Cross-pollination in electronic music is a beautiful thing. The results may not always fit everyone’s personal tastes, but when artists from different genres collide, it only serves to push the boundaries. Such is the case of Lost Frequencies‘ recent remix of Italian-duo Mathame‘s ‘Never Give Up’. Over the past few years, Lost Frequencies has become a fan favorite with his laid back and melodic music. We were rather impressed with his remix of Never Give Up, so we invited him to break his process down for the latest edition of How It Was Made.
Words and photos by Lost Frequencies
Hey! Here’s how I made the remix of Mathame – Never Give Up
First of all, I’ve been in contact with Mathame for over a year now, and we’ve been talking a lot about working together, but it never really worked out. So when they asked me to make a remix for them, I was very excited to finally be able to mix our sounds!
I started on the track by working on some piano chords. Did that in midi in the project itself. I had to pitch a few notes from the original vocal to make it fit my new chord progression, but I’m very happy with the final result of the global feel of the track with those chords!
Secondly, I recorded a bunch of drum sounds with my TR-8S, which is always ready to record and plugged into my UA Apollo X4! Recorded the KICK, toms, claps, rimshots, and Hi-hats in tune, placed them all over the track, and mixed them into the project.
I’ve then recorded some atmosphere sounds with my brand-new MOOG ONE. I didn’t use it at its full potential in this record, I was still going through the manual at that time. My MOOG ONE is by my side, always plugged in and ready to hit the REC button when something cool happens!
The bassline in the track was written in MIDI in the program, using the MINI V3 from Arturia. I like the very deep sound of the synth in the project. I also have a mini lead playing in midi through this plug-in.
Halfway throughout the track, I have a bigger electro sound coming in that I really love. That was made with the CS-80 plug-in by Arturia. I wish I could’ve recorded with a real CS-80, but that wouldn’t have been as easy as with the plug-in.
Towards the end I pitched the vocal and looped the “Never give up” part, making it very emotional.
The first V1 of my remix that I sent to Mathame was immediately approved, so that was kind of an easy remix done, but loved working on it and felt really inspired.
Grab your copy of Lost Frequencies remix of Mathame’s Never Give Up here.
