How do you separate your music for gigs?

[foxes]

I think it depends in the environment you are playing at, when I first started at weddings and house parties I brought my whole collection with me cause of the amount of requests from people. Clubs, depends on what atmosphere is in there. Festivals, one specific playlist. I think I was too vague on my first reply.

[keithace]

Saves me time and I can focus more on my music than focus on organizing it.

But you do need some sort of organization. Sorting 9000 tracks by BPM and key would be super confusing for me because BPM and key have ZERO to with the energy of a track.

[foxes]

Eh I kinda have to disagree with that, a minor key song tends to be a bit more down than that of a song with a major key. If the BPM of two songs is 90, and one is in a minor key and the other in the major, the energy of the major key will tend to be more lively than a minor key. Is that the case always? No, but keys do play a HUGE role in how the energy of a song is; a jump from a minor key to a major would increase the energy of a set.

[keithace]

Eh I kinda have to disagree with that, a minor key song tends to be a bit more down than that of a song with a major key. If the BPM of two songs is 90, and one is in a minor key and the other in the major, the energy of the major key will tend to be more lively than a minor key. Is that the case always? No, but keys do play a HUGE role in how the energy of a song is; a jump from a minor key to a major would increase the energy of a set.

Please give me an example of two songs being mixed together that illustrates this.

[William Gibson]

To the OP, within the past month we have had 2 or 3 good threads on this topic. If you want some more good answers, do a quick search.

[foxes]

Look at house music, armin does it all the time in his sets, he usually starts his sets with minor keys and builds into major keys in the latter end of his sets. He mixes harmonically all the time; if you get a minor keyed song and mix it with a song thats major keyed you will hear the energy jump instantly. As I said, there are exceptions, not saying this happens ALL the time.

[keithace]

Look at house music, armin does it all the time in his sets, he usually starts his sets with minor keys and builds into major keys in the latter end of his sets. He mixes harmonically all the time; if you get a minor keyed song and mix it with a song thats major keyed you will hear the energy jump instantly. As I said, there are exceptions, not saying this happens ALL the time.

still waiting for an example of two songs to show me what I am missing...

[Kwal]

Who gives a shit about keys, learn to properly EQ and you're fine.

[DISaS73R]

Actually, most electronic music is written in minor keys. Also, key-detection software tends to think major keys are their minor versions because it's tuned for electronic music.

Not to mention that minor keys just have a darker feel which doesn't mean they're less energetic.

[Danno9999]

I've yet to master harmonic mixing but it stands to reason that, if done well, it could have a massive effect on a dancefloor. But I think getting the energy right is probably more important.

Am I right in saying that the tempo you play the record at affects the key unless you lock the key in software?