How we remixed Taylor Swift: Tips and tricks from Chris Lake and Ely Oaks

What do Chris Lake’s 13-year-old niece and 90-year-old grandfather have in common? The main thing they understand about his career as a DJ and producer is his Taylor Swift remix: “My 13-year-old niece called me up, saying, ‘Uncle Christopher, this is possibly the coolest thing I have ever seen anyone do in their life.’ That would only come from accepting a remix from Taylor Swift,” Lake says with relaxed enthusiasm. Then he explains his grandfather’s reaction: “I told [my grandfather] I was up for a Grammy nomination, and he goes, ‘What’s a Grammy?’ I told him I did a remix for Taylor Swift, and he [was shocked]. So, Taylor Swift’s global.” READ MORE: How We Remixed Fred Again..: Tips from HAAi, Oppidan and Hamdi Lake is one of four dance artists to put their spin on Opalite, a single from Swift’s latest album, The Life of a Showgirl (2025). The other artists are Ely Oaks, BUNT., and Skream. Remixing music that wasn’t made for the club into a DJ-ready version is often a challenge, but a challenge that carries more pressure when the song is from the only artist who is as familiar to 13-year-olds and 90-year-olds. MusicTech spoke with Lake and Oaks about taking on the challenge of remixing the biggest pop star of this generation. Chris Lake What is your favorite remix of all time, and why? Tory Amos, Professional Widow, Armand Van Helden remix. Armand’s style has truly stood the test of time. You listen back to his old records, and people are trying to emulate that today. That’s the sign of a really good sound and signature, and that’s Armand. How did it feel to get a request to remix Taylor Swift, the undisputed biggest pop star in the world? I’ve dedicated my life to music production and DJing, and there are lots of people who understand it. But people who don’t go to clubs just don’t really get what DJs do. They don’t get what producers do. They have no concept of it. Well, you tell them that you’re remixing Taylor Swift, and suddenly you have people’s attention. She resonates on a frequency unlike anyone else on this planet. I don’t think it’s easy, remixing her songs. She writes beautiful, emotional pop songs, and she’s one of the best in the world to do it. I don’t think that’s necessarily the best song to be remixing, so I accepted it with hesitation, but it was a fantastic experience. It was uncomfortable for me because I wouldn’t normally do it, but I enjoyed the challenge, and I’m really happy with how the remix turned out. Why did this make you uncomfortable compared to remixing another legacy house artist? I was determined to find a progression and a series of sounds that could work from the verse through into the chorus, but give it a different feel and would work with the vocal. That was challenging because the verses are in [unconventional] chords, then the chorus flips to a [standard] major chord progression. It’s very poppy, very happy. When I figured that out, I was like, “Yes! This is really exciting.” That’s what I’m most proud of. What are some key plugins, synths, or other pieces of gear you used to make your remix? One of the things that worked really well was that I continually printed to audio anything that I was making. I’d make a complicated project, break it down to six stems, move to a new project, then start the cycle again, until I ended up on that last version. That last version, from the moment I started the beat to the finished remix, took me about two hours to get the sounds that I was using within that. I’d spent about three days putting it together. The other thing that’s really key is loads of Overdrive. I think it’s one of the most underrated plugins in Ableton Live. It just gives vibrancy and life to the songs and makes them a bit more imperfect. It’s just really musical to me. When you bring in the pure instrumental drop, there are a lot of really gorgeous, shimmering melodic sounds. How did you make those, and what about the original track inspired that quality? That was a little guitar run from the original song. I don’t think it’s a majorly prominent sound in the track, but I added reverb, delay, and then put overdrive afterwards. So you’re over-driving the reverb and the delay, which makes it sound disgusting. Ely Oaks What do you think makes a good remix? A great remix is done when you shine some new light on the original song, but also don’t completely change the intention and vibe of it. It’s a fine balance, and ultimately the goal is opening the song to a potential new audience. How does your approach to remixing a pop artist compare to remixing another dance/electronic artist? Definitely, the door is more open to explore different directions, which also makes it more difficult to find the right spot. Taylor’s vocals are in a softer range than the vocals I’m mostly working with, so that was also a challenge. What are some key plugins, synths, or other pieces of gear you used to make your remix? The synths are mostly Serum 2. I also like to use Ableton stock stu