Ben Cousins

Nice to know you guys are still enjoying this mix!

Nice

Yes.

Absolutely, that's exactly what I did. That's why I enjoy remixing. I've written hundreds of songs in my life, but remixing enables you to concentrate on other aspects of music creation (textures and arrangement).

Thanks for your comments. You've given me a nice boost! I'm a huge vocal jazz fan (I saw Jimmy Scott at Ronnie Scott's in London a few months ago - amazing). I heard this track first in the backing for the E3 demo of MGS2 and it blew me away. Yes the lyrics are a little trite, but the vocal performance is truly brilliant. I'd recommend anyone get hold of the original track. I've only been using Reason for a few months (that's all I use for the mixes, Reason 1 and bit of CoolEdit), and after the last few mixes I felt confident enough to try something a little left-wing. The hardest part of the mix was working out the chord sequence to underpin the vocals, I'm not sure its the same as the original track. Took me a couple of evenings looping the vocals and trying to finds the right chords. I'm a drummer first, and a very poor keyboard player so that was hard. Once I'd got the vocals and the chord sequence it was easy work. I've been listening to Portishead since '94 when I bought their first single and I find it quite easy to slot into that style - the plate 'verbs and the Hammond and a nice Mellotron string sound. Obviously there's a huge degree of luck in composition and I just happened upon the vocal lead sound that fitted like a dream. I'm very glad you all like it. Hopefully I'll be able to improve upon it with later tracks.

Yeah, this is a kind of cheeky joke. I wanted to take a corny track and try and infuse some 'hipness' into it. Please don't take it the wrong way, I'm not trying to take credit for a sample. Malcom X is saying: "I myself would go for non-violence if it was consistent, if it was intelligent. If everyone was going to be non-violent, and if we were going to be non-violent all the time, I'd say 'ok get get with it, we'll all be non-violent'. If they make the Klu Klux Klan non-violent, I'll be non-violent, if they make The White Citizens Council non-violent, I'll be non-violent." Then I repeat "If they make the Klu-Klux-Klan non-violent, I'll be non-violent". Thanks for your comments and look out for another couple of tracks that are upcoming.

It takes a brave and talented man to use pitch-bend as much as this guy. very nice.

Really nice and anthemic, reminds me of Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. No such thing as too much reverb on a track like this!!!

Thanks for your comments. Yep it is a Rex Loop, I'd love to have time to work on my own loops, but this is a 3 hour a week hobby!! Next track I think will be an abstract hip-hop Animal Village from 'Link's Awakening'. Ben