Question about phrase matching & mixing to compliment a tracks musical structure
Hi There,
I have a quick question about phrase matching. I am aware that to phrase a good mix, you have to start the incoming songs 8-bar phrase at the same time as when the currently playing songs’ 8-bar phrase has ended.
However, I wanted to go beyond this.. I was wondering how you mix so that each songs musical structure compliments each other.. So that you can start Verse 1 of Song B, just as the chorus to Song A has ended.
Or alternatively, starting song B’s breakdown just after Song A’s Verse has finished.. or any kind of combination like that.
Because phrase matching is about starting 8-bar phrases at the right time.. this doesn’t always mean that it is the end of the chorus or verse of that song.. The start of a new 8-bar phrase may be halfway through a 16-bar Verse?
This is all really dependant on the track that is playing and the one you’re bringing in. They need to compliment eachother. And if they compliment eachother they can mix // blend in many ways. It is all about what you’re trying to achieve. Do you want a quick mix to the drop , or to blend the tracks together for a while.
After 6 years of dj’ing I don’t really think there is a right or wrong way to do this because sometimes you’ll go to mix a track and it won’t be as good of a mix , but if you do it again the exact same way with different tracks(that work better together) it will sound flawless.
This is something you should really experiment with because any answer that comes your way might not be what you would like to do. Sometimes I mix on the 32nd beat or the 1st, or even the 16th depending on where I am at in my track and what im feeling will work within the set.
Think outside the box, otherwise you’re just putting boundaries on something that has no real rules. I usually just tell people to do what sounds right. Track selection is in my opinion the absolute most important aspect of dj’ing.
I’m a vinyl guy and I’ve found that you actually want to start/bring in the next song after the 16th, not the 8th because as you mentioned, the “8th” may actually be the song’s 24th and the break may be at 32. I think most songs are structured such that breaks and drops are multiples of 16s, not necessarily 8s. If you’re looping, this is fine, you can bring in on the 8 and loop til you get them in sync such that the 16s are playing together. I’d stopped counting all the way through because I could tell where the 8 was just by listening. Determining if the upcoming 8th is actually a 16th or not is a bit more difficult and I find myself not having the best transitions sometimes because of this. Like I said, if you’re digital and have access to looping, it’s not as big of a deal, but with vinyl once you’e started..you’re stuck with it.
32 is where it’s at most tracks after 32 more percussion maybe light bass line by 64 is where the big change comes I usually try to have the 64 start when the last 64 is starting on other track
The best way is to memorize the sections of your tracks so you know which parts are too busy to mix into. If I am unfamiliar I usually drop the next track 8 bars after the break and gradually start mixing and hope the intro ends around the same time as the change in track 1 .
Have several/loads of test sessions at home before playing tunes on gigs, this way you will know what tracks will blend in great.
(Especially when some of these test sessions are B2B you will be able/learn to drop a decision on a track faster and faster each time around)
What you are describing is the very ESSCENCE of proper Phrase Matching. And you are absolutely correct when you say:
Believe it or not, the answer to this is ALGEBRA. I’m not joking.
Let’s say incoming track B has the structure: Intro (8bars) > verse (16 bars), and;
Outgoing track A has the structure: verse (32bars) > Outro (16bars)
You know that the start of Track B’s verse starts after 8bars, and you want that to come in just as the outro starts on Track A. (Perfect bit of phrase matching, there!) The size of teh section/phrase is not important - as long as you know at which point a new section/phrase starts.
You simply do a quick calculation in your head:
Track A Outro start point (end of 32bar section) - (minus) Track B Intro length (8bars) = Track B Start point (@ 24bars into verse on Track A).
32 - 8 = 24
But, since time doesn’t work that well going in reverse, you can say:
24 + 8 = 32 (where the section/phrase start and end points are perfectly aligned).
The START of the Track B verse will fall perfectly on the start of the Track A outro.
NOW IT GETS GOOD:
In Traktor, there is function called “Display Beats to Cue”. You can have this showing in your deck header. SO, even if you do NOT KNOW your tracks off by heart, you can set up cue points to display a “count down timer” to the mix points…
You’d set a cue point on Track A at the Outro start point (cue point Z), and 2 cue points on Track B (one at the start of the Intro (cue point X), one at the start of the verse (cue point Y)).
The count down timer on Track A will count downwards from wherever the previous cue point on the track was (even if it was only the start point of the track). So, when you hit cue point X on Track B, you are starting the count down timer for Track B (counting down to cue point Y).
All you have to do, is match the “Beats to cue” value on both decks. Just tap on the cuepoint button on Track B to get them aligned.
THIS, was a significant leap forward for me when I implemented it. A genuine “EUREKA!” moment.
See - a real world use for algebra!
NOTE TO DJTT: Do a detailed write up on this, in .pdf format. EVERYONE HERE would use it if they knew about it.
I think a really useful article should be pulled together using those as a basis - but the “beats to Cue” function should be flagged as major element of it…
The difficult part will be, keeping it “light” enough for everyone grasp. Sometimes things can get too technical too fast.
But I’ll drop a line to the Blog people.
Depending on genre but your right 64 is short roughly 30seconds but since all software can do atleast 32bar loops on the fly you essentially can turn it into 256… Plus this all depend heavily on genre I mean deep house and some good prog trance/house and even trance you can really do 2-3 minute mixes…
Yes this may sound complicated and over thinking but you start to do it naturally as you train yourself… Visually a good way to train yourself if uses serato/traktor/cross/etc… They all allow 16 bar loops on the fly and multiply on the fly to 32 you can then off course advance it to the next 32 which is 64…
This is also good because you can see if it’s going to be a track that follows normal structure or if it’s going to be different …
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