Reliving Old Drum & Bass Productions - Part 2

avatar
(Edited)


Vague Illusion - Life

Last week, I thought I'd have a look back at some of my older tunes and shared with you a remix of a classic 1990s club anthem but this time around, I wanted to talk about a remix I made of track produced by then hard hitting Drum & Bass beast from South Africa Vague Illusion. Around the time of his peak production under this alias, he was knocking out some characteristic dark and heavy tunes but the original of the remix called Life was one of his more melodic sounds:

I was in love with the original from 9 years back with that intro that sets the tone straight away, building to a pretty gnarly drop with that growling baseline. I can't believe that this was first posted on 21st Feb 2012! A lot has happened for both of us since then but we've kept in touch and although Vague Illusion still has the production bug, he has a family that rightfully takes priority but maybe there will be a time we see the beats come back from this maestro!

Remix

At the time of the original, Vague Illusion reached out to me and asked if I'd be game for a remix and I was honoured to be asked, truly! After smashing the replay button on his tune many times, I was wondering how I would even remix this. Those really cool Pendulum sounding vocals, the cool melody, the sound effects... Well, this is what I came up with! Remember, this one is 9 years old (published on Soundcloud in April 2012) and production skills were still pretty "raw"! I have since done a re-master that we might be releasing for the 10 year anniversary next year, we'll see!

As you can hear the difference in the tracks, I decided to try and keep the vibes liquid but create my own melody to accompany the vocals with a rolling reese bassline, my favourite piano and string synths added to the mix, which are virtual instruments I used a lot back in my early days but they are pretty powerful instruments it has to be said! Plus Robert Miles (RIP) was one of my big influences growing up with tunes like Children.

I hope you enjoy the tune today!

Take care

Nicky


Posted from my WordPress blog with Exxp : Original Link If you have WordPress and want to connect your blogs to HIVE - please use my referral
musicforlife liquiddnb drumandbass music hive-193816 ctp mancave archon hivehustlers neoxian
0
0
0.000
18 comments
avatar

To me bro the raw sound is the best no limits do what you feel ive not even heard your rmx yet im vbing to the orig not even heard it before always so many amazing tracks in the scene I know point blank you smashed it and i'm on it next bigup Nicky keepin it real long time bro 👊

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

U know u smashed it bro awesome rmx how you get so much in under 3 mins is beyond me will reshare bro hope we can get some sweet vibes over to you lots more :)

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Thanks man! The newer version I made is a little bit longer and more DJ friendly, about 5 minutes but yet to push that one out. Maybe I will do a follow up sequel post to this one and share away!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Thanks a lot mate! Yeah been trying to get my productions a lot cleaner over the last few years and since I got some speakers it makes all the difference!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

😭😭 I was using these old creative PC speakers that added so much low end, I would go studio and almost blow the actual studio speakers because I thought there wasn’t enough 🥲 finally got some proper monitors and omd the difference mate

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Yeah man! Proper frequency studio monitors make all the difference for sure! I had a 5.1 and that was great for watching movies, not so great for mixing down tracks haha!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

oh my gosh mixing in 5.1 sounds like the perfect blend of a trip and a nightmare 😭😂

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Oh, you mentioned Robert Miles and the tune Children 🎶💖 Love it !!

I am listening to you 9 years old remix. So when you say you are using strings and piano, does it mean you play the part you want on a midi keyboard or how are you doing it. I want to learn more to know how to listen to your tracks and recognize the changes...As I see you are back :)

2:1 for Nicky :)

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Oh yeah I love the Dream version of Children. In fact the original mix I prefer over the radio edit of Children but there's no mistaking the iconic sounds of Robert Miles 😊

does it mean you play the part you want on a midi keyboard

Yes that is exactly what I am doing here - I really should do a walk through video one of these days 😀

Straight back in with a double post on Sunday! I have to try and reach 10 this week after missing last week. I see you're keeping busy too!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

I really should do a walk through video one of these days

Oh great, that would be cool to see.

I don't think I will be so busy this week around here...will see, but have a great and successful week Nicky 🌠

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Thank you bropiano! There will be a time when I have to be offline a lot more for my studies but until then, I'll do what I can to post!

Have a great week too in Tio Town!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

FEB 2012!?? Wow to be able to see where you came from and where your at now is crazy. It’s always a hit with you

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Thanks a lot mate! It's always good to look back to your earlier productions I think, see how things change. Life is not constant so the sounds we make aren't either - they aren't all good though, I can tell you that! Plenty of unfinished "WTF IS THIS SH*T" floating around the hard drive 😂

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Thanks for continuing to make Hive awesome.

0
0
0.000
Reply