Why the "trance remixes" ?

A bit of history

I first saw the trance remixes on a records sale day in Pithiviers (France), where people (profesional or not) sold rare vinyls, old vinyls, rare CDs, and even unofficial bootlegs. I was surprised to see an Atom Heart Mother trance remix. At this time, I just heard the album a few times, and though I guess that these remixes were not legal, I was glad and curious to see some, but I guess that they were just plain version of original song with added techno drums and bass over them, something not very good.
This was until I gave a search on them when more and more ripped albums were available on YouTube near 2015, and so I discover the real content of the [Atom Heart Mother trance remixes] (attributed to The Orb) then. Needless to say that I was surprised, because it wasn't what I thought. Actually, as may know, these remixes are more like vague very personal versions of the song with own feelings and mood, and in this case, it is indian vibes.
So I was happy to finally ear them, having been waiting for years for it... But a bit disappointed: it is not really trance techno electronic remixes as I though or like, the infamous [TB-303] appears just few minutes in the whole 30 minutes remix.

Why I love trance remixes

There are two main reasons for making trance remixes:
- compiling the moments I like the most of the songs
- arranging them in a form easy to listen, like ambient music
- it's 100% DoItYourself
This may not sound very arty, yes, but I came over it, I make it for myself, essentially. It's an old dream.
Actually, I could say that I "trancify" songs, though it would be more appropriate and personal to say that I "linearize" songs, but "trance" word sounds good...

Why I love the trance remix approach

I like the approach of trance remixes this way:
Accessible:
One doesn't have to find multi-track tapes (or drives, CD-ROM whatever) of the original songs, which can be obviously very hard to obtain, especially from famous renowned bands like Pink Floyd, and for a regular person.
Cheap:
One just has to buy the regular standard CD (CD is better than compressed MP3/AAC/etc, in theory at least), buy an app like Korg Gadget on iPhone and let's go !
Customize:
It's a great idea that everyone can make its own version of a song, it's almost the same feeling as when the home-studio (4-track cassette multi-track recorders in the 90s) appear, I bought one myself (a [FOSTEX], not a TASCAM).

It's also a sort of dream of eternally refreshing song library:
I have many many CDs (and vinyls) of artists, some famous, other less or obscure; and I put my money in it. Now I have to save money, so the less I spend the better is. And utilizing my vast library of CDs (which are in uncompressed format, don't forget it ;-) as source material for having fun and making experiments is like discovering a hidden source of pleasures. And it's almost free, I spent much money but now I can use this treasure again.

Why I don't love some

I was surprised to hear a kinda trance remix of The Stranglers famous Golden Brown song on FIP french radio, it is called ["Texture of Sun"], but sadly, for an "official" remix (e.g. sold and probably without clearance issues). Sure it sounds like nowadays electronic production (execept samples of the original song, of course),  it is dull and it's sad that an official remix is that useless and frustrating.

Why making it on smarphone ?

I always loved making remixes.
When I was young, before the coming of digital technologies, I was making "remixes" with standard double-tape deck that everyone could afford, nothing professional. I made a simple mixing table (without resistor...) only to mix one tape deck with another... Needless to say that it was awful: the sound was awful, I did not have any idea of tempo, neither harmony, etc. I was putting some movie audio excerpts on songs withtout any taste, just for the fun (but it was not fun, it was bad).

I experimented:

• some stuff with 2OO1 Space Oddissey audio passages (stargate sequence, for instance) with a primitive mixing box
• a remix of New Order's Blue Monday including the dub version of the CD, with some excerpts over,
• a remix of Depeche Mode's Strangelove with Charlie Chaplin's Dictator speech excerpts (!),
• a remix of Queen's Another One Bites The Dust with a voice friend (taken on phone), and parts of CASIO SK-1 (a gift) playing presets and also samples of the song, replayed (the audio difference was obvious between original song from tape, and 11Khz 8bit samples from the SK-1)
• a remix of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Welcome To The Pleasured without any audio excepts over, only a copy from one deck to another, but resquenced, and it was perhaps the best thing I did in those times. It even shows an interesting new thing when creating a new transition from a part of the song to another part.

Years later, I tried to remix on computer, but it was not inspiring, and most of all, it was not fun.
I think that a part of the problem was that FL-Studio is so powerful, there are so much possibilities, that I was lost, and afraid not making a good (professional) remix.

Making remixes on iPhone is obviously very limiting, audio manipulation is limited, there is a limited choice of effects, everything is limited, the edition is boring (piano roll...) but in a way, it is better for me, because it prevents me from being mad, and I keep the fun.
So it is why I like calling my remixes "Pocket Remixes", they are limited remixes but at least they exist ! Sometimes, fun amateur stuff is just enjoyable enough.