Musical Scales
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Thread: Musical Scales

  1. #1

    Default Musical Scales

    As a beginner when I practice mixing I usually mix tracks on the same key. I.E. Track A is on F. As soon as Track A's breakdown begins I will fade in and mix Track B's intro -same key which is still F- and fade out Track A after a couple of bars later. I am mixing dubstep so this sounds about right most of the time.

    However I wonder if its possible to do the same with a track on another key.

    This has lead me to search for key scales I can use to basically open up a ton more tracks for me to mix by ascending or descending the scale.

    Since I cant seem to find a rather straight forward scale to use I want to know if anyone else uses music scales to help with their mixing?

  2. #2

    Default

    Look up the Camelot wheel/mixed in key. Also keep in mind that you only limit yourself if you follow these guidelines strictly, you can mix out of key stuff together nicely if you do it properly. Dont be afraid to experiment.
    2 x CDJ 850 | Kontrol S4 | A&H Xone XD-53's | A&H Xone K2 | Kontrol X1 | Kontrol F1 | DJM 900nxs

  3. #3

    Default

    I actually had the camelot wheel downloaded and on my desktop as a reference but I never figured out how to read it until now.

    Next practice mix I'll just pick up songs by random and see how well I can figure out how to mix them together without looking at the keys but unfortunately it will have to wait as school is calling for me now.

    Thank you for the advice, I can read this thing now

  4. #4
    Tech Mentor
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    Default

    mixed in key is a program which analyses your tunes and adds the key according to the camelot wheel into the comment of the file. camelot-system is so simple, just follow the numbers, you can always go a number higher or lower without your tunes clashing. remember to keep the keylock on if you mix in key!
    you can show the key in traktor and sort your tracks by that if you like to. i mostly use it for "melody-heavy" tracks to check that they dont clash, but if you are mixing drums and even basslines, follow your ears. with good eq-ing you can even filter out the melodic frequencies partly and make transitions that sound nicer.
    but dont let yourself get restricted by trying to just mix in key, just use it as a small help when searching for the next track to drop.

  5. #5
    Tech Mentor P4ULSON's Avatar
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    Default

    alright i'm gonna let you in on a dirty secret that i've seen some pretty legit dj's do.....

    1. Warp and rekey your tracks in Ableton. then use that new track to mix

    or

    2. Use the circle of fifths as a guide http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths
    and rekey your songs on the fly in Traktor.

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