Pre-Mixed Tracks?

[tropikel]

How so? Not mixed eq wise. I mean two songs that have been mixed together, end-start.

[djtsmooth]

so hes like taking pre mixes of more then one song basically is what you are saying

[tropikel]

Yes...But what I'm saying is its just a blend between two songs, something that you'd just do live. But recorded.

[Frank112916]

Yes...But what I'm saying is its just a blend between two songs, something that you'd just do live. But recorded.

Sometimes tracks blended in a DAW sound better than mixed live. Especially with a lot of the modern electro that has no space in it and 3 band eq's/filters/sweeps aren't quite enough. I have "mashup" tracks, I do play them in mixes. Granted, not every track - usually I like the original better. Sometimes there is some extra flavor in a mashup track you wouldn't get from the original, and sometimes it doesn't make sense to blend say a drop twice, and blending the break from another song twice.

Also, layering an acapella over may not be feasible (or possible if you don't have the acapella - sometimes producers get special promotional kits and such). This is especially true given the way I mix, with (relatively) quick transitions and filter sweeps. I will do my own blends for the most part, but every now and then I hear a mashup track and go "well that is bang on," so why recreate the wheel? Also, what if I don't have three decks available? I don't own an F1 or any controller that would work the remix decks very well, and only have two turntables. Many (pop)club DJ's using serato and two decks don't even have the option of a third deck and the SP-6 sampler is meh at best.

We all have different capabilities and talents. Not everyone can be both a great producer and great DJ (or even a mediocre Produce and mediocre DJ for that matter). Sometimes a DJ's talents really lie in the studio (see: Hardwell). Hardwell isn't a good DJ at all, and his sets are so-so when you compare him to other DJ's in his peer group. Most of his tracks are premixed. However, for the genre of music he produces, he makes some great tracks that have become fairly popular.

Obviously there are those who can be great producers and DJ's (see: Laidback Luke, or Diplo - although I am not sure if I've ever seen Diplo ACTUALLY DJ - but I know he started out as one and it was how we built his brand) and then there are those that are both poor DJ's and producers (see: Steve Aoki). I mean I guess if you like seeing a guy throw cake...more power to you. Not trying to be a hater either, Aoki has some decent tracks, and his shows are high energy. He's a good showman.

Then those who are God-like at DJing but don't produce, relatively, a whole lot of original content or remixes (See:Carl Cox - he does produce but I'd say compared to the modern producer/dj, popping out singles every month, it doesn't compare, but I'd have carl cox lay down the soundtrack to my life any day of the week).

Then you have great live performance acts (the thread in here recently of a members summer project was amazing) who combine the structure and workflow of production with the dynamism of technical skills of DJing. But again, the member was playing straight tech-house and minimal (I think...I get confused with all the subgenres), which was groovy as hell, but a different style of mixing than mainstream electro and prog which feature a lot of breakdowns, buildups, and drops.

Laidback Luke is, imo, one of the best technical DJ's in the prog-house/electro scene and I like a lot of his production work (although not lately tbh). He does layering live with 3-4 CDJ's, quick transitions, smooth, and on point. Still, some of his stuff is pre-fabbed in the studio. Just gotta go with what sounds good sometimes.

Anyway - bottom line is - don't hate, just do you, and I'll do me. If It sounds good and the crowd loves it, that's all that matters. If in my day job I worried about people telling me how lazy I am because I write VBA code to complete repetitive tasks or hard to complete tasks, I'd tell them to shove it.

[johney]

^nah

[tropikel]

^nah

qft

[keithace]

^nah

double that...

[Frank112916]

No wonder I've seen you guys on a bunch of festival bills...wait....

Oh Kaskade is another great example of production work over pure technical Dj skill. He puts on a great live set but a lot of his sets are remixes of his songs played in full. Not saying he doesn't blend live but he's not a super technical DJ.

[dripstep]

https://soundcloud.com/dj-patch-3/yt-vs-e-z-rollers-england[/url]

Starts off as the original by YT, then after a bit of cool vocal looping, it launches into a hell-fire D n' B mash-up of the original.

I'm really proud of it...

Whoa Patch! That track is awesome, I really dig that tempo change.

OP, I've mixed tracks together, recorded them and used it in mixes, i dont see anything wrong with that. I found the tracks, i mixed them together, and then I mix in and out of it, what's the big deal here?

Now, if I took someone else's bootlegs or remixes and tried to pass them off as my talent, that's where the problem is.

[tropikel]

I think that there is possibly some confusion here. As I've said, if you're making mashups/mixes that you wouldn't for logistical reasons be able to play live, that's great, you go girl, play those tracks.

What I'm talking about is one step away from pre-recording an entire set and then standing in front of a crowd and pretending to twist some knobs.