hEADaCHE – Remixer – The Noise Beneath The Snow

January 15, 2025

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hEADaCHE is the “remix-only” project founded by Rob Schubert, also the creator behind the “all originals” project, Secant Prime. The hallmarks of Rob’s work are not only the diversity of artists that he remixes but also the diversity of the final remixed products. hEADaCHE has had a series of diverse remix releases put out by the Denver-based label, Produkt 42. We wanted to learn more about Rob’s remix side and other things involving hEADaCHE and Secant Prime.

Thanks for taking time out to answer our questions. The name of our blog comes from the idea that underground music should be shared and heard. Who is hEADaCHE and where does the musical inspiration come from?

Hey! Thanks for the interview. So quite a bit ago, I started a project, CEOXiME, that lasted a few years. We of course wanted to release music – To press a CD cost at least $1K and that was just not in the cards at the time. So I started a coalition – Detroit Electrionica Coalition – to get our music out there – Each artist would submit a track and funds to press a compilation CD. It did really well and met quite a few Detroit acts. At the same time listening to a lot of industrial where it seemed everyone was remixing everyone else. Also got involved in Notes From Thee Underground from Invisible records. Met many more acts, and remixing just seemed like a cool way to work with other acts.

You’ve done six volumes of remix Eps. How important do you feel that being a remixer is for balancing an artist, for themselves and for showing the music community their diversity?

I think it’s a great way to cross-pollinate fan bases. As my first band dissolved, I refocused energies on remixing, putting out 50+ remixes – from Pigface to Collide to RX to LoveSpirals. It’s a great way to see how tunes are put together, a good way to work with other vocalists and sometimes gain more confidence in what you’re doing – like hearing Trent Reznor’s vocals without the backing band is so interesting (I worked on a remix of Suck, which wasn’t released). Being able to re-organize, re-time a track, is really interesting. And if you can come up with something equal or better, boy, that’s really satisfying.

Are there any artists out there that you would love to do remixes for that you’ve not done yet?

Definitely, although it would be hard to name names. Interestingly enough, I’d say my favorite songs I might not want to remix, as they’re perfect as they are and that would make it incredibly difficult. So that means I’d be just as interested, or more interested in remixing artists I don’t know that have great parts and can be reimagined easier.

Let’s step one foot just outside the music world for a moment. Let’s say you saw some sort of visual art piece.. a painting or sculpture perhaps and you were commissioned to do an original song and a remix for it. In order to do the remix though, you have to visually change the piece of art you are looking at for inspiration. What do you do? Add? Destroy a part?

I suppose I would take inspiration from Josh McAllister’s artwork he did for the last 3 hEADaCHE remixes – on Volume 5, he took volume 4, changed colors, took the center skull and made it metallic, and changed all the living parts to dead – leaves, flowers, etc. We worked on that together, where I made some suggestions and he made it beautiful. He also independently came up with V6, which was a remix of V5.

Do you have to be in any particular mood that decides whether you are going to mix someone else’s song or do a hEADaCHE original?

Actually yes, but its hard to pinpoint. As mentioned earlier – I really need to “hear” remix out of a song – if the song is perfect, its hard to remix. Of course on the other end, there could be things that just don’t match my style, which make the remix really difficult.

Where can artists reach you if they are seeking a remixer? Are you available for trades or commissions?

Probably best to just hit me up in facebook messenger (Facebook profile) – or perhaps at [email protected]. I sometimes do trades, but as the industry has really pulled the cash out of the lower tier of bands, I haven’t charged for remixes recently. I can’t see taking money for a remix when the band is not likely never to make it back. I have recently joined Arrogant Myth (ARROGANT MYTH)., a remix collective that will do a full remix album for you with many artists, some very well known, but that will cost you some money.

What’s changed for you since you started doing music; that is, on a technical level?

Wow, so much. Back in the early days of remixing, you could be significantly limited on plugins. For remixing, I add parts, but its all generally hardware synths or samples I have collected over the years – but now the “in-the-box” synths can out perform almost any hardware synth. Oh and noise reduction is more than just a gate, and auto-tune can pitch correct or change a vocal line. And now stem separation – which I haven’t used yet, but sounds pretty good.

What’s the difference between hEADaCHE and your other project, Secant Prime?

So hEADaCHE is only remixes and Secant Prime is originals. Secant Prime focuses on Dark Ambient, and electronic music – Dark Techno, DnB, Glitchhop.

What’s next in the coming months?

I have currently put a pin in hEADaCHE remixes – I’ve been working on other avenues. Secant Prime might be moving into all live, all unscripted DnB. If you’re in Chicago keep an eye out.

Thank you for joining us today.