I’ve been at this for just over 2 weeks now, and I must say, it’s been one of the most exciting adventures I’ve ever been on! Since putting together my first “planned mix” about a week and a half ago, I’ve been doing improv mixes. I pretty much pick the first two songs and get some cue points ready, and go. No planning for anything else. It gives me a great chance to explore my music collection and get used to a more real world experience.
I won’t delve into the details, but I will say - it’s very upbeat and exciting! Moving through my collection, trying to find a track, cue it up, and set some cue points, all in about 15-20 seconds is a rush, haha. So the track list for this mix can be found below. Again, nothing is planned!
I will say, I am THRILLED with how Mozart Di Figar had a sound clip of “House Music” right after I played House Music. I laughed, and totally had NO idea it was coming. A+
Overall, I’m happy with how the transitions went. There were two around a third of the way through…It’s during the NES sound tune…I was getting so into the music that I sort of forgot to prepare a good cue point. This pretty much resulted in me EQ/filter/instadropping the next track. It was neat that it at least worked to some extent! Sorry about (some) of the levels getting a bit high - I’m getting used to my new setup and the levels weren’t what I expected!
Thanks for listening, and enjoy!
~Track list~
Move It 2 The Drum - (Chris Kaeser Remix) - Ambush, Chuckie, Hardwell
Low Battery (Original Mix) - Gregori Klosman
Booster - (Original Mix) - Simon Gain, Joey Seminara
Runark (His Majesty Andre Growl Remix) - Congorock
Reflections (Disco Reason Remix) - Antoine Lavenant
My Paradise (DJ Scotty Remix) - Topmodelz
Sexy Bitch (Royal K Mighty Remix) - David Guetta ft. Akon
What U Think (Original Mix) - DirtyloudExodus - Congorock
House Music - Benny Benassi
Mozart Di Figar (Original Mix) - Cool Project
Dance (Original Mix) - Spencer & Hill
you were a tad off beat at times, but practice will help that. when your mixing the intro of one song into another song, have the high and low eq all the way down on the song you bring it in. This helps cover up small beat matching mistakes and makes your mix more smooth overall (especially on a bigger system).
A good way to transition using this method is by swapping the highs and lows. This means that (preferably on the one count of the beginning of a phrase (which is is 4 BARS)) you turn one of the eqs of the track coming in up to normal or a little higher, while taking the eq of the track already playing down to 0 (or all the way to the left).
Its usually smoother if your swap your lowest eq first, and then swap your highs on the next phrase.
sorry for the novel and i hope that helps
"No, but I just read an article about setting the master output control down. I have never really looked into that, though. Why do you ask? "
Some people do whats called mastering their mix. theres a thread on this, you can decide if you want to do it, but i personally would not worry about it.
Aye, I guess I could master the track, but I’m not sure I want to bother with it right now. I’m going for 100% untouched mixing right now, since that’s more of a “real world live” situation.
And thanks for the tips. I’ve been trying to get a better feel for EQ mixing after watching a live cast of Laidback Luke. I noticed how much he uses EQ’s to swap tracks, and since then, I’ve been on a mission to figure it out! I think I managed to do it pretty well a few times in that mix, but other times, I def should have dropped the mid or the high more! Woops…
Regarding beat matching, I think I felt a few times where I was a bit off, yeah. I’m avoiding the sync button like the plague on my S4, haha. I mean, I could use it to make my life easier I guess, but where’s the fun?! I do, however, keep snap and quantize on most of the time, as it makes cue point juggling less sloppy. I turn them off when I’m going to try and get a bit more creative with my cues and hits, though! All in due time I guess.
I also noticed that since I’m picking tracks and setting cues on the fly, I sometimes don’t cue up in the right spot of a phrase, haha. That’s something I can’t really correct on the fly - I sort of have to just roll with it.
great stuff. one thing I noticed is your phrasing. perhaps putting up cues a bit off in the song structure? good transitions thoh such as 11:40, beatmatching was clean.
i see you like Low Battery too
at 7:00, was the track put on reverse?
15:20, im a sucker for the vocals from cool, I liked the breakdown transition.
19:00, I liked the build up on that one sort of reseted the energy level in a way.
overall, there are some parts where the song didnt seem like it fit but maybe its cause I felt like you seemed to ride the energy level if that was what you were going for. I enjoyed listening to it however
@IznremiX - I watched that video. That was some crazy shit, haha. Awesome job!
@Kiino - Thanks for the constructive thoughts. I do enjoy Low Battery! There’s very little I don’t like in this genre of music.
The track at 7:00 was NOT in reverse, it’s just a super funky track I ran across while going through my library, haha. Like I said initially, I spend about 15-20 seconds finding a track. So if I find something that may mesh well with what’s currently playing, I’ll grab it. Just so happened to be that track!
I was really pissed that the remix of Sexy Bitch I loaded up had SUCH a drop in energy after the build. -_- Really made me sad, haha.
And thanks for the comment on House Music. I really liked how it played out - the whine synth is one of my favorite things ever (I think that’s why I dig dutch so hard).
Regarding the whole fit, you are 100% correct! Mixing improv like this while trying to get around my library leads to some interesting song choices, mostly by accident…The transition around 10:40 is an AMAZING example of shitty song selection, or maybe just a bad cue point. Whatever the case, I made a poor decision, but it sort of worked itself out.
You’re also right in that the energy sort of catches me and I just roll with it. I was getting so into the song that was playing before it that I totally f’d up, haha. But that’s all the fun of this live thing! Learning how to make due with what you get.
Thanks again for the protips! I was going to do an hour long mix tonight, but I don’t want to bother my neighbors, haha. I’ll rock one out tomorrow.
Any tips to make it better? Any tips I can get to make myself better are always welcome!
All in due time I guess.