Editing Remix (section)

== Origins ==

Since the beginnings of [[sound recording|recorded sound]] in the late 19th century, technology has enabled people to rearrange the normal listening experience. With the advent of easily editable magnetic tape in the 1940s and 1950s and the subsequent development of [[multitrack recording]], such alterations became more common. In those decades the experimental genre of [[musique concrète]] used tape manipulation to create sound compositions. Less artistically lofty edits produced medleys or [[novelty record]]ings of various types.

Modern remixing had its roots in the dance-hall culture of late-1960s and early-1970s [[Jamaica]]. The fluid evolution of music that encompassed [[ska]], [[rocksteady]], [[reggae]] and [[Dub music|dub]] was embraced by local music mixers who deconstructed and rebuilt [[Music track|track]]s to suit the tastes of their audience. Producers and engineers like Ruddy Redwood, [[King Tubby]] and [[Lee "Scratch" Perry]] popularized stripped-down [[instrumental]] mixes (which they called "versions") of reggae tunes. At first, they simply dropped the vocal [[Music track|track]]s, but soon more sophisticated effects were created, dropping separate instrumental tracks in and out of the mix, isolating and repeating [[hook (music)|hook]]s, and adding various effects like echo, [[reverberation]] and [[delay (audio effect)|delay]].  The German [[krautrock]] band [[Neu!]] also used other effects on side two of their album [[Neu! 2]] by manipulating their previously released single ''[[Super/Neuschnee]]'' multiple ways, utilizing playback at different turntable speeds or mangling by using a cassette recorder.

From the mid-1970s, DJs in early discothèques were performing similar tricks with [[disco]] songs (using loops and [[tape editing|tape edits]]) to get dancers on the floor and keep them there. One noteworthy figure was [[Tom Moulton]], who invented the dance remix as we now know it.  Though not a DJ (a popular misconception), Moulton had begun his career by making a homemade mix tape for a Fire Island dance club in the late 1960s.  His tapes eventually became popular and he came to the attention of the music industry in New York City.  At first, Moulton was simply called upon to improve the aesthetics of dance-oriented recordings before release<!-- examples? --> ("I didn't do the remix, I did the mix"—Tom Moulton).  Eventually, he moved from being a "fix it" man on pop records to specializing in remixes for the dance floor.  Along the way, he invented the [[Break (music)|breakdown section]] and the [[12-inch single]] vinyl format. [[Walter Gibbons]] provided the dance version of the first commercial 12-inch single ("[[Ten Percent (song)|Ten Percent]]", by [[Double Exposure (band)|Double Exposure]]). Contrary to popular belief, Gibbons did not mix the record. In fact his version was a [[re-edit]] of the original mix.  Moulton, Gibbons and their contemporaries ([[Jim Burgess (producer)|Jim Burgess]], [[Tee Scott]], and later [[Larry Levan]] and [[Shep Pettibone]]) at [[Salsoul Records]] proved to be the most influential group of remixers for the disco era.  The Salsoul catalog is seen (especially in the UK and Europe) as being the "canon" for the disco mixer's art form. Pettibone is among a very small number of remixers whose work successfully transitioned from the disco to the House era. (He is certainly the most high-profile remixer to do so.) His contemporaries included [[Arthur Baker (musician)|Arthur Baker]] and [[François Kevorkian]].

Contemporaneously to disco in the mid-1970s, the dub and disco [[remix culture]]s met through Jamaican immigrants to [[the Bronx]], energizing both and helping to create [[hip-hop music]]. Key figures included, [[DJ Kool Herc]] and [[Grandmaster Flash]].  Cutting (alternating between duplicate copies of the same record) and [[scratching]] (manually moving the vinyl record beneath the turntable needle) became part of the culture, creating what ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' magazine called "real-time, live-action collage."  One of the first mainstream successes of this style of remix was the 1983 track ''[[Rockit (song)|Rockit]]'' by [[Herbie Hancock]], as remixed by [[Grand Mixer DXT|Grand Mixer D.ST]]. [[Malcolm McLaren]] and the creative team behind [[ZTT]] Records would feature the "cut up" style of hip hop on such records as "[[Duck Rock]]". English duo [[Coldcut]]'s remix of Eric B. & Rakim's [[Paid in Full (Eric B. & Rakim song)|"Paid in Full"]] Released in October 1987 is said to have "laid the groundwork for hip hop's entry into the UK mainstream".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Herrington |first1=Tony |title="This is a journey into sound…" The sample that made hip hop history |url=https://909originals.com/2019/07/15/this-is-a-journey-into-sound-the-sample-that-made-hip-hop-history/#:~:text=According%20to%20writer%20Tony%20Herrington,entry%20into%20the%20UK%20mainstream'. |website=909Originals|date=15 July 2019 }}</ref> Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian named it a "benchmark remix" and placed it in his top ten list of remixes.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lynskey |title=Dorian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2004/oct/15/5 |website=The Guardian |date=14 October 2004 |access-date=15 October 2004 }}</ref> The Coldcut remix "Seven Minutes of Madness" became one of the first commercially successful remixes, becoming a top fifteen hit in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hess, Mickey |title=Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture. |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-313-33902-8 |page=152 |publisher=Greenwood Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LldOLnIQ66cC&pg=PA152 |access-date=29 January 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title="Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. |website=[[OfficialCharts.com]] |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19871114/7501/ |access-date=January 21, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1="Offiziellecharts.de – Eric B. & Rakim – Paid in Full". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved January 21, 2013. |title=Offizielle Deutsche Charts - Offizielle Deutsche Charts|url=https://www.offiziellecharts.de/titel-details-44548}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1="Dutchcharts.nl – Eric B. & Rakim – Paid in Full" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved January 21, 2013. |title = Dutch Charts - dutchcharts.nl|url=https://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Eric+B.+%26+Rakim&titel=Paid+in+Full&cat=s}}</ref>