Music Makers

behind the remix with cacophony kid

I love a good remix, don't you? A song reimagined in a new way...new facets revealed...new meaning uncovered...new musical levels unlocked...it's neat!

I feel like this summer might be the first Summer Of The Remix in quite a long time. On the independent music front, Josaleigh Pollett put out an incredible remix album in July (In The Garden, By The Remixes) with contributions from friends-of-the-blog Sun Kin and Pacing, among others. On the pop front, the addition of Billie Eilish to the remix of Charli XCX's The Dare-produced undergarment banger "Guess" has had many in a tizzy.

Anyway, I Enjoy Remixes and I thought it would be nice to highlight some choice ones on the blog. First up is Cacophony Kid, who makes dark, idiosyncratic electro-punk in Dayton, Ohio. His album Sludge City from earlier this year answers the question "What if your bad dream had a soundtrack that you could also kind of bop your head to?" Cacophony Kid's first ever whack at a remix is a song at the end of the Detroit songwriter Ryan Nicklas's EP Changes; the original contains lots of Guitar Hero-esque rock riffage, and the "ethereal remix" draws out the song's textures into to the point of total abstraction, then builds to a frenzied ending that juliennes the guitars into perfect chaos.

I asked Cacophony Kid a few questions about the remix process...read on!!

[Molly] How did you first get linked with Ryan Nicklas to do the remix?

[Cacophony Kid] Ryan was one of my first friends in DIY and he was showing me the Changes EP as he was making it. At one point I tweeted something about wanting to do a remix and Ryan DMd me and sent me the stems to "Changes."

Was it your idea to go "ethereal" for it?

It was. I had done three or four different remixes for "Changes" and I felt this one blended his and I's style perfectly. I come from an orchestral background so I love wide sound stages and I think this remix shows that.

When you are tasked with remixing a song, what's the first thing you do, process-wise?

For me it's finding a direction to go. It usually starts with sound design and crafting some sort of sound, that sound will give the feel, and then the feel gives you a sense if direction you want to go in terms of style.

Is there anything unexpected that goes into your remixing process?

It's not strictly a remixing process but just how much actual time goes into sound design. It can take me an hour to an hour and a half to craft a single sound I'm looking for. From what plugins to use and in what order, to how to automate it to do what I want at the right time.

How do you feel about the final product?

I think it turned out great being my first remix. I love what I did with the guitar solo.

Do you have a favorite remix that someone else has done?

Definitely the Eichlers remix of "I'm Sorry I Ruined Your Birthday" by superdestroyer.