Practice Sets?

[DocFish]

Also djtt has run a few comps in the past - look through the main blog and you'll find a few vids to check out.

Yeah, I have been through a couple of the past comps and their soundpacks.. definitely useful on learning. Thanks.

[drmore]

Some people on these forums are dicks, i wont mention any names coz you know who you are!

I remember being overwhelmed and have no idea where to start.

The loop masters djmixtools series is a good place to start if your into production and dj'ing. They are pre mastered stems of original tracks that you can cut/edit to your hearts desire.

Also check out dj tutor (ellaskins) on youtube. The guy in mad and the tutorials are more about dj'ing with cds & vinyl but the principals are the same and the skills transferable into the digital world.

Theres also shit loads of tutorials on production on youtube. Check out people like ill.gates and vespers. Those guys are putting out vids on how to transform your studio productions into live performances.

One important point to make is that there are no real shortcuts. Getting good requires a fuck load of time and practice. Its been 17 years since I got my first KAM belt drive turntables. I try and practice for a minium of an hour each day and Im still hunting and discovering new music.

[drmore]

first..stop mixing shit in key....you are limiting yourself before you even start...

Nothing wrong with using the key of a track to find tunes that fit nicely. I have over 10000 tunes on my harddrive. I use the genre & key to narrow down my choice. i.e my house/electro selection has over 3000 tunes, any given key will have 100+ tracks I can chose from. At the end of the day I still have to chose witch of those 100 track to play but I would be totally lost without being able to sort by genre and key.

[squidot]

first..stop mixing shit in key....you are limiting yourself before you even start...

i disagree. you should be mixing in key, or at the very least, mixing things that aren't causing dissonance. for certain more atonal genres it really doesn't matter that much. or in areas where there are no melodies, though if you have an out of key melody come in immediately after your first track's melody stops, it will likely still sound odd to people who are paying attention.

also, it's not really a bad thing to be limiting the number of songs to be played into another song. key is just one narrowing factor along with several others. i do however feel like you shouldn't put all of your faith into a key tagging software, especially if you don't have enough tracks to pick from. at the end of the day your ear should be the best judge and in charge of making sure your mixes are in key.

[DJ Bob]

Creativity is spurred from doing your own thing not strict regulations.

This isn't true. Limitations and restrictions are a very important part of the creative process.

[djchriswoods.co.uk]

when i was still kinda learning to beat match, its important i mention that 13 years ago i was playing trance and hard dance, i went out an dug through a few bargain bins at a local record shop and bought some uk garage music and dnb...with the soul purpose of training my ears so when i went back to my normal music my beat matching was way tighter.

i also ended up liking dnb too lol. now i play house, but the skills are totally transferable.

[elliot1106]

This isn't true. Limitations and restrictions are a very important part of the creative process.

I'm looking forward to seeing your amazing work.

[Patch]

Also - limitations are restrictions should be IGNORED when choosing a name, DJ BOB.

[keithace]

Nothing wrong with using the key of a track to find tunes that fit nicely. I have over 10000 tunes on my harddrive. I use the genre & key to narrow down my choice. i.e my house/electro selection has over 3000 tunes, any given key will have 100+ tracks I can chose from. At the end of the day I still have to chose witch of those 100 track to play but I would be totally lost without being able to sort by genre and key.

The OP doesn't have 10000 tracks...

I feel sorry for you if you are lost without being able to sort by key. I've been playing a long time. "What key is this track in" isn't even in my thought process, never was.

Your ear will tell you whats best. Not some piece of software.

[keithace]

i disagree. you should be mixing in key, or at the very least, mixing things that aren't causing dissonance. for certain more atonal genres it really doesn't matter that much. or in areas where there are no melodies, though if you have an out of key melody come in immediately after your first track's melody stops, it will likely still sound odd to people who are paying attention.

also, it's not really a bad thing to be limiting the number of songs to be played into another song. key is just one narrowing factor along with several others. i do however feel like you shouldn't put all of your faith into a key tagging software, especially if you don't have enough tracks to pick from. at the end of the day your ear should be the best judge and in charge of making sure your mixes are in key.

The OP is just begining and should not worry about what key tracks are in.