How do you keep the energy high in between the 2 “drops” ?
Hey everybody, so this is a topic that I’ve been looking to get a few different people’s opinions on.. Basically every EDM song essentially has 2 “Drops”, usually separated by a more melodic, quieter, less intense instrumental or something of the sort..
When I’m recording my mixes, I think that this middle “instrumental” portion is really nice because it takes you on a journey, and then back towards the buildup and the 2nd “drop”.
Now the only problem is that I feel that playing this intermediate “instrumental” portion in a Night Club setting (not a rave or festival where it can be expected), lacks energy and volume..
I don’t want the entire dance floor to stop for 45 seconds between drops since this middle “instrumental” or vocal portion gets too quiet or slow (with the kick drum typically removed)..
Do any of you have any techniques that can be used to keep the energy HIGH between the 2 drops in a Night Club setting, where the energy has to always be at a level where the people on the dance floor are continuously moving?
Era7 is basically saying, choose the odd track where there are no drops, or instrumentals. However, this type of music, 'EDM, as you call it, always have a minute cheesy drop in my opinion so would be quite hard to find some track that don’t have this.
Maybe hit some samples of vocals/samples that people may recognise, to keep them enticed and thinking ‘wow, I know this’. Or as Era7 says, mix out of the track before the 2nd drop.
The easiest way to do this, btw, is to bring in the intro of track B (for club mixes, typically a very basic 4/4 beat) at the start of the instrumental section… if you time it right by using loops and cuepoints etc, by the time the second drop has petered out to the outro, track B gets going. You then mix out track A, load up a new track, and repeat the process.
Exactly If your choose your songs right, you can even get a nice combination of the bassline for track B with the pads and synth of track A, etc. That’s basically what most Trance/Progressive House DJs do, creating mashups and remixes on the fly.
It’s also why Traktor’s remix decks are so awesome tbh, because you can create your own stems (or even re-create famous ones) to get REALLY creative.
This pretty much solved it. Also when employing this technique, it works way better if you are mixing in key. It all sounds so smooth especially if done right. It fits together extremely well.
Ive found a bar of beats on loop, but ever filtered just so you can hear the dull thump over a long breakdown can keep the vibe if you dont want to change the tune, then cut that loop around with some beatmasher as you see fit.
Or try double dropping two breakdowns at once, or as said by others, intro of one track into the breakdown of another. Maybe with a couple of slice’s of yet another tune here and there, so they dont know which of the 3 tracks your’re going to break into.
But avoid too much, as it could sound a bit messy and make sure its in key!
How do you deal with the terrible accuracy of the key analysis? It’s so tedious having to go through a track and figure out which key it really is, and whether it’s actually the relative key or one almost the same..
Don’t you if you ever went dancing but unless you take xtc (so I’ve heard) you’ll get tired. It’s good that people can catch a breath.
The contrast in energy in makes the drop better. For example:
High energy bit => build up + drop => high energy bit doesn’t make sense.
Everything is there for a reason. Just keep doing what you 're doing.
I think you will get better results by good song selection and knowing when to drop a certain song to maintain the right energy level or slow it down so you can provide a good build up.
There were some pretty good sets videocasted on Ultra’s mainstage there essentially two CDJ mixing, with some clever edits, and of course practiced/timed transitions that could give you a few ideas…but really it was the right song selection at the time of the set that dictated the energy.
I like to do what was previously mentioned. Intro of B after Drop of A… but sometimes I like to let the melody play out with the intro of track B on Loop, (as long as the intro isn’t obnoxious and its just a kick and snare).
for example, Daft punk’s “one more time” has a HUUUUUGE middle portion where its vocals, and it def kills the vibe sometimes, but if u just add a snare or kick bass to that portion, people will keep grooving. try it out.
i think that u need to have a few breaks here and there. u gotta let people cool down for a good minute or two and bring them back. intro+bass+drop gets real repetitive real fast.
A lot of Tiesto and Mauro Picotto stuff is like that too; Proximus and Komodo are typical case-in-points. The annoying thing is, the tempo typically changes wildly as well (I HATE artists who do that), so you have to ride the jogwheels/pitchfader the whole way through the instrumental :-\
So I’ve heard? lol completely agree!
A combo of a> a+b > b > b+a > a with one shots and fx and transitioned at the right time to avoid an audio disaster sounds great! Then get track c going (in deck b) and mix track c and d the same way, it flows great and you won’t be constantly cluttering sounds.
If your choose your songs right, you can even get a nice combination of the bassline for track B with the pads and synth of track A, etc. That’s basically what most Trance/Progressive House DJs do, creating mashups and remixes on the fly.
lol completely agree!