Contest Runner Up Spotlight: Allie Alvarado on Her Remix of Com Truise’s “Dynetics”

portrait of Allie Alvardo

Last July, we lovingly (and with much trepidation) launched the Summer of Synthwave Com Truise Remix Contest, encouraging Soundfly members to create their own take on Com Truise’s new track “Dynetics” using his very own stems. Community members from all over the globe whipped up their own remixes for a chance to win amazing prizes put up by Arturia, Kilohearts, Samples From Mars, and D16.

By the time it ended, we were flabbergasted by the sheer number of incredible submissions to the contest, taken aback by the overall level of quality that just seems to flow effortlessly from Soundfly’s artist community, and in a real pickle as Seth and the team convened to decide this year’s winners and runners up…

In a previous post we introduced you to the contest’s Grand Prize Winner, Mono Memory, and today we’re presenting the second of two amazing tracks by our contest’s Runners Up, by producer Allie Alvarado.

Take a listen to Allie’s “Dynetics” remix below — a self-dubbed “’80s Sci-Fi dance party inspired by Com Truise — and read our interview below:

Q: You recently took on the Summer of Synthwave Com Truise Remix Contest with your fantastic remix of “Dynetics,” and earned the Runner Up spot. Congrats! How was the process of producing this track for you?

A: Thanks! There were so many great entries! I don’t know how you all were able to choose.

Overall, the process was really fun for me. I submitted two remixes and the second one was selected in the contest, but I don’t think I could have made it without having finished the first one. I did have a concept for the first one which was sort of imagining an ’80s Sci-Fi dance party inspired by Com Truise’s retro sounds and using more dance music elements. I redid the drums and spent a lot of time on the transitions between the sections in the arrangement.

I wouldn’t say it was laborious but I did spend more time on some of the details. After I submitted it, and with only a week left, I decided to try another one and had no concrete ideas going into it except that I wanted it to be totally different. That was really freeing (and so was the time constraint ironically) so it came together quickly.

How did you approach this remix? What did you work on first, and did the track take a long time to come together or did it go quick?

So, for the second remix (I submitted two), I kept the original drums and focused more on making some changes to the harmonic and melodic stems. I decided to play with the pitches and textures of some of the prominent sounds by sampling them. I work in Logic Pro so I did this in the Quick Sampler. I flipped some parts and chopped others.

I also added a new melody from an outside sample which sounded like a side chained, detuned Rhodes. This started to give the track a sort of nostalgic, jazzy but glitchy quality so I tried to bring that out more using vintage bell sounds and Mellotron-inspired orchestral parts. These sounds became the verse and the chorus.

For the bridge/breakdown, I wanted it to be sort of a free-style jam so I kept it more unstructured.

How did you arrive at your sound in general?

I write synth-pop music that I sing over so I’m used to relying on vocal melodies to guide which parts of the arrangement should have more energy. I liked the challenge of not using vocals for these remixes and having to showcase instrumental parts as hooks.

This was what led to certain sound choices in different parts, obviously using lead synth sounds for lead parts but also making sure everything else played a supporting role.

Who are your biggest inspirations in terms of producers or artists, and why? Did you look towards any particular artist for inspiration here?

I probably used the course more as the inspiration for these remixes but in general I follow a lot of producers to get inspired. Some recent faves are TOKiMONSTA, BAYNK, and Rachel K Collier, among others.

Were you able to put any concepts you learned from Com Truise’s course into action in your remix? What was something you learned that piqued your interest?

Definitely. I created a few new original bass patches, which is a focus of the course, and very important to me personally. And I was inspired by the overall emphasis on creativity.

What was your favorite part of Com Truise’s course?

I really enjoyed watching how Seth approached drum programming and designing drum racks in particular!

So, Allie, what’s next for you in 2022?

Well, I released an EP earlier in 2022 called Strong. I’m hoping to follow it up with some new songs soon!

Don’t stop here!

Continue learning with hundreds of lessons on songwriting, mixing, recording and production, composing, beat making, and more on Soundfly, with artist-led courses by Kimbra, JlinKiefer, RJD2, Ryan Lott, and of course, Com Truise: Mid-Fi Synthwave Slow-Motion Funk

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