How do YOU mix songs?

[FILTHZ]

There are 5 ingredients used to mix music...

1 Part DJ Software
1 Part Purchased Music
1 Part Practice
1 Part Skill
1 Part Creativity

[photojojo]

I'll add my 2 cents to this ...

Duct tape the crossfader

This, unless...

not if your filters are set to them.

Or a delay

[Orthminius]

@Eliot Han and @Photojojo- I've never thought about that, assigning an effect to the crossfader. I'll try that out.

[zomgdav3]

@Eliot Han and @Photojojo- I've never thought about that, assigning an effect to the crossfader. I'll try that out.

Same here, I like the sound of it.

[Eliot Han]

@Eliot Han and @Photojojo- I've never thought about that, assigning an effect to the crossfader. I'll try that out.

Same here, I like the sound of it.

the xone:92 can let you utilize the x-fader for effects a and b ... you can have either x as 100% effect and y as 0% or x as effect 1 and y and effect 2 and their respective opposites for full effect kill ... it sounds massive when you are utilizing it in between tracks and transistions ...

[Orthminius]

Nice! Can you map it in Traktor itself? (I haven't messed with mapping, btw)

[victoryrisen]

To the OP:

I mix very long and simply:

I like to set my cue points as in (1-4) and out points (5-8). I mix electro, progressive and trance, so the song structures are usually a build up and a break down (if that makes sense). For the beginning, a track usually starts with a simple drum beat or a fading of the melody; Traktor auto-sets this as Cue point 1. Then 32 or 64 beats later, the track starts to build (whether it bring in bass, a melody or a more complicated drum pattern); at that point, I place cue 2. The same happens with cue 3, where the track builds more, usually 32 or 64 beats later. At cue 4, I like to make it the "big part" where the song is either in full swing or is in it's first breakdown. For cue 5, I set it at the second breakdown in case I want to mix in the breakdown of another song there. With 6-8, the same rules as above apply, but the pattern or sound gets simpler instead of more complex. I set cue 6 at the first place that I hear it getting simpler after the second "big part", cue 7 at the next simpler part and cue 8 at the last 32 or 64 beats before the track stops.

So all of that to say: I mix by mixing in Cue 1, 2 or 3 from deck B into cue 5, 6, 7 or 8 from deck A when the track is ending. You can obviously use your judgement to decide on which cue to use depending on the drop of from the "big part" to cue 6 or 7 (or even 8), but this helps me to achieve really smooth mixes between songs since it kind of keep a steady complexity of sound; there is no big switch or drop off of the music that gets the crowd confused or keeps them from constantly dancing.

Hope that's helpful.

[Orthminius]

That's interesting. I have less knowledge of progressive and trance, but it seems reasonable.

[J Hollow]

To the OP:

I mix very long and simply:

I like to set my cue points as in (1-4) and out points (5-8). I mix electro, progressive and trance, so the song structures are usually a build up and a break down (if that makes sense). For the beginning, a track usually starts with a simple drum beat or a fading of the melody; Traktor auto-sets this as Cue point 1. Then 32 or 64 beats later, the track starts to build (whether it bring in bass, a melody or a more complicated drum pattern); at that point, I place cue 2. The same happens with cue 3, where the track builds more, usually 32 or 64 beats later. At cue 4, I like to make it the "big part" where the song is either in full swing or is in it's first breakdown. For cue 5, I set it at the second breakdown in case I want to mix in the breakdown of another song there. With 6-8, the same rules as above apply, but the pattern or sound gets simpler instead of more complex. I set cue 6 at the first place that I hear it getting simpler after the second "big part", cue 7 at the next simpler part and cue 8 at the last 32 or 64 beats before the track stops.

So all of that to say: I mix by mixing in Cue 1, 2 or 3 from deck B into cue 5, 6, 7 or 8 from deck A when the track is ending. You can obviously use your judgement to decide on which cue to use depending on the drop of from the "big part" to cue 6 or 7 (or even 8), but this helps me to achieve really smooth mixes between songs since it kind of keep a steady complexity of sound; there is no big switch or drop off of the music that gets the crowd confused or keeps them from constantly dancing.

Hope that's helpful.

+1

I play a lot of electro and mix in a similar fashion. You literally explained my cue point placement perfectly

[Woah]

play track a, start b when it feels right... that's it