Session Notes: ‘Shape Of You’ Remix (2017)
Producer & DJ, BKaye, talks about how his hugely popular remix of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ came together in a hurry.
7 June 2021
Track: Shape Of You
Producer: BKaye
Story: Joe Matera
“As soon as I heard ‘Shape Of You’ the day it was released, I immediately knew that a) I loved it and b) I had to make some sort of remix for it. I knew the chances of doing an official remix for the biggest artist in the world were far-fetched, so I downloaded the full song and dragged it into Ableton Live to see what I could do with the original and how I could flip it.
“I listened through a few times, and found the one part of the song where it was just a group vocal with no instrumentation. I sliced that part out, put it on a new audio track, and pitched it up 12 semitones, and then 24 semitones, adding compression, a low cut EQ, Valhalla Vintage Reverb, and a Kickstart to add that ducking feel. Then to create a drop for a song that didn’t have one, I wrote in brass stabs with the original chord progression of the song, as well as my own 808 drums with a kick, hi-hat, and snare pattern to create a groove.
“Putting them all together and arranging two drops to come in between the Chorus 1 and Verse 2 and again at the end of Chorus 2, it became a full song. I made the whole thing in a few hours when I was home over the holidays, and immediately sent it over to the head of Trap Nation [music curation channel on YouTube]. His reaction was very encouraging and he even predicted that this remix could get over 100 million views when uploaded on their channel, which it was the very next day.
“Today, it has well surpassed that incredible 100 million milestone mark! I think the last time I looked on Shazam over six months ago, it had at least half a million Shazams as well, which tells me that people really are really loving this remix and are hearing it all over the place, which is the best feeling in the world as a producer! Someone once told me too that an A&R played it to Ed Sheeran himself, and that Ed said it was really cool, but I don’t know whether that is true or just a rumour. Hopefully though, one day I can get to actually work with Ed in the studio!”
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