Beastie Boys 'Intergalactic' vs Christopher Tyng 'Futurama Theme' vs Jurassic 5 'In The Flesh; written by Michael Diamond, Adam Yauch, Adam Horowitz, Mario Caldato Jr, Christopher Tyng, Pierre Henry, Michel Colombier, Charles Stewart, Dante Givens, Courtenay Henderson, Marc Stuart, Mark Potsic, Lucas Macfadden; Arranged by IronicHide; (c) Capitol 1998, 20th Century Fox TV 2012, Pan 1998
Welp. 's been a while, kiddo.
This got made as a birthday present for ZooFights supremo Major Failure. That was a while back. We played it on his non-brand MP3 deck through a guitar amp in his back garden while necking supermarket energy drinks and gin, decanted into a horn. Good times. Good people.
Chances are, if you're here, you know who the Beastie Boys are and what Futurama is. Hopefully, you'll know who Jurassic 5 are (clue: there's actually six of them) and you'll appreciate Christopher Tyng is the spiffing young buck what done wroted that Futurama themetune. Technically, I think this is the closing credit theme used on the longer, straight-to-retail editions of the show after Fox cancelled it. Shame Firefly couldn't have done the same (wait, it kind-of did). Shame Arrested Development couldn't have done the same (wait, it kind-of will). Shame Family Guy got re-commissioned.
Anyhow, how did I make this? I'm glad you asked.
The internet has heaved and bobbed with Beastie Boys acapellas ever since broadband enabled and encouraged people to share compressed audio files. The flux has only increased since the death of Adam Yauch. Coincidentally, so has my Beastie Boys' output. Only one of these was a passing tribute to Yauch, although the rest were made for ZooFights, too, and, as I said, the Major does love them Beasties.
So, got an Intergalactic acapella, whacked it on top of the Futurama theme, which is instrumental. Job done, stop reading, go home, IronicHide, wake us up when you've made more free remixes.
As anybody will know, having tried to staple together bits of music, it is never that simple. Actually, a Donna Summer v Lady Gaga mash I'm in the middle of was that simple but you'll have to cool your spurs for that.
In most cases, no two pieces of music are in exactly the same tempo. In theory and in notation, they may be, but in reality they're not. Many songs are not in the exact same tempo throughout their duration. Chances are, if a song relies on the recorded sound made by an organic, cellular being, the tempo will fluctuate. All the greats - the session musicians of Motown, the Beach Boys, whoever - had wonky timekeeping. When an acapella and an instrumental are out of synch, I would always recommend speeding up the slower of the two tracks: Get your mashup faster and shorter. You're asking a listener for nothing more than their patience so don't ask for too much of it. Preferably, any time-stretching should be done to the acapella, though this is not a final command. Any time-shrinking should be done to the instrumental track. Famous music always sounds fun the first time you hear it sped up a bit. It is difficult for me to listen to the Pet Shop Boys or Nine Inch Nails these days unless played 20% faster.
So, the Tyng track is, roughly, in the original tempo, and the Beasties' rap has been sped up (and slowed a little bit after that in places to paper over the cracks). Originally, the Futurama theme came in four bars ahead of where it does on what you're listening to. But I moved it. Interesting, no? The Jurassic 5 sample - from three separate parts of 'In The Flesh' - is then used to fill in every other bit of the mashup that felt a bit flat.
I'm also trying an easier layout format fo' blog entries. Whadday reckon?
