DJing How do you program your Promo sets?

[Haziel]

I've always wondered the different processes all of us go through here in Ms in order to make our sets come to live . I want to share my personal one and learn from others as well.

In the beginning I had no clue how to make a mix , just whatever sounded good as a blend I would shove it in next to another track , making my whole set to have a horrible undefined sound. Many years have passed since that and after reading , researching, gathering up different techniques and interacting on other forums with dj's , I bumped into something that suits me the best in order to program a promo set .

I guess the simplest way I can explain my "process" is that I focus on the flow above all else. Usually there are a lot of tracks that i would like to include but most of the time they don;t work out at all .

I generally try to start by building a project specific "crate" (for lack of a better term) or library where I go through the music I've been playing a lot the past month or two and find the stuff that is going to feel most relevant to the overall flow I want to achieve.

Then I go through old stuff to try and dig up things I may not have had a chance to play with yet - add that, and then start programming the set, which I usually at the very least initially work out in some sequencing program to get a very general idea of the flow of tunes independent of mixing, I also like to test how well the beat phrases blend into one another and finally decide on a tracklist or two, take notes on phrasing, pitch, etc., mix/record, and proceed to repeat with minor changes in mixing or tracklist until I'm happy with it.

Adding to all this 2 very important elements: wine + weed making my programing full of radness to the power of awesomeness

[Michael^Heaven]

Re:

Then I go through old stuff to try and dig up things I may not have had a chance to play with yet

Ok, this^ statement is a bit confusing. If it's 'old stuff' then how have you not had a chance to use it yet?

[i!!ustrious]

Re: How do you program your Promo sets?

^___^ not confusing at all really. there's an art to including any old gem while mixing.

it's all a journey. i strive to make my programs with strong builds, smooth or trippy transitions, spontanious (but right on) forays, and an overbrooding flow the binds it all together - primarily.

[Haziel]

Re: How do you program your Promo sets?

Ok, this^ statement is a bit confusing. If it's 'old stuff' then how have you not had a chance to use it yet?

When I say old stuff I mean either classics ( tracks that people relate to ) or maybe stuff that was bought more than 3 months ago or much further on and that for various reasons it didn't get a chance to be part of anything but it is still good shit.

^___^ not confusing at all really. there's an art to including any old gem while mixing.

it's all a journey. i strive to make my programs with strong builds, smooth or trippy transitions, spontanious (but right on) forays, and an overbrooding flow the binds it all together - primarily.

^^^ this and also " overbrooding flow " is something I focus above all else

how come I've never heard anything from you lucky ? let me know when something comes up

[Funky Dredd]

Re: How do you program your Promo sets?

When I do a mix for CD length it is very different than just playing. For CD length mixes I will take everything I have that I have not played yet and throw it into media player. I then find my opener, my middle track and last track. I then fill in the gaps with what I think goes well to accompany those tracks to fill out a CD length mix. I then place them in that order and play it straight through without mixing. Make any adjustments I need (swapping tracks etc), listen again. Then I do a mix this time mixing it and then listen to it the next day. I never listen to the set right after I mix it, I forget about it and do other things. I do this because if I make a mistake I don't want to go back to it and notice that one mix or two I flubbed up on. After I listen to it I will again make an adjustment (if need be) and mix it again. Again making adjustments if need be, wait a day and listen to it again, but this time if I mix it again I wait a few days. I do this for several reasons, one is to clear my head and another is because I don't want to say I need to start this here or there. If I do that I become to critical of myself and I scrap the mix. When I do the mix for a 3rd time what is there is there, if I decide to release it I release it, if I don't well then I don't.

I tend to stick with an "airy" feel to my mixes because I try to create a soundscape, something that will provoke thought or have a calming effect but still provide that moving experience. I also tend to put myself into an early morning feel like 4 am or beyond, this helps me visualize the music I am playing. I will also do mixes at that time so that I am getting that true time period. I have a lot of problems with sleeping sometimes so that helps.

When I do longer mixes I do not prepare at all and sometimes scramble to find that right track, this allows me to keep me on my toes so to speak. I also love playing tracks that I have never listened to before, not knowing how a track ends to me is the best way to play. Or forget how a track ends is even better. I don't know why I do this but in some sick and twisted way I like it.

Lately I have just been playing and then putting the mix out the way it is (In The City, Wavesamples and Soul were done this way). But I want to do a CD length mix soon as I feel I have been getting away from the soundscapes that I like to play. There have been 4 CD length mixes that I have done without going back and making any adjustments those are: Misty, Intergalactic Domino, Louder Than Silence, and Cold Nights. The last two were not posted here, and Cold Nights was not posted because it has a track from Jeremy Doty on it that he was trying to get released, it just got released on Beatport last week called Downtown. I could post it now if everyone wants it?

