Mixing Help

[Yao]

Re: Mixing Help

lol, same here man: I can't read keys and notes, but I damn well hear if something fits or doesn't fit at all...and my feel for that rarely fails me. Rhythm is also important...the best transitions are the ones in which the new rhythm hooks onto the old one and completes it, drags it along and then can slowly let go to make room for the new track: that can be sooooo sexy...

[Life on Other Planets AKA Johns]

Re: Mixing Help

hey yao how are u? yes i know what u mean by that. that's the problem i have is telling different rhythms mixing together but yet pulling in the right direction. how do u tell the difference in rhythm. is there a way to note down different rhythms or listen to a choon differently. cause when i hear a track i just hear boom clap boom clap. i know there's got to be more than just that but i can't tell. does a bass line have anything to tod with different rhythms?

[pdowney]

Re: Mixing Help

Setting aside keys for a minute, I find it is always best to alternate between "simple" and "complicated" tracks. Go from complicated percussion to a simple house track, or a complicated bassline to no bassline (which solves the key problem). Set aside your Heaven Scents and Cowgirls too. They are much more complicated than they appear, which is part of what makes them so great. You will go crazy trying to mix them if you are still learning. I still do.

Nobody else has mentioned so far that nearly all dance music (99.9999999%) is built around blocks that are 16 bars long. Listen for a big obvious cymbal crash, or the beginning of the bassline, then start tapping your foot and counting in your mind 1-2-3-4, 2-2-3-4, 3-2-3-4, 4-2-3-4. After every four bars you will hear something "new" introduced, like a change in the bassline or percussion, or the start of a vocal. Try to have your songs aligned at these four sections.

Live, Sasha and Diggers match 16 bar sections, so it sounds way better than most mixes. Most djs can't or don't do this kind of matching. (When you're ready to take it the next level....)

Hope that helps,

[hulkhuss]

Re: Mixing Help

Pappa has incredable mixing skills too

[Life on Other Planets AKA Johns]

Re: Mixing Help

hey there pdowney i know what u mean by 16. i find that something new happens not after 16 beats or 4 bars but after 64 beats or 16 bars. would u call that a section in music not a phrase? eg 16 bar intro or somtimes even a 32 bar intro. u know when u have an intro nd all the high hat's etc are coming in would u call them a phrase or woul u keep counting till there is a bass lin or synth and count that other bit as a section? God u guy's must think i am a real dick

[Yao]

Re: Mixing Help

lol, when you're always playing by feeling, like me, it's actually good to get the tech talk on front of me: makes me think a little more about what i'm doing. When I started I also counted, but along the way that faded: your feeling starts to take over, and after a while can tell when something's happening or gonna happen in a song without having heard it ever before...

[ShawnD64]

Re: Mixing Help

i have seen danny howells records with sh1t written all over them. you cannot memorize it, write it down... ie key, how many bars for intro and outro, how many bars untill the key element is brought in/taken out. hate to not be ready when the bass kicks in, or major synth line (and that frequency is not at the proper level). like if a track ends with the last 2 bars with just hats, you want to make sure the kick on the incoming tracks is at full when the tracks kick on the outgoing track is gone... this kind of stuff....you know what is necessary...

[pdowney]

Re: Mixing Help

hey there pdowney i know what u mean by 16. i find that something new happens not after 16 beats or 4 bars but after 64 beats or 16 bars. would u call that a section in music not a phrase? eg 16 bar intro or somtimes even a 32 bar intro.

We're talking about the same thing. I just count bars instead of beats, because I used to play piano and trumpet. For me it's easier to count bars, instead of individual beats.

[hulkhuss]

Re: Mixing Help

lol, when you're always playing by feeling, like me, it's actually good to get the tech talk on front of me: makes me think a little more about what i'm doing. When I started I also counted, but along the way that faded: your feeling starts to take over, and after a while can tell when something's happening or gonna happen in a song without having heard it ever before...

y def

[weswood]

Re: Mixing Help

Pay attention to your hi-hats. The most common oversight I've found in amateur DJ sets (sets like mine, to be sure) is the DJ will shift the momentum of the set erratically because they don't pay attention tempo of their hi-hats.

Other than that, the only advice I have is to practice your ass off and eventually you'll start to pick it up naturally. I've been DJ'ing for 4 years and I'm constantly learning new ways to improve my mixing and programming by practicing, watching other at clubs DJ's, and listening to the pros. It's a learning process that I don't think ever really ends.