News
How we remixed Morcheeba: Tips and tricks from Paula Tape, Frazer Ray, and Brother Counsell
Morcheeba has gone through many iterations since forming in 1995, but the combination of Skye Edwards’ mystical voice and Ross Godfrey’s versatile guitar has been the foundation of their 10 million albums sold and exploration into numerous genres.
Some of their big hits include the psych-rock standard, The Sea, the gospel statement, Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day, and the groovy neo-soul of Otherwise. And throughout that time, they’ve also shared their stems for remixes from various club stalwarts, including Prins Thomas, Djrum, and Timo Maas.
Now, following the release of the latest Morcheeba album, Escape The Chaos (2025), Edwards and Godfrey called upon Brothers Counsell, Frazer Ray, and Paula Tape to make the whimsical jams into rave-ready versions.
We speak with the three producers to learn what goes into remixing new tracks from a stalwart act in the trip-hop space.
Brothers Counsell – Bleeding Out remix
What makes a good remix?
Something that finds new pockets and sounds that weren’t obvious in the first listen. Unpacking the original and showing new instincts and decisions. A good remix makes you smile, like the remixer understood what made the original special.
What gear was crucial to your remix of Bleeding Out?
For the vocal chops and stutters, I added Echoboy and Logic Pro’s stock reverb to Skye’s vocals, then chopped them up in Logic Pro’s Quick Sampler. After picking a rhythm of the chops that fit the song, I added some saturation and on a bus sent the signal to Soundtoys Little AlterBoy and some Waves H-Delay. The AlterBoy shifted the vocal an octave up. This and the delay with some automation allow the vocal chops to sparkle in and out with the main body of the track.
What are some tips you have for remixing non-club music into club-ready tracks?
The biggest tip is to jump in and react to the parts you have available. Instinct first, serious later. Enjoy finding the pocket and groove that falls out of the stems first. Then, once you have that element, you start building a world that could land in a club.
The sound of Morcheeba is defined by different instrumental backdrops behind Skye’s voice. You kept her vocals mostly intact. How did you make the backdrop in the remix?
The instrumentation of the original had rich layers that felt ripe to peel apart and reuse. Skye’s vocals made up a large part of the backdrop: chopped, stretched, and resampled. That became layers that sat under most of the remix, allowing the original vocal plenty of space to cut through.
The very first keys on the original were re-sampled and became the pulsing sound of the intro. There are also little artefacts and sounds from the original that were cut and stretched and run through reverb and delays to add depth and movement. All of the instrumentation, aside from the drums and bass, came from recycling the original song.
Frazer Ray – Pareidolia remix
What makes a good remix?
A good remix reinvents the original. Whether that’s changing the genre, focusing on a subtle element and turning it into a hook, or completely mangling the entire thing. You have to really pay respect to the original music, too. Pick out the bits of magic and try to maintain that message in your rework.
What gear was crucial to your remix of Pereidolia?
A big part of my current sound is from analogue summing. I got my grail piece a couple of years ago: the TL Audio Fat Track. Once I finish mixing a track, I bounce it into four stems, then run them super hot through this tube mixer. The sound of this unit is mad. It separates stuff and saturates each element really musically. Then I run them through one more tube to sum them together.
What are some tips you have for remixing non-club music into club-ready tracks?
When you get a remix, usually you get a ton of stems. I really enjoy listening to each stem to see if I can pick out a particular moment/previously more subtle element that can be turned into something new. It takes a while, but it’s worth it. Once I find those moments, I’ll drag them into new channels to make a collage out of these sounds.
Another tip: submit two remixes in demo form to the label initially. For someone like me who writes a lot of UK club styles, I’ve had remixes turned down by labels expecting a garage remix, jungle remix, or breaks remix. So send them two demos and ask which one feels right for them. This stops you from investing too much time in an idea that’s not right! My other demo for this remix was a super-melodic liquid/jungle thing. Very early 2000s inspired, and not really a sound I’ve played with much before.
The most pronounced new element of your remix is the club beat. How did you build the instrumental backdrop around it? Was it all audio from the original song? Did you create any new sounds?
The remix is pretty stripped. I initially overloaded it with tons of elements, but as I started to work with the vocal and the reese, I realised I wanted them to be the focal point and create a more euphoric 90s vibe.
All the vocals and melodic elements are from the stems. The drums are a painstakingly reworked break from one of the countless 90s sample packs I’ve bought over the years. The reese was created in Serum 2, and the various FX and dubbier sounds are from my Eurorack and VCV Rack.
Paula Tape – We Live And Die remix
What makes a good remix?
Reinterpretation is all about understanding the target and the context you want to achieve, such as the genre, BPM, and overall mood. It is also important to decide whether you want to preserve the emotional core of the original by keeping elements like the vocals, harmonies, or key melodic parts.
Finding the strongest hook from the original and approaching the remix with a clear vision gives the track direction and purpose. The key is to strike a balance between familiarity and innovation, allowing listeners to recognise the essence of the original while introducing a fresh perspective that makes the new version distinctly your own.
What gear was crucial to your remix of We Live And Die?
For this remix, I used Juno-106, resampled and filtered the original bass and made the drums on an Akai S900 with mainly TR-909 drums and real drum samples.
What are some tips you have for remixing non-club music into club-ready tracks? How did you make it work on this remix?
The first and most important step is understanding the key of the original track. Once I know that, I can work more freely and decide how to reshape the rhythm, harmony, and overall structure. When remixing music that isn’t originally intended for clubs, it’s essential to identify the right vocal phrases to use as a consistent hook throughout the track.
Apart from the vocals, it doesn’t sound like anything from the main 4/4 beat was drawn from the original song. How did you make that part of your remix?
In the chorus, I enhanced and filtered the original bass, giving it a more upbeat character to build tension that eventually explodes into a climax of drums and cymbals. I also incorporated the original violin parts, while all of the drum programming was created using my own custom kits.
The post How we remixed Morcheeba: Tips and tricks from Paula Tape, Frazer Ray, and Brother Counsell appeared first on MusicTech.