Just roughly listened to your mix and here’s what I found:
-Don’t you think the boringness you feel while listening could just be a sign for the calmness of the songs (which at the beginning do not have lots of climaxes…)?!
-Unfortunately, the second (or was it the third? You’ll hear^^) song is not loud enough. This takes some energy out of the mix right at the beginning. Just give it a bit more Gain!
-Near to the end you loop the beginning of Depeche Mode’s “One more time”. The idea and beginning is quite good and creates tension, but when you are already at 1/16 or 1/32 then you should make a drop an bring the song back without modification like a bomb! Instead you go back and rise the loop size again to 1/8 and 1/4 and so on. This makes the nice idea getting boring…
-No interest in using effects?
Maybe I am wrong and just didn’t recognize them, but as much as I remember you didn’t often use effects.
Basically this is a quite good decision as many beginners tend to overload their mix with effects so that the listener at the end is not even able to recognize and enjoy the track, but in mho you could have made a little bit more use of effects. Maybe some stutter effects (“Gater” in Traktor) or a flanger or backspin. Just a thought. Just try it out for yourself!
P.S: I personally doubt that the arrangement of keys of the tracks really gives the mix ups and downs. I rather think that the tracks themselves have to do that work!
The transition at 4:20 is tempo matched, but not beatmatched, you have a bit of a galloping horse effect going on there.
From 12:05-12:20 there are completely unnecessary and intrusive effects, backspinning?
between 18:22 - 19:20, on a more positive note, this mix has some potential. but you need to work on undertstanding the phrasing of your tracks, to quote myself from another thread:
Edit: I didn’t listen to much more of the mix, but the parts I did listen to had plenty of unnecessary effects thrown in. leave the effects out unless you’re absolutely sure that the specific effect will sound good. most of the time IMO effects beyond EQing and the very occasional filter detract from your mix rather than adding to it.
The raw truth is that not everyone is talented, but with the “no child left behind” society we live in, our childhoods are filled with praises and reassurances that we can do anything we want, truthfully it just isn’t how nature works.
It may be, but not everyone can be successful at everything they do, so it remains a fun hobby. And as peers shouldn’t we be supporting other peoples development of that hobby?
I think you’ve completely misunderstood the Internet, forums are here for the sole purpose of allowing us to express how much better we are than everyone else, haven’t you noticed?
Skills are developed, mixing is a skill. If you can count to 16 you can DJ, anyone can learn to develop this skill. It doesn’t mean everyone will be great at it, however.
Not trying to be harsh or negative, nothing wrong with a hobbyist, just wouldn’t want someone to drop thousands on a setup to just sell it later, see it much too often.
Here’s a good example (from another thread, unrelated): when someone wants to save a buck and hires their friend with a consumer-level camera and free editing software…does this make the bar look appealing?
The misstake they’ve done here is to equate ‘expensive equipment’ with ‘proffessional’. Both photography/filming and DJing takes skill, no doubt, but it’s a skill that can be learnt by practice, you’re not born with some inherent affinity for mixing tunes or taking pictures. Some may have an easier time learning it, sure, but I really don’t think that there’s some cosmic lottery that says what you can and can’t learn.
I agree with you to a point, Cybertrash, but how do you explain those who are better than others even though they have put the equal amount of practice time in? Of course some individuals are born with certain or specific affinities. Some are naturally intellectual, others are artistically creative, some are born with rhythm, others are tone deaf…
As I mentioned, some might have an easier time learning, but I honestly believe that practically everybody can become good at it given enough practice.
There might be some difference in the absolute top field, like not everybody can become DJ Q-bert, no matter how much they practice, but I’m not entirely convinced.
