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How do you mix DJ 'unfriendly' tracks?

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  • October 31, 2012 at 7:27 am #31094
    Terry_42
    Keymaster

    The easiest is: Do not play the intro or outro if it is too long for you. If a break is too long, have a hotcue setup to cut it down. You have a DJ controller, play around with it. Sometimes I only play a minute of a 4 minute song, cause this is the part I consider to be good…

    October 31, 2012 at 1:36 pm #31115
    DJ Menno
    Participant

    I use short transitions a lot. Wait for the break of the first song to end, slam the main melody of the second song, and filter the first song away. Not to be overdone, cause it’s stressing for the crowd, but it seems to work for those “unfriendly” tracks.

    Or I just wait for the end of the song, and start the new one 16 measures before the end, fading from one to another…simple but efficient.

    October 31, 2012 at 1:53 pm #31116
    DJimC
    Participant

    A technique I’ve used in this case was to mix the top40 dance songs with some instrumental house or dance tracks. When you alternate between the two you always have a ‘DJ-friendly’ song to mix out of or to mix into.

    Just make sure you don’t stay to long on the instrumental songs. I tried to start the next top40 song after only 16 or max 32 bars of the instrumental song. Most often you still get 16 or 32 bars of intro on a top40 song, so you still get some value from your instrumentals. Sometimes it’s even possible to cut the bass from your top40 song and let it run parallel with your instrumental for a while to make an instant mashup.

    October 31, 2012 at 3:40 pm #31120
    DiBartdi
    Member

    cool stuff, i dont know why i never did the: ”Wait for the break of the first song to end, slam the main melody of the second song, and filter the first song away.” ill try it 🙂
    One issue I find with your tip DJimC is that DJ Friendly tracks are generally not liked by the this type of crowd as most love to sing the vocals along and when there are non they feel lost. Some tracks I use for these types of transitions are One by Sweedish House Magia, The Rattle by Bingo Player of Cmon by Tiesto vs Diplo, but there goes mi DJ friendly-Chart friendly list of tracks :S Do you have by any chance that top40 dance song mix uploaded somewhere so I can hear how you do it and what tracks do you use to keep the mood up?

    October 31, 2012 at 5:35 pm #31128
    Hee Won Jung
    Participant

    Usually All the unfriendly DJ tracks that are chart toppers, have remixes…like a million different remixes.

    As long as the song has a good catchy beat/drop the punters dont care what you are actually playing. As long as they hear…im sexy and i know it or the levels jingle they will go nuts.

    I actually did this at a gig a while back…where i had short 8-32 beat acapellas of All the top 40 tracks set with Keys…and whenever a breakdown happened or just before a drop i would find an acapella in the same key and throw in one of these acapellas, and just kept playing my electro/complextro music and the whole crowd went bazonkas over it…I even had people coming up to me asking what remix that was…i told them it was mine….lol.

    Moral of the Story…punters want something familar to connect with…other than that have fun with what you love…cuz 90% of them dont know the difference between the 2.

    October 31, 2012 at 6:38 pm #31136
    DJimC
    Participant

    DiBartdi, post: 31276, member: 4249 wrote: Some tracks I use for these types of transitions are One by Sweedish House Magia, The Rattle by Bingo Player of Cmon by Tiesto vs Diplo, but there goes mi DJ friendly-Chart friendly list of tracks :S Do you have by any chance that top40 dance song mix uploaded somewhere so I can hear how you do it and what tracks do you use to keep the mood up?

    These are exactly the kind of songs I was talking about for making somewhat easier transitions. I guess it depends a bit on your crowd wether they will accept the occasional track without vocals for about 1 minute, but I think that you will get away with it. Just don’t try to mix everything with minimal or deep house, you still want to keep the energy high!

    I’ve only done two parties with top40 music (I’m normally a DnB DJ), so I don’t have a mix online. Some tracks that I’ve used were:

    – Major Lazer – Pon de Floor
    – Herve – Together
    – Mike Candy’s and Jack Holiday – Ready or not 2011 (Exclusive Club Edition)
    – Zedd – Stars come out
    – Ducksauce – Big bad wolf
    – Congorock – Babylon

    Also look for remixes like Hee Won Jung said above and look for more obscure tracks from these top40 artists. They often also make some instrumental tunes which can complement other top40 songs really well.

    October 31, 2012 at 7:28 pm #31139
    DiBartdi
    Member

    Thanks a lot, ill be checking those tracks right now 🙂

    November 1, 2012 at 1:54 am #31157
    railings_731@yahoo.com
    Participant

    Same as Hee, all those popular top40 songs the punters come out for have a bajillion remixes….of almost any “EDM” genre. just cruize around Beatport for the remix that you think the crowd will like, yet is also easy to mix with

    November 1, 2012 at 2:10 am #31160
    DiBartdi
    Member

    I actually did that once, downloading an electrohouse remix of Love The Way you Lie, but it didnt seem to be liked by the crowd and had to switch it out fast. Sure it was extremly easy to mix in and out, but I dunno, having 1 min where the people dont know where they are is something I dont like coz when they stop dancing its hard to turn them on (in the dancing sense) again. I rather have crappy transitions with a full dancefloor and people screaming because I put the track they wanted than smooth transitions that sound great but bore people 🙁 Maybe im heading for the wrong remixes.

    November 1, 2012 at 4:25 am #31167
    railings_731@yahoo.com
    Participant

    That’s exactly the thing you need to keep in mind. Whenever I am looking at new remixes i may want to add to my inventory, the FIRST thing i always ask myself is “would a crowd like this song?”. If i myself can’t seem to get into the vibe of the song, it doesnt make the cut.

    Also, love the way you lie is a pretty slow song….with lyrics that are a downright buzzkill (in my opinion), so the song selection in the first place may have been a misstep 🙂

    November 1, 2012 at 6:49 pm #31207
    kjagla
    Participant

    indeed, check out remixes, mashups, transition tracks, extended mixes of songs. i know that feeling because i’d been practicing on some progressive/electro house tracks but my gigs right now are limited to top 40 and i’m still learning that! i’ve been learning a lot by going to clubs and listening to what the DJs do there. my tips: hotcues are your friends, extend the track with loops and bring in the other one, filter/backspin-smash to the next song, search for good cutting in the songs (eg DJ Fresh’s Gold Dust and Hot Right Now have a backspin effect in their intro)

    November 1, 2012 at 7:20 pm #31211
    DiBartdi
    Member

    Great, thanks for the help 🙂 Ill check out those tracks 🙂

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