Usually, a lot of my mash-ups are kind of minimalistic in the sense that I don't usually import a lot of the stems.  Maybe hi-hat, snare, kick, etc. and anything that's necessary, such as the Far Left and Far Right surround channels from the DVD-A release of Reanimation's "Plc.4 Mie Haed"  

But once I really started to layer in a bunch of FX / Scratching / Sampled / Room Mics / Loops, etc.  I was starting to get a little worried that the stuff from "Plc.4 Mie Haed" was going to end up getting buried, and there aren't just stems for that to drop in at random.  

So I decided to experiment with doubling THAT synth by chopping up 1 - the "GTR Stabs" L/R tracks from "When They Come For Me," and 2 - the "Guitar 1 (chorus)" L/R tracks from "Forgotten," and manipulating them to match that main synth loop.  Both of which required some less-than-optimal tempo / key stretching, which was perfectly fine with me, because the entire point of it is that it's felt more than heard.  If it doesn't blend or if it's distracting, it misses the entire point. It's not about saying "HEY LOOK ITS FORGOTTEN" it's about the mash-up going HARD with lots of dynamic contrast.

With that said, I can arrange the shit out of a mash-up, but I don't have the skillset to actually polish / master the mix. If anybody is interested in trying to help that blend together, here's a folder with isolated tracks:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rbMSDKPzY6Dg1bjGtxamVG6Pbjd2-Rsr?usp=share_link

Obviously, drums and vocals are usually pretty centered in the mix - the only reason that the tracks I used were isolated enough to be viable is because that's the FAR LEFT and FAR RIGHT surround channels.

So I'm thinking, if that's the best that can get, then it'll probably end up getting buried when it's time to really start arranging and layering the various live drums, sampled drums, sfx tracks, DJ loops, scratches, etc. etc. then I'm gonna have to figure out a way to emphasize it without it being distracting.

By digging around in the stems I DO have to try to find an isolated guitar stem that has a close enough texture that it can be subtle, at a close enough tempo that it's not messing with the attack, sustain, decay, or release of the sample being used, and in a close enough key that I can pitch-shift individual notes without it distorting too much.

Granted, I broke every single one of those rules, but when it's all layered together, you still can't tell.

Oscillation 2023 - Groove Test

Reflectionist