One of my favorite tapes of 2013 was Mndsgn's Frugal Earth which consists primarily of what most people would call mashups. Mndsgn takes vocals from other songs, isolates them, pitch shifts them, and (maybe?) changes the bpm, then layering them on top of beats he's made.
Now, to my understanding, Mndsgn primarily works with an SP-555. Obviously, he doesn't limit himself to just this hardware, but I wanted you guys to lend me your ears and tell me to what extent you think he used (or one potentially could use) the 555 for mashups.
Here's the link to side b which has a few vocals I'm familiar with: http://mndsgn.bandcamp.com/track/side-b
The first track on the mix has vocals by Toro y Moi which have been isolated and modified. Here's a link to the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKz5I8IsDF4
The last track, that begins around 10:40, has vocals by Bobby Valentino which don't appear to be modified much other than some isolation. Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHfmPjE3vQ0
Those familiar with vocal isolation know that you can't isolate vocals for every song as it depends on the engineering. Luckily with the lo-fi flavor we know and love with the SP series, one can get away with much lower quality isolation.
Anyway, here are some of my questions:
I'm pretty sure you can't isolate very well at all with any SP series machine, but it's easily done with Audacity. Have any of you isolated vocals with an SP machine?
After giving the mix a listen and the originals a listen, is it possible to modify the pitch that well off of an sp-555? What about the BPM? I know on my 404 it's almost always a train wreck. I've been told that the 555 has better pitch shifting. Is it even worth the effort to pitch shift or change bpm on it? I'm happy with my 404, just wanted to see the extent of differences between the two devices.
What do you all think of the mix and the production? I can't get enough of it. Have any of you done similar things? What are your techniques? I know you have to build up an ear for these things and audition sounds while listening to other sounds. Any other tips?
Thanks