I also do not drink or smoke anything, I don't feel the need to do any of that to make a mix. I also feel that after 17 years of mixing I can become very selective in what I play. I try to play all original tracks when possible and tend to stay away from remixes, don't ask me why I do this as I have no idea.....I also like to "ride" my mixes as I can introduce sounds to help the mixes flow (this can also be dangerous). But all in all I just like to have fun when mixing.

[panoulix]

Re: How do you program your Promo sets?

Concerning sets and since I do not know about the experience level of each other, the quickest and easiest way to select tracks to a tracklist, would be to take some time to put them to traktor and see how they match each other. Then you go on with traktor or even better you burn them to CDs for CDJs.

Of course this method is just a quick action and should be also accompanied with many more parameters (most of them mood depended), because each set should be always a trip and each set should always have something to say and to make the listener to feel...

Now concerning lives, situations are far more different there...

I mostly play my ass in lives, never go with a standard tracklist and play whatever I like and feel each specific moment. Lives should be creative and not bootleg, so finding a way to match each track if there is no standard tracklist or whatever, may not be easy for many people...

So, even if the procedure varies, even if the tracklist varies, even if the situation varies. the common idea should be the same: It's not just a mix, it's a journey! Have this in mind and sooner or later you will find out the way of matching and creating and performing to with means that suit you better in each situation

[i!!ustrious]

Re: How do you program your Promo sets?

been mixing on the wheels of steel since i could walk. however, due to my present conditions, i've been practicing/throwing together -- in ableton live --- an hour and twenty minute mix, almost every day, since about november 2005. i'd share my mixes, but from my current position i have considerable storage and firewall barriers to weather. will have some perfecting sets up this fall tho, and some older ones hosted on mediafire next week.

ableton is for programming.

[panoulix]

Re: How do you program your Promo sets?

ableton is for programming.

I wouldn't trust any autopilot that will not let me interfere manually and realtime

[Haziel]

Re: How do you program your Promo sets?

i wouldn't trust any autopilot that will not let me interfere manually and realtime :d

+1

[i!!ustrious]

Re: How do you program your Promo sets?

I wouldn't trust any autopilot that will not let me interfere manually and realtime

haha yup. i don't perform with ableton. i use it only to make studio/themed numbers; and it's all done in the arrangement view. it's quite the mindfuck tryin to synthesize my deejay and turntablism skills with all this laptop hogwash, and automation. i got lots to learn.

[N-tchbl]

Re: How do you program your Promo sets?

As for myself, i don't have some particular schedule of 'things to do' before i record a mix, but one thing is a must-do before every one of them - a bottle of red wine ! For lives especially, don't know what they're putting into that bloody tasty liquid, but it gives me some undefined love-consistent-emotionally-bagged feeling i love to have while doing live.. making me feel on my own ground and not afraid to do anything, concerning tracks choosing, concerning technics of mixing, trying out new stuff etc etc. Lovely inner boost that i love to feel and give away to the audience through the way of playing, and somehow it always works!
Concerning tracks selection, i will agree with Haziel, looking a couple of times at my library and the tracks i played the most - meaning, i really love and like them so why not playing, i wanna express myself and my taste, right - and always putting some 'evergreen' booster somewhere in the middle of the set most usually... burn the tracks onto cds and wohoo! ..that red liquid again and here we go, party!

I never use traktor for trying out the songs before i play them, and never use that Mixed In Key thingy to play the tracks by keys.. nothing pre-made, just.. playing the songs i love and i feel like playing at that moment, the tracks i think the crowd will like, no matter what key/bpm/year and simillar sh*t they are. Just the feeling. Everything's about feeling in here, in my head and in my fingers.

Blessed be!

[panoulix]

Re: How do you program your Promo sets?

As for myself, i don't have some particular schedule of 'things to do' before i record a mix, but one thing is a must-do before every one of them - a bottle of red wine ! For lives especially, don't know what they're putting into that bloody tasty liquid, but it gives me some undefined love-consistent-emotionally-bagged feeling i love to have while doing live.. making me feel on my own ground and not afraid to do anything, concerning tracks choosing, concerning technics of mixing, trying out new stuff etc etc. Lovely inner boost that i love to feel and give away to the audience through the way of playing, and somehow it always works!
Concerning tracks selection, i will agree with Haziel, looking a couple of times at my library and the tracks i played the most - meaning, i really love and like them so why not playing, i wanna express myself and my taste, right - and always putting some 'evergreen' booster somewhere in the middle of the set most usually... burn the tracks onto cds and wohoo! ..that red liquid again and here we go, party!

