MASHUP MASTERS: MAX TANNONE

Please take us to your studio and tell us how you worked on the individual tracks. To us, putting an acapella on top of an instrumental seems to be a very easy thing to do.

"Agreed. Putting an acapella over an instrumental isn't difficult. For the remixes I do, I usually don't have instrumental versions to work with (for example there are no instrumental versions of 99% of Radiohead's songs) so I chop up the original track into different sized slices. Then I rearrange the slices in my sequencer (FL Studio) to build the intro, verse, chorus, breakdown, etc. I build the beat around the acapella, and just keep adding different elements, making edits, etc. In a way though, if it sounds like a simple instrumental layered with an acapella track, I've done my job because all of the seams are hidden. I try to hide the sweat and tears that go into my remixes."

You even got feedback from Jay-Z himself. That's amazing! Did he mention any favorites?

"Yeah, via Twitter. That was pretty cool. He didn't specify, but said there are "3 or 4 real gems." I was proud that he liked it. Besides hearing from Radiohead, that's the ultimate compliment I could get."

The Jaydiohead project probably opened the door to a lot of new possibilities for you as a producer!

"The best opportunity I got was to do a remixed version of the Beastie Boys "Check Your Head" album. Adrock from the Beastie Boys came to me with the idea and being a longtime fan of theirs, I jumped at the chance. I called it "Doublecheck Your Head". I got some disks with stems from some of their tracks, which were really cool to listen to after years of hearing the final versions of the songs.

"I was also involved with the creation of the Jaydiohead music video (check page 3) that turned out really well.

"Other than that, I'm still working on remix projects and just trying to stay creative and constantly learn. I would like to work with an MC or a band on some original material."

We bet you've been harassed by some record labels out there. Are your projects considered 'illegal' or like Girl Talk's sampled music based on "fair use"?

"Believe it or not, I've had no trouble from record labels. I'm not selling any of these remix projects so I don't know what beef they would have with me. If anything, I am helping their sales. I've received countless messages from people about how I've turned them on to a new artist or new type of music. Furthermore, I think a lot of bands and record companies are embracing this idea. As readers of this site are familiar, a lot of bands do promotional remix contests where they release their stems for people to use. Its a great way to stimulate interest in an artist."

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