I’ve posted something along these lines before, but this is a different case and I’ve improved since then.
I’m currently trying to do a electro house/house mix. I’ve spent days just trying to get tracks that fit and it seems like I’m just wasting my time, I should be able to do a solid mix (planned) in 1/2 days right? Then why does it take me a couple of weeks?
I did around 20 minutes and it doesn’t really sound good, I think I’m trying TOO hard to ‘mix’ e.g. I’m always doing something and I never let a song play on its own. In hindsight maybe this is the wrong approach? maybe I should let songs play for a bit longer before mixing in something else? It’s just I got crap in the past for not mixing enough so maybe I feel under pressure to be this dj god with 4 arms.
I could do a ‘slow’ mix easily, it’s just that I don’t see the point because I may aswell just be playing a playlist on itunes or something, do you know what I mean? In a club environment it wouldn’t be so bad but I want this mix to be good so I can send it out to promoters. I have done Drum & Bass mixes in the past that I’m proud of, and I was using 3 decks constantly mixing… but it just doesn’t feel right with house music.
I know I sound like I’m stupid but I’ve got nothing to base myself on, only mixes I’ve heard online, and I want to be the best I can possibly be so I don’t want to settle for average mixes.
as for help.
Just mix, and keep mixing, and when you find good stuff throw it in a playlist and organize it later. Then once you have some type of structure start experimenting.
This way you’ll be ready if you think the crowd might be into something other than whats in your playlist.
Upload your mix and post over in be mixes section if you want in depth feedback. The pacing with dnb is certainly different but without hearing where you’re at its kind of hard to give helpful advice.
It’s certainly harder to mix DnB but for some reason I’m just better at it.
I can mix house relatively easily, it’s just getting songs that fit…
I don’t want to upload what I’ve done so far because even I don’t like it, I recorded it and listened to it and it seemed way too rushed, there were drops every minute or so. In regards to that I think I do need to let songs play for longer before I mix the next one in, it’s just I don’t want to be boring like I said.
With electro you can really mix as fast as you want as long as the track selection is on point and you maintain proper structure (ie not 3 64 bar breakdowns back to back). I posted some tips and a short mix regarding this for someone else a while back, I’ll dig it up later when i’m not posting from a phone.
I trainwreck all the time when practicing.. and by practicing I mean every time I play thats not for a gig.. Even if a bunch of friends are over I’ll still try new things.
You just have to experiment.. learn from the good and the bad.
I wanted to do a 30 min video of me mixing, so I fired up the system and started recording.
On playback I noticed that there where sections where I had nothing to do for a a minute or two. These sections where pretty boring to watch and in 30mins those dead sections can start to add up.
So I decided to give it another go, more tracks, quicker mixes, more effects. Second vid had some awesome mixes and it was cool to look at coz my hands where in constant motion. Ultimately this vid still bored me. Yes in places there was some technical brilliance but overall the music quality suffered. i.e less builds, less emotion, less tension.
So I guess the moral of the story is you can under cook it or over cook it both will sound shite.
I sound like shit about 80% of the time while I’m practicing and when I hit that sweet spot it’s the greatest thing, although I normally do so by complete chance.
Exactly. You’re going to sound like shit and the great thing about practice is that you can fuck up and it doesn’t matter. The other great thing is that if your friends don’t know any better they won’t be able to notice your trainwrecks as much as you do.
I keep a playlist called Working Mix, it basically has most of my new tunes in it. When I am planning a mix tape I start to arrange it and play around with the set structure. These are all still free practices as I am going to probably reprogram and drop and add tunes. I make another playlist called Mix Tape 3 or the like and pull the pieces together I liked out of the previous playlist and start to structure the mix. Mix tapes are special in that I feel they should be well planned. I practice the phrasing with the record on, give it a few listens while opening at work, consider where it can be stronger. Go back put markers in as reminders on tough songs to phrase proper, play with the individual mixes a little, or figure out the tough spots where I’m going to be working hard then record again.
