I am really quite mindblown how easy it is to mix electronic music with Traktor Pro. But I am quite at a loss at how to best approach mixing 2 rocks tracks (using the term “rock” quite liberally in this post). Obviously there are a couple rock tracks that come with sort of a natural “break” and are so well known that they immediatly put the energy back up there (“Seven Nation Army”, “I love Rock’n Roll”). These kind of tracks are perfect for a switch from some other genre to more guitars.
But what if I am doing a few rock tracks after another. Lets say JET “Are you gonna be my girl” and then Lenny Kravitz “Are you gonna go my Way”? Do you just cross fade? Do you leave a second between? Do you try to beatmatch, play with the EQ .. go crazy with FX?
Some hints (especially with example mixes) would be very appreciated!
Most of the “rock” I mix on could be considered electronic metal (Ministry would be the clearest example). I think this is all a mix by mix, song by song kind of thing. There would be some tracks you’d want to use the break for a second, some where you could beatmatch and layer effects… etc. etc. etc.
Honestly, just experiment and make terrible mixes in search of the epic energy builders.
Yeah of course. I am not looking for a one size fits all solution. The silver bullet doesn’t exist and if it did .. it would get boring. However if someone has a link or two for a few mixes it would be helpful. So far I have found only mixes that put rock music into electronic music. But with the crowds I am playing they sometimes just want the unaltered original rock classics to dance and sing along.
I have no experience mixing rock, but my approcah would be more or less the same one as If I was going to mix tracks from diferent styles or 2 tracks that are hard to mix. Here are some Ideas that you could try at home and see if you get something.
If you are able to beatmatch both tracks the most porbable thing is that the common mixing apporach will be too clashy. So see if the second track could be equed (ex: cut everything but the mids) in a way that you can bring a known vocal or guitar riff in the mix without sounding too bad. Right now I am thinking of smell like teen spirit, on the 8 bar guitar riff on the beginig of the track. You could mix in that 8 bar loop and then take it out for other 8 bars the back in again like cuts so you announce the next track more than really mix it in. On the third cut you can just high pass filter the other track or do a nice spin back! and just give the next one full power.
Similar apporach is just filter the first track while mixing in the next one (i recommend to do it quick like in 8 bars fully mixed). I can imagine that you can mix very quick when mixing rock.
If the songs are at very different bpm’s you can always try the non mixing approaches… for example using effects you can delay the first track (always sounds better with the bass off) and freez it then just hit play on the other deck. You can always loop it and make the loop shorter and shorter until you get the buzzing and if you practice (and look at other djs) you will see that you can use the buzzing as an actual beat for the other track with the help of your volume fader (carl cox and laidback luke do it always). You can do an old school power off on the first track and hit play on the other… I can think of many things but I am sure there are always options that will be better depending on the tracks. So just use your imagination and give a try.
It is always good to watch other djs playing. For example this video might be usefull for you as Laidback luke really masters the cd decks and do a lot of mixing with tracks with diferent bpms. You will see how he uses the effects, loops, and spinbacks in order to make the transitions.
If you want to mix two rock tracks, I would go about it by first warping the tunes in ableton or another daw to try to get it to a strict bpm. Once that is done, you could probably do teases, cuts, bassline swaps, etc, the same way as any other genre. I’ve toyed around with the rock sound recently but i tried to keep things as dnb as possible. I have a mix in the url below in which i used (arguably) 2 rock tracks to start it off even though “Flight to Nashville” - Ed Rush, Optical, Matrix is leaning more on the dancefloor/jump up side of DnB but still has a heavy heavy rock sound to it. Hope this helps.
thx .. keep the advice coming ..
as for warping .. do you mean because rock tracks usually have no constant BPM?
i should clarify once more however that i am not really looking to “mix” but instead just find a good way to “transition” as quickly as possible from one rock track to another. i find that most people prefer to get their rock classics as unaltered as possible.
yaya, analogue bands tend to vary slightly in their bpm but a little warping can get things on point. If you’re just looking to transition, i would listen to commercial radio DJs since they do this all day long.
good advice .. i havent listend to radio in about 15 years. they do “cheat” a bit since they can talk into their songs, but i am sure there will be plenty to learn and some radio masters only talk every few songs. thx .. will make myself “suffer” through some radio
Mixing rock can be hard, but its not impossible. Its good to run the tracks thru ableton, but the warp feature might timestrech the song a little too much and you might get alot of digital distortion. I usally drop a maker where I mix out of the song. One thing that you have to get used to is if you beatmatch the songs your gonna ride the pitch fader up/down
I would sort of do this if I really wanted to mix something “rock” actually what I would do and have done is warp a few bars where I planned on looping and or mixing out on . Now whan I did it it was on Led Zepplins “Moby Dick” but newer rock music should be a bit easier as a whole lot of it is pretty much locked to the grid .
i do the occasional rock night at a town a few miles from where i live, and imo doin rock is about setting the mood, so depending on the track that ur gonna drop into and the 1 ur about to drop out of it can be done in many ways, but for straight mixin i try to use 4bar loop mostly and even 2 bar loops, get part or all of the hook in the loop and tease it in or treat it like any electronic music if the loop is even enuff, like the first riff of rolling stones - satisfaction is perfect to loop a 4 bar at, cuz its quite even, most big acdc songs r quite easy to get into a mix if u find the place to loop it, so it kinda comes down to finding the tracks that can be looped
I mix quite a bit of rock, or rock inspired music. Transitioning from a cure track to a siouxsie track can be pretty frustrating! It’s musical structure is slightly different than what many folks are used to with EDM.
I’m going to assume that you can beatmatch, ride the pitch or warp your own tracks. If not, you need to go back to school with robert miles - children and work on that before you venture into the varied time of the human drummer!
Anywho, A typical mix for me starts with setting a few cue points. Many rock tracks start off with a basic groove (or I can find one in the song) and I set that as my initial cue. This is what I use to bring in the high hat and snare from the second song into the first. This will give the listener a feeling of continuation from the first song to the second. (Oh hey I heard that same sound during the last song!) I set a cue to an initial riff, one to the lead melody, the chorus, and the first verse. Assuming the first song ends suddenly, and I’m playing a basic drum kick/snare from the second song behind it, I’ll often use an effect to let the listener know energy is building up around the sudden end of the last song (a flange/filter/overdrive/ring modulator or something) and at the same time i end the effect I will hit the cue point for the 1st verse. This gives the listener the sensation of perfect “phrasing” and a ‘club mix’ sensation of the rock song, and keeps the energy moving up.
I have 100s of different styles of mix I use for the rock and rock styled songs I play depending on the situation I end up in. Really you’re only limited by your creativity, and in fact toying with rock can be WAY more fun than an EDM track to mix, because of the challenge, excitement, and creativity it draws out of not only the performer but the audience!
I say just experiment with things, and remember, you’re the DJ. You’re not wrong. unless.
“I started the song at the wrong time, in the wrong key, with the wrong mix, running at the twice the SPEEED.”
[QUOTE]This gives the listener the sensation of perfect “phrasing” and a ‘club mix’ sensation of the rock song, and keeps the energy moving up.
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I like this idea very much. Staying true to the phrasing that makes rock music so awesome in the first place sounds and feels like a more natural solution compared to just dropping a quick loop and treating it like electronic… which I’m sure has it’s venue at times too.
Of course we also can’t forget the value of using silence (actually you’re using the resonance of the last note of the song in the room) to create the tension for moving to the next song. (I’ve discussed this before on this forum) This is especially useful when there is literally no way you can mix, the style of music is too different, you’ve got a major energy change, or you’re going from EDM to rock.
