Here's a list of audio I've butchered together one way or another. As
a "hobby" of mine, this is done either by way of DJing a mix together,
or by producing a new track by way of a mash-up.
This track came about from making use of the intrumental version of The
Prodigy's "Firestarter" and combining it with the acapella so generously
included on their "Baby's Got A Temper" CD release. I'll agree it's
not the finest of mash-ups for originality, but it was one of my first
and holds a special place in my heart.
When I came up with this idea, I knew I was getting into
the best frame of mind to have when making mash-ups. I've always
thought that some of the best mash-ups out there are the ones that
make you laugh, smile or cringe when you hear them. Enter my creation
of Shakira's "inspired" vocals from "Whenever Wherever" laid
over Britney Spears "Toxic". And yes, I've witnessed laughter,
smiling, and cringing in response to hearing this.
Trance music is a great love of mine, so any opportunity
to mash it up a little is just fantastic. The two tunes in question
for this one are the instrumental from the Lange remix of DJ Sakin's
(& friends) "Protect Your Mind (For The Love Of A Princess)" mixed
up with Sarah McLachlan's vocals best known from Delirium's "Silence".
When I first created this, I played it to a few of my friends, prompting
feedback from one of them to say "well, I don't get what you've done
with it". This kinda pleased me, as it showed that I'd mixed it well
enough that he couldn't detect anything that "shouldn't be there",
but also reinforces what your parents say about all dance music sounding
alike!
Perhaps one of the most appalingly titled mash-ups I've
done, but it was either that or call it "Only Love Can Set You
Free On A Sunday Afternoon". The vocals come from the old-school
dance classic "Set You Free" from N-Trance, and since getting hold
of the acapella track on the single re-release, I'd been wanting
to mix it up with something for ages, just waiting for the right
track to come along. The MORPH Remix of G&M Project's "Sunday Afternoon"
sent shivers down my spine when I first heard it, so imagine my
delight when I realised I could use it to create that long awaited
mash-up!
Coming across conveniently ready-made acapella tracks
isn't easy for me, I don't have any of the right "contacts" to
gain access to whatever I want. Many of the acapellas I have archived
away came to be in the form of a simple internet search, and I'd
take whatever was available. One acapella I've had sat to one side
for a while was "Little Bird" from the legendary Annie Lennox,
and I've always wanted to use it somehow, but couldn't think what
with. It was one of those unprovoked moments of inspiration that
came up with the solution. The instrumental is a track simply called
"Waah!" by Pob, which is perhaps not so typically well known for
use in a mash-up, but I don't believe that should stop me from
sharing it with you.
Perhaps its showing a little less imagination featuring
another mash-up using another Prodigy track, but i was just wondering
how the B-Side track to "Firestarter" seemed quite an appropriate
sound to put rap over the top. One Eminem track later, I took the
intrumental track "Molotov Bitch" and mixed it up with the acapella
of "Lose Yourself". Just sit back and watch me get sued!
I can't count the number of times I've been asked "Pete,
why haven't you made a Spice Girls mash-up yet?", mainly because
nobody's asked, but in preparation for such a time, I've launched
this pre-emptive strike! Using their track "Say You'll Be There",
I introduced the vocal talent from "Say My Name" by Destiny's
Child. Sit back and reminisce about the late 90's!
I call this a mash-up reluctantly, because to use the
word "mash" implies that it's smooth, but really it's a load of
ideas all thrown together with blind optimism, so perhaps call
it a "cut-up" instead! This came about when the Sugababes made
their "re-write" of the track "Girls", and that got me thinking
that there's quite a few tracks out there with "Girls" in the title
somewhere. As far as ideas go, it wasn't really properly thought
through, I just threw this together and hoped for the best! Not
my best work, but certainly different, and I hope you like the
idea where it was coming from.
Sometimes, I'll get an idea for a mash-up totally out
of the blue. The kind of idea that would normally make a guy think
"that's a stupid idea, it'll never work", but these are often my
favourite kind of ideas! On this occasion, the idea went something
along the lines of "that Summertime song by New Kids On The Block
could do with being mixed with the vocals from N.E.R.D.'s Rock
Star". So I did.
This is the first time I've ever created a mash-up that
was "requested". It came about when a friend of mine told me
about how she somehow came to the conclusion
that you could just as easily slip the lyrics of Electric Six's "Gay
Bar" into "Killing In The Name Of" by Rage Against The
Machine. Well, of course it's a ridiculous idea, which is exactly
why I rose to the challenge! This one's for you, Sezz! Love ya
babes!
