track selection in your mix sets

[Life on Other Planets AKA Johns]

Re: track selection in your mix sets

mixed in key is shit .. it is not accurate

[lilsensa]

Re: track selection in your mix sets

after reading up a bit, it just tells you what key a track is in (of course adjusting the pitch will change the key unless you use master tempo)
Mixed In Key (also known as MIK) is Windows and Macintosh software that simplifies a DJ technique called harmonic mixing. The latest version of Mixed In Key analyzes MP3 and WAV files and determines the musical key of every file. Knowing the key, DJs can use music theory (such as the Circle of Fifths) to play songs in a harmonically-pleasing order. The software helps to eliminate dissonant tones while mixing songs together using a technique such as beatmatching.

WikiPedia, lol

Ah, I see. Thanks man. Was just curious.

[kalin]

Re: track selection in your mix sets

you are a conductor, the decks are your ochestra.. make music! simple as.. well not really, but look at it this way.. you think laurent garnier uses mixed in key programmes when spanning every freaking genre of edm out there.. no, when you watch him play, the music is moving him and basically telling him where to go, and thats the beauty of all of this

/opinion

agree, so true

what I meant in a previous post was that this application (MIK) would make your mixes sound decent enough even without you having "an ear" for the music (assuming MIK actually does its thing accurately), I've never used it, but I've seen demos of it online, I'm well aware it doesn't actually mix for you or arrange your tracks for you, but an intelligent person can figure out how to do those things with a bit of reading on music theory and going through online DJing resources. To drive the point home, to me this is like a digital pair of "musician's ears" you buy, so that your mixes sound musically "right", especially if you're fan of the "mixing in key" technique, applied by many of today's popular house/progressive DJs out there.

I still agree that diversification is a lot sweeter when mixing music, regardless of genre. I, personally, do what most of you said - I rely on my ear when choosing the next track, listening for elements that sound alike, and going on from there

[Aleks_B]

Re: track selection in your mix sets

hmmm, i have been reading on this mixed in key function. To be honest i have knowledge of music theory, but i have never felt the need to arrange tracks based on analyzing the key. i guess it could help a set sound cleaner. i just trust my instinct with programming and i believe it usually works out well.

[Shpira]

Re: track selection in your mix sets

my mistake

[FM]

Re: track selection in your mix sets

hmmm, i have been reading on this mixed in key function. To be honest i have knowledge of music theory, but i have never felt the need to arrange tracks based on analyzing the key. i guess it could help a set sound cleaner. i just trust my instinct with programming and i believe it usually works out well.

many DJ's do such (instinct, 'ear' for music, etc.) and it usually works out well. Usually how they've learned from Day 1. It's more of a passive thing though, as they do it without ever really realizing the technique or the why's.

Mixing In Key just allows a more cleaner progression at times and an active hands-on approach to things...and can make your job easier in the end. I could dig through a bag I've never seen before and have no knowledge of the tracks inside, but if I knew the keys, I could play it like I've owned that bag for years.

MIK program I'm still out on in its accuracy; I'm sure no program is 100% as is. But it does output major & minor keys. Mixmeister is the only other one I know of that also does this; MM does the tempo & key, but will only output (or show it) like it's a minor key.

Have it in the queue to do a pretty extensive test with a few hundred tracks on each one and see where it goes...

Ultimately it does come down to one thing...talent. And I've seen the results on both ends.

"Machines that make their job increasingly easier....will never replace the talent of those that use the machines..."

-John Terry, Vestax

[kalin]

Re: track selection in your mix sets

Mixing In Key just allows a more cleaner progression at times and an active hands-on approach to things...and can make your job easier in the end. I could dig through a bag I've never seen before and have no knowledge of the tracks inside, but if I knew the keys, I could play it like I've owned that bag for years.

I did read something very close to that in an interview with, I think, Dubfire. He used MIK when putting together GU031 and explained that with all the traveling and stuff he doesn't have enough time to listen carefully through all the tracks he gets, so that's why he is a fan of it.

however, it was like a couple or months or so when I was listening to this guy's mixes, he had just started practicing mixing and was using software. his track selection was shit (mixing tunes that won't go together at all) and we had a talk about the mixing in key technique and all that, so a week later he tells me he found that his software - Mixmeister, supports the key functionality, and gives me his next mix to listen to. after skipping through it I knew that the key functionality on that program was doing it's job ... nothing like his previous attempts, and in just a week ... that's why I've been bashing that software tool here, but I'm not a fan of this kind of cheating.

[lilsensa]

Re: track selection in your mix sets

I did read something very close to that in an interview with, I think, Dubfire. He used MIK when putting together GU031 and explained that with all the traveling and stuff he doesn't have enough time to listen carefully through all the tracks he gets, so that's why he is a fan of it.

Piss poor excuse, imo...An artist doesn't have to listen to the entire track to tell if it will work with another...

[Miroslav]

Re: track selection in your mix sets

^^ agreed. Why doesn't he just say that he doesn't have time to DJ properly, so he would just really appreciate some equipment that does all the hard work for him

[jeffrey collins]

Re: track selection in your mix sets

mixed in key is shit .. it is not accurate

I was on their board the other day looking at their NEW Self Mastering program. Which in essence is supposed to do the work that a high quality mastering space would do, but so far everyone talking about it on it's own board is saying how it doesn't do what they are saying it does. There are no one program that can do what a real mastering engineer does. Especially when every song is inherently different.