How to Make Great Music Mashups

Table of contents

1. Cover
2. Half Title
3. Title Page
4. Copyright Page
5. Table of Contents
6. About the Author
7. Acknowledgements
8. Introduction
9. 1 Why Mashups?
   1. What Is a Mashup?
   2. Why Would You Use One?
   3. Is It Difficult to Put a Mashup Together?
   4. An Important Concept about the Dance Music Audience
   5. How to Use This Book
10. 2 The Components of a Mashup
    1. The Main Track
    2. Breakdown Tracks, Classics and Non-dance Songs
    3. Vocals
    4. Musical Riffs/Sections
    5. Added Drums and Effects
11. 3 The Right Mix of Elements
12. 4 Mashup Theory
    1. Key
    2. Figuring Out the Key of an Element
    3. Mixed In Key
    4. Finding the Key of a Song without Mixed In Key
    5. Deciding the Key of Your Mashup
    6. Tempo and Rhythm
    7. Time Signatures
    8. Music Loves Hanging Out in Bars
    9. Choosing the Tempo of Your Mashup
    10. Mashups that Change Tempo
    11. One More Note on Major/Minor Keys
13. 5 What Will You Need?
    1. A Decent Listening Space
    2. Equipment
14. 6 Ableton Live
    1. Audio Terminology
    2. Equalisation
    3. Getting Familiar with Live
    4. Importing Tracks
    5. Using Warp to Change the Tempo of a Clip
    6. Using Warp to Change the Pitch of a Clip
    7. Effects
    8. Automation
15. 7 Preparing for Mashups
    1. Creating a Folder Structure to Keep Things Organised
    2. Creating a Mashup Key List
    3. Creating and Organising a Samples Folder
    4. Finding Pre-created Effects and Builds
    5. Creating an Ableton Live Template
    6. Label Your Current Tracks with Key Information
    7. Write Out a List and Find Your Best Mashup Combinations
16. 8 Making Mashups—Part 1: Arrangement and Sourcing Audio
    1. Arrangement
    2. Laying Elements Together
    3. Basic Mashup Arrangements
    4. When Should I Bring This Bit in?
    5. Making Sure You Have All the Audio You Need
    6. ‘DIY’ Acapellas
    7. General Tips on Arrangement
    8. Editing Intros
17. 9 Making Mashups—Part 2: Techniques
    1. Transitions
    2. Bringing in an Element
    3. High-pass Filtering during Transitions
    4. Added Effects, Sweeps and Drum Builds
    5. Treating Vocals
    6. Using Low-shelf EQ to Balance Bass
    7. Reverse Reverbs
    8. ‘Hinting’ and ‘Linking’ Sections
    9. Vocal Loops and Chops
    10. Side-chain Compression (or LFO Tool)
    11. Added Drum Loops
    12. Using Your Own Instruments
    13. Pitch Effects
    14. Arranging Tempo Changes
    15. Transitioning between 4/4 and 6/8 Time Signatures
    16. Using Multiband Compression to Make Room for Vocals
    17. General Ideas on Working Effectively
    18. Is It Finished?
    19. Exporting
18. 10 House-Keeping
    1. Becoming Faster and More Efficient
    2. Quick Re-cap on Organisation
    3. Using Your Old Mashups as Inspiration
    4. Coming Back to Your Previous Ideas
    5. Intros and Set-breakers
19. 11 Final Thoughts
    1. Keep Your Ears Open for Great Ideas
    2. Don’t Overdo It
    3. Legal Ramifications of Distributing Mashups
    4. More Resources
    5. Thank You
20. Resources and Links
21. Keyboard Shortcuts
22. Glossary
23. Index