"RAC Vol 1.5" - Various Artists

EP

U2 Related Content:

Magnificent (RAC Mix) – U2 (5:13)
Heavy Cross (RAC Mix) – The Gossip (4:20)
Reminder (RAC Mix) – Honeythieves (3:31)
Too Fake (RAC Mix) – Hockey (4;24)

Background Information

Remix Artist Collective (or RAC) is a group of international members who re-interpret songs for musical artists and have worked quite extensively with artists in the indie rock genre. In 2009 RAC was initially approached to remix “Magnificent” for the upcoming U2 single of the same name. The final mix of the song was not used by U2 for the single.

On Christmas Day, December 25, 2009, RAC released a short four track EP digitally through the website: http://remixartistcollective.bandcamp.com/album/vol-15 – the EP was called Vol. 1.5, a reference to an earlier full length album, and plans to eventually release a Vol. 2. The four track EP was released featuring the RAC remix of “Magnificent” along with tracks from The Gossip, Honeythieves, and Hockey. The cover of the EP was just the title of the album and the RAC logo. The EP was released in a variety of formats, including a 320kbps MP3, as well as FLAC format. Other formats included a VBR mp3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, and ALAC as the site says for “audiophiles and nerds”. All downloads included the full four track EP in a zip format. There was no charge for the EP and all formats were offered free of charge.

The EP was not a limited release, and was available for download for a number of years, but now appears to no longer be free for purchase through bandcamp. However, it appears that the RAC mix of Magnificent is now available to download from Soundcloud instead at the following URL: https://soundcloud.com/rac/u2-magnificent-rac-mix – the download is in wav format.

The vocal effect used on the U2 track was accomplished by the use of “Melodyne” software to change the vocals.

In a 2020 interview, RAC spoke about the remix, “That was funny because, in hindsight, [it was] a little bold of me to AutoTune Bono and change the entire song to a major key and to make it a lot more U2 than they did. At that point, I was just like, ‘Screw it. I’m just gonna do it and see what happens.’ That was relatively early on. With U2 it was a little bit different, because that was like, ‘Will they even listen to this? I don’t know.’ It was just through the label, so I was, maybe, less concerned with it. Obviously, I grew up with U2 and know what they sound like. I was just trying to do something I felt was appropriate without taking away from it. … I ended up changing it quite a bit. But my whole ethos with remixing is to do something as appropriate and common sense. Do something that shows it in a different light but doesn’t completely ruin it.”

Liner Notes

No traditional liner notes with this digital release.

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