So I’m starting to feel like my mixes are sounding more like podcasts, rather than a set that would be played at a club or festival.
I’m pretty sure this is due to only really doing intro/outro mixes, but I can’t figure out how to mix in anywhere else. It sounds like poop every single time.
Is it more likely that my song selection was just poor? Or am I just choosing poor places to mix in and out.
I realize this is tough to do without a sample of my stuff, but hopefully I’ll get one recorded over the next couple of days.
I’ll look into acapellas. I’ve been too lazy to Audacity them haha.
So loop points. This is something I still don’t quite understand. I’ve been watching the Pioneer DJ mixes to watch how they use loop points, and it really blows my mind. They make it look so simple.
Let me see if I have some basic concepts down straight.
Loop A, use B’s build up or something
Lots of effects (which I don’t really do yet since I’m not comfortable with the other areas of DJing)
What pioneer dj mixes are you watching and are you suggesting cue jumping to skimp accutal mixing and blending of tracks and just drop into another
Track?
Acapellas are sick! One of my favorites is this. When he mixes in Barrington Levy - Here I Come in to House and then dropped an absolute banger. I got chills.
Besides that, to be honest I think with a DJ set you build it up build it up build it up until you do some absolute bangers. Think of it like a curve, like in Photoshop. Where as radio mixes, podcasts etc. are more like sine waves. You get me?
what’s wrong with intro/outro mixing? I don’t know what kind of music you mix, but I see nothing wrong with that.
As DailyCrisis said, concentrate on the flow of the songs…building up energy, then keeping the music at that energy. (ignore the sine wave comment though, because a sine wave is just a curve up, then a curve down in laymen’s terms)
And amadeus is spot on with beat matching, EQing and phrasing as well. If you’re phrasing well and planning your sets based on phrasing, you should be able to bring in a new songs break down after the outgoing song’s build up as a transition.
I’m mixing mainstream Trance and House that everyone here loves to hate on
I can do intro/outro just fine, but it’s just too repetitive for me, and I’m getting bored of it. I want to add more exciting mix ins. I guess when I do intro/outro, I am letting the energy die down too much during the mix in.
And I don’t mean slamming in tracks. Still subtle mixes.
Sort of like the armyofme’s sweep tutorial. How she loops one track in the chorus and then brings in another build up. It was absolutely flawless.
I wrote this on another thread years ago. Its a HUUUGE generalization but if your having trouble transition in the middle of the song, this should get you on the right track.
"tracks have phrases (such as intros, verses, outros, etc.) note: phRase is not the same as phase
for a smooth mix you generally want to mix the beginning of one phrase into the beginning of another phrase.
for example:
track A is in its breakdown and you have track B cued up (volume down and cued in your headphones).
When track A hits the first beat of it’s phrase (verse, drop, whatever you wana call it ), you should try to land the first beat of track B’s phrase (lets just say the intro) on the first beat of the verse of track A. try to beat match at this point trying to keep the phrases lined up. if you get lost then just try to mix in track B later in the verse.
basically the idea is that when the track A finishes it’s verse and goes into it’s break down, track B will finish it’s intro and go into it’s break down. This is the perfect time for a smooth transition!!
very basic eq tip:
when you’ve beat matched track B, bring the volume up with the top and bottom eqs all the way down. In most tracks theres usually a short break in the verse where there is no kick drum for a beat/bar. During one of these points in track A, turn the bottom eq of track B up and turn the bottom eq of track A down (this is called swapping the basslines)".
Again. this is a big generalization, but it should give you the right idea.
What you should do is to learn how to program your set properly with an beginning, middle and end.
Include drama, transitions, musical changes, creativity and maybe most important play what “feels good” and have fun.
I think you should also do your “homework” of the tracks you’re playing. To know the tracks you’re playing makes the programming so much easier.
Effects is to add another level/dimension to what you already have. So if you don’t have your programming “in order” or you don’t know your tracks. There isn’t a single effect that can save a shitty set.
A god way to start is to listen to a lot of dj sets, both live set and “home made” mixes.
From this you can learn a lot about programming and timing when making a mix or a live set.
Try to understand how they have build up their mix or set, what they are adding in terms of effects/accapellas and how they are using them.
From this you can learn and in the end also “shape” your own way of building sets, adding effects and “work the crowd”.
No matter what genre your playing this approche to your mixes or livesets will help you alot.
I also feel the same way about intro/outro mixing as the only technique i can do properly.
the thing is when I watch something in youtube, djs tend to do a lot of stuff. pressing a lot of buttons and turning a lot of knobs. looking busy in the booth. when i try to mix, i just press cue, play, turn a few eqs and that’s that. am i missing out? haven’t dabble in effects as I am still in the process of perfecting beat match
What about cueing the next track? One I make my transition I am already digging for my next tune, cueing it, fast forwarding to get my gain straight, etc. Standing around will make the crowd stale, they are supposed to feed off of your energy.
So I guess my real goal is that I want to be able to make those very quick 30 minute mixes with say 20-30 songs in them. I personally don’t like when DJs are mixing in and out of songs quickly, but I know it’s a pretty invaluable skill to have in case I find myself jammed for time if I mess up somewhere and need to throw in a track quickly.
I am not sure about arsman but since I sometimes play long trance songs that are 6-7 minutes long, then I have a bucketload of time to set up the next track (and I don’t feel effects really lend themselves to trance very well).
I think if I had a CDJ system and was beatmatching, then the time would feel very short, but my Zomo MC-1000 isn’t exactly the best tool for beatmatching since the tempo is almost always at least 0.5 off due to the lack of an infinite fader.
True, I always do silly shit like scratch the track I’m about to bring in while cueing it in my headphones and then release it as if it were an actual turntable.. You know what I mean? Kinda fills in the gap where you’d be doing nothing. I scratch and release it here and there and beatmatch the tracks a few times for fun in my cans so I can actually be sure it’ll be on point when it actually comes time to beatmatch live. I don’t just set the tempos and stand around.
A 30 minute mix with 30 tracks. You would lose me by the third track. If you don’t like letting the track play out, you either have shitty tracks, or ADD. You can mix in early, but don’t bring too much of the track in, and let it ride for a bit. Check my soundcloud in my sig, I let tracks play out, but try to have two tracks going on at once, even if it’s just a high hat or kick.
And that in a nutshell is the issue with almost every new DJ these days, the music is supposed to take you on a journey, especially with trance & house. Hip hop, R&B, Trap etc you can do WTF you like I won’t be there anyhow
Does anyone on the dance floor else miss out on you throwing effects, filters etc over each and every track for no reason? That is the real question ?
Personally I layer loops, additional hats, synth riffs etc over a “Stock” track alot of the time rather than cut tracks short and lose the essence of them.
Patience is one of those things that cannot be taught, but the vast majority of big names let the track play for a reason - the crowd is supposed to feed off the music.
If you still really want to be yet another DJ for the ADD generation - just use lots of cue points and beat jumping to get the track over earlier.
