If you can hear a key clash, your ears work better than MiK.
I haven’t bothered finding the keys of any of my songs, because it doesn’t actually matter. Just listen.
The music theory comment was simply to state that I know why MiK doesn’t work and probably never will and why even when it does it doesn’t tell the whole story.
I’ll tell you why for $58US.
Jeez, you do take things a bit personally don’t you Mostapha! I was saying I understand your POV but just adding to the discussion that I find MIK to be a useful guide. Take a chill pill. Maybe one with a superman logo on the front.
Nowadays, I key all my tracks. I do it by hand because rapid evolution has decided to be super slow at it, on top of being frequently off.
I play deep house/deep techno/tech-house/techno and I find paying attention to keys does help across the board, especially when switching between different styles, especially as I enjoy long blends. I hardly use the key knob.
When I started using the info, I found it constrained my mixing a lot as I was trying to stick to harmonics as much as possible when picking tracks.
There is now a printout of this simplified circle of fifths (with proper key names) taped to my laptop which ill look at, but I also listen to my gut feeling first.
I tend to find all the keys of my tracks and put them in the tag’s in iTunes. But i don’t stick to it religiously i tend to just use it as a guidance the rest is done by deciding through hearing.
+1 on that. I use mixedinkey, but the algorithm is far from perfect. nothing is better than your own ears.
Well I use it, and I’ve used it in a couple of studio mixes and am going to use it a lot when I start playing live, now I bought MiK and I don’t feel ripped off, as someone who is self educated when it comes to music theory I know that the most important thing is not to BRAG to others about how smart or better you are than other people but to actually use it to better your musical understanding, and with MiK I make sure that all of my tunes are analyzed and then go into each song and VERIFY that it is correct using a synth. I stole the idea from Dubspot and it has yet to fail me.
Check this out for more info
http://blog.dubspot.com/harmonic-mixing-pt-2-relative-key-mixing-without-key-lock/
F*ck me, where is the joy in that? What’s the reason for it?
I always mix on the fly man, that’s where the fun is.
Errrr, if these are going to be given out, I’ll have two please, thanks.
I’ve never done it and I don’t think I ever will. I play techno that is very rarely melodic so I don’t see any point.
Not one of my deep house playing friends do it either but then I’m guessing they probably are doing it without realising it!
Hold tight london, we’re in for a bumpy ride…
Make it an even stick and we’ll make a night of it 
I dont but i think people do it subconciously, when we pick tracks that’ll go great together
generally they have a the same feel, just cause we dont break out a spectrum analyser doesnt mean our ears cant spot a key-clash.
I think every DJ that’s half decent does it they just may not use software or fancy colored pinwheels to tell them how to do it.
Hi jack, im quite interested in this subject, and am looking for advice on which programme is best to get the key of your tracks. Is mixshare rapid evo anygood? is mixed in key as good as all the dj’s claim on there website? is it worth the $58?? or is there a better programme than these out there for a mac?
it is a waste to spend money in a software that is half accurate. Every one even without formal music training can distinguish if two songs are in key if not, i do not know how can you become a good dj. Next step is the “crowd reader” software
Rapid Evolution sucks balls. Totally unstable and inaccurate to boot.
I’d just like to point out that although MIK and other key detection software is not totally accurate, it’s not awful. Everyone’s probably read the DJTT article which showed some poor results, but as they pointed out:
There are some problems with the software but it helps you out and if you cue up a track in your cans and it clashes then you won’t play it, simple.
Whatever you do, don’t tell this to the dj’s that used to sit down with a keyboard and would manually work out what key their tracks were in and write them on the record sleeve.
Sure would have taken a lot more time back then.
For what it is worth, I find MIK handy for when I don’t have a spare 5 minutes in the mix trying to figure out if something is in key or clashing. If I’m running out of time, I like having a short list of tracks that’ll help me find something quicker.
What I do. I’d rather rely on my ears than software, and even if I did use software, I’d double check with my keyboard just to make sure…double the work then, so why not only use the keyboard in the first place.
[quote=“fullenglishpint, post:22, topic:18505, username:fullenglishpint”]
Take a chill pill. Maybe one with a superman logo on the front.
[/quote]K.
[quote=“Threefeet, post:29, topic:18505, username:Threefeet”]
Not one of my deep house playing friends do it either but then I’m guessing they probably are doing it without realising it!
[/quote]Probably. I noticed a long time ago–right after I learned to beat match–that if it was hard to do the mix would sound like @$$. I think that’s why, and it takes the same 30 seconds you should probably be spending cuing a track anyway.
[quote=“tito, post:35, topic:18505, username:tito”]
it is a waste to spend money in a software that is half accurate. Every one even without formal music training can distinguish if two songs are in key if not, i do not know how can you become a good dj. Next step is the “crowd reader” software
[/quote]
Takes about 10 seconds to find the key with a guitar…and I’m not a very good guitarist. It takes even less time to hear a clash.
And once again…when you play records away from 0% pitch, they’re not in a key. There will almost always be something of a clash unless the phase of the moon is just right and you’re wearing your lucky socks……and people still did that forever.
I’m not mad at people who want to elevate their mixing or whatever phrase we’re using this week…I’m mad at MiK, RE, and the other software makers for lying to people and selling a shoddy product that teaches people to be lazy and convinces many to stop learning.