Remixing - What is it and why is it important?
We talk about remixing at Cambrian, but what is this artistic alchemy and how has it impacted the world so far?
Remixing is using and changing existing materials to create something new. This includes Sampling, Taylor Swift Goat remixes, Memes, and most content produced by anyone.
To be human is to remix. We constantly learn new ideas and concepts, then copy, transform and combine them to produce something new.
It is most commonly associated with music, where remixing revolutionized the scene in the 80s. With remixing anyone could make new music through sampling, you didn’t need to be able to play an instrument or even own one, if you had a turntable and a microphone, you could entertain the world.
“It's how Rock and Roll works. You take the broken pieces of another thrill and use it to make a brand new thrill.” - Elvis Costello
Remixing is dominant in film too. By remixing different tropes, settings and characters new films are created. Star Wars is a remix of amongst others, samurai movies, King Arthur and WW2. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a remix of comics and those comics are a remix of myths and legends. 92 of the 100 top films of the last few years are direct remixes. Either remakes, sequels or spin-offs.
“The DNA of every song lies in another. All creative ideas are derivative of each other.” - QuestLove
Human progress is dependent on remixing. Civilisation itself is made possible as every human stands on the shoulders of humans who came before. You don’t need to invent perspective in art, crop rotation, penicillin, or the 4-4-2. Someone else did and we all benefit from it. Remixing has led to the biggest companies around. Henry Ford remixed the production line, interchangeable parts and the car. Taxis and smartphones combine into Uber. Patents were invented to encourage remixing while rewarding and incentivising the invention. No one starts out original.
“[After turning comic books into novels] At some point I began writing my own stories. Imitation preceded creation.” - Stephen King
Remixing has been pivotal to games. Mechanics and themes are copied and improved upon, inspirational games give their names to entire genres (Roguelike, Doom-clone etc). Modding allows players to remix the games they love. CS:GO, DayZ and League of Legends are massive games that came from mods. Whole new genres of games have been made by remixing/modding, DOTA created MOBA, and PUBG created the battle royale and inspired Fortnite (which has 240 million monthly players!). This progress has been made despite the difficulties. Modding access is limited, technical skills are required, and if you want to copy something between games, you must rebuild it. Games remixing has not been as successful in reducing the cost of creation as it was in music.
The remixing of music lowered the skill and equipment barrier. It increased innovation and allowed people normally excluded from the creative process to participate. We have not seen this to the same extent in games. You can’t sample games. There is no standardised format. Even if you copy a game, you have to reproduce it yourself. Cambrian aims to change this. Every game is remixable by anyone. No technical skills, no specialist equipment or downloads.
We are better when we create together. Innovation booms when more people can transform the works of others. No one can claim what they make is entirely theirs. Just as you were inspired by others, your work will add to the growing wealth of human knowledge.
To quote Picasso (or whoever he took the phrase from) “Good artists borrow, great artists steal.”