Josh Harris Moves From Behind the Scenes to Center Stage

Having worked on countless tracks for household first names such as Whitney and Celine, 2007 found Josh venturing into the waters of his own music. His new album Distortion on the Dance Floor (Toucan Cove/Universal), includes an original track, among the formidable collection of his recent remixes. Josh recently took the time to fill us in on the inner workings of his own inimitable style.

How did you get started in remixing?

Shortly after I moved to New York from Nashville in March of ’01, I was introduced to Mike Rizzo through Ernie Lake. He was in need of an additional programmer, due to his workload at the time. I had just moved into a room inside Ernie’s studio (Reel Tyme) in NYC, so Mike came in on a Friday afternoon and the first remix we did together was “Never Had a Dream Come True” by S Club 7. Although that mix wasn’t officially released by the label, it was one of the most-played songs of the summer on WKTU in NYC. We hit it off and soon after that I became his main programmer. I worked on most of his remixes from spring of ’01 until early ’04. I was also sharing my studio space during that period with one of my Passengerz band-mates, Omar Galeano. So, I pulled double duty between working with Rizzo and getting the Passengerz up and running with Omar.

When you work with a DJ is it collaborative or do you try to capture their sound? 

It depends on the DJ. When I worked with Mike Rizzo, he already had a sound. If you listen to Mike’s remix of Tamia’s “Stranger in My Hous”’ (Frank Lamboy was the programmer), and then you listen to Mike’s remix of Whitney Houston’s “Try it on My Own” (I programmed on that remix), you can hear a sound. I just fit into it. When I worked with Omar Galeano, it was a joint effort in shaping our sound. You can really hear the collaborative sound in our remix of Daniel Bedingfield’s “If You’re Not The One.” These mixes are a few years old now and I’m no longer in the Passengerz, but they are good examples. Now that I’ve been solo for a few years, I’m able to develop a few different sounds: rock-dance, filtered house, and mainstream house.

What’s the most challenging mix you’ve done?

I think the hardest remix I’ve worked on was a remix I did with Mike Rizzo for Celine Dion, “A New Day Has Come.” There were a couple of versions of the song with one of them in 6/8 time. Rick Wake had done a mid-tempo mix and I had both sets of vocals. Our mix was around 132 or 134 bpm. So, I ended up having to combine the different vocals from the different mixes and then time stretch the ends of the phrases. It was an undertaking, but the mix came out great and the label was happy. When you remix songs that are not in 4/4 time or have to be slowed down to do a double time mix, it gets tricky. You have to really dive in and make the vocals feel natural. Labels will not usually accept remixes if the vocals sound too time-stretched or unnatural. You end up having to play around with the ends of the phrases and sometimes splice the original vocal back in. Most of the time, the singer will not sing it again, so you have to learn how to make it work. And, sometimes, it just won’t work.

Any words of wisdom for budding remixers and programmers?

My biggest issue with budding remixers and programmers is their lack of musicianship and knowledge. There are too many DJs who don’t play an instrument and there are too many programmers who don’t listen to enough of the music. I am a classically-trained pianist with a degree in music theory and it does factor into my work in dance music. Someone once told me that you have to know what a hit song is to be able to write one. I feel like that statement can be applied to remixing. So, listen but don’t imitate too much. Fall into your own sound and develop your own artistry by doing originals. Be a forward thinker and listen to what the underground guys are doing. I am a mainstream producer and remixer, but I listen to a lot of underground music for inspiration and ideas.

A Peek Inside Josh Harris’s Bag o’ Tricks

“One trick that I learned a few years ago,” says Josh, “was to split the bass into two separate tracks. On one track you have a lowpass filter that really bumps the low part of the bass (maybe 80–100Hz). On the other track, you have a highpass filter, rolled off so it won’t phase against the other track. I prefer to do this than use Maxx Bass or one of the low end enhancing plug-ins. Then, you blend your two bass tracks until you have the desired amount of low end. I like to mix with a lot of weight in the low end.
“Chorus is another effect that I seem to use on almost every mix now. The trick is to blend it in so that you don’t know it’s there, but if you muted it, you would notice its absence. I use the Waves Mondo-Mod for chorus when I’m in [Digidesign] Pro Tools. When I’m in [Apple] Logic I use the Logic chorus. Chorus can give vocals much more depth and add a nice color to the sound. I try to sync the rate to a quarter-note.
“Setting up your mixer is crucial. I have a bunch of buses set up and I put my effects on those. I set up my mixer as if I were using a hardware mixer, with the reverbs and delays on the buses and not on the individual channels. Once in a while I will put a delay plug-in on a specific track, but usually I set up the buses and just send the track to the desired return. This can help those of you who are CPU challenged. Reverbs can be CPU hogs and if you put them on a bus, then you can send any track to that reverb.”