So how many of you folks mix harmonically?

[mostapha]

OK, for someone who's well versed in musical theory i can imagine that something MIK wouldn't help. However, for those of us who only ever made it to grade 3 on the clarinet back at the age of 14, having a simplified (/bastardised if you must) version of the circle of fifths to make things easier is a good thing.

I've run all my tracks through MIK having tried Rapid Evolution 2 and found it to be the least stable piece of software since the Sims 1 on MSDOS, and I find it really helps. I don't stick to it meticulously, and I have enough of a musical ear to know if something is going to sound horrible, but unlike theory I normally mix on the fly and find it a very nice starting point to arrange everything in the browser by key.

If you can hear a key clash, your ears work better than MiK.

I haven't bothered finding the keys of any of my songs, because it doesn't actually matter. Just listen.

The music theory comment was simply to state that I know why MiK doesn't work and probably never will and why even when it does it doesn't tell the whole story.

I'll tell you why for $58US.

[fullenglishpint]

If you can hear a key clash, your ears work better than MiK.

I haven't bothered finding the keys of any of my songs, because it doesn't actually matter. Just listen.

The music theory comment was simply to state that I know why MiK doesn't work and probably never will and why even when it does it doesn't tell the whole story.

I'll tell you why for $58US.

Jeez, you do take things a bit personally don't you Mostapha! I was saying I understand your POV but just adding to the discussion that I find MIK to be a useful guide. Take a chill pill. Maybe one with a superman logo on the front.

[bumtsch]

Nowadays, I key all my tracks. I do it by hand because rapid evolution has decided to be super slow at it, on top of being frequently off.
I play deep house/deep techno/tech-house/techno and I find paying attention to keys does help across the board, especially when switching between different styles, especially as I enjoy long blends. I hardly use the key knob.
When I started using the info, I found it constrained my mixing a lot as I was trying to stick to harmonics as much as possible when picking tracks.
There is now a printout of this simplified circle of fifths (with proper key names) taped to my laptop which ill look at, but I also listen to my gut feeling first.

[Liambo]

I tend to find all the keys of my tracks and put them in the tag's in iTunes. But i don't stick to it religiously i tend to just use it as a guidance the rest is done by deciding through hearing.

[ctrld]

If by "mix harmonically" you mean "play with the key knob in Traktor Pro or the transpose knob in Live to see if it sounds better before it sounds worse and then pick a different track if you can't keep it from clashing," then yes.

+1 on that. I use mixedinkey, but the algorithm is far from perfect. nothing is better than your own ears.

[Kyle_G]

Well I use it, and I've used it in a couple of studio mixes and am going to use it a lot when I start playing live, now I bought MiK and I don't feel ripped off, as someone who is self educated when it comes to music theory I know that the most important thing is not to BRAG to others about how smart or better you are than other people but to actually use it to better your musical understanding, and with MiK I make sure that all of my tunes are analyzed and then go into each song and VERIFY that it is correct using a synth. I stole the idea from Dubspot and it has yet to fail me.

Check this out for more info

http://blog.dubspot.com/harmonic-mix...j-endo-part-1/
http://blog.dubspot.com/harmonic-mix...hout-key-lock/
http://blog.dubspot.com/harmonic-mix...-key-accurate/

[ponyboy]

i dont mix in key, but then again i rarely (sadly) ever play on the fly, unless im putting together my next mix

so if i fuck up i can go back to my mix in point and look for a better song.

F*ck me, where is the joy in that? What's the reason for it?

I always mix on the fly man, that's where the fun is.

[ponyboy]

Take a chill pill. Maybe one with a superman logo on the front.

Errrr, if these are going to be given out, I'll have two please, thanks.

[Threefeet]

I've never done it and I don't think I ever will. I play techno that is very rarely melodic so I don't see any point.

Not one of my deep house playing friends do it either but then I'm guessing they probably are doing it without realising it!

[fullenglishpint]

Errrr, if these are going to be given out, I'll have two please, thanks.

Hold tight london, we're in for a bumpy ride...