To find a specific remix, the song title is not enough: a well-known hit can have six or more versions by different people. You need three things: the features of what you heard (length, intro, voice, the timestamp in the video), the name of the person who made the version, and a catalogue that keeps all versions of one song together. Below is the search routine and five worked cases: three international hits and two songs from our own catalogue whose versions are collected in albums. If you do not yet know which song it is, start with how to find an old song without the title.
Write down the features of the version while you remember them
Versions of one song share words and melody, so you will have to tell them apart by other signs. Note everything you can:
- Where you heard it. A link to the video, the name of the mix or radio show, a tape compilation.
- The timestamp. The minute and second where the fragment starts. Without it there is nothing to look for in an hour-long mix.
- The length. A three-minute version and an eight-minute version are different recordings even if they sound alike.
- The intro. Vocals straight away or a minute of rhythm alone; a new melody at the start.
- The voice. The same as in the original, or re-sung. If it is re-sung, it is a cover, and you are looking for a performer rather than a remixer.
- Tempo and rhythm. Noticeably faster or slower than the original, a different drum pattern.
How versions are labelled
The version name goes in brackets after the song title: Discogs requires this format and MusicBrainz recommends it. The brackets usually hold the remixer's name or the type of version. What the types mean (radio edit, extended, 7″ and 12″) is covered in maxi-single vs album version; here are just three points that affect searching.
- Remix and remaster are different things. MusicBrainz defines a remix as a substantially altered version made by mixing individual tracks of the source. A remaster is a new master made from the same raw audio. In MusicBrainz a remix always gets its own recording entry, while a remaster counts as the same recording.
- "Original Mix" does not mean "the first version". According to the Discogs guidelines, online stores add these words automatically to any track without a mix name.
- "Bootleg" has two meanings. In the Discogs guidelines it is an unauthorised recording of a concert or broadcast. In everyday use the same word often means an unofficial remix. Try both readings when you search.
Radio Edit, Extended Mix, Club Mix and Dub are publishers' labels with no single standard. The same "Club Mix" can differ by a few seconds from one release to another.
Where to look for the author of a version
| What you know | Where to go | What to look at |
|---|---|---|
| Song and artist | Discogs | The master release page, which groups every release of the single. Open the releases and read the tracklists: each track shows its version and a Remix credit with a name. |
| Song and artist | MusicBrainz | The list of recordings: a remix has its own entry and a remixer relationship. |
| A suspected remixer | Discogs, the artist page | The Remixes section: every release where they are credited as remixer. |
| Heard inside a DJ mix | 1001Tracklists, MixesDB | The tracklist of the mix: which tracks were played and in what order. These databases are filled in by listeners. |
| Heard in a video | The description and the comments | The Music section and viewers asking "what is the track at 1:20". |
| You suspect a cover or a new song built on an old melody | WhoSampled | The song's connections: covers, remixes, samples. |
Two warnings. The Music section in a YouTube description is generated automatically; according to YouTube's help it can be incomplete and shows no more than ten songs, so for a long mix it is not a tracklist. And Discogs, MusicBrainz and WhoSampled are filled in by users: they are the best references available, not the final truth. One of the cases below shows two catalogues disagreeing about who made a remix.
Audio recognition is worth a try, but do not rely on it alone: the services' documentation does not describe how they treat remixes, and you will have to check the answer against the features you wrote down. What recognisers can do and where they stay silent is covered in how to find an old song without the title.
Case 1. Blue Monday: one single, three eras
The task: work out which versions of Blue Monday exist and which year each belongs to.
On Discogs the New Order song has one master release holding editions from three different years. The original came out on Factory on 7 March 1983 and runs 7:29. In 1988 came "Blue Monday 1988" with 7:09 and 4:09 versions. In 1995, "BlueMonday-95" brought four new mixes: Hardfloor Mix (8:37), Manuella Mix and Andrea Mix by Jam & Spoon, and Plutone Mix.
This is also where you see why catalogues should not be trusted blindly. Discogs credits the 1988 remix to John Potoker and lists Quincy Jones as production supervisor on the remix. MusicBrainz records both as remixers. The databases themselves cannot settle it.
The lesson: first pin down the release by year and length, then look for the name.
Case 2. Tom's Diner: the remix lives under another name
The task: find the DNA version of the Suzanne Vega song in a catalogue.
The original 1987 single runs just 2:08. The DNA version was released in the UK on 16 July 1990, runs 3:44, and the main artist on the sleeve is not Suzanne Vega but "DNA Featuring Suzanne Vega". On Discogs it sits in a different master release under a different artist.
The lesson: if the remix does not turn up under the songwriter's name, search by song title alone and see who is credited first.
Case 3. Missing: "the remix" means nothing without a name
The task: find out how many remixes Missing has and which release carries the Todd Terry version.
Across two neighbouring releases, the Everything But The Girl song has at least six named versions by five different remixers. "The Remix EP", released on 8 August 1994, has the album version (4:04) and remixes by Little Joey, Chris & James and Ultramarine. Todd Terry is not among them. His Todd Terry Club Mix (4:53) is on a 1995 release together with the Lite Mix, Tee's Beat and the Rockin' Blue remix.
The lesson: "title + remix" is almost always an incomplete query. Add a length or a year and pick the release by them.
Case 4. "Detstvo": two of our versions under one title
Identical titles are a good test of the method. We have two reworks of Yuri Shatunov's song "Detstvo" ("Childhood"), and both are listed on the site under the same one-word title.
You tell them apart by the same signs as any versions. The first is labelled Eurodance and runs 3:36; the second is labelled Russian Pop and runs 2:50. Both are collected in the album "Detstvo: two versions", and each track page links to all versions. Both download under the same file name, and the browser adds "(1)" to the second, so rename the files straight away if you want both.
The lesson: the title and the original artist are the same across versions. The style label and the length are what differ.
Case 5. Think About the Way: three versions, one with an accordion
Our rework of the Ice MC hit exists as three recordings: a Eurodance version (2:27), "Think about the way 2026" (2:17) and one marked Accordion version (3:28). All three are in the album "Think About the Way: three versions".
Note the titles: two of the three recordings share the same title, "Think about the way 2026", and only the version label tells them apart. Length helps separate the long version from the two short ones, but you cannot choose between 2:27 and 2:17 from a fragment in a video. An accordion in the arrangement, on the other hand, is a feature you can put into words in a search.
A separate trap is one song under different titles. A Lada Dance song exists here in two reworks, one titled "Ya poydu s toboy" and the other "Poydu s toboy". A search for the longer title will not show the second recording, so try the short form as well.
If the version still cannot be found
- Ask whoever posted the video or mix. Leave a comment with a timestamp: "what is playing at 12:40?".
- Check whether it is a cover. If the voice is different, search "song title + cover" and look at the performer. Our article on the Feel the Fire cover shows what such a breakdown looks like for one song.
- Allow for a home-made version. Sped-up and slowed-down edits from short videos, amateur mashups and DJ edits are often never released. They are not in catalogues, and the only thing you can find is the person who posted them.
- Narrow it down by era. If the version was played in clubs in particular years, the release from that time will be in the master release under that year.
And if you want not that exact version but simply a familiar song with a fresh sound, try old songs in a modern rework or covers of Russian songs: the recordings name the original artist.
What we checked and what we did not
The release details for Blue Monday, Tom's Diner and Missing come from Discogs and MusicBrainz entries opened on 5 October 2026; we did not compare the recordings by ear. Lengths and labels of our own versions come from the site catalogue. Term definitions follow the Discogs and MusicBrainz guidelines; for labels such as Extended or Club Mix those guidelines give no general definition.