If you're into your mash-ups (like me), you'll have likely
observed that there's quite a few out there that make use of Katy
Perry's vocals from "I Kissed a Girl". Nothing wrong with them,
but I've not come across any mash-ups that make use of the instrumental,
so I thought I'd be the first! The trouble is (which may be the
reason why nobody else has used the Katy Perry instrumental) that
it's got a kinda 6/8 beat to it, which to those of you who don't
know what that means, it kinda limits your choice as to what you
can mix in with it. Britney Spears to the rescue with "Womanizer"!
Yet another camp mash-up brought to you by English Pete!
Until this point, my mash-ups had all been made using
tracks of a reasonably similar tempo, and I wanted to do something
a little different by drastically changing the tempo of something
to make something a little more different. I decided to take something
a little up-tempo and slow it down to be more like a ballad, so
using fairly current songs to fit the bill, I took Katy Perry's
"Hot N Cold" and slowed it down to sing over the top of the
instrumental of "If I Were A Boy" by Beyoncé. Not the smoothest
work perhaps, but it was a new challenge, and I think I came out
on top of it!
It was a quiet day, and for no particular reason I thought I'd
mash together a couple of TV theme tunes! The title says it all
really, it's The Muppet Show vs Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and it's
a TV show I look forward to seeing sometime soon!
OK, so "Pjanoo" by Eric Prydz is a dance track that seemed
to be fairly popular, and although it's not bad, I couldn't help
but think that
it was fairly samey all the way through. Yep, that's good enough
a reason to mash it up for me, but being a long track, just using
one vocal track wasn't enough. I can't even remember any particular
reason for choosing the vocals I used, but they seem to work well
enough so that'll do for me! Vocal tracks used are "Piece Of Me"
by Britney Spears, and "Standing In The Way Of Control" by Gossip.
Any of you who have the "Jagged Little Pill" by Alanis Morrisette will be familiar with the unnamed "hidden" track at the very end of the disc. Being an entirely acapella track, it was just begging to be mashed! It was by just playing around and experimenting that I ended up trying it out with Moby's "Porcelain", and though it's not a perfect fit, the lyrics from both tracks seem to meet eachother in the middle in regards to what they're saying.
When The Prodigy album "Invaders Must Die" finally landed, every track got swooped up by the mash-up community, so I couldn't let myself get left behind! I thought I'd be a little different to my other mashes by picking one of the more aggressive tracks to hand, and then pick an equally aggressive sounding vocal to go with it. Since I'd had the classic "Intergalactic" acapella by the Beastie Boys hanging around for some time, I figured it had waited long enough to finally be unleashed.
This one kinda came about with thanks to my sister Jen. When she had checked out my previous mash-up work, she threw some requests my way, one of them involving Anastasia's "I'm Outta Love" (but I forget what the other track was that she wanted it mashed with). When I got my hands on the Anastasia acapella and listened to it, I was instinctively reminded of Armin Van Buuren's "Empty State". After that, I kinda threw the request to one side because as far as I was concerned, my idea was better!
I cannot stress this enough: THIS MASH-UP WAS NOT MY IDEA. It's made up using the vocals from Lily Allen's "Fear" and a dance track called "Time Bandit" by Allan O'Marshall, and was first put together by another very talented mash-up artist called Ben Double M (please DO check him out, the guy makes exceptional mashes, particularly with more dancey music). The reason I made this is because it's a great combination of tracks, really a top class idea, but in Ben's version there's literally ONE note in the vocals that's very slightly off key, and the OCD in me felt a need to remedy this! So really, I can't take full credit for this idea, only for imitating it, so whether you enjoy my version or the original, please do enjoy it.
When "The Voice" started screening here in the UK, it was fun watching the banter between the coaches, especially when will.i.am and Jessie J were sparring with each other (all in a playful way of course). I found myself jokingly thinking "oh, can't you guys just get along?", and my mind kinda wandered and realised just how similar the backing tracks of "Price Tag" and "Where Is The Love?" are to each other. So yeah, it's one of the more obvious mashes out there, but it was on my mind so I made it. Edit - On the Final show of "The Voice", the four coaches performed together, doing a song from each of their repertoires, and sure enough, they went seamlessly from "Price Tag" to "Where Is The Love?". Great Minds Think Alike!
Anyone else think of mixing Skrillex with Little Mix? No? Just me? Huh...
PLEASE NOTE:
The mixes / bootlegs / mash-ups listed on this site were produced
without any intent to infringe on any artist's copyrights. They are
not and
will not be used for commercial purposes. Should any artist, recording
studio or their legal representant oppose the online publishing
of a specific
bootleg derived from their rightful artistic property, that bootleg
will immediately be placed offline upon request.
