Tim Green has just dropped his ‘In New Light’ remix album featuring Mathew Jonson, Lost Desert, Dave DK, Janus Rasmussen, and more. The album celebrates 15 years of his releases, so we asked him to talk us through it, Track By Track.
‘For a Memory’ features 8 remixes by 8 different artists.
In terms of rights, most of Tim’s catalogue automatically reverted to himself, so he decided to host the songs on his label, whilst simultaneously releasing a remix album created by other artists. This inspired the album title ‘In New Light’.
Tim expressed his elation regarding the turn-out of ‘In New Light’ saying, “I absolutely love all the remixes everybody produced, and the final album turned out so much better than I ever could have imagined! I’m so grateful to all the artist’s hard work and involvement in the project.”
We decided to ask the remixers to take us through their contributions to the album Track by Track.
Her Future Ghost (Dave DK Remix)
Dave DK: My starting point for this remix was the piano hook. I cut out 2 of the 4 chords and put them in a different order so that the hook gets a new overall feeling. To make the sound more direct, I used the Zynaptic Unveil plug which is a fantastic tool.
The soundscapes and distorted sounds from the original track remained unchanged, I just cut out some parts. I added some reversed bell sounds and weird, atmospheric samples to complete the track. To create deepness and speed I looped a tom that I pitched down. For the new bass-line I used the Newfangled Audio Pendulate which I modulated later on in the track.
The break gets some more atmospheric samples added to the theme. On top of that, I created a vocal with the title of the track in different languages, spoken by and translated in Google. This has nothing to do with the original but gives it an interesting new touch.
Dodjo (Amonita Remix)
Amonita: Back in 2011, I heard ‘Dodjo’ and it was very different from everything that was released at that time. This track hooked me a lot, the cheerful marimba, combined with a vigorous groove, made me constantly move; energising my mood for the whole day. I definitely included it in my sets and it was one of my favourites for a long time.
When Tim invited me to remix one of his tracks, of course, I chose Dodjo. It’s impossible to forget the mood and emotions that this track filled me with. Spending about three days in the studio, I used the built-in Alchemy synthesizer in Logic Pro to create chords and applied layering for a more spacious and interesting sound.
I also used the same synthesizer to create backgrounds, and of course my favourite violins from one of the Kontakt libraries. I used Native Instruments’ Massive to create the sub-bass and paired it with the toms from the original track. I really enjoyed the process of making this remix. I really hope it will find a place in your playlist and in your heart.
Curious Smile (Alejandro Mosso Remix)
Alejandro Mosso: It was a pleasure to work with Tim’s sounds. The sonic palette was already well-tuned and clean to work with. After many different renders, I decided to keep it sparse and hypnotic. The main elements I used from the original are the lovely vocals and bass-line. I added a basic chord progression to give the track some harmonic grounding and replaced most of the drums with punchier sounds.
For the kick drum, I used the super flexible Kick 2 plug-in. The percussive arpeggio was done with physical modelling synthesis. I added some classic 808 congas and some modular processing with Byome by Unfiltered Audio. I also used a bit of Soothe 2 by Oeksound on the master to tame it.
Over The Water (Tim Green & Izhevski Remix)
Tim Green: Collaborating with Dmitry on remixing one of my older songs was great fun. We’ve collaborated on original songs before, so this felt very similar. We only worked remotely, due to obvious reasons. But Dmitry sent me his initial idea for the song “Over The Water”. He constructed this fantastic original beat and groove, whilst also utilising a lot of drums and percussion from the original.
Dmitry’ grooves always give me instant inspiration, so I started adding in various melodic parts from the original, mainly the pads and drones. Next, I added in my original vocals, which led me to hear, in my mind, the chord changes I wanted. Which is mainly being led by the octave piano notes, sort of doubling up as a bass-line also.
Finally, I wanted a big hook to go over the top and carry this song so that it had a different vibe from the original. I had this great synth line in my head, and very luckily dialled in a nice patch quite quickly on the Serum synth plugin. This really is the foundation of the song, with nice sub-bass filling up the frequency range for the main parts!
The Incident (Mathew Jonson & Quenum Remix)
Quenum: Tim sent me several tracks to choose a track that would catch our attention and I immediately liked the track “Incident”, which I sent to Mathew for his opinion. He loved the original! As Mathew was busy with his new project “Freedom Engine Academy” we decided that I would start working on the rhythm and drums, then send him the project so that he could come up with some ideas.
With Mathew in Berlin and I in Geneva, we sent the project to each other in ping pong so we could move on. We kept the melody from the original track and worked on it. Mathew worked on it and looked for ideas to give an answer to the original melody, then sent it to me. The final mix was done in Mathew’s studio in Berlin. Always a great pleasure to work in studio together.
This is how we did it. We used a Moog slim phatty analog synthesizer, Korg Electribe ESX1, Midas Venice F16 mixer
Doepfer A-198\ (Module + Manual) + R2M midi ribbon controller.
Mathew Jonson: Quenum and I worked remotely on this remix together for Tim Green’s “The Incident”. Quenum gave it the start with selecting the remix parts we would use and building a rhythmic frame of the track. I then added some strings from Roland’s Zenology VST and wrote a melody using an SH-2 synth. I also layered a few simple drums from the 909 just to give it a bit of energy where it needed it in the arrangement. It was then mixed at the Freedom Engine Academy studio on an APB Dynasonics Spectra T32 console.
Colliding (Janus Rasmussen Remix)
Janus: It was pretty overwhelming to pick a track from Tim’s catalogue, he’s been productive throughout his career. Then I heard ‘Colliding’ and I knew this could be the perfect track as it has all the good elements for a good remix. Live snare rolls, big-sounding synths, and atmospheres. It didn’t take long for me to get going with the stems, and before I knew it, I couldn’t stop tinkering away on them. It was pretty hard to stop working on it because I had way too much fun. I’m super proud and happy with the results, and I think the energy I felt while working on it shows through.
Tim Green’s album ‘In New Light’ is out now on his new imprint ‘For a Memory’.
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