When it comes to remixing, few moments feel as satisfying as bringing together a track that clicks with both personal creativity and the original artist’s vision. For Pinkowitz, the Denver-based producer behind the new Rainbow Fluorite EP, this balance is second nature. His work blends the organic textures of house music with a progressive drive, evident in his carefully crafted compositions. Tracks like “Stardriver” and “Into the Nebula” showcase this duality, but it’s in his remix techniques where his attention to detail and artistic approach shine.
Pinkowitz’s latest tips, shared exclusively to coincide with the release of Rainbow Fluorite, dig into the methods he used to approach his remix projects. They touch on everything from organizing project files to nailing snappy percussion and building dynamic arrangements. Whether you’re a new producer figuring out workflows or an experienced artist looking to refine your approach, his insights provide practical takeaways that help you get ideas flowing in the DAW.
By preparing tools and techniques in advance, much like the mise en place philosophy of a chef, Pinkowitz ensures he’s ready to capture inspiration when it strikes. In this article, he lays out his strategies for maintaining momentum, staying organized, and making musical ideas as polished and impactful as possible.
The rest of the words are supplied by Pinkowitz, so let’s let him cook…
From Rut to Groove: The Remix
The weather in Denver, Colorado is sunny on this early November day. Mounds of snow are slowly melting on the sides of the road while the temperature gradually warms. As I stare at the sunrise while having my first sip of a Cappuccino, I rub my eyes from some residual tiredness from a sleepless night from caring for my teething 1-year-old son. The warm coffee and rays of sunshine amidst the cold mountain air provide the perfect motivation to keep moving and start the day.
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“Oh no,” I say to myself after glancing at my phone. “That remix deadline really snuck up on me. It’s due in a few days. I need to get in a creative headspace – and fast.”
I opened the remix stems and found beautiful orchestral sections blended with dynamic synths. Even though it was outside of my typical Organic/Deep House style, Music Herself told me that this track wanted a Downtempo remix. Who am I to deny Her wishes?
When moments of flow arise, like an oasis in the desert of creativity, I am reminded of one of my favorite phrases from my Dad, Steve Pinkowitz, “Be prepared.” It’s the motto of the Boy Scouts, an organization of which he was a member. It’s good advice for life, and directly applicable to creative work.
In the interest of seizing opportunity, like I did with the remix I describe above, here are five of my key workflow tips for bringing the ideas in your head to reality in your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW):
Think Like a Chef: Mise en Place (Prepare Your Environment)
Tom Colicchio inspires the title of the first section with his book of the same name. One of the primary takeaways from Tom’s book is to move away from rigid instructions recipes and introduce some of the fundamental techniques behind effective cooking. This analogy can be extended to music production tutorials: the key is to understand the why behind a particular parameter change, rather than the specific number of the parameter in that one instance. With music, the amount we turn various knobs to is in relation to the other contextual elements of our projects. By understanding the underlying technique, we can improvise with the day’s ingredients and unique circumstances.
It is the reason we see chefs with meticulously diced onions, rich stocks that have been simmering all day, and prepared sauces that are ready to use for final dishes moments before they arrive on the plate. Imagine a stir-fry: with a blazing hot fire underneath a smoking wok, “Every Second Counts”, in the famous words of Carmy from The Bear. Stepping away to chop or prep an ingredient could cause the rest of the ingredients to burn in seconds. In a moment’s notice, the dish can be ruined.
The same analogy applies to music production. Having a template, curated samples, go-to instruments (whether software or hardware), and preferred FX can help you act on the ideas when they click. Culinary prep can be compared to exploration days in the DAW – where the main objective is to find something new, learn, and follow the fun. This can take many forms: favoriting presets from a new pack, creating a sound palette of samples from a couple packs for an EP, and referencing a track by dragging it into DAW and creating verbal mile marker descriptions for key moments in the track.
The “magic” may not happen right when we get seated. But we need to be seated in the chair to receive the Radio Transmission of an Idea from the Universe. It may take a few minutes, several hours, a day – perhaps longer. But by creating the circumstances in which we need to succeed, we enable ourselves to work with prepped ingredients for music production, which helps us capture those fleeting ideas when everything “clicks”.
For the remix I described above, I sorted all the provided stems and MIDI into 7 categories of instruments that I see regularly with Electronic Music: Kick, Bass, Drums, Music, Atmosphere, Vocals, and FX. For me, it is way easier for me to wrap my head around 7 categories to balance with sub-components, relative to a whole bunch of tracks across the entire project. (Producers who use the latter approach – I commend you, and don’t know how you do it!)
Pre-Defined Track Groups in Pinkowitz’s Ableton Template
With this approach, I was able to sort the track components into categories, begin resampling audio stems to create new track components with existing audio recordings. This is much like how a chef will roast a chicken, then make a stock from the carcass, and combine both in a soup. Each element has traces of the original in its character, with each contributing its part to a balanced, cohesive dish.
Make Snappy Drums: Dial-In Attack & Sustain
Once you start producing, I think there’s this part of your analytical brain that you’ll never be able to turn off. For me, I often notice certain parts of percussive elements that, although I may try my best, I just remain fixated on. One of my biggest production pet peeves are overly loose shakers looped across a track – I find these to be distracting from some of the central melodic elements that I want to focus on.
