DJ Transitions

My usual way of blending is to come in with the bass of the new tune turned all the way down, then slowly bring it up while lowering the bass of the song that was playing. I’ve seen many do this, and what I liked is that it’ll more or less let one song be slightly dominant, so it transitions over and thus the new tune dominates more and brings the listener into it.

As for mids and highs, I’ll do the same transitioning if I need to, but usually I don’t. I will though lower or raise them if I see I’m coming from a “crispy” tune into something not as “crispy”. I use that term mainly for when a tune has more high hats and sounds that make it seem “louder”, but it’s really more high-level in timber…while your previous tune might dominate more in mid and bass.

The big one for me though is more on the “when”. I hate when I hear blends that are short and thus you’re spending 1-2 minutes listening to the outro of the old tune and then the intro of the new tune. I like to make blends happen where when the old tune is leaving off and starting to downplay itself to the outro that the new tune is kicking in and thus taking over areas that the old tune let go.

I really hate it though when I see DJs cut and blend over vocals and main highlights just so they can “quick mix”. It just sounds discombobulated, and with software at the point it is, they should at least edit their tunes to play shorter rather than slamming things all over.

This is where I’m currently “stuck” at creatively. I’ve gotten into a habit of killing the bass of track A, waiting for a break in track A, bring in track B with the highs and mids low and the bass booming, eventually killing the volume on track A and bring track B to full volume. I’ve also come accustomed to the backspin which has gotten pretty old to me already. I’ve tried my hand at trying to “scratch out” track A, but it just never seems to sound right. I’ve also tried a 1 beat loop on track A then killing the volume. This works about 50% of the time. Sometimes it sounds great and transitions into track B well, and other times it just sounds like garbage. Usually because I’ll grab the 1 beat loop on the wrong beat.

I’m hoping you guys will be able to school me in different techniques to use so I can keep the party jumping!

Yep, done that one too. I think I’ve mostly used for times when I’m not paying attention and I realize I have seconds before track A ends. I’ll just “pump the brakes” on track A and try to bring in track B “on beat” without actually being fully beatmatched.

Mixing mostly hip hop tracks am I more limited compared to a House/EDM DJ as far as transitioning options?

gilman, post: 18535, member: 510 wrote: Can someone explain how to do a quick mix?

Make sure the two tracks are phase matched (not necessarily beatmatched, but that could also help, depending on the genres you’re mixing) and at the same volume, then slide the cross-fader over to the new track in one beat. It’s the “hard cut,” the quickest mix out there.

what transitions shall i use if i want to play only minute or two minutes of each song (something like doing a megamix)?

Two things:
1) Know your records, or track intimately .
2) Know musical phrasing, as in 16/32 changes .

Follow these two, and you’ll know exactly where the proper time is for transitions