In the past, making DJ music such as mix songs and mashups has been restricted to those who could afford the expensive music hardware needed to make the songs. Changes in computer music technology have made it possible to use free software to make mash-up songs at home. Based on the type of mashup you want to make, different types of free computer software offer different options for composing your mash-up songs on your home computer. With a bit of preparation, you can make mash-up songs for free on a computer you already have at home.
Instructions
Setting Up
1. Choose your audio-editing software. Audio-editing programs such as Audacity allow you to align and organize bits of audio in a mashup and can be used to make the entire beat if you are using an audio drum sample.
2. Choose your beat-making software. Rebirth, Acid Xpress or Reason software can help you make a background beat for your mashup.
3. Check your computer requirements to ensure that your computer will run the software you have chosen. Most basic audio and beat-making programs can function on a computer with 1 gigabyte of RAM.
4. Install and configure your audio-editing software program. The configuration settings are in the Preferences option of the Edit menu in Audacity. Use the audio input and output tab to set your sound card to play back sound from Audacity. When you have completed installation of the audio-editing program, close the audio-editing program and install and configure your beat-making program.
Mashing Up
5. Choose which songs to mash up. Though many songs with differing timings can sound great together, songs with similar tempos and time signatures are the easiest to mash up.
6. Use the Import function in your audio-editing program to import the songs you wish to turn into a mashup.
7. Using a drum sample from one of your songs, create a repeating drum beat that can be used to frame the timing of the other sounds. Use the beat guides in Audacity to help you place your beat and keep your sounds in time.
8. Arrange the audio in a way that appeals to you. Song mashups tend to have smooth transitions that lead you from song to song, mixing one song with another.
9. Make a beat on your beat-making program that helps bring your mashup together. Choose sounds that are similar to those already in the mash-up songs to help give the song a natural feel. When the beat is made, export it from your beat-making program and import it into your mash-up audio project.
