anybody else edit songs?

[Blackened Soul]

bands have been working with DJs for DECADES. ever heard of (eurgh) Slipknot? the Beta Band? Gorillaz? DJ Logic toured with Dead guy Bob Weir’s band! you aren’t looking in the right places at all.

This at me or behndy? I know all this.. I was more rambling about dealing to jamming with friends that dj and doing something… one day… it’s more a life/work/other project/travel time.. so it’s a someday.. thing.. not necessarily do I know this works in established bands…

[Phosphene Audio]

Back in the 80s, someone with a column in the old Musician magazine ran some contest asking folks to submit an edited 2 track tape, cutting two songs together and it was very specific about how it was supposed to be done. I know one of the songs was supposed to be Talk To Ya Later by the Tubes. I think the other was Goodbye To You by Scandal. People who submitted a well edited tape would get a letter of recommendation attesting to their editing skills, or something.

[jrmy]

This is a pretty fascinating idea on a philosophical / aesthetic level - on one side, you have the "traditionalist" view (quotes because there might be an actual discourse around this with accepted labels and whatnot) that "the song as presented is what's intended," and then the other would probably be "post-modernist," which would be all Burroughs/Gysin cut-up technique do what thou wilt is the whole of the law. But between those positions there's probably a fascinating spectrum.

I mean, artists regularly have other artists remix their songs - why shouldn't the audience? And that's to say nothing of DJs or sampling. I would say that I probably lean closer to the "do what thou wilt" side of things, PARTICULARLY in regards to personal listening. You do you, boo.

That said, I don't usually do it myself, though there was one track by the Louisville post-hardcore-hip-hop collective King G and the J Crew that I edited down to one acapella section to drop in as an interlude on mix CDs - I can't remember the whole thing, but it went something like "cut back to the raw essentials, bean caffeine and a bowl of lentils, loose leaf paper and a number two pencil..."

Ah, fuck it - it was the 90's.

Also: hell yes to Bandcamp and paying people for their work!

[behndy]

bands have been working with DJs for DECADES. ever heard of (eurgh) Slipknot? the Beta Band? Gorillaz? DJ Logic toured with Dead guy Bob Weir’s band! you aren’t looking in the right places at all.

This at me or behndy? I know all this.. I was more rambling about dealing to jamming with friends that dj and doing something… one day… it’s more a life/work/other project/travel time.. so it’s a someday.. thing.. not necessarily do I know this works in established bands…

jia. if it's at me, heyyyyyyyy Dubbers! for me, it's not really not looking in the right places, it's a complete lack of interest in trying to find good live stuff? most music that does that well i don't really dig on, and as much as i love going to live shows, i'm fine with the planned, worked on, time intensive home recording/studio output.

[behndy]

This is a pretty fascinating idea on a philosophical / aesthetic level - on one side, you have the "traditionalist" view (quotes because there might be an actual discourse around this with accepted labels and whatnot) that "the song as presented is what's intended," and then the other would probably be "post-modernist," which would be all Burroughs/Gysin cut-up technique do what thou wilt is the whole of the law. But between those positions there's probably a fascinating spectrum.

I mean, artists regularly have other artists remix their songs - why shouldn't the audience? And that's to say nothing of DJs or sampling. I would say that I probably lean closer to the "do what thou wilt" side of things, PARTICULARLY in regards to personal listening. You do you, boo.

That said, I don't usually do it myself, though there was one track by the Louisville post-hardcore-hip-hop collective King G and the J Crew that I edited down to one acapella section to drop in as an interlude on mix CDs - I can't remember the whole thing, but it went something like "cut back to the raw essentials, bean caffeine and a bowl of lentils, loose leaf paper and a number two pencil..."

Ah, fuck it - it was the 90's.

Also: hell yes to Bandcamp and paying people for their work!

f'shiggs. i know it's really an.... unimportant in the grand scheme of things? question? since i have zero intension of ever using bits for new music or remixes or interpolations or anything, just for my personal use.

i think if it was me, i would appreciate that someone enjoyed at least part of something i made to take the time to pare it down to what they want?

mannnnnnn people do the lamest intros and outros though. i like drones and noise and messiness but... yeah. dunno.

[Blackened Soul]

Or.. it’s only good part of the song

[Kacey Y]

I have in the past on rare occasions edited songs for my own listening pleasure, I've done it more often on my own songs that are long since released and there's no reason to remix for public consumption, but I enjoy it better and it's usually that the song is too long or repetitive and I was being self indulgent. I do often edit albums, by making playlists and changing the song order and sometimes deleting tracks. Sometimes it's really clear a band intended a specific song order and a producer convinced them to put a particular single up front, sometimes I think they flow better in a different order, sometimes there's oddball tracks that feel completely disconnected from the album and take me out of the listening experience.

[dubkitty]

i’m generally not big on substituting my judgement for that of the artist, but have edited parts of long tracks/sequences into mixes, e.g. part of a long piece by Yume Bitsu/the extended intro to “Ny Batteri” by Sigur Rós/“Chart #3” and other parts from Skinny Fists by gybe!. sometimes you just want the bit that says what you want to say.

[01010111]

Having recently dumped online streaming services, this has become relevant to me again. It's been mentioned already but the mix of high quality and low quality songs can really help make the album as a whole more enjoyable for me. I haven't edited sons before, but I have omitted songs from albums when loading up my music player. Those omissions made the album feel incomplete to me in a way. It makes a ton of sense to do it, and trimming out the space for those "secret" songs is a really good idea.

[behndy]

jia. for like... playlisting? i just tag everything i acquire pretty in depth'ly. by genre and by a field for which songs on an album i like. lets me easily do smart lists that are all Post Punk and IDM but just the tracks i like.

SORRY ARTIST YOU MADE THE RIGHT DECISION FOR YOU WITH THAT 12 MINUTE DRONE OUTRO TO A BANGING HYPERPOP EXPLOSION OF A SONG BUT NOT THE RIGHT DECISION FOR ME EDIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT BITCHESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.