[House music] [Lounge music] Mix tips

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
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[House music] [Lounge music] Mix tips

Hi,

I would like to ask you hints about mixing. I have actually 2 scenarios:

  1. Mixing Deep house/house/techno and similars:
    most of my tracks last between 5 to 8 minutes and sometimes I think they are too long. Since I don’t have my style yet, I’d like to know how it is most mixed. Do you mix intros with outros only or do you cut part of the music?

  2. Mixing progressive house
    in this case most of my tracks have the intro, break, climax, break, climax outro and I watched some videos of Tomorrowland, among others, and I noticed that the DJs didn’t mix intros with outros, but instead, they came with the next track after the FIRST climax and go to the break of the next. It is cool as well because the track is not too long as well.

What is most commonly done?

Thanks!
Sergio

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hey man, so i just made 3 deep house mixes and usually use the intro to get into the song and maybe after the second verse i will transition to another song. if thwe 2nd half of the song is very repetitive compared to the fitrst part, i’ll cut it out. also figure out where the nxt song blends in nice. sometimes thats the deciding factor of the length of a song u wanna use. there is no real formula to it. you just have to experiment at different parts of the songs and see how it sounds and feels to you. its like finding the sweet spot yknow what i mean

dont know about progressive. it is all about how YOU want the mix to sound. you like the 1st cliax or the 2nd one. whatever you think will give your mix that signature you want ppl to remember.

here my deep hpuse mixes, download and take alisten if u wish:

https://soundcloud.com/djfarhanashraf/dj-farhan-palm-jumeirah-beach-party-mix

hope i was able to help

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hey man, very much depends about the mood of the night/ time your feeling. (for techno and house)

If it is early on in the night, generally you want to mix intros into outros. just because you don’t want too many build ups and layers, kind of just want to get people in the groove.
However, if the night is building up, you want to layer songs, bring sounds in, take them out. sometimes i mix loops in after the 16beat mark after a crescendo or trough. just ads to the atmosphere and allows for people to assume the song is progressing, when your actually just bringing something else in.

Just play around with sounds and get a feeling for music, Don’t be the standard mix one song into another kind of person, create something

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Here is from an article that I haven’t put out yet. It gives you a general break down for each main sub-genre. It goes into a bit more than simply where to mix but having the overal knowledge is what will allow for a better understanding. However, for the sake of this thread, I have removed the excess material.

Especially in electronic dance music, knowing when to mix intro vs outro, loop, tweak, fx, layer greatly depends many factors. Some of these include the genre, time, and setting in which the music is played. Let me provide some advise or preferred situations and settings where looping/tweaking/quick mixing is most utilized in dance music based on my personal experiences while viewing online sets, live performances in various countries, and studio mixes by labels.

It is not absolute and varies by preference. With that said, there is also the dj’s perspective and the audience’s- two different views. There also has to be a fairly decent understanding of various genres/sub-genres and atmospheres while knowing when and how to play them. If you only specialize, play, or are exposed to only 1-2 sub-genres, then you are limited to understanding the various times to employ such tactics for other genres. If you don’t play progressive house or know it well, you would be wrong to think the same settings and play mode for deep house applies to progressive and its sub-genres. Or thinking that a string of summer vocal latin tracks is suitable to be played in the dead of cold winter- that’s why they are called “summer tracks” with compilations that revolve around those tracks.

I play a very wide variety of house at booth lounges and main rooms and also booth ride with djs at various venues and settings- here are what I feel are the “preferred”, not absolute, based on settings and genre. A place like Miami, Florida can be tricky where there are many pool/outdoor events. However, that can really amp your ability to understand atmosphere and settings.

Genre- house: deep Soulful/lounge
Setting- day, pool side, beach, an opening evening set
Play mode- don’t touch it unless you want to loop the intro/outro. Some tease layering can occur but be very careful because people want to hear the vocals.

Genre- house: deep soul-tech
Setting- day, pool side, beach, an opening evening set, after hours /outdoor terrace
Play mode- for some reason, this is being played in big rooms at peak hour and replacing the big room sound. This sound allows for more layering or long intro/outro looping for extended atmosphere. Tweaking, quick mix is possible but sparingly and throughout the night and depending on the crowd. Heady crowds prefer straight mixing vs dancers that need tweaking and flash eqing to create impact while dancing.

Genre- Big Room Progressive
Setting- Main Room/ mature adult festivals
Play mod- very impactful, layer, looping, fx, quick mix but careful with melodic or vocal types. Long outro can be used when transitioning between tempo. Short outro can be used to create a “drop the beat” effect.

Genre-EDM
Setting- festivals, main room
Play mode- impact quick mixing, fx, let the drops breath. Intro/outro is not recommended because this type of music is designed to create a rush. Breakdowns are controlled and part of the song whereas long intro/outro only create unnecessary dead spaces.

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Also, after reviewing quite a few “deep house” mixes, (not future/bass house) I have come to notice a “dead space trend”. Djs often tend to begin mixing during the last 16 bars of the song. It is often because of a narrow subconscious lens and for fear of mixing too early and clashing the sounds. A wide subconscious lens, which comes with practice and over time, is the ability to envision the music as it is being introduced in the mix. The wider your subconscious lens, the further you can pair music together in your mind.
On the other hand, djs tend to over compensate for this dead space by quick mixing- also due to a narrow subconscious lens and fear of “losing the mix” via train wreck. (non-sync users)

So, the end goal of a properly performed long mix is to have the incoming track seamlessly introduced by having all elements paired and aligned. This is essentially done through proper timing and excellent usage of the EQs. It is very important to synchronize the introduction or removal of frequencies in order to create a balance pairing.

Now, when is the dead space actually necessary? Through my years of experience, the dead space should be used when transitioning between tempos. This transitional period gives the listeners an opportunity to adjust to a new tempo or genre. The dead space can be followed by a break down to further its effect.

However, all of the above comes with a lot of practice, exposure to a live audience, learning your music, and developing your subconscious lens. The wider your lens, the more you will be overall in tune with your mix.

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Thanks all!

Hi guys!

Thanks for the resourceful replies. I appreciated very much!! And I want to share my experience.

I had the party and I as you all said, it is hard to set up a pattern. I had tracks that were worth of playing whole and tracks worth to play part of it. The party was nice and the most important thing is to see and hear the audience. After sometime playing house, some guests asked for more dancing music. And, for me, some of “my” tracks were dancing, but unknown for most of them. Then I came with 90’s and the excitement doubled (at this time I joined the crowd!!! hehe) and then I had another playlist from Spotify with the top tracks played in some countries and they were amazed when they asked a specific track and I had it.

I tried to go with something more unconventional than those pop commercial music, but the impact was not as I expected. They liked the music most of the time (the ones I was DJing) though, but at some point they got tired. I ended up playing for almost 1 h and it makes me think how hard it is to build a playlist of 4 hours to keep people dancing, drinking and having fun! Maybe one day. :slight_smile:

Cheers,
Sergio