Udemy – Electronic Dance Music Production: How to Do Mashups and Edits

This Udemy course is all about how to do mashups and edits for electronic dance music production. You’ll learn how to create your own mashups and edits, and how to use them to improve your productions.

Introduction

Mashups and edits are two of the most popular techniques in electronic dance music production. They allow you to take two or more existing tracks and combine them into a new track, usually with one track providing the main melody or hook, and the other track(s) providing rhythm or percussion.

There are many ways to go about creating mashups and edits, but in this course we’ll focus on two of the most popular:

1. The splice method: This involves chopping up each track into small pieces (usually 4-8 bars) and then rearranging those pieces into a new order. This can be done manually with a audio editing program like Ableton Live or Logic Pro, or automatically with a mashup tool like Mashup 2.0.

2. The stems method: This involves exporting each track as separate audio files (known as stems), and then importing those stems into a new project where they can be rearranged and mixed together. This is generally considered to be the more professional way of creating mashups and edits, as it gives you more control over the individual tracks.

What is Electronic Dance Music?

Electronic Dance Music, or EDM as it’s commonly known, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres made largely for nightclubs, raves, and festivals. It is generally produced for playback by DJs who create seamless selections of tracks, called a mix, by segueing from one recording to another.

EDM producers also perform their music live in concert venues with disco balls, laser light shows, and pyrotechnics. Festivals dedicated to EDM include Tomorrowland and Ultra Music Festival.

The word “electronic” in “electronic dance music” refers to the use of electronic instruments and hardware such as synthesizers, drum machines, and DJ turntables. “Dance” refers to the style of music’s rhythm which generally accompanies dancing.

The history of EDM is rooted in the development of several different musical genres in the late 1970s and early 1980s. These include disco, acid house, techno, and hip hop.

What is a Mashup?

In its simplest form, a mashup is two (or more) songs mixed together to create a new track. The art of the mashup is about more than just throwing some tracks together though – it’s about finding those perfect moments where the music comes together to create something new and special.

A good mashup will have a seamless flow, and the best mashups will tell a story or take the listener on a journey. To achieve this, the producer needs to have a good understanding of both the structure and the energy of the tracks they are working with.

Mashups can be created with any two (or more) songs, but they often work best when the tracks share a similar tempo and musical key. This makes it easier to match up the different elements of each track, and creates a smoother overall sound.

What is an Edit?

An edit is a track that has been edited to be beatmatched and mixed together with other tracks seamlessly in a live DJ set or as part of a production. Usually, the point of an edit is to create a new track from two or more existing tracks, often by combining the best parts of each track into a new track that is better than either of the original tracks.

How to Do Mashups and Edits

In this course, you will learn how to do mashups and edits. This course is for people who want to produce their own electronic dance music. You will learn how to use different software to create mashups and edits. You will also learn how to record and mix your own music.

Choose the Right Software

In order to make mashups and edits, you’ll need the right software. There are a few different programs you can use, but we recommend using Ableton Live, Logic Pro X, or FL Studio. All of these software programs have unique features that will allow you to create your own sound.

Once you’ve chosen your software, it’s time to start creating your mashup or edit. To do this, you’ll need to find two songs that you want to combine. It’s important to make sure that the songs are in the same key and tempo so that they flow together well. Once you’ve found your songs, it’s time to start loading them into your software.

Once the songs are loaded into your software, you’ll need to start aligning them. This can be done by lining up the beat grids of the two songs. Once the beat grids are aligned, you can start cutting and pasting parts of the song together to create your mashup or edit.

You can also add in your own sounds and effects to create an even more unique sound. When you’re finished, export your mashup or edit and share it with friends!

Find the Right Tracks

To make a good mashup or edit, you need to start with good tracks. These do not necessarily have to be popular tracks, but they should be music that you like and that fit well together. If you’re not sure where to start, try looking for remixes of songs that you like. You can also look for tracks that have been mashed up before.

Once you have found a few tracks that you think will work well together, it’s time to start matching them up. Pay attention to the tempo and key of each track. You want to find tracks that are in the same key and close to the same tempo. This will make it easier to blend the tracks together.

You can use a program like Mixed In Key or FL Studio’s built-in Edison tool to help you match the keys of your tracks. Once you have found two or three tracks that work well together, it’s time to start editing them.

Edit the Tracks

Now that you have your two tracks, it’s time to start editing them. The first thing you want to do is make sure they’re in the same key. To do this, open up your DAW and load both tracks into separate channels. Then, find a point in each track where there’s not much going on and solo both channels. By listening to both tracks together, see if you can identify any notes that stand out as being different. If you hear any notes that clash, then the tracks are in different keys and you’ll need to use a plugin like Scaler 2 to transpose one of the tracks so that they’re in the same key.

Once the tracks are in the same key, it’s time to start matching up the chord progressions. To do this, solo both channels and listen to them together again. This time, try to identify any points where the chords line up perfectly. When you find a good spot, mark it with a marker in your DAW so that you can easily find it later. Once you’ve found a few good spots, stop soloing both channels and start editing the track that’s on top so that its chord progression lines up perfectly with the track that’s underneath it.

After you’ve edited both tracks so that their chord progressions match up perfectly, it’s time to start matching up the melodies. To do this, again solo both channels and listen to them together. This time, try to identify any points where the melodies line up perfectly. When you find a good spot, mark it with a marker in your DAW so that you can easily find it later. Once you’ve found a few good spots, stop soloing both channels and start editing the track that’s on top so that its melody lines up perfectly with the track that’s underneath it.

Once you’ve matched up both the chord progressions and melodies of both tracks, it’s time to start matching up the rhythms. To do this, use your DAW’s quantize function to ensure that both tracks are perfectly in time with each other. Then, use your DAW’s slice function to cut each track into small pieces so that each piece lines up perfectly with its corresponding piece in the other track.

After you’ve sliced and diced both tracks so that they’re perfectly in sync with each other, it’s time to start thinking about how you want your mashup to sound overall. Do you want it to be energetic? Or mellow? Do you want it to build slowly or drop immediately into chaos? It’s up to you! Now is your chance to get creative and experiment with different ideas until you come up with something that sounds great!

Export the Mashup

Now that you’ve created your mashup, it’s time to export it so you can share it with the world! In this lesson, we’ll show you how to export your mashup using Ableton Live.

Mashups are a great way to get creative with your music and put your own spin on popular songs. If you’re not familiar with the term, a mashup is basically a mix of two or more songs that are combined to create a new track.

There are a few different ways that you can go about creating a mashup, but in this lesson, we’ll be using Ableton Live. Ableton is a popular digital audio workstation (DAW) that is often used by DJs and producers.

To get started, open up Ableton and create a new project. Then, add the two tracks that you want to use for your mashup. For this example, we’ll be using the track “Savers” by Seven Lions as well as the track “ID” by deadmau5.

Once both tracks are added to your project, it’s time to start mashing them up! You can do this by adding effects, playing around with the EQ, or even just adding in new elements from other tracks. Get creative and have fun with it!

Once you’re happy with your mashup, it’s time to export it. To do this, go to File > Export > Audio/Video. In the Export window that appears, choose MP3 as your file format and click Export. That’s it! Your mashup is now ready to be shared with the world.

Conclusion

mashups and edits are two different but equally effective ways to create new and interesting versions of familiar songs. By mixing and matching elements from different tracks, you can come up with completely new arrangements that will keep your audience guessing.

Both mashups and edits have their own unique challenges, but the rewards can be well worth the effort. With a little creativity and some careful planning, you can create mashups and edits that will stand out from the rest.