This process seems to take about a week for me, sometimes more, sometimes I’m fine with mistakes sometimes I chase them away longer.
so true. I have a mix that I did and a transition at one part was just straight up horrible but I left it in for the sake of playing for a half hour again. I let my friend listen to the mix later and oddly enough when that part came up he said really clean transition there. I thought he was joking but he honestly meant it.
I’m tearing my hair out, I just can’t do this.
It’s really frustrating but I don’t want to give up.
Let me give you an example, I’m trying to mix out of Morning after (wolfgang gartner remix) but there’s no breakdown or anything. What am I supposed to do? I tried putting a cue point on the last phrase so I could just ‘jump’ to it but it doesn’t sound right.
It’s making me really angry and it’s no wonder I never finish my mixes.
Beatjump (32 @ a time from the track start beat) to the area you want to mix out from, add a cue marker for visual reference, you should be able to feel the phrasing anyhow though.
I also HATE putting together recordings, patience is key to doing it right, let the tracks to their job rather than twiddling knobs too much (unless your set consists of lots of beat juggling/fx mashing).
Bring a few friends over if necessary to chat and cheer you on while you let tunes play out a lil.
NEVER rely on friends or family for an honest opinion.
That’s what I’ve done, but it doesn’t sound right as there is a vocal just before the next phrase from the one I’m jumping out of. Why am I getting so frustrated at this? I can’t finish a mix for the life of me, I think I’d benefit from having a friend that mixes too, because I set my standards too high
Try creating your own breakdown or buildup using effects. The beatmasher can be your best friend. I’ve gotten away from using a lot of effects but I’m starting slowly to bring them back into the mix where appropriate. I found I used certain effects as a crutch instead of learning to phrase properly. Still not perfect (not even close, lol) but I’m getting much better than I was. Now I have to get my EQing and levels down properly. You don’t notice a lot in the mix but after going over recordings I get hyper critical too.
Sometimes the best thing to do is catch a 4 bar loop of instrumentals with a nice solid kick drum and base, start to bring in the new song close to its own buildup, let the new track buildup, slowly close the length of the loop, building up the beat at appropriate moments, than at the drop cut the old track and seamlessly flow into the new track when it drops and the bass and kicks comes in again. Then again I am not sure what type of music you play so it might be different for you. I do a lot of top 40’s/electro remixes/dutch house so there are a lot of big drops and places for quick cuts.
Remember also: Ableton and other DAW’s are your friend. You don’t need to make the mix in them but it’s comforting to know you can FUCK UP during your mix and not have to re-do it all over again. I’ve been using Ableton a lot more lately to recut my mixes. It makes my mixing better actually, because I’m less stressed about hitting each and every single transition perfectly the first pass through. Just take that Wolfgang Gartner song and blow through tracks you think might fit. Just keep experimenting with transitions using different techniques. You’ll find one you love. Record it. Make a comment that it is a mixout song and keep doing that transition over and over again. Practice makes perfect. Then move on to your next transition. You’ll get it eventually. No reason to get frustrated.
Sorry to hate but you must have shitty friends and family. My friends that know anything about music (my girlfriend too) will critique my mixes a lot. They give me brutally honest feedback because I’d do the same for them. Most of my friends who don’t know their ass from their head in terms of DJing or music can’t really say anything but I know who the listen to and who not to. I still listen to the people who know very little about DJing though and love it/hate it because I’ll be playing out for people who know nothing about DJing. It won’t make me a better DJ but it does reassure me that my mixes are never as bad as I think they are and I also know when they are REALLY BAD too. I’m my toughest critic for sure but ignorant feedback (I mean that in the best way possible) can sometimes be the best feedback you will get. You have to know how to filter each type of feedback to get the most out of all of it.
At the end of the day I’m trying too hard, all I’m doing is playing 1 track over another, it’s not rocket science. I’m just over complicating it because I want to do a godly mix where everything sounds perfect.
Might be a rare moment because if you’re anything like me, you’ll find that there’s always something you can fix or improve and it’ll never truly be perfect.
.. if the phrase isnt the right one to mix in, create a loop that will do the trick for the transition.