Looks like someone is drinking too much huh? :P :P :P
I have the feeling that the same mood can be created by only water or applejuice (at least this prevents the horses and some senses to remain unfocused)

I never use traktor for trying out the songs before i play them, and never use that Mixed In Key thingy to play the tracks by keys.. nothing pre-made, just.. playing the songs i love and i feel like playing at that moment, the tracks i think the crowd will like, no matter what key/bpm/year and simillar sh*t they are. Just the feeling. Everything's about feeling in here, in my head and in my fingers.

Traktor can be used in many variations and many combinations. If you can only mix by keys. don't blame the program, blame yourself . Just an example: Pretend that there is no SYNCH button and try to mix by using your ear. Another example: Traktor offer timecoding for Vinyls and for CDJs, did you ever use such a combination to see how superb is not to carry all your vinyls or CDs together??? I guess not. Traktor Scratch can be combined with the TimeCoding CDs and with Normal CDs at the same time. So do not blame the program, blame the abuse of it :P

PS: Mixing in keys and in beatgrids is also a technique for mixing, as well as mixing in loops, effects and many other variations. Imagination stops where you wanna stop and once the auto-pilot is disengaged, no matter the machine, no matter the means, the human brain and human senses, can perform miracles That's my modest opinion.

[Haziel]

Re: How do you program your Promo sets?

Looks like someone is drinking too much huh? :P :P :P .

drinking is fine when marija comes to visit me in San francisco we are going to drink wine and mix music like there is no tomorrow ...

[panoulix]

Re: How do you program your Promo sets?

drinking is fine when marija comes to visit me in San francisco we are going to drink wine and mix music like there is no tomorrow ...

Cool :P

[N-tchbl]

Re: How do you program your Promo sets?

Looks like someone is drinking too much huh? :P :P :P
I have the feeling that the same mood can be created by only water or applejuice (at least this prevents the horses and some senses to remain unfocused)

not too much, its just for the sake of creativity

tho im affirmative about what you've said about water and applejuice.. completely agree, its all in our heads.
but, dammit, i love that red winey thingy what to say, makes my mood special like no apple or waterdrop can do!

Traktor can be used in many variations and many combinations. If you can only mix by keys. don't blame the program, blame yourself . Just an example: Pretend that there is no SYNCH button and try to mix by using your ear.

i guess you always turn my words 180deg. and wanna play smart and actually you dont read well i said - i do NOT use traktor for mixing so i do not use it for finding keys and sync button, i hate it all its killing my feeling of "touching" music while working, having the song "on my palm" like when im touching the jogs or vinyls..
sync, bpm counters, key revealing programmes, hate it all.. and i also mentioned that i never mix in key and uve got it wrong (again)

i only use my heart, ears and fingers and after a tone of talk with me i think you should know that :*

Another example: Traktor offer timecoding for Vinyls and for CDJs, did you ever use such a combination to see how superb is not to carry all your vinyls or CDs together??? I guess not. Traktor Scratch can be combined with the TimeCoding CDs and with Normal CDs at the same time. So do not blame the program, blame the abuse of it :P

And again you're playing smart not knowing the truth but only wasting words on guessings - but to your surprisings, yes, i did play on TSP with timecoded vinyls on 1210 granddad turntables and i fell in love with it! sorry you were wrong again traktor is my fav in that category, prefer it over serato scratch, gives more options and more space for inventions. imo!

and yes.. i do blame the abuse of traktor and not the program itself, never said that.. repeat :* just that i dont use traktor to see/hear how my mix's gonna sound before i record/play it .. that was my point Panouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

PS: Mixing in keys and in beatgrids is also a technique for mixing, as well as mixing in loops, effects and many other variations. Imagination stops where you wanna stop and once the auto-pilot is disengaged, no matter the machine, no matter the means, the human brain and human senses, can perform miracles That's my modest opinion.

100% agree.
nothing can be that of a miracle as human brain can be, in that way - i love software mixing cuz i find our brainy thingies one huge and hell of a software no company could ever produce!! i guess whatever software/hardware one uses, let it be the most perfect on this world, if there's no brain to understand and feel it - nothing's worth it ..and vice versa, a great human brain musically sofisticated can make a masterpiece of the set using the most poor equipment (avoiding here the sound quality discussion, only creativity!), only by using his knowledge and the feeling about it all. And thats a true and a pure gift as none of the gear can be . <3

drinking is fine when marija comes to visit me in San francisco we are going to drink wine and mix music like there is no tomorrow ...

wohoooo... countdown!!!!!!!