Tips for mixing top-40

[paulie.phonic]

Work on other creative ways of transitioning and you'll free yourself of being stuck in the same BPM range.

this is what I'm looking for

[haze324]

Then I might scratch it and slam it in.

Truth: This always works, and you can go from any BPM range

Creative ways: Not sure what software you are using but in Serato if you type in the BPM of the song you want to to transition to. Lets say you are playing 115 and want to go to 95. The song that is playing at 115 you type in 95. Now when you create a loop it will be the size of of a 95bpm loop. This works good on a word (usually one beat). Then you can bring a short intro in while fading out that one word loop. No transition needed.

If all else fails. Air Horn, back spin, slam in the next track!

[manchild]

The biggest thing I can suggest is to make it a point to practice changing tempos, and that song selection and timing is always key, A few that I will do that I think are pretty common is 1) the slam, which is a complete fader drop/spin back/slow turntable brake/echo or reverb freeze into a dramatic well known song. For example intro Juvenile back that ass up or the words bass drop of be faithfull (that one is super played out but good example of this). 2) I call it cue teasing, which for me is cue juggling or cutting up a cue of a known phrase or part of a song by either using the cue button, or scratching, or a lil of both. 3) Looping build up. I'll usually take one beat, most times on the one, that can be fairly easily be recognized to most, loop it to the tempo of the song (usually house) during a big build up. Fade it in, cut it and time it to make a drum roll, and usually drop the bass a lil of the song playing and use a filter type sweep untill the song playing is almost like white noise and sounds somewhat distant and the song you're about to play is more dominant. Drop the loop of the song on the one and reset tempo at the same time. Thats basically what I'll do 4) matching lyrics, find a part of a song that has a matching word or words, loop that, cue juggle the same words of the next song and transition however you feel like works at that moment. Theres always the one shot samples of accapellas or of sound effects or even scratching, and then the well timed drop, but thats basically another way of slamming a track in. You can try and find some built in Traktor FX, I havent experiemnted w/ them all enough to get consistant results, but there are def at least one or two that could work well almost alone if perfected and understood. Also, I consider this tempo matching and blending, but a good way to get into hip hop from house is beat matching Hip hop track that are around 65-70 (which are quite a few these days) since they are almost half of 128/130. The key is to be creative while practicing, your timing has to be on point, and sometimes you can do something w/ 2 songs that you cant do w/ 2 other songs....I guess know your playlist

[oilythread]

Transition songs? come on man, you guys are supposed to be DJ's. Thats a poser way of doing it.

Honestly... Yeah... This. Only excuse I can think of for a transition track is maybe if you're playing an all-vinyl set. If you've got software and/or CDJs.... Come on, you have the tools to do it yourself.

[paulie.phonic]

i do play on 1200's so pitch range is 8%, and transition songs are usefull sometimes

[Dj Noriddim]

I have to play open format all the time and these are some of my transitions .

Making the mix talk. This is playing with words in the tracks.

eg Chris brown Yeah 3x to Usher yeah ft lil jon If timed right you can invoke screams
On the chorus of yeah 3x when he says yeah yeah yeah girl I wanna see you tonight grab the pitch control and moderately slow the track down
At the second yeah yeah yeah a build up will be starting along with a filter sweep the track should sound stretched due to being slowed down and it should match Usher's yeah tempo which you will start fading in from the beginning where he is saying yeah yeah yeah
The tracks should be phrased so that at the end of yeah 3x when he say I got to see you tonight slam to ushers yeah track which will start and say in the club with the homies.
In essence you just made the tracks say I got to see you tonight in the club with the homies

The Drop is a new track (great for edm to any genre )
Get any top 40 edm remix with some long ass build up at the build up gradually bring in a delay or echo to make it super heavy and make the crowd anticipate the drop right at the end of the build up insert your next track at the most popular part of the song
eg you can get this track for free from GLOWINTHEDARK (google it) - Hard Rock Sofa vs Nicky Minaj - Quasar Ship SMASH-UP! now here is what you want to do the first drop is to long and you need to cut it in half with a well placed cue point. Now the second build is what you want its long and with a little echo you can make it really heavy the crowd will be waiting for something big and that something big is Call Me Maybe. Phrase Call me maybe so that just before the build up ends you filter sweep drop it to Call me maybe which should be saying where you going Baby which goes into the first chorus. You can watch the as the ladies loses their shit.


Old school to New School;
Most songs these day are based off of some sample from a old track. Find the sample source of the track you want to mix
So the most used one these days Mc Hammer Can't touch this to Big Sean A$$. Here is what you Cue Can't touch this where he says break it down. On your out going track you can scratch this point in. Now at the end he will say stop hammer time loop it let that loop run 3 times. Scratch it and drop to A$$ which should be cued when he says stop now make that muthafucker hammertime.

The cop out drop

You have been mixing all night you look up and are like fuck it you grab the mic say something clever to the ladies or to the crowd.
eg Excuse me but I have to do this for you the ladies and play something that would make them feel sexy
eg Just screw the mix up do something like ride the pitch up way to fast or scratch but make it nasty. Stop look at the crowd and say you guys are awesome this is for you and drop that insane track that just makes everyone go ape.


The request transition
I made this crowd game up where I let the crowd decide if the request should be made.You have to get their trust first
Here is what you do when they make the request. Grab the mic and say ladies gents there is a request coming in from make them say their name into the mic. Then say this name wants to hear and make them say the song into the mic. Look at the crowd and say do you guys want that. Cheer smeans yes silence means hey who ever I'm sorry but the people say no maybe time then start a new track and say party on or something clever.

[paulie.phonic]

Noriddim and manchild, much props! thx

[LoopCat]

The way I do it is through sensible mixing. If it doesn't make sense, don't do it and work your way to it. If it's only a 10-15 BPM jump, it's easy to get to by gradually slowing down your music throughout the song. Then just do that over the course of another song or two. VOIALA. You've now gone from one track to another to the one they requested fairly easily. If I'm playing 115+ and need/want to go to upper 80's or lower 90's, I might keep going for a little bit to the point where an open format/commercial crowd would get bored with what I'm doing... with those crowds, it usually ends up in 30-60 minute rotations. Then I might scratch it and slam it in.

+1 on this one.