radiohead re-mix project

I love Radiohead. I love In Rainbows, and the whole concept of "pay what you want" for it. I paid 5 pounds, because that was what I could afford, although if I was a millionaire, I would have paid 500 pounds, because the record is just that damn good.

And you've probably heard of this by now, but if not, get ready for yet another revolutionary musical gift from Radiohead: how about giving us fans access to 5 stems from the original track "Nude" to mix up to our hearts content! Yeah!

Read all about it out on their site.

They want you to make something new out of their song. For a small fee of $5.94, you can purchase the stems and have a blast.

'Stems' are individual tracks that make up a song. Every song is made up of several stem tracks; one for drums, one for bass, one for guitar, etc. Before you've mixed the stems down into one track, you still have the freedom to play around; you can boost/cut the volume, (say if you want the other instruments to get quieter during a guitar solo, all you've gotta do is lower the levels of the other tracks & boost the guitar track). You can also drop out parts completely, or add beats and effects. Once the mix sounds good to everybody, you weave those stems together and that's what makes a finished song.

Once a song is mixed, you can't change anything about specific elements, like say, drop out the vocal track to sing your own karaoke over it. But, before a song is mixed, you can make new arrangements until your heart's content using a music software platform, like Pro Tools, Nuendo, Logic, or Garageband.

So, back to the "Nude" remix project. You can download the 'stems' from iTunes, and you get bass, voice, guitar, strings/fx and drums, each for use on their own track. They'll even give you a special Garageband session to make things easier. You can mix the stems any way you like, by adding your own beats, instrumentation, vocals, and effects, or just by remixing the original parts until you come up with something cool and original.

Then, you can upload your finished mix to Radiohead's website. Tons of people will listen and vote for their favorite remix, and then Radiohead will listen to the best remixes.

There are some really cool remixes up there on the site now to check out. I'm excited, it's a great song and I can't wait to mix it up. What a band.

Here's the original version of Nude: