Mixing the Top 40

[JERC OFFICIAL]

You aren't going to be familiar enough with the music to throw down a good set... it will be mediocre at best.

Why not hit up a dj friend who does play mainstream and kick them down some money for playing. You booked the gig and can bring the gear and someone can come play like it was a club gig

I disagree with this. It's such an easy genre to mix, most of the tracks have a 16 beat intro/outro or 32. Just mix the first with the last of each track and youre sorted. Itll take you a minute to figure out how to mix them.

I generally would play the slower top 40 stuff in the earlier part. All your wiz khalifa, drake, beyonce, jessie J etc as its around 70-110 bpm. Then work your way up to the 120's and mix them for the remainer. Throw in the older hip hop stuff thats recognisable like lil jon, usher, ludacris, 50 cent etc to get crowd going in the earlier part.

It's not much different that mixing your house and electro, it's just shorter mixing phases.

Good luck

[DJ ATX]

If you are a "DJ", this should not be a problem. DJ's should be able to mix anything. Unless of course you don't know your basics: Phrasing. Counting Bars. Recognizing Breaks in songs.

[manchild]

is there any newer dj's that aren't "electro/dubstep" dj's anymore?

+1

[DJ Weatherman]

if you are a "dj", this should not be a problem. Dj's should be able to mix anything. Unless of course you don't know your basics: Phrasing. Counting bars. Recognizing breaks in songs.

this.

[lemchopz]

listen to the mixshow.com

they have a couple good top 40 mixes in their archive you can listen to and maybe replicate.

dj remark is pretty good with top 40, i think he spins with 21xl/eventsco in LA.

[Surreal]

If you are a "DJ", this should not be a problem. DJ's should be able to mix anything. Unless of course you don't know your basics: Phrasing. Counting Bars. Recognizing Breaks in songs.

It's not that I don't know how to DJ, I am just asking around to better myself. It never hurts to get new ideas from other people.

[DJ ATX]

It's not that I don't know how to DJ, I am just asking around to better myself. It never hurts to get new ideas from other people.

Oh ok.

Well Top40 is one of the easiest music to mix since it encompasses all genres. Most Top40 nowadays are really just watered down EDM. Only thing that varies are the Top40 hip-hop songs. I just do cuts at the drop on a lot of those.

[jimbrowski00]

I disagree with this. It's such an easy genre to mix, most of the tracks have a 16 beat intro/outro or 32. Just mix the first with the last of each track and youre sorted. Itll take you a minute to figure out how to mix them.

I generally would play the slower top 40 stuff in the earlier part. All your wiz khalifa, drake, beyonce, jessie J etc as its around 70-110 bpm. Then work your way up to the 120's and mix them for the remainer. Throw in the older hip hop stuff thats recognisable like lil jon, usher, ludacris, 50 cent etc to get crowd going in the earlier part.

It's not much different that mixing your house and electro, it's just shorter mixing phases.

Good luck

I agree with your point, mixing top 40 is not necessarily more difficult than another genre... and your suggestion on the nights musical progression is spot on.

But aside from the technical aspect of mixing commercial stuff the OP needs to understand what songs to play. Selection is important, not just playing the hits.

It's no more difficult than any other genre but still requires knowing the music well and that's not going to happen over night.

Also, if it's not your forte and you are just playing those songs for that event, its going to eat into your profits to buy all the songs you should have for that one gig.

[Kepik]

I agree with your point, mixing top 40 is not necessarily more difficult than another genre... and your suggestion on the nights musical progression is spot on.

But aside from the technical aspect of mixing commercial stuff the OP needs to understand what songs to play. Selection is important, not just playing the hits.

It's no more difficult than any other genre but still requires knowing the music well and that's not going to happen over night.

Also, if it's not your forte and you are just playing those songs for that event, its going to eat into your profits to buy all the songs you should have for that one gig.

Exactly ^

Reading a crowd is key for mainstream top40s. The crowd will be very picky and they usually only want to hear the original song, not electro remixes. Bear in mind, like any top40s crowd, they have ADD and you shouldn't be playing songs too long (either mix it after the first or second hook). Unless the song is a current club banger or a classic. Depending on the type of crowd, you would need to know whether to play urban top40s or pop top40s. I would ask the coordinator of the dance, what kind of top40s will the students prefer. If its a mix of both, be prepared to ride up and down the bpm wave.

[djfil007]

make play list in itunes.
let it play.
look like you're doing cool things on the mixer.
???.
profit.

it's top 40, they aren't going to care if you mix it well... they just care about your song selection. maybe if they like some of the Guetta and Rhianna and other "house-like" top 40, then you can make a little set out of that... but otherwise just simple track drops, no layering, just focus on track selection to make them happy.