I feel like my mixing is nothing special

[Fressure]

My friend came over to help me out with my PA system and we started messing around DJ. He hops on my Mixtrack Pro and starts playing. He's scratching and using effects and stuff. He sounded totally different from how I played when I hopped on. I was beatmatching and just blending into drops, no effects no nothing I was basically standing around. Granted he said he doesn't like to beatmatch and will just throw down like a 2 beat loop and go into the next song.

Granted, I've only started DJing like 4 months ago

[zimfella]

Don't stress. Your still in your early days. it'll come. Everyone develops their own style. Evan when your happy you will still get the odd off day. i tried to lay down a mix on sat and was just not feeling it, whatever i tried.

[The Mighty FV]

I'm not sure what you want us to say to this mate - people mix differently and it's not a 'contest' to how crazy or wild people can mix - if that was the case only DMC Champions would matter.

It is about enjoying yourself, playing around with audio, putting your own spin on things - and most importantly; forever learning new things and pushing yourself forward.

Good luck, and don't worry about what others are doing; focus on yours.

[Woah]

For me, mixing was never about effects or scratching, I am at it for 4 months aswell, and apart from the odd echo I don't really use much. For me I like letting the track speak for itself, and what really matters is which tracks you choose to mix AND how you combine them.

[RussL]

Probably not the answer you want to hear, but like the rest have said, it takes time. I'm by no means a professional, I've been playing around with this stuff since the mid-90s rave scene. Over the years I've gone from rave trance/techno to house, to club, back to trance, back to club etc. About a year ago i was in the same spot, my mixing felt that it was boring, i was focusing more on long 2 minute transitions with trance stuff, track selection was really important to keep the transition between tracks subtle and that they blend well together. For me my mixes were boring because I didn't really know my tools very well and I couldn't get very creative. Once I picked up Traktor Kontrol S4 and scratch pro all of a sudden I had a lot more tools at my disposal. It wasn't until I really read the manual, watched videos etc before I started having some more fun with the setup. I really like dropping acapellas, or playing around with samples and some of the standard effects (repeats, flanger etc) while beat matching (no cuts) and I couldn't do that without the right gear.

So my point is, learn your equipment, learn how to loop on the fly, figure out your sample deck, pick 20 of your favorite tracks and develop your own style. Hope that helps.

-Russ

[belchman]

dude don't worry about your mixing! like everyone's already said, it takes time to perfect your style, and the most important thing putting mixing, scratching, software etc aside is your track selection.

i've been djing outside my bedroom now for 3-4 years, and back when i started i used to get really anxious about using loads of effects and making really complex mappings.. but recently i've gone back to djing vinyl and getting a real buzz out of going record shopping and thinking a lot more about the music i'm playing.

your skills will become second nature at some point in the not so distant future; you'll probably get bored of the music you're listening to and playing right now, your tastes will develop and you'll discover new stuff to do.. that's what it's all about! give it time to find your style and before you know it (if you've approached the whole thing in the right way) you'll be rinsing it

[Rexx]

Do what I do... listen - duplicate - elaborate - then create something new/different.

[Rexx]

Do what I do... listen - duplicate - elaborate - then create something new/different.

oh yah and practice all the time.

[Bassline Brine]

You know, I hear what you're saying and feel the same way to a degree. But I've noticed leaps and bounds differences from where I first started, as I'm sure you have too. Just the sheer speed I'm able to correct a track when it's off time for example.

Figure out what you want to be pushing the envelope with. Maybe a little speed mixing, working on scratching, starting to play around with FX a bit more. Change it up a bit too and trying moving through multiple genre's. These are all things that are on my table.

Just keep having at it

[joesdomingo]

oh yah and practice all the time.

ya instead of just listening to music just run traktor and play through that even if your just transitioning between songs its all practice and makes you more comfortable. keeping your music collection up is huge too. if your not motivated by the music than it will show in your mixing.