Remix Work

Marillion remix clips

The following songs are available on Marillion albums, in slightly different versions with additional production and mixing by Erik Nielsen. All songs are by Marillion, remixed by Carl Homer. If you'd like to hear clips of the originals, go to the Anoraknophobia page on www.marillion.com.

• Separated Out (Outré mix) and Fruit of the Wild Rose (Rose-Tinted mix) are available on the album Remixomatosis, available from www.marillion.com.
• Map of the World (Ordnance Survey mix), When I Meet God (Ontological mix) and Quartz (Hard Time mix) are available on the album Baubles, available from www.marillion.com.

If you want to hear the whole songs, I believe I can play them to my friends for free, so just e-mail me or use the contact form and let me know. If you want to commission a remix for your band, please use the same form.

Interview in The Web January 2005

Carl Homer
SPECIAL PRIZE: Fruit of the Wild Rose (Rose-Tinted Mix)
GRAND PRIZE: Separated Out (Outre Mix)
RUNNER-UP: Map of the World (Ordnance Survey Mix)
RUNNER-UP: Quartz (Hard Time Mix)
RUNNER-UP: When I Meet God (Ontological Mix)

Carl Homer first listened to Marillion as a teenager. He taught himself to play the guitar at 17 and Steve Rothery was a big influence. He recalls the occasion when he was lucky enough to meet the band at the Moles Club in Bath when they were previewing Holidays in Eden in 1990.
Carl Homer: Hearing the new songs, I asked the chaps if EMI had been bugging them for something a bit more commercial. Steve H. answered, rather evasively, that I'd make a good music journo, which I thought was uncalled for! Steve R. bought me a drink, though, so it evens out. They all seemed like charming and unpretentious people anyway.

After university, Carl worked as a musician in various bands, teaching guitar and engineering for people in his studio. In his mid twenties he started work in an Internet job and started using the PC to record music. This enabled him to enjoy rediscovering Marillion through rearranging their songs. He left his well-paid Internet job a couple of days before hearing he'd won something in the remix competition. Now he does music for a living.

WEB: Have you ever worked on anything similar to this before?
CH: I've remixed lots of my old bands, and stuff for friends. The process I used for the remixes was similar to the way I compose original stuff, too.

WEB: How did you go about remixing your tracks?
CH: I remixed all of the available songs, which might have been a bit ambitious, as I didn't leave very long to do it. I took everything out except the vocals, but generally used the bass track as a structural guide. Then I chopped up the sections and started from scratch, changing the chords and sometimes the key when the melody allowed. And I pitch changed the odd note on the vocal track to allow more different harmonies - my Wild Rose mix is the most notable example. On some mixes, elements of the old instrumental tracks crept back in later on. Deciding what to do to the mood of the songs was easy once the original arrangement was removed - I just listened to the lyrics, and wrote chords and arrangements based on my 'audience reaction'. Sometimes it ended up with a similar atmosphere, mostly not. It's probably an advantage that I didn't know the original arrangements very well.

Structurally, I tried to do something a bit different from the originals. Usually, remixes are a bit more free-form than the originals. In Marillion's case, they benefit from being a kind of cottage industry without evil corporate slave masters in that they can indulge themselves a bit. Their recent stuff often has the same complicated structure that their early songs had, but you get more different ideas for your money these days, with more relaxed dynamics. Since Marillion's arrangements aren't constrained by radio-friendliness, I thought my remixes should be a bit tighter, shorter and more fascist so they'd be something a bit different.

WEB: What equipment/ instruments/ software did you use?
CH: I recorded everything into ACID (really easy loop sequencing, recording and sample software for PC). Lots of the guitar is my Strat through a Boss GT6, and I played quite a lot on my old Jazz bass, too. The rest is sampled.

WEB: How did you feel about the results of your remixes?
CH: Out of the ten mixes I did (all the songs in the competition, with two very different versions of Wild Rose), my Separated Out (outre mix) was low on my list of favourites, actually. It's upbeat and fun, but was the last one I did, and I was running out of time.

I was pleased with my attempts at Fruit of the Wild Rose (Rose-Tinted mix and Fruity mix): one's very melancholic, one's funky and cheesy. Same lyrics, but given quite a different slant by changing key and arrangement. I used the original middle eight as the chorus for the Fruity mix.

Map of the World (ordnance survey mix) is my go at a Sinatra arrangement - it's a bit of a stretch, but funny. I liked changing the If My Heart Were a Ball from chaotic to trip-hop, too. I did something a bit obvious for This is the 21st Century - made the first half like Kraftwerk, and the second half all acoustic guitar and live bass. Fits the lyrics, though, and I like it.

My favourite remixes are probably When I Meet God (ontological mix) for feel, and Quartz (hard time mix) for cool.

WEB: Are there any other Marillion songs you would like to remix (and why)?
CH: Rich - there's a cracking pop song in there, but the arrangement's just that little bit slow, MOR and quirky to exploit it. I like it as it is, but you could make something quite modern and hip out of it.

Beyond You is great - it would make a nice Massive Attack style bit of trip-hop.

Some of the old ones would be good to rediscover. Grendel! Maybe not... Market Square Heroes with a straighter arrangement would be pretty catchy. Tux On builds really well - I think that could be brought up to date really interestingly.

Those ideas would be making a more poppy version of the original song - I'd be interested to hear the opposite done to Don't Hurt Yourself, as that's already got a good, tight pop arrangement. And how about a hip-hop version of Cathedral Wall? Or a more orchestral feel for After Me would be cool. That said, some of my favourite 'remixes' are the acoustic versions the band do of stuff like The Space.

© Anne Bond, The Web, Jan 2005

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