where is the build up of a song?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

where is the build up of a song?

I have traktor pro 2 software.

I enabled the setting that tells me numbers above each track. forgot the name of the setting.

I still not sure where the build up is and when to bring in the next track and when I do they clash or sound terrible even with sync enabled. My mixes are quite boring since I can’t find certain spots. Even with the number bar showing how many bpms and bars.

Are every track put at the same spot by numbers? like build up is always at 8 bars every track or is that something I need to know by the change is sound?

2

Listen to the track…

Geeze do you really need traktor to tell you EVERYTHING? You cant listen to the song and decide yourself?

3

Not sure when to bring in a new track and stop the one thats playing.

4

The Ol’ Mix by Numbers ploy. I did a paint by numbers of the Mona Lisa and sold it to the Louvre in Paris. Made a Killing!!! Seriously?!?!?!?

5

I’ll try a short 5 minute mix and upload here so you can hear what i’m talking about.

6

Are you kidding me?? How did you made it this far into this forum?! 181 posts?! Search youtube for dj lessons or something, but dude a build up?! Everyone knows where the build up is! It’s that part of a song where the confetti canons get loaded, the champagne bottles are shaked and crowd gets ready to jump!

7

Wow, just wow. Are you even listening to your tracks?

Im not normally a d**k on these forums but you really need to understand the basics of song structure and basic music listening before you should even purchase hardware or software.

If you really need step by step instructions on how to find a breakdown, then follow the steps below:

Take a few months of just listening to tracks, no mixing. Just get an mp3 player and listen to them. Then, take a few more months and decide what kind of music you like. Then take a few months and decide what style of that music you like. Then take a few weeks to buy some tunes of that style.

Then, get some equipment. Take a few months of just learning that equipment and software inside and out. Then, take a few more months of learning how to do basic mixing of said music we collected earlier.

Buy more music.

Listen to that music, then listen to your collection again. Cultivate your library.

Take a few more months of time to learn some basic tricks of DJing.

Buy more music.

Listen to that music, then listen to your collection again. Cultivate your library.

Talk to some people in your area about playing somewhere. Not a club or bar, but maybe a coffee shop, and hookah lounge or an art gallery.

Buy more music.

Listen to that music, then listen to your collection again. Cultivate your library.

By now, youll know what a breakdown is.

If you still want to be a DJ at this point, then youre a lot farther progressed then most newcomers nowadays.

8

C’mon guys don’t be so harsh, but just listen to the music and i’m sure you can figure it out man its not that hard.

9

the build up is exactly as it says… the spot where it builds up. alot of tracks its where you hear that kick or snare go from 4 a measure to 8/16/32 etc etc. you usually have a intro, then a break or not, the build up. its the point before the " drop" or climatic parts. where alot of fans/crowd feel is the big booming part, makes you say ohhh i like that , and such. its building up to the climax. and then the breakdown is obviously the opposite. breaking down from the climax to release tension into the next part. youll see in traktor with size of the waveforms kinda where stuff is.if you use spectrum version and see the different colors you can kinda tell where sections are. youll notice tracks start out small and get large in size, and then smaller section in between. with same bpm ( that number about songs, as you say) you can mix the new track in usually fairly easily when using the breakdown of playing track to mix in the intro of new track.

look on youtube for dodge and fuski tutorials. they have a song structure tut/lesson that kinda breaks down the layout of most tracks.

10

A crappy quick mix. Trying to transition from one track to the other. Doesn’t sound good.

https://soundcloud.com/ali3nb0y/critters

11

you’re not mixing anything in that quick mix. it’s just echo/freeze into 2 tracks that don’t really make sense over and over again. i think at this point just stop trying to mix into the breakdowns and do a standard a>b mix by transitioning at the outro of track a into the intro of track b and letting the songs play together without using any effects at all (only use eq and volume). for the style of music you are playing that will probably be a 1:00-1:30 overlapping period. that should at least help you out with phrasing a bit and understanding what songs work together a little better.

12

yeah thats the only way i know how to transition is echo button.

i’m trying to mix without a mixer and headphones. Just traktor 2 software.

13

You’ll need to overlap the intro of one song into the outro of another, whilst slowly EQ’ing parts of the old track out. Especially for Trance style music as trying to mix the chorus of it can sound horrid! Just nice clean transitions.

( )=main beat of the tune -=outro/intro of track )

Old track ))))))))))))))-------------
New track -------------))))))))))))))

14

well i guess there is the problem: you cannot MIX without a MIXer… traktor 2 has an internal mixer that can be used without any controllers or mixer. far from practical but if you dont want to buy anything use that with your mouse and keyboard…

15

Alright i tried what you said left the echo button out.

Tried intro into outro. What do you think?

https://soundcloud.com/ali3nb0y/intro-into-outro

edit: oops i don’t have two tracks playing at the same time. I just use the “fade in” then “fade out”
Then “fade in” and “fade out” basically one track fades in then it fades out into the next track.

Does that make sense?

16

well, that’s part of the issue. if you don’t know your songs very well then your results are going to be mostly crap if you can’t cue any tracks and don’t have an understanding of how transitions work. even still, just try to mix the way i recommended so you can understand how transitions work with phrasing. the intros and outros are the easiest way to learn this and many pro djs (especially house guys) have a great deal of transitions like these in their sets.

once you’ve got the idea of normal transitions where the songs are easiest to mix, then you can start adding in other areas to transition with accompanying effects. you’ve got to start at the beginning and learn from there…and get yourself a way to cue your tracks immediately.

17

ok, find a track that has an outro where the melody and bass stop, but where the beat continues. then mix in a track where the intro has a beat and the melody and bass start a bit later.

Dubluw put this into a visual format that should give you the idea—

18

Yeah when i get my first paycheck i’ll probably buy some headphones but they are like 200.00 bucks for the one I like. Now i need to do outro into intro.

Edit:
Okay let me find some new tracks these waveforms are consistent until the end.

just (((((((((((((( then dies. lol basically these tracks i just used has no flat line at the end no this -----------

19

We can spend a lot of time trying to teach you the basics of DJing, OR you can spend your own time looking it up.

There are SOOOOOO much more resources now than there was when I started DJing. So Its kinda annoying seeing you barely try. Instead of wasting your time sending us 5min clips of crap, go do a forum search.

Here’s a link so you don’t have to look. Basic DJ Tips Archives - DJ TechTools

Dont mean to sound like an asshole, but youre like that drunk chick bothering the DJs asking them to teach you. no offense.

20

Alright no offense taken. Will do more searching!
Lost into a land of forums. Now i want to figure how to insert vocal samples from movies. Gragh i’m getting ahead of myself here.