Track Selection

[dope]

When outside home and got no social obligations (like a conversation ), I just have my TMA-1's stuck on my ears and I listen to my collection in random mode. Sometimes the iPod choses an "old" track I didn't listen to for a while, and ideas of mixing just pop up in my head.
iPhone > notes > I write it down asap.

Then, when i get home, let's check if that was a good idea or not.

When you are making choices because you are forced to (i.e. you WANT to do a tracklist right now) it ends up with bad picks, and this leads to a bad mix. This should be natural, you won't get any good result facing your iTunes library of 10000 tracks, browsing desperatly.

(i.e. Lazy Rich and Mord Fustang are pretty similar)

Lawl. Fustang does super melodic tracks, Lazy Rich is still looking for his style imo, and he's less groovy and way more agressive than Fustang will ever be.
Don't compare 2 artists according to the "Better wipe that up" synth

[DanMC]

Hey dude. Yeah your mix is a really good (actually got some awesome ideas from it). In terms of being stuck the only suggestion I can have is listen to more music! You'll eventually find something and get that 'yes' factor that you know it will work and that you can make it work.

I don't want to sound like I'm sucking up just to get info... but. How did you go about to promote your 6k listener mix? I personally have a radio show where I produce and hour long mix every week from a different genre, but would like more listeners/interaction, do you have any suggestion for me and other people looking to promote their mixes in the same way?

Thanks for your help,
Let us know how your mix goes, I'll be looking out for it.
Cheers,
Dan M.C.

[rdubs]

Hey dude. Yeah your mix is a really good (actually got some awesome ideas from it). In terms of being stuck the only suggestion I can have is listen to more music! You'll eventually find something and get that 'yes' factor that you know it will work and that you can make it work.

I don't want to sound like I'm sucking up just to get info... but. How did you go about to promote your 6k listener mix? I personally have a radio show where I produce and hour long mix every week from a different genre, but would like more listeners/interaction, do you have any suggestion for me and other people looking to promote their mixes in the same way?

Thanks for your help,
Let us know how your mix goes, I'll be looking out for it.
Cheers,
Dan M.C.

Send it to every single person on Soundcloud, looks like it worked for him

[djquant]

The whole purpose of this thread was to get advice on picking your tracks. I.e. I knew that already and he wasn't actually giving any real advice. He was just reiterating what I was originally saying. So, no there isn't any real value in his/her comment. Thanks.

[djquant]

Send it to every single person on Soundcloud, looks like it worked for him

Thanks for the support!

i do a lot of promoting. I put it out there and send it to tons of people. I only sent that mix out to about 200 peoples drop boxes though. The rest of it just happened on its own. I did post it in dj forums like this. Promoted on facebook. Gave copies to friends and fans. Etc. So all I can say is I put in a lot of grunt work getting the mix out there. And, yes it has worked. Nobody will ever listen to you if they have never heard of you. So you have to show them who you are. Especially on soundcloud. How is anyone going to find out about you if you dont post in groups, and drop boxes? I dont care how good a DJ you are. If you dont promote yourself you will never get heard. Period.

[DanMC]

Great! What do you mean by peoples' drop boxes, which people did you send it to?

[djquant]

Great! What do you mean by peoples' drop boxes, which people did you send it to?

I would start by posting in a group you are familiar with and people are familiar with you. Post in several groups if you have a premium account. Otherwise find people in groups you are already in (that are groups for your genre you are mixing) and click on each person one by one and click the "share track" button by their name. You can't spam massive amounts of people all at once on soundcloud. So you have to do it one at a time. Which is hard work depending on how many people you want to share it with. You just have to get to know the features on soundcloud and how to use them and then put in work. I definitely did NOT share this track with 6300 people individually. I posted in a group (only one because I have the free account) and then shared it with a few hundred others. And, the rest just happened. I am not sure if it is just a good mix or people just keep listening to it because it has so many plays. But, its getting around 100 plays a week now. I was averaging around 1000 plays a month for a while. It took about a month to start really getting traffic on it though. Promote yourself and be friendly. Follow people and hope they follow you and listen to your work. Aside from that, gaining fans from playing in public is another way you can promote yourself. I am doing all this out of my bedroom right now.

[DanMC]

I would start by posting in a group you are familiar with and people are familiar with you. Post in several groups if you have a premium account. Otherwise find people in groups you are already in (that are groups for your genre you are mixing) and click on each person one by one and click the "share track" button by their name.

This.

I did not know about groups. My life has been devoid until now, thanks so much. I just realised groups is a great way to get in touch with the genres and other people who may actually listen. Both soundcloud and mixcloud have groups and I'm sure it's a direction I have been missing.

Thanks again DJQuant!

[rdubs]

Thanks for the support!

i do a lot of promoting. I put it out there and send it to tons of people. I only sent that mix out to about 200 peoples drop boxes though. The rest of it just happened on its own. I did post it in dj forums like this. Promoted on facebook. Gave copies to friends and fans. Etc. So all I can say is I put in a lot of grunt work getting the mix out there. And, yes it has worked. Nobody will ever listen to you if they have never heard of you. So you have to show them who you are. Especially on soundcloud. How is anyone going to find out about you if you dont post in groups, and drop boxes? I dont care how good a DJ you are. If you dont promote yourself you will never get heard. Period.

I was making a half-joke, as every once in awhile on soundcloud I'll get a track sent to me saying: "So-and-so shared a track with you and 5969504 other people!" This is entirely the wrong way to go about it, however like you said, groups on soundcloud and dropboxes are a fantastic resource.

FWIW, I really liked your mix, but I am generally opposed to any mixes under half an hour, would really like to see what you can do in half an hour, an hour, or even longer.

[U-31]

Back when we all started to first try our hand at this game, we were all , yeah lets be honest here shall we, that clueless twat.

I had a bit of an advantage over a lot of folk because back then i was hanging out with some serious talent, bombarded with sensational music in warehouses beaches quarries and fields at night, then back to the dj's houses when that was over to carry on the party, crate digging there in to tunes id never ever be exposed to otherwise.

And yes, when i first started besides the god awful trainwrecks there was the unbelievably shite tune selection that were never ever gonna make a coherent set.

Your ear develops over time, unless you're incredibly gifted or nicking set lists from other dj's to spin yourself.

There is no way to bypass this fact, not even the high and mighty camelot wheel a lot of you swear by.

If your bored at any point, flick through my stuff on mixcloud at some point, ill promise you one thing, according To the Camelot system, most of my stuff shouldnt be in the same room together, let alone work.

Train and trust your ears.