Keys to a good transition.
Hi, I’ve begun to mix, although I suck I have made a couple of mixes, but the only bad thing about them are the transitions between 2 songs, Ean Golden made a video about these transitions but they are mostly simple ones. Can anyone help me with this, I need keys to making a good transition. How to make it? When to make it? Etc.
I have published one mix, it sucks, but can I get a comment on transitions, and how to improve them. Please
Question about one of Ean’s videos.
At one of his videos Ean gives a tutorial on transitions, in one of these mixes called the “End zone mix” he says something about a song’s intro being 16 counts and the other song’s ending being 16 counts. What does he mean by this count thing?
I’m working on a dubstep mix tape right now. What I usually do is look at the song structure, and assuming the timing and key are good, try different ways of introducing the new track in. Sometimes I’ll fade a track in using the eq’s or filter, use the hip hop slam, or just plain begin a track on the first beat. Just experiment. I can usually find a way to mix it in, but mostly depends on the type of music you’re trying to mix. Lately I’ve been recording myself freestyle random tracks and listening to them afterwards because when I usually find a great mix, I keep mixing cause i’m into it and I later forget how I did it.
lol I’m having the same problem. Not sure what the counts mean, my timing is off on my songs also.
It’s called phrasing. Play a typical EDM song. Start counting each beat…you will notice there is a change in the song every 16 or 32 beats. Google phrasing or youtube it. This is DJ 101 fundamentals. Your mixes will come out alot better. I wouldn’t worry about any gimmick transition until you got that down.
[1234 2234 3234 4234 5234 6234 7234 8234] [1234…] and so on
Say you have song A which ends with a chorus then outro. Outros are normally 32 of 64 beats long, depending on the genre.
Song B starts with a 64 beat intro of just percussion, then after that it goes into a build up before the first chorus.
So the logical thing to do here is start Song B as soon as the outro starts on Song A. Start with the volume fader all the way down, and the bass EQ nearly all the way down. Depending on the song you might want to take out some of the highs too, depending on whether it has hi hats in the intro or not.
Gradually fade the volume up of track B. and then when you get to the point where both faders are at 100%, slowly swap over the bass for each track, by turning track A’s down, and track B’s up.
Tracks sometimes end with “white noise” bursts, which can sound cool if left in as a percussionless buildup starts on the incoming track.
So if the timing is right, Track A will end just as Track B starts its buildup.
Hope this explains it well.
here some links to profesionals doing there stuff,watch and learn.just youtube ‘DJsounds’
This video is a nice stepping stone. Hopefully it can help.
1 bar = 4 beats
Song A has a 16 bar chorus. Song B has a 16 bar intro and after the intro, the vocals begin. Mix Song B’s intro into Song A’s chorus. As soon as the chorus on song A ends, song B’s vocals begin right away. It’s called song structure.
Thanks guys
Thats what i need to learn. The bars, i just play both tracks same time lol, start turning nobs. Then move the slider over so one song plays.. I need to understand the bars more clearly. For smooth transitions. More practice i suppose. My mixes don’t make me dance. Graghh 
sound like you boys need some introductory music theory. pick up a book on it, and pay particular attention to the parts on time signatures, rhythm, and anything to do with beats, bars or counting. everything these guys have told you is correct, but sometimes it helps to have that 20 pages of discussion on a specific point. also, a lot of those books come with cds with practice exercises which will help you determine time signatures (not so important for the genres you discuss) and rhythm or beat structure.
Always know the bars you’re playing tracks in. Otherwise…
Otherwise…it might be gay bars? 
scnr
Its not so much knowing music theory, you don’t need to know scales or notes and you don’t need to know time signatures because everything is going to be 4/4. You need to know how to count, know what a downbeat is, and to recognize phrases and know when to fade a song in and to fade out seemlessly and as smooth as possible and the only way is to practice, practice, practice. You will be able to feel it, you will be able to hear if you are in the middle of a phrase or at the top of the phrase. It takes time to learn but eventually it will click.
count to 4. practise
BTW serato and traktor counts the bars for you so each transition in the mix should be 4 to 8 bars apart. Depending on your equipment; I’d say learn how to use effects and buildups/breakdowns to make this sound even cleaner. If you have no other options you could always use the break effect to transition it’s easy to make yourself or use vdj, serato, or traktors breaker.
Thanks Guys, this has helped me ALOT. I’m checking some tutorials and blogs on this subject with more detailed information, but I’ve read all the comments and starting to get it.
