How long should a studio mix be?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

How long should a studio mix be?

Basically the thread title says it all, but I’ll quickly describe my motive behind this thread. Almost every time I look into the mixes section in this board, there’s some new threads with mixes between 10 and 30 minutes long. And this phenomenon I really cannot understand: what is the reason to record something like that (and further - why post it)?

For me a DJ set is something to be pulled in and taken on a musical journey by, which I don’t think can happen in such short intervals. I think an hour (or maybe two) is a good format, for reasons I really can’t explain. When I was recording a 45min set for the (now postponed) SEKOIA contest, it just felt somewhat wrong (especially afterwards when listening to see if I liked the tracklist enough to actually submit it).

2

some people dont have time to listen to a 2 hour mix

and i am pretty sure a promoter wont sit through a 2 hour mix

a 30 min mix just gives you a taste and a understanding of the dj

3

45 min to 1 hr is good. Anything under 30 min is a quickie (yeah that what she said…)

4

I can relate to that. Even though I don’t wish for longer commute times, it always pisses me off a bit when I have to stop listening to a dj set because I’m there before the end. Conversely, I like to get to clubs during warmup to hear the whole story.
It felt a bit weird going for ~45 minutes (the one I have so far is about 41). Less than that and it doesn’t tell much.

I’m totally with you on the journey thing. One of my online acquaintances puts out 25 minute sets on soundcloud every other week where each track (electro-house/fidgety/fluo kids style) plays for an average length of two minutes.
That’s a genre I don’t particularly dig when then tracks are put together in a more conservative rotation, but in that ADHD fashion, it doesn’t make much sense to me. The tunes are ADHD enough of their own anyway? :stuck_out_tongue:

Maybe it tends to be different depending on genres.

edit: woo yay houpla 500th post

5

1-2 hours… anything shorter is a mini-mix… anything longer is a bit of a mission to listen to.

about the length of a feature film (96 minutes) is the sweet spot, long enough to take the listener on a bit of a journey but not so long that it takes multiple listens to get through it.

6

I mostly agree with duerr.

The only excuse for a 30 - 45 minute mix is either a special themed mix or a contest entry.

After the 60 minutes mark I just tend to see where the mix takes me and end it there where it needs to be ended.

7

Haha, I was so gonna post an ADHD comparison with electro-house. Nice, great minds think alike :smiley::sunglasses:

8

Depends - sometimes a promo mix may need to be shorter to catch the attention of the person you want to book you. My standard is 1hr other than that, with a max of 74 minutes, as then it’ll fit on a CD.

9

Is ay 1 hour is a good place to start.

10

Used to be 90mins (2 sides of 45mins each). Then recordable mini-discs came out, and it became 74mins.

My God that makes me feel old.

I think a mix should be 74mins. Fits on a CD. Plenty of time to take the listener on a nice journey.