How We Remixed Fred Again..: Tips from HAAi, Oppidan and HamdiAfter Fred Again.. put out USB 002, his latest longform instalment to the ongoing USB release, notable collaborators such as Young Thug, Sammy Virji, and Floating Points joined the ranks of previous entrants, Skrillex, Four Tet, and Romy.

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But before the dust had settled around the 16 new songs, Fred Again.. announced USB 002 Remixes to keep the roster growing with more diverse talent. Across six new tracks, he welcomes an eclectic crew to rework music from USB 002. Burgeoning dubstep champion Hamdi contributed alongside the modern UK garage purveyor KETTAMA, the intuitive electronic artist HAAi, and the respected groove machine Oppidan.
MusicTech speaks to Oppidan, HAAi, and Hamdi about how they made their remixes and what it’s like to be a part of the continuing USB legacy.
the floor – HAAi remix

What do you think makes a good remix?
Having recognisable elements. The thing that I’m always trying to achieve is where you’re in the club, and you hear this track coming on, and then you get a real payoff on the hook.
the floor technically exists as two remixes, Fred’s and Skin on Skin’s. What was it like working with both sets of stems?
It was quite the beast to take on. There were so many elements I really loved. The first version that I did came out so easily. I worked on it in my kitchen obsessively all day and night, but even though it sounded completely different, it probably had a few too many of those elements. Fred’s feedback was, “I feel like you’ve respected me too much.”
Where did you go from there?
I did seven entirely different compositions, which is probably more work than I’ve ever done on my own music. I did a session with two different pals. The first was Manny D, who is a longtime friend. Then I reached out to this up-and-coming producer called Skybreak who I’ve been working with. His sound design is insane.
Then I took the stems away and rebuilt the whole thing two times. I was still just trying to find what was gonna work in the club. And then it got to the final, but I wasn’t quite ready to hand it over for mixing. So I called Jon Hopkins. He is a very dear friend of mine and a longtime collaborator.
For the first time, I’ve got so many extra credited people. But it has been a real testament that even though I feel very confident as a producer, composer, and songwriter, I also am not afraid to just call up pals sometimes when I’m doing my head in on this.
What are some key plugins, synths, or other pieces of gear you used to make your remix?
We worked across three different DAWs. I work in Ableton Live, Manny D works in Logic Pro, and Skybreak works in FL Studio. A lot of that stuttering vocal stuff I do manually, and I used a Moog Sub 37 and a lot of Serum 2.
One of my favourite two plugins that I used a lot on this is Infiltrator by Devious Machines. In the distortion section called In Your Face, the dial is 0 to 100. I use it on 1, and that is more than enough. I use it mostly on kicks and bass because it adds upper, mid-frequency artefacts, which adds so much more detail to the texture.
There’s another gating plugin that I’ve been using called Duck. It’s so simple, but it adds so much more groove. If I’ve got something like a string section, I can make it into a trance kind of pattern. That’s been really fun to play with.
OK OK – Hamdi remix

What do you think makes a good remix?
I like it when remixes build on the original rather than being a completely separate thing. I always prefer the remixes that don’t veer too far from the original track.
What was your reaction when Fred reached out to you for a remix to be part of the ongoing USB legacy?
I was very gassed when I got the call-up. Funnily enough, I’d actually thought of doing an edit of the track before Fred had even asked me, so I already had some ideas of where I’d take the remix. I love what he’s done with the USB series and the different styles he’s been making on it, so I was very honoured to be a part of the project.
What are some key plugins, synths, or other pieces of gear you used to make your remix?
Most of the basses I made were done in Serum. I usually make most of my bass patches in Sytrus, so it was a bit of a departure for me and a nice change.
Fred has been a champion of the UK dubstep sound for years now. Did that make you feel any pressure when you were making your remix?
I was pretty nervous, I can’t lie. I knew that Fred had a lot of shows coming up, so I really wanted to make something for the clubs that would make crowds go crazy. It took a good few days to get it right. The idea came quite quickly, but it really took a while to fine-tune it and make it sound how I wanted it to. There were a few days when I wasn’t sure if I was going to get it to a good spot.
Your remix has a much harder-hitting bassline than the original. Can you give a quick overview of how you made it in the studio?
I actually built that sound off of a sound I’d made for a drum and bass track. I knew I wanted it to have that of formant-y type sound to it, so I was aiming for that sort of vibe.
..FEISTY – Oppidan remix

What do you think makes a good remix?
Re-contextualising songs in your own style and in a way people wouldn’t have been exposed to before. It’s good to treat remixes like a one-way collaboration.
What was your reaction when Fred reached out to you for a remix to be part of the ongoing USB legacy?
Obviously, really exciting, but also slightly nerve-racking. It felt important for me to fly the flag for UK Garage on this one, which I didn’t end up doing, and I’m glad I didn’t. I’m finding it increasingly difficult to stay within that box. I’m inspired by a lot of different genres.
What are some key plugins, synths, or other pieces of gear you used to make your remix?
There are two bass synths in this track, both made on Serum. One’s a simple sub patch, and the other is a plucky saw style bass with quite a bit of automation to make it feel more organic. I spent quite a bit of time playing with the filter cutoff on the LFO and the decay to create a bit of pull and push on certain notes and emphasise the bassline between bars.
The main synth for the chords is a S.K.Y Keys patch, which samples a bunch of analogue synths. Like most of my tracks, this remix started in a hotel room, so S.K.Y Keys can be my go-to for getting ideas down on the move. The main melody patch is from my Moog Matriarch. I used XLN RC-20 to automate the pitch wobble.
The original track chops up the vocal into precise, minimal pieces. Why did you decide to create smooth melodies, chords, and basslines for your version?
I love recontextualising a song using chords and creating a whole new feel. Usually, this translates to vocal melodies because you can change the way every word feels with each chord change. In this one, though, there’s no direct melody in the vocal, so I had to change my thinking a bit. The vocal is dark and moody, and I guess in a kind of absurdist way, I wanted to flip it on its head and make the vocal feel light, then sweeten the rhythms as much as possible by adding chords and drums.
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