FaderPro DJ Spen Remix Masterclass

Total runtime: 1hr 56mins
Cubase

In this Remix Masterclass, legendary DJ Spen puts his knowledge and experience out there for your benefit. Over the course of two hours, he'll take an entire remix project from start to finish – from selecting sounds and recording new ones, to even giving the track a rough mastering treatment.

With nearly 40 years in the game, DJ Spen has been involved in remixing Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Everything but the Girl, Toni Braxton, Kirk Franklin, Ann Nesby and Sean Escoffery. As well as his serious credentials, he's also got the right attitude, which shines through in his personality and approach to music production.

Watch and learn as you see DJ Spen take on a remix of DJ Meme's track Century from start to finish. He starts by importing the elements he's been given, focusing on creating the backbone of the track and coming up with a basic arrangement.

Next, it's time for Spen to drop in new elements, and he'll have nothing but the best: he calls up a session player, Ziggy Funk, right within the session, and the two record parts when Ziggy arrives. With the new material in place, DJ Spen continues by adding some more of the source audio to the remix, finalizing the arrangement, and then sets about adding vocals. By the end, he'll also have mixed and mastered the entire tune.

DJ Spen works with Steinberg Cubase as his DAW of choice, and the vast majority of the plugins he uses within the session are Steinberg devices. By sticking within his DAW, he shows that you don't need the fanciest plugins in DAW-town to get a great sound, and that you don't even need to run the latest ones – some of his plugins are legacy Cubase devices running with a 32-bit bridge!

Across 14 chapters, you'll see the evolution of DJ Spen's remix from empty page to mastered track. This is a masterclass that shouldn't be missed by those who want to improve their remix game – a skill that can set a career alight under the right conditions!