Could someone explain the whole “mix in key” concept?
From reading threads here I’ve learnt that alot of people practice “mixing in key” and many also use software to determine which key a song is in (!?). Why? I really do not get it. First of all, Two songs do not have to be in the same key to work well, in fact, work VERY well together. I mean, for an example, a song in C could blend perfectly with a song in Am, and will be perfectly in tune. It seems like alot of people really limit themselves with thinking “I have to mix. in. key. This tune in D#m will only work with the other songs my software tagged as D#m”. And secondly, why spend time and/or money on software when the software out right now Isn’t that dependable? You would get a way more accurate answer by just using a piano/keyboard/keyboard-app and finding the right key.
I just don’t get why people care. Pre-cuing has a reason, doesn’t it? If you can’t tell if a song works with another song through pre-cuing, why bother pre-cuing at all?
But if a song is for an example in C, but could in theory could go with a song in any key possible, why bother finding the right key for each track? That’s why you pre-cue, to actually listen if the two songs work together.
I read the article, and harmonic mixing seems to basically be - mixing. A dj mixing “unharmonically” is in my eyes terrible (And that is why I think it’s weird that harmonic mixing has become it’s own little niche, when it should be essential for acceptable mixing)
it only really matter when those keys are present and clashing hard. Lots of tracks don’t really have much of a key in the beginning or end of the tracks, thus you can really just mix whatever you want. To mean the point of monitoring the next track is one to make sure the beat match is good and two to make sure the keys are completely clashing.
I feel like people who practice and follow the whole harmonic mixing thing with software and charts are taking an extremely technical and unmusical aproach to djing.
In theory, a song in the key of C will harmonically mix into related keys. If you try and mix harmonic content from a song in the key of C into a song in the key of C sharp, it’ll sound like rubbish; the scales don’t contain many of the same notes.
At the end of the day, it’s just a tool. Use it to see which songs out of the many you’ve got are likely to mash together nicely prior to cueing up. It can throw up possibilities you might not have thought of very quickly. Or, like you say, let it get you in the mindset of ‘Must. Mix. In. Key’ and mess your mixing up. It’s not the tool, it’s the ‘tool’ misusing it.
Yes, a C tone or chord will not go well with a C# tone or chord, but since alot of songs today have breakdowns and parts without no melody or tone whatsoever, a song in C could very well work together with a C# song.
It’ll work very well for the ‘parts without no melody or tone whatsoever’, irrespective of key, definitely. But we’ve all got those songs that fit together like a glove. With melodies going they sound like one tune. Like a new tune entirely. This just makes it more likely to discover these ideal pairs without the tedium of getting the keyboard out or hitting them by chance.
You’re right, it will be easier finding those songs when you with one click can find all the songs in the same key, but at the same time you might miss other songs that would work great. Maybe it just isn’t for me, I think i’d only limit myself with such software.
Like I told lethal pizzle “Yes, a C tone or chord will not go well with a C# tone or chord, but since alot of songs today have breakdowns and parts without no melody or tone whatsoever, a song in C could very well work together with a C# song.”
C scale and Am are exactly the same scale just with a different root note.
If you see it in a piano, the C scale contains ALL the white keys. So does the Am scale.
Thats why they blend in together well.
Every scale major scale has an associated minor scale which is identical just with another base note.
C-Am, D-Bm , and on and on.
you can’t just rely on the key to make the song sound good you have to use it as a guide if you want to mix harmonically to the next song. Sometimes even though it says the key is right, it just sounds off, and sometimes it seems likes it way off but it works. So I never solely use the key guide my mixing, I just use it as a reference. Sometime I want to go a different direction and just have to go way out of key to go to the track I want next, so I just wait for no melody.
If you have a halfway decent pair of ears on your head you’re going to be able to tell when the keys of songs clash without knowing what the keys actually are.
