How can I remix a rock track on my PC?

Question

To start with an example, I am once again freshly in love with the rhythm section on two Talkin Heads tracks, The Great Curve and Moon Rocks. I would like play around with mixing extended, non-vocal, dance mixes of these and many other tracks.

I have no quantifiable, nor any expressable, musical knowledge besides having an ear for what is good, so I would like some advice on finding an application that will allow me to sample and filter music as easily as many image editing apps allow non-designers and artists to manipulate images.

I have the required tools, but not the technique. That is, where is the best place to start with stock rythm sounds etc. to failry quickly get an approximation of the original rhythm section?

Answer 1

Here's a couple suggestions:

• GoldWave (commercial)
• Audacity (free)

Answer 2

Reason will be your best bet.

Depending on what ReFills you get, you will be able to lay out any track you want with any sample. You can also create any samples you need or use the various synths, it's up to you.

As long as you stick within the beat and don't make any dramatic tonal shifts, you're bound to have a nice end result :)

Edit: Also get yourself a nice midi keyboard. Small is fine. M-Audio, Behringer, and Korg are all really good quality and don't break the bank that much.