Inner City - Good Life_Berni Remix

[Berni]

So there was a competiton on Beatport a while back to remix this track. Unlike most of the crap they want you to remix this was actually a proper song & an undeniable house classic. Unfortunately at the time I had way too much other stuff going on to enter & probably wouldn't anyway as I believe music is an art form & not a competitive sport that pricks like simon cowell seem bent on turning it into. I downloaded the stems anyway because I love the track & I also love free samples : )
I had some time on my hands this week so I thought I would give it a go just for something to throw into my DJ sets & here's the result. I used most of the original synth lines & added my own drums, percussion, bass line & FX etc. The one thing I didn't use is the chorus, it's a total crowd tease because you always think it's coming but never does. I opted to use some cool ad lib-ing by Paris that came with the remix package to fill in the blanks. Free download & any comments welcome.

http://soundcloud.com/dj-berni-2/berni-good-life-remix

[MBTC]

I'm not really into house, but as you said Good Life is a classic, always liked the vibe from it and your mix sounds great.

I agree 100% about the silliness of music as a "competition". The industry I work in is so fiercely competitive, that making music is one of the few things (escapist hobbies) I hold sacred in the world as not being subject to comparison to others, except for the idiots that try to turn it into that.

I used to occasionally enter competitions they had at ImageLine... the project bones were usually mediocre tracks at best by no-name artists, but they tore it down into such granularity and left the rules open enough that you could use only the acapella bits if you wanted and turn it into something completely different. There were some seriously good entries by people like Adam Szabo, Laidback Luke and many others back in those days. The entries I submitted were just for fun and to get feedback, I knew they were not prize-worthy and I never invested more than 4-5 hours in a track. The part that was really off-putting is sometimes someone would say there's no way I spent only a few hours on it, that theres no way I did that in 5 hours, effectively calling me a liar. I never could figure out if that was their way of complementing the track or just being a competitive prick.

There is no such thing as good or bad music, only individual interpretation of the art.

[Berni]

Thanks man, glad you liked. I just did it because I wanted too & not to win some lame ass competition. I strongly believe if you have talent you do not end up on x-factor, got talent, american idiot etc. that's for the clueless people Lol. Just because you can sing a song well does not make you talented either, it just means god gave you a good voice & you've learned how to use it. Now if you can write a good song, perform & produce a good song then you have talent...Whatever happened to Paris Grey after Inner City? Nothing! She just gained a 100 pounds & does the odd 'inner city' revival thing at festivals here & there. Kevin Saunderson was the man with the real talent in that outfit.

[MBTC]

I think even the very definition of talent, as it applies to music, is up for interpretation just by the subject nature of the art itself.

For example, I could never doubt Alicia Keys is very talented, for example she can play piano and sing at the same time, and I can't do both. Hell I don't even sing well when that's all I'm doing. But if I hear "THIS....GIRL....IS....ON.....FIIIYAAAHHH" one more time I'm going to find a sharp object and do myself in. Her music is just not my cup of joe.

[TweakHead]

Originally Posted by MBTC

. But if I hear "THIS....GIRL....IS....ON.....FIIIYAAAHHH" one more time I'm going to find a sharp object and do myself in. Her music is just not my cup of joe.

Man, just take it easy

But I'd have to agree. There's a of focus on "being able to sing like the stars", some of them rely heavily on experienced engineers like the guys you see making videos for Waves Audio - some of the best producers in the world, really. And of course there's a level of talent to those singers, no body can honestly say otherwise. Doesn't make it any less chewing gum to my ears though

On topic now, Berni your mix sounds very cool and that expectation for the chorus does indeed work even after reading it on the forum before first listen eheh very nice calling the show "american idiot" to XD

[MBTC]

Originally Posted by TweakHead

Man, just take it easy

Ok. I'll impale myself in a less critical area then. The goal is just to have a distraction from the agony of listening to her

[Berni]

Originally Posted by TweakHead

Man, just take it easy

But I'd have to agree. There's a of focus on "being able to sing like the stars", some of them rely heavily on experienced engineers like the guys you see making videos for Waves Audio - some of the best producers in the world, really. And of course there's a level of talent to those singers, no body can honestly say otherwise. Doesn't make it any less chewing gum to my ears though

On topic now, Berni your mix sounds very cool and that expectation for the chorus does indeed work even after reading it on the forum before first listen eheh very nice calling the show "american idiot" to XD

Thanks man, I had a lot of fun making it & tried a few new mastering techniques (parallel compression) on this one that turned out rather well I think. I even had one mastering guy on Soundcloud asking me how I did it

[Berni]

So just out of curiosity I checked out the winning entry & runner up to the competition...kicking myself for not entering....

http://play.beatport.com/contests/inner-city-good-life/

They also released the 2013 remix package...what a load of crap...

http://www.beatport.com/release/kevi...-mixes/1147520