Thankfully, there are some great techniques to turn just about any shaker or hi-hat sample into a tighter, snappier sample that fits like a puzzle piece into the larger groove. For audio samples, my first move is to enable Beats Warp Mode on Ableton Live, change the arrow to “->”, adjust the timing to 1/16 notes, and adjust the Transient percentage lower. This helps preserve the initial impulse of the drum sample, while trimming out some of the looser residual tail of the sound. Combining this technique with multiple percussive elements, when paired with a consistent Groove Pool setting, will make subtle nudges in audio clips that help them sound more cohesive together in the larger context of the track.
For one shot samples, or for users of other popular DAWs like Logic, FL Studio, or Pro Tools – may prefer to use a Transient Shaper plugin. Several great ones exist, including SPL Transient Designer from Plugin Alliance, Transient Master from Native Instruments, and even adjustments to the Attack and Sustain knobs on sampling software. Little adjustments to instruments can help trim out extra elements that distract from the central theme of the track.
For the remix, I applied this exact technique to several percussive samples, along with recordings of legato melodic elements. This allowed me to convert longer held notes into choppy arpeggios that fit nicely into the background – as it was made from existing elements from the track. I also applied Volume Envelopes to these trimmed drum loops to create a call-and-response between the percussive elements themselves:
For speedy workflow, I often reach for Kickstart 2 by Nicky Romero to extract small snippets at the end of percussive patterns.
Opposites Attract: Consider the Counter of Each Element
My piano performance and music teacher, Wil Snyder, is the keyboardist for an amazing band based in the Denver area: Eminence Ensemble. Bands like Eminence and The Motet are some of my favorite experiences to watch live – primary because I love to watch how each musician interacts with each other.
I often observe the arrangement of the musicians on the stage – from the bongo player on Stage Right, guitarist on Stage Left, and vocals front and center. This stage arrangement analogy is one that I picture myself when I plan out the individual elements from the categories of tracks. I ask myself two questions: “Where do I want this element to stand in the stereo field?” and “Does this element have its counter?”
This technique comes from one of my favorite videos by Gregory Scott, where he details the importance of implementing Opposing Movements in arrangements. When you introduce an element into the arrangement, implementing an Opposite of that action can create a varied and dynamic mix.
Consider the example below, where I channel my inner Stage Manager for the remix, and plan out the unique positioning of each percussion element in the stereo field – as if I were a Conductor for an orchestra, determining the optimal location to seat the instrument sections and musicians for the acoustic space:
Subtle Stereo Panning of Individual Drum Elements
Embrace the Harmonics: Add Spice to Sub Bass
One of my favorite uses for Bass Lines is a vehicle for an Underlick, to reference the term from ViB3 MACHiNE. It refers to a consistent hummable or singable element that is a memorable takeaway for the listener. This is often available in melodic elements, and Bass elements also serve as a wonderful vehicle for adding movement and dynamics to melodies and harmonies.
After I figure out the tempo I like – even just by clapping my hands or tapping my desk – I’ll record that same pattern into Ableton using the stock Wavetable instrument. Then, I make a few tweaks to make it audible for phone speakers: the wave is adjusted to a Saw-like shape, with filtering on a gentle curve, paired with a sub-oscillator (a duplicate of the same sound one octave lower) and some resonance. I then crank the Sustain all the way down so the notes become bouncy, and I can fit a lot in a pattern.
From here, I’ll make some subtle cuts to the frequencies at the middle of the sonic spectrum, until I get the low end coming from my sub-woofer, with a little bit of mid-range spiciness:
Gentle EQing of Mid-Range Frequency Elements for Bass
Another secret technique of mine is to layer a bouncy bass Underlick with a sustain Bass pattern. I’ll then use WavesFactory TrackSpacer and oeksound Soothe2 to balance the sounds with the Kick:
Using Double Bass Low Glue to Blend Basslines
Using TrackSpacer to Duck the Kick and Main Bass Line
Pair these bass techniques with layered-in drum elements with low-end elements – like Tom drum hits – and all the pieces come together for a dynamic groove.
Start with the End in Mind: Consider the Climax to Arrange
Arranging can be one of the hardest parts of making music. I’d like to propose a technique to reduce the mental pressure. Loops can be built out to be the climax of the arrangement – with the peak energy and combination of elements in a track. Then, to arrange, it’s all about trying different combinations of the existing elements.
Channel your inner Bob Ross and consider track elements your paintbrush. Try cutting, chopping, muting, and removing certain elements to see if the remaining elements sound better with more of the listener’s focus. Think about where you want your Main Character and Supporting Character elements to go from a narrative perspective.
In the remix, you can see the general structure of my track just by glancing at the colors of the categories themselves, without even looking at any of the track names. The variation in the Kick track at the top in Dark Blue draws the attention of the eye with Red Clips, to indicate double kicks and other variations from the standard MIDI pattern.
Visual Color Coding Across an Arrangement
For newer Producers, completing arrangements can be one of the toughest parts of the process. I equate it to the first time someone attempts to do a Barbell Squat – the weight on the lifter’s shoulders can feel wobbly if the stabilizer muscles are not yet developed. Yet, with enough practice, those lock-in to place – and the compound motion becomes possible. Such is the act of completing arrangements. You sometimes need the practice of deliberately completing an imperfect track to get the reps in with arrangement – similar to building muscle memory with cutting vegetables after years of practice. Once the base of technique is established, Producers can more easily act upon the ideas in their head – and bring them to reality.
I’ll leave you with a few final pieces of advice I would have told myself several years ago:
Follow the fun when you produce music. Don’t overcomplicate things. Make the tunes you want to listen to – even if they don’t fit into existing patterns. You develop your sonic signature by leaning into your differences and letting them shine.
The post Pinkowitz’s Go-To Techniques for Capturing Ideas in the DAW appeared first on Magnetic Magazine.