Cuing ritual

[Sounds in Space]

Hey guys,

I want to know what you guys do under the headphones for each track. With digital djing it's seems that we have more time to do other things under our headphones than beatmatch. Also does anyone key match their songs, and how do they go about doing that?

Thanks.

[Bunford]

I key match but cheat using Rapid Evolution or Mixed in Key and put keycode in the comments for the tracks tag.

In terms of what to do. I barely use my headphones to be honest. I use them for an awkward mix. However, once I got the beats and tempo matched (and I sometimes even use 'sync' ), I tend to use the master output from the speakers to mis as I use a lots of loops, slices, cue juggling and stutters when mixing tracks so find it easier to listen to "the floor" rather than my headphones.

Other than that, I just bop along with everyone else

[Sounds in Space]

Do you do anything w/checking levels?

[Bunford]

With most songs I use, they're songs I regularly used as I have a kind of pre-planned setlist so I'm used to where each knob should be for each song, so not really.

[SirReal]

I like to listen to the track I'm planning on mixing in's tonal quality and compare it to the one currently playing. I then adjust the eq's to get it sounding as much like the Master track as possible. Drop the bass and sometimes the highs on the incoming track and mix it in, eventually returning my eq's to the setting's I previously had that matched the master track. It really helps with smoother mixing. I'm still so amazed by how different two "mastered" tracks can sound tonally. True mastering seems to be a lost art and is much more difficult to set a "standard" to now that people don't Master for vinyl.

[Eliot Han]

I like to listen to the track I'm planning on mixing in's tonal quality and compare it to the one currently playing. I then adjust the eq's to get it sounding as much like the Master track as possible. Drop the bass and sometimes the highs on the incoming track and mix it in, eventually returning my eq's to the setting's I previously had that matched the master track. It really helps with smoother mixing. I'm still so amazed by how different two "mastered" tracks can sound tonally. True mastering seems to be a lost art and is much more difficult to set a "standard" to now that people don't Master for vinyl.

this x2

[BradCee]

not much now, use tempo sync to sort the bpm, so just use headphones to check everything is in line as fade the next track in.

closest thing i do to checking tracks 'match' is seeing how they sound with each other for a few beats *shrug*

[Sounds in Space]

Thanks for all the responses so far. I guess I asked the question because I have had trouble getting the gain levels right on my mixes with big PA systems. I have so much time in between tracks that I feel like I'm missing out on the part of the process. I come from a sound engineering background and it always bugs me whenever I have a track come in and it just doesn't have the same power that that other one has because the master volume of track is so much lower than the previous one. Here is a set of my processes:


1. Listen to cuing track to get an idea of style, rhythm, and key.
2. Go to a middle section of the song and match up the gain to the track that's being played.
3. Go back to cue point where I'm going to drop the track and EQ the song.
4. Drop song in.

I agree with you SirReal. The rage in tonality for mastered tracks change so much, even if all of the files are of highest quality.

[BradCee]

1. Listen to cuing track to get an idea of style, rhythm, and key.
2. Go to a middle section of the song and match up the gain to the track that's being played.
3. Go back to cue point where I'm going to drop the track and EQ the song.
4. Drop song in.

i mix too quick for that

on occasion i trim high eq on a mix in, but only if it sounds to 'harsh' for that moment when half faded in

i really have no workflow to speak of, just reactionary to what's happening

[Bunford]

i mix too quick for that

Ditto. By the time I've finished playing with loops and cue juggling it's time to drop the next song

Not really, but I do it a lot just to entertain myself