Remixology: Trent Reznor pushes fans to be creative with Garageband

Musicians are an intricate breed. Their population is comprised of many minds and many egos. From the days of Lars Ulrich hunting down Napster to Chuck D promoting online distribution of music, we will continue to see an evolution of music delivery for the next decade.

On April 2005, one of music’s technologically forward-thinking individuals revolutionized how a fan can interact with the music they listen to. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails released the single “The Hand That Feeds” in a multi-track Garageband format. Fans were able to download the 80mb dmg file to their Mac computers and remix the song as if they were at the helm of NIN’s studio console. All the tracks that were necessary to make a successful remix were provided: guitars, percussion, vocals, backup vocals, ambient sounds and synths.

A nice little letter comes enclosed with the files stating:
“Change the tempo. Add new loops. Chop up the vocals. Turn me into a woman. Replay the guitar. Anything you’d like. I gave this to my crew and band to test out and all work effectively stopped for a while - it’s fun to mess around with. I’ve now heard a country version of the track as well as an abstract Latin interpretation (thanks, Leo). There are some copyright issues involved, so read the notice that pops up. Giving this away is an experiment. I’m interested to see what comes of it, what issues are raised and what the results are.”

You can’t help but feel a part of the creative process as you work with the files and perform your own mash-up. You can’t help but think “holy shit this is cool stuff.” You can’t help but think this is a band who wants their fans to feel like they are a part of the music they listen to.

I’m not the worlds largest fan of NIN, but I definitely like a handful of their songs. I’ve really started to get into them as of late, appreciating the composition and technology that goes behind the music. This just took me one step deeper into their music as I loaded up the song within Logic Pro and started toying with it.

If you’re not a fan and you have some audio tools, download this and just see what you can come up with. Heck, if you don’t like NIN because you think Trent’s voice sucks, replace his with a new vox track - maybe your own!

Here’s to technology and becoming a part of what you listen to.

Update: Check www.nin.com to download the new single Survivalism in many different multitrack formats for your remix enjoyment!

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