How do you mix dubstep?

[Shatzen]

Ive been mixing prog house, electro house trance hard dance etc. but right now in atlanta dubstep is HUGE and i have no idea how to mix it. Any tips/ tricks?

[DJ ATX]

I mix it like hip hop....cut at the drop...or if I am beatmatching I only hold the beat for maybe 2 bars.

But then again, I suck, so take that for what its worth. FREE internet advice.

[J Hollow]

I mix quite a bit of dubstep, drumstep, and midtempo and to be honest its really not that hard. Most dubstep tracks will have a bpm of 70/140 depending how you look at it and a very basic structure. While doing this for a whole set would sound boring, a basic guide would be to drop one track and let it play out until the first drop is over and the build up for the second begins. Drop your second track and make sure the two sound good together (key, style, drums). Then when the build up for the first track is reaching the second drop the second track will be very close if not perfectly aligned to drop as well. If the it isn't perfect then I extend the build up of the first track with loops/Sample/beatmashing fx until the second drops and then slam over into the next track. Using this method, if you have songs that are very similar you can use the crossfader and effects to play both drops together and make some DOPE sounds. Just make sure you are using the cross fader to go from one track to the other completely because without very good eqing two drops play live together sound TERRIBLE.

Hopefully you can follow what I am try to say. I am new the forum and have never tried to type out how I DJ.

[djproben]

Dubstep is some of the easiest stuff to mix. Almost every song is 140bpm with a 32-beat meandering intro, 128-256 beats of WUBWUBWUBWUBWUB, another 32-64 beat breakdown that sounds suspiciously like the intro, etc.... Mix an intro into a breakdown and come in on the drop for a pretty easy mix. If you want to keep the faces melting, line the drop up with the breakdown so the WUBWUB never stops. Once you get to know your songs you can get a bit crazier; I like to line up two drops and crossfade back and forth between them in different patterns. But that will sound shit if you don't know the songs.

[basspenetrator]

search the forums (via google is probably easier) there are some threads with quality information..

eg this one

http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28652

[mostapha]

Mix it like hip hop.

Also, PM me if you want to get a drink…I'm in Atlanta too. (assuming you're >21…if that's not the case, then…umm…juice or something)

[Ed Paris]

i tend to mix it like i mix techno. long transitions big built ups etc. check my sc if you want some examples.

[Bassline Brine]

It really depends on the tracks. I'll say I mix 90% Dubstep, and then I've been working harder at incorporating Breaks and Hardstyle into my Dubstep sets. And a bit of love toward DnB and Drumstep.

The first thing about mixing Dubstep is just listening to it. Really, that's how I get comfortable before I mix anything. Throwing it on my iPhone and then listening to and from work everyday. You get to know the flow of songs that way, I'm sure you have a similar technique.

But really, some songs you can layer for awhile. I love pulling back and bringing in a "low-range" Dubstep track, and then building up toward the "mid-range" banger tracks. It's kind of a funny dichotomy with Dubstep that you have different focuses on where the track is being driven from, either low or mid.

But like other people said, treat it a bit more like hip-hop. I actually have trouble mixing house myself because I want to move tracks along too quickly. Dubstep isn't something that people let build-up/play for too long usually. I just have referred to it with a couple buddies of mine is "keep putting the shiny thing in-front of the kids" method. Introducing new stuff quickly, or working a build-up over a breakdown or drop to keep things moving along.

Unless you're playing fully low-range Dubstep, it's constantly moving. How you do this is your own trick. Sometimes I'll let something play out, and mix in at the second drop if it's an absolutely killer track. Other times I'll just have a few quick mixes, then pull it back with a sub-heavy track.

The best way to get comfortable with it is just banging your head against a wall practicing with it. And having good tunes to work with is also super clutch.

I can't tell you how much I hate it when I go out (and I go out 2-5 nights a week, mostly Dubstep/Bass heavy events) and I hear a DJ playing banger-banger-banger non-stop. DO SOMETHING FRESH!

That's my 2 cents

[Maxted]

Great genre to loop, sample and drop sounds and one shots over, i started out playing mainly dub reggae so i always favour the sub bass end stuff of dubstep anyway, normally quite bare tracks so there is a lot of room to play around, and short of clashing basslines you aint got much to worry about in terms of letting mixes ride out for a long time.

[Nesquigs]

Dubstep is some of the easiest stuff to mix. Almost every song is 140bpm with a 32-beat meandering intro, 128-256 beats of WUBWUBWUBWUBWUB, another 32-64 beat breakdown that sounds suspiciously like the intro, etc.... Mix an intro into a breakdown and come in on the drop for a pretty easy mix. If you want to keep the faces melting, line the drop up with the breakdown so the WUBWUB never stops. Once you get to know your songs you can get a bit crazier; I like to line up two drops and crossfade back and forth between them in different patterns. But that will sound shit if you don't know the songs.

boom -- my method exactly

plus beatmashing the shit outta skrillex songs makes playing them more fun when you have to play scary monsters over and over again