I am not moving forward with skills

[RockingClub]

Just roughly listened to your mix and here's what I found:

-Don't you think the boringness you feel while listening could just be a sign for the calmness of the songs (which at the beginning do not have lots of climaxes...)?!

-Unfortunately, the second (or was it the third? You'll hear^^) song is not loud enough. This takes some energy out of the mix right at the beginning. Just give it a bit more Gain!

-Near to the end you loop the beginning of Depeche Mode's "One more time". The idea and beginning is quite good and creates tension, but when you are already at 1/16 or 1/32 then you should make a drop an bring the song back without modification like a bomb! Instead you go back and rise the loop size again to 1/8 and 1/4 and so on. This makes the nice idea getting boring...

-No interest in using effects?
Maybe I am wrong and just didn't recognize them, but as much as I remember you didn't often use effects.
Basically this is a quite good decision as many beginners tend to overload their mix with effects so that the listener at the end is not even able to recognize and enjoy the track, but in mho you could have made a little bit more use of effects. Maybe some stutter effects ("Gater" in Traktor) or a flanger or backspin. Just a thought. Just try it out for yourself!

P.S: I personally doubt that the arrangement of keys of the tracks really gives the mix ups and downs. I rather think that the tracks themselves have to do that work!

[newg]

MY REMIX...plz spare 20min and listen...it's just boring...doesn't have up and down like i feel with actual Djs....

I tried to use the keys and change the dramatic key so that it has ups and downs...but i fail...

what's wrong?

thanks

http://soundcloud.com/jay3kay/why-ca...e-as-exciting#

Couple points.

The transition at 4:20 is tempo matched, but not beatmatched, you have a bit of a galloping horse effect going on there.

From 12:05-12:20 there are completely unnecessary and intrusive effects, backspinning?

between 18:22 - 19:20, on a more positive note, this mix has some potential. but you need to work on undertstanding the phrasing of your tracks, to quote myself from another thread:

2. Consider beats, bars, and phrases of tracks.

4 beats to a bar, and 8 bars to a phrase more often than not. new elements to a track are usually brought in when transitioning to a new phrase, (a synth, drumbeat, piano, guitar riff, chorus, breakdown, whatever)

Listen to this random track i just lifted off soundcloud (by searching for 'phrases' and note the phrases every 8 bars.



to begin with, try dropping the first beat of the phrase in your incoming track over the first beat in the phrase of your outgoing track, and try to be mixed entirely into the new track just as the next phrase hits.

Once you know your tracks particularly well, and gain more confidence, you'll start to do this naturally, our brains are programmed to 'expect' this style of phrasing and anything falling outside this tends to just not sound right.


hope this was helpful

EDIT: Oh, also, if your mix sounds good together, (more likely if the tracks are in the same or similar key) then by all means leave them running together for a while, no need to mix out so fast, maybe just adjust the EQ a bit so you get the hight/mid/low from the tracks sounding good together. If you do this, just keep an eye on the beatmatching though, as the tracks will drift over time, and may need a nudge to stay matched. (unless you're using software that will do this for you)

Edit: I didn't listen to much more of the mix, but the parts I did listen to had plenty of unnecessary effects thrown in. leave the effects out unless you're absolutely sure that the specific effect will sound good. most of the time IMO effects beyond EQing and the very occasional filter detract from your mix rather than adding to it.

[Alex Wild]

what i've found has helped me get a lot better is practicing individual transitions and techniques over and over and over again until it sounds exactly how i want - versus just mixing songs willy nilly for an hour or 2 once in awhile. that means alot of listening to the same two songs for hours on end, doing the exact same fx and transition type, over and over for hours on end.

This sounds like most boring way to spend a couple of hours to me. I'm not doubting it works for you, I just can't imagine myself doing it...

[Pleasurewave]

The raw truth is that not everyone is talented, but with the "no child left behind" society we live in, our childhoods are filled with praises and reassurances that we can do anything we want, truthfully it just isn't how nature works.

[Alex Wild]

The raw truth is that not everyone is talented, but with the "no child left behind" society we live in, our childhoods are filled with praises and reassurances that we can do anything we want, truthfully it just isn't how nature works.

Dude, that's not very supportive!

[Pleasurewave]

Dude, that's not very supportive!

No, no it is not. But it is the truth.

[Alex Wild]

It may be, but not everyone can be successful at everything they do, so it remains a fun hobby. And as peers shouldn't we be supporting other peoples development of that hobby?

[Cybertrash]

It may be, but not everyone can be successful at everything they do, so it remains a fun hobby. And as peers shouldn't we be supporting other peoples development of that hobby?

I think you've completely misunderstood the Internet, forums are here for the sole purpose of allowing us to express how much better we are than everyone else, haven't you noticed?

[Bl4ck3n3D]

No, no it is not. But it is the truth.

Skills are developed, mixing is a skill. If you can count to 16 you can DJ, anyone can learn to develop this skill. It doesn't mean everyone will be great at it, however.

[Pleasurewave]

Not trying to be harsh or negative, nothing wrong with a hobbyist, just wouldn't want someone to drop thousands on a setup to just sell it later, see it much too often.

Here's a good example (from another thread, unrelated): when someone wants to save a buck and hires their friend with a consumer-level camera and free editing software...does this make the bar look appealing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPsnP94gMj8

(I lol'ed)