A few questions about mixing

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
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A few questions about mixing

I’ve just done my first ‘proper’ mix after a few months of practicing and what-not.
I’ve had some criticism saying some parts are bad, and I agree with them, but then some people say that it’s not a ‘mix’ because I’m just changing from song to song…
Now here’s the problem, do people want an hour long mix which is basically a mash-up with two decks playing the whole time?! I thought the art of djing was to keep it simple and let it flow, with some mash-ups and effects thrown in here and there?

I’m just a bit upset that I’ve tried so hard but seemingly failed… I obviously aim to have a mix that’s full of ‘mash-ups’ but it would have to be so scripted that it wouldn’t really feel right?

When you play gigs at clubs etc do you prepare your mix beforehand, sort out your cue points, what you’re going to press where and when? Or do you prepare a playlist of around 100 songs or something and just mix in what feels right? This is what I don’t understand, if you’re ‘freestyling’ how the hell can you do a good enough mix? You won’t know what songs go together, how long their breakdowns are etc will you?

Thanks…

I wasn’t going to post the mix for fear of being slaughtered but here it is;

https://soundcloud.com/vendettadj/parallel-thoughts

I guess I should write my own kinda ‘review’ on it…
The intro is good, I like it, the problem was transitioning OUT of ‘The Tempest’, it was basically impossible, so I just waited until it ended and played ‘I’m not Alone’. It sounds awful, I know, but for some reason I wanted to keep The Tempest as the intro song…

The next two transitions are equally awful and too abrupt.
When ‘Follow The Light’ transitions into ‘Remember’ I think it works very well, then I had another problem as ‘Remember’ is at a weird bpm, something like 177.69 so it was hard to mix anything into it, ‘Come Back’ works okay, I don’t think it’s amazing but it’s not bad.
‘Come Back’ > ‘Hurt Less’ I really really like, they drop at the same time and go together well.
I’m not going to talk about every transition, but basically my problem throughout was choosing songs that don’t mix together very well and kinda ‘forcing’ them on eachother.
I like the part at the end (Just Be> Beautiful Lies> Need to feel loved).

I guess I should also ask, am I good enough to play in a small club? I think I am, but I’d have to prepare the mix beforehand…

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May I listen to this mix?

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Yeah, I’ve edited the OP.

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how long have you been mixing?

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Not very long… I got a Numark Mixtrack and Traktor X1 in September, and didn’t ‘get serious’ until around November/December. I haven’t played in front of anyone yet…

I should add that I instinctively sent a message to a local promoter with a link to my soundcloud… now I’m scared and think I should delete it.

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you still have ways to go. I been mixing songs for like 3-4 years and I finally have a gig in july. Practice, mix in key, take it in slow strides and over time you will learn some new cool techniques. It’s like anything to where you start slow but get better in time.

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I know that but I’m not waiting four years for my first gig :smiley:

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Well you could always go in guns blazing buuuuuut dont come crying when you get burned. Main reason It took me a while was that I was studying on it and then learning different techniques and getting feedback from everyone I could and also building music collection which sadly I lost alot due to PC crash couple years ago =.=

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Yeah, I feel like I’m nearly ready to play out, I just need to freestyle a little bit more instead of planning everything so much beforehand.

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Theres currently 130 songs in my “tracklist” if you like, ive went through every single one of these and made sure the gridding is perfect, Every song has been put through MIK so i know the key, so i know itll “go”, also i know every single one of those tracks like the back of my hand, theres always music playing in my room coming from my laptop, so subconciously i remember every little detail.

When i play out nothing is prepared, if youve prepared a tracklist and a hot girl comes up to you and asks ou to play their song, (bearing in mind, you have this song, and you also like it) how are you going to fit it in? Ive around 1500 songs on my computer so chances are, i have her song. it takes less than 5 minutes to run a song through MIK then beatgrid it and then you can just throw it in at your leasure

I only listened to the first 10 mins of your mix, because i simply dont have time just now, but your trying to mix DNB with EDM. Thats hard shit even for pro’s. Im also guessing youve never manually beatmatched before, and didnt grid any of your your tracks yourself, Traktor is notoriously bad at gridding DNB so chances are it was miles out to start with, DNB is around 160/170 and EDM is generally 130, youve got to build up/down into each other,

Theres the MIK software, if you have the money to spare its a usefull tool.

EDIT: also, about you mentioning breakdowns, if you know your music then its all a case of numbers, EDM is written in 4/4. I worked all this out myself, so im going to put you in the right direction and you can work it out for yourself.

EDM - 4/4
Make SMALL tempo changes for tempo buildups DURING the song, not jumping from a track thaats 160 to one thats 130
Also, Keylock is your best friend if your making mass tempo changes.

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also for mixing like you do,
1.get rid of the crossfader, they suck anyways unless mapped to do something else =p
2.google rapidevolution and use that program for key detection,
3.EQ transition and use the line faders in place of the crossfader.
4.Play with the basic effects to learn what the parameters do
5.Learn to play on multiple dj equipment (guitar center is cool for that) just iin case if something happens.
6.Dont Rush in because if you do you will most likely look like a fool when you screw up and dont know how to pull it off or fix it.
7. Read DJTT posts and forums
8.ALWAYS take feedback and listen to them.
9. Ignore trolls

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Hoodless all the songs I played were 172-176bpm and Traktor beatgridded them perfectly.

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Hmm, Lucky you then, ive been playing the odd bit of DNB in bars for 2/3 month now, just dropping in 3 or 4 tracks in a 2 hour set, And ive only ever had one dnb track that traktors gridded perfectly. and ive around 30/40 dnb tracks gridded.

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I’d say 70% of the time it gets it for me. Alot of the time it needs tweaking though…

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Mine always tries to put it in at 140/150 and ive got to completely regrid it. My gridding settings are 120-170

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Should just be half of what it actually is… E.g. 87.50 and double it with advanced deck functions or work it out and type it in (unrequired effort though).

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Guys IMO the time needed to get a gig is not standard. I got my first gig when 16 years old, with very very little experience. Although I’ve managed to do my best and I ended up with a residency and the most profitable dj of the club. At the moment I can see that I’ve mada a huge progress and the truth is that this progress seems to have no end.
So my opinion is you should train every single day and give passion on what you’re doing. You will never regret it.
:slight_smile:

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This ^

I got my first gig at 15, i knew how to put a cd in and press play, and how to fade between tracks, not much else. Got a residency off that once i turned 16.

I’ve been to so many supposedly “good clubs” just to hear somebody crossfading between two copies of this years MOS compilation.

Don’t worry yourself mate, knowing your music is 99% of the battle, and in my opinion you have a good taste in DnB, loving the track selection for this mix.

Just practice, play music you know well and love and you’ll be amazing yourself before you know it.

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Thanks Maxted. How did you get a gig at 15?

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@Maxted I completely agree with you. The majority of clubs in greece are just having dj crossfading top 40.
I am lucky enough to know enough promoters to get me gigs at these clubs.