Hey guys, I was curious as to the way you record a mix.
Now I don’t know if I’m being too hard on myself, but if I make tiny mistakes like the beat matching strays off for a few seconds or the phrasing isn’t what I want I start over.
I have a very difficult time deciding on the tracks to play as well and I can never seem to get it “just right”.
So what is to be expected of a promo? Are tiny mistakes here and there a big deal? Do you take the time to plan it out or do you mix on the fly, record and it’s done… Really interested to hear your feedback on this..
Its a recorded piece of work you are promoting yourself with. It should be the best you can do.
Theres no harm in re-recording all or even parts of the mix and splicing it back together if needed. It all goes to the end result.
Plan it out if you like, it’ll only be better for it.
Just make sure it IS an accurate representation of what you can do live.
One and done, nothing more to it that that. Just figure out your opening track and let it ride from there, then after 70-80 mins call it a day and burn that bitch to disc
Listening to your mistakes is the best way to ensure you break those habits. Seriously - record EVERYTHING you do, and listen to it back all the way through. You’ll be glad you did.
Pretty soon, you’ll find yourself listening to entire mixes that you are happy with, instead of just the odd transition…
I think this is similar to musician training, you do less and less mistakes over time based on practice and experience. I doubt anyone could get down to zero mistakes for a very long time period, can’t do much about synopses misfiring due to lack of oxygen or similar things we can’t control – especially for us left-handed that have a totally bizarre brain wiring so the synopses misfire now and then whether we want or not.
Yeah the thing is people keep asking for a promo because they want me to play. I can mix fine but when I RECORD I always make a few tiny mistakes. Like the beat being off just 1/10th of a second for a second or two and I just can’t be happy with my mix lol.. and I think “maybe that song would have fit better after that” that kind of stuff hehe
I’ve also been hitting a brick wall for a while now, maybe being to critical on myself. Guess all the talk criticizing dj’s is bugging me, but that’s another topic. Persistence prevails. Listen back to your old favourite mixes for inspiration. Your flavour and style.Then you’ll know when your done
I’m not going to lie, it takes me about 8 tries to fully program and perform a mix tape set. I might even go back and set some cue points to make sure my phrasing is perfect or find the spot to mix out of for a track with a weird count for the outro or intro. If a set has more than one routine, I might work on the routines a lot more and not worry so much about the rest of the mix, at least have a good idea of how I’m structuring a routine and my fingers doing what i want on time.
In the end Im happy when I’ve done the absolute best that my current skill level allows, nothing is blatantly mixed poorly and there are no harsh key clashes. You know proud enough to let friends play in the car.
