Mixing Hip Hop

[Prohibited]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFFnl2PFZnM

Quality vid!!

Need to spend more time scratching too! Been cheating and just scratching with the "aaah" vox and not records haha
Which has also been a waste of a deck, thus far!

Also, do you generally use the EQ's? Obv with EDM it's of paramount importance but not sure it's possible/worth it with such short transitions....

And again, thanks!

[Prohibited]

http://www.djtechtools.com/2009/01/2...e-perfect-mix/

Really helpful post, thanks for that!

[DigitalDevil]

It's a good idea to make your own edits of Hip-Hop tracks

This. I played my first hip-hop focused set about a month ago and prepping for it as an EDM guy was a mess at first. Instead of trying to work some makeshift mixing around traditional turntablist hip-hop style, I took what I know and made the tracks work for my own style.

[Ben Grimm]

The linked article is a bit oriented to dance music, but the basic concept is well-covered. A phrase is exactly that, a phrase within the song. Whether its a chorus, and lasts for 8 bars, or if its the way a drum break wraps around with a sample to make a loopable piece in a hip hop song, its a concise unit that makes sense on its own, and in context, within the song.

In hip hop, you can end up with very short phrases (ie, the Beastie Boys' line "Duuuuhrrrrop!" can work as a phrase) and slightly longer ones like say Rakim's line "I was a fiend, before I became a teen..."

Even though those aren't complete verses, or even half-verses, they are able to work in and out of context, and you can use those as linking elements in a mix, scratch DJs sort of laid the groundwork for that way back in the day, and thus there are some immediately recognizable pieces that are just in the hip hop vernacular now, everyone knows them, they are fun, and they immediately say to the audience - this is real hip hop. In the DJ AM video that was posted, he used this style a lot to link up the tracks in his mix, and both Z-Trip and DJ P are masters of that technique, but no one really owns that style, as its kind of the backbone of early early hip and definitely the hallmark of many of the most respected golden era producers as well, so don't feel like you're biting anyone's style if you do end up mixing that way.

[jimbrowski00]

You should check out Jazzy Jeff too... arguably the best hip hop dj ever. Here's an excellent mix he did out here in LA not too long ago and the track listing. There's a bunch of youtube performances with him too that you can check out.

http://iknowtheledge.com/hip-hop/dj-...he-do-over-mix

jim

[jimbrowski00]

Hip Hop edits can be useful under specific conditions, but with systems like traktor I dont think they're necessary. For example instead of making an edit with an extended intro and outro here's what you can do.

Song 1 is playing on Deck A

Duplicate Song 1 on Deck B

When the verse on Song 1 ends on Deck A transition into Deck B cued to a loop of an instrumental section of the same song.

Cue up your Song 2 on Deck A and mix it in over the loop on Deck B.

You now have an extended outro edit without having to go through all the effort in ableton! You can do this to extend an intro too! You have instant doubles whenever you need them, when we had to rely on vinyl thats how you had to do it! There were no edits we could play lol.

Another trick I have been trying is to have a button mapped to jumping back a cue point. Since I have a cue at the start of my chorus I can just jump back to start it over. So if the song im bringing in has a 16 bar intro and the hook on the outgoing song is 8 bars then I can hit my "back" button at the end of my 8 bars to double it and get 16. It can be a little messy if there was a little overlap of vocals at the start or end of the hook but most times its not that big of a deal.

So in my opinion edits are okay but they are really a crutch to establishing your skills.

Jim

[jimbrowski00]

AAAND... I'm glad to see some hip hop heads pop up in here! I thought I was alone with all the EDM crew! Hip Hop Represent Represent! lol

Jim

[Ben Grimm]

Oh man, now I feel bad for not mentioning Jazzy Jeff (and I have no excuse, because I was just listening to Hip Hop Forever II last night!).

Shortee Blitz is another hip hop DJ that I feel epitomizes the classic hip hop mixing style, rocking doubles, dropping in phrases, great transitions, the whole package.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqB2VYD6IvM&hd=1

[Buffalo Ill]

You should check out Jazzy Jeff too... arguably the best hip hop dj ever.

No argument here. Absolute legend.

[Buffalo Ill]

Gonna have to check out some Shortee Blitz, too.