Originally Posted by
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.
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