After recording a bassline for Overflow Jam!, I decided to try another tune from Kiko Loureiro's Open Source album. I chose the second song I heard; the album's second track, Electronic Dependent Mind (EDM),
Note: The YouTube and Instagram vids are exactly the same outside of one thing: the levels. After posting both to YT and IG, a few people commented the bass was lost in the mix. (Also, for some reason the whole piece doesn't play on IGTV. Not sure why, but that's a concern for another day...).
I left the IG posts up, but ended up taking down two YT versions before settling on the one you hear below. The bass seems too loud to me now, but at least you can hear it!
I really liked the concept of an "electronic dependent mind." After a long career in tech, it's concerning how electronic devices and their addictive app companions have become such a prevalent and time-consuming societal and individual norm (never mind the infusion of AI into absolutely everything). The concept of a person becoming so dependent on this electronic dopamine is an interesting and frightening one.
Secondly, I really wanted to learn the song and see what I could do with it. (I definitely knew I was going to include the lick near the end in the remix. It's badass. I actually didn't think it was going to be that hard to play. Turns out it's a difficult lick to pull off!)
Converting a 5 or 6 String Bass to a 4 String
An 8-string guitar is used in this song. I'm sure a 5 or 6 string bass was used by the awesome Felipe Andreoli (if you don't know who he is, do check him out). I don't play or own any extended range basses. I do, however, use a Hipshot Double Xtender on all my instruments. With the Xtender I can get a low E, a low D, and a low B from a single string.
Since I knew I wasn't going to remix the entire song, and I was able to get to a low B if needed, a 4 string with the Hipshot tuner would work just fine.
Note: I don't have anything against 5 or 6 or even 7 string basses! (I might have something against 8 string basses. I'm not sure.) I just learned on a 4 string and haven't needed to "move up" to a 5!
Carving up the Song like a Thanksgiving Turkey
One thing I didn't want to do is replace the song's melodies and leads with something else. And I didn't want to use what Kiko already recorded. Unless you're adding a vocal or keyboard line, it's not much of a remix to keep the original melodies and leads, in my opinion.
I have to say, it was weird at first removing the lead guitars. Who the heck am I to take out a Kiko Loureiro guitar part? Of course, that's the whole point of his Open Source project. So I put my unease aside and began to slice and dice. Length decreased from 4.5 minutes to 2. I extended the beginning and the end sections, took out a bunch of other sections and added voice-overs and sound effects. And, obviously, I recorded a different bassline.
The voice-overs and sound effects are particularly important. They replaced the leads and pushed the narrative of an electronic dependent mind and its potential consequences. Not sure if I was successful in getting that message across, but that's the gist of what I was going for.
Maybe I Should've Used More Techniques?
Enough words! Here is the remix of Kiko Loureiro's EDM! Hope you like it.
- DD
PS Here's a link to Kiko Loureiro doing a playthrough of the album version of EDM
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