Picture this: you’re going about your day, doing your regular business. You might be sitting down or in the middle of a task when a song pops into your head. It runs, minding its own business, until another song kicks in with the previous song’s instrumental track. This alternate dimension of a song sounds surprisingly catchy in your head. This combination continues for a few seconds until another song joins. Then another, then another,and then, just like a merry-go-round, you’ve got four songs harmoniously rotating in your head. This, my friend, is my ADHD brain in mashup mode.
Essentially, a mashup is two or more songs mixed together. I first discovered them in middle school, when a friend showed me a short clip on Instagram. It was a mix of “Applause” by Lady Gaga and “Clarity” by Zedd ft. Foxes. It just blew my mind. I didn’t know someone could seamlessly blend one song with another and make a completely new song! My world expanded astronomically, and I’ve never been the same since. A substantial chunk of my time in middle school was spent contemplating how one could make such a thing. At the same time, I started thinking of all the possible song combinations, and created a list (~400 potential mashups and growing) long before I knew how to make a mashup. Ever since then, songs have been unapologetically popping into my head and mixing together. It wasn’t until high school that I made my first mashup. After a ton of research, I made my first piece on GarageBand, consisting of “Toxic” by Britney Spears and “Bi Li Li Emotion” by Superfly, a J-Pop mix.
As I lacked the skill set and tech knowledge to bring my mash to full fruition, it sounded hella choppy, but the idea and essence was there. Still, I thought it was good enough to share with the world, and in March 2023 (a year after I made my first mashup) I launched this as the debut to my YouTube channel, Mycelium Mashups. Since then, I’ve created four more mashups, the most recent one being called “Lean on Arabella,” a mix of “Arabella” by the Arctic Monkeys and “Lean On” by Major Lazer, DJ Snake, and MØ, which came to me in the form of a guitar solo and electronic vocal chop mixed together.
I started out making mashups with GarageBand, but it always had an issue where it wouldn’t save my work. So I shifted to using Premiere Pro, a movie editing app introduced in my high school film-making class. I made my mashup “Physical Prayer” (“Physical” by Dua Lipa x “Livin’ On a Prayer” by Bon Jovi) with it. However, my free subscription to the app through the school was going to end after I graduated from high school, and the actual subscription was pricey. So I tried DaVinci Resolve (another movie making software) but it was always finicky and would make the audio sound weird. Just as I thought I was out of options, I visited the website of one of my favorite mashup artists, DJ Cummerbund. There I found DJ Studio, an app specifically tailored for DJs and mashup making. It’s a pay-once-use-forever kind of software, and it saved me from the pricey subscription! As the creators of the software, which is based in the Netherlands, further develop their product, I get to give them feedback on forms about how to improve the app. In turn, the updates have furthered my mastery and vision of how I want my mashup to turn out. I made “Radioactive Shack” (“Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons x “Love Shack” by The B-52s) and “Lean On Arabella” with this app.
A brief rundown on how to make a mashup:
Download your designated songs from Youtube using an MP4 to MP3 converter (the ads will be finicky, so watch for those). For the Reedies using Reed WiFi, I would check the policies for downloading external media to avoid a pricey fine.
(OPTIONAL) There's a website called vocalremover.org where you can change the pitch and BPM (beats per minute) of your songs. Some music editing softwares also have this as a built-in function. This website can also split your music into isolated vocal and instrumental tracks (stems), but so can DJ Studio.
Import the downloaded song(s) into your preferred software.
Split the instrumental and vocal tracks of your songs into desired sections or phrases, and align them over each other.
Experiment! With sound effects, timing, repetition of certain elements. I’m currently obsessed with reverbing everything. Once satisfied, export.
(OPTIONAL) Upload to a music sharing media (e.g. Youtube, Instagram, SoundCloud). Always credit the artists of the original songs. Due to copyright laws, one can’t make money directly from making mashups. There have also been instances where artists’ mashups are taken down from Youtube for copyright infringement.
Tip:
I usually write down the BPM and key of songs I’ll use so that it’s easier to reference them while adjusting their tempo and pitch.
Here’s a list of mashup artists from YouTube I like to listen to:
DJ Cummerbund (The Mashup Messiah)
Bill McClintock
DJ J-Brew
Kill_mR_DJ Mashups
Top 5 (+1 for winter holidays) mashups I’d recommend to new ears (YouTube):
“Beat It Still” (“Feel It Still” by Portugal. The Man x “Beat It” by Michael Jackson) by DJ J-Brew
“Straight Up Genghis Khan” (“Straight Up” by Paula Abdul x “Genghis Khan” by Miike Snow) by MixmstrStel
“Down with the Lone Digger” (“Down with the Sickness” by Disturbed x “Lone Digger” by Caravan Palace) by oneboredjeu
“Lost Believer” (“Believer” by Imagine Dragons x “Lost Girls” by Lindsey Stirling) by Quentin Mashups
“Flames!” (Step! by Mio Honda x Through the Fire and Flames by DragonForce) by Ph0ton
“Mariah Manson - ‘All I want for Christmas is the Beautiful People’” (“All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey x “The Beautiful People” by Marilyn Manson) by Bill McClintock
I also have a KRRC (Reed radio) show dedicated to playing mashups on Fridays from 3-4pm. (This semester only. Show times will change next semester.)Hope you’ve enjoyed this intro to the mashup world and that you’ll continue to explore it. See you ‘round the corner :)