10:00 PM. Great Specials from 9:00 - 11:00 PM!

A Belated Happy Holidays

Whoa.

I've been really busy during the Christmas break and school has already kicked in for the Winter term. It's beginning to look like there will be a lot of reading to take care of early on. That being said, I have a handful of new Mash-ups that I plan on releasing, as well as a number of events in the coming months, so please stay tuned.