Electro Mix, Looking for constructive criticism!

I don’t usually have time to give direct feedback on mixtapes, or even listen to them for that matter. I have a spare hour right now though, which is rare. SO here’s that feedback you asked for, time stamped. I can be rather…frank. So don’t take my terse typed tone personally. I’m just being economical on time while trying to give someone what they asked for.

00:00 – 00:34 – Cut this dead air using Audacity or some other editing software. Or just hit play right after record. Long dead air at the beginning of anything makes me stop listening most of the time.

01:15 & 01:18 – The little volume drops. Intentional? If so…don’t do that. DJs should be creative but sometimes what sounds clever to you sounds like a mistake to the listener.

04:00 – 05:00 – This little bridge you built stole the energy of the first track for me. Tracks 1 & 2 go together, but especially for the very first mix of a set I (just my opinion) like the tracks to fit together tighter. Bringing 2 in sooner so it dropped in full right as the bulk of 1 closed up, would have ensured the energy doesn’t flag off just as it was getting going. The first mix and the last mix of a set are the most important two mixes of any mixtape that is going to be listened to (as opposed to rocked to on a floor). In many ways, in any set, the second track is the real first track. Track 1 sets it off, but track 2 locks it in. Keep that transition tight.

08:14 – Glad you let that full stop breath. Nice one.

11:00 – 12:18 – If this had been the first spot to breath, as per what I said about the bridge at 04:00 – 05:00, it would have been helladramatic because of how the tune comes in, especially after that “string-em-along” type track you played right before.

13:18 – 14:30 – Again, this is just one guy’s opinion (the opinion of a guy who likes a non-stop barrage, keep that in mind), but this breathes again too close to the last bit. If I had made this mixtape I would have looped part of the first drop and mixed in another tune, then let this one drop back at 14:30. With commercial anthems I like to tease with them. Do the unexpected to keep it different from what everyone else is doing with that track.

16:02 – Your name drop gets all tangled up with the lyrics of the incoming tune. Don’t do that. It makes it so the listener can’t hear either. And the tune you go into…great track, but because of the little breakbeat breakdown it changes the mood and then changes it back. I can think of several ways that could have been done different, but I’ll leave that one to you to figure it out. Then you throw your name drop again (at a better time this time) but I still can’t hear what the T2V girl is saying.

18:05 – Here comes that breakbeat again. If this had happened for the first time right here, and not just a couple minutes previously, it might have been more dramatic. I see what you tried to do there…get it just right and it will be awesome.

20:45 – 23:02 – Here’s more “breather-bit-as-high-drama”. As mentioned previously, it comes too close to the last bit of tension release. You haven’t built up enough tension since the last breakdown to be releasing it again. Me, I would have brought this one in sooner so I could go right from the last tune, full on, to the “Drop” sample, then switched it. Then the bit at 22:30 or so could have done the releasing for you and you start building again at 23:03.

24:07 – 24:40 – More of what I said above. That incoming tune needs to be stronger to bridge this gap. And your name drop again? You might be over using that. I used to do the same thing and it didn’t sound good when I did it.

26:40 – I’ve only been in this groove for a couple minutes and now we’re stopping again? I understand there isn’t much you can do about this with this particular type of production you’re working with. This is a personal preference thing for me. SO many of these “big room” tracks don’t go hard enough long enough for my tastes. We dance for a minute and a half, then stop for two minutes and put our hands up to the strobe light and lasers, then we dance for another minute. Rant over…moving on.

28:42 – 30:10 – I would have overlapped this bit with the last tune, right up to 30:10, so I bounce from one bassline right to the next as per the rant above. When I’m in a groove I want to stay there.

31:14 – Love this little breakbeat refrain that goes into the deep dark drums after it. If this was wedged between two solid bits of track instead of being bookended between bits of breathing room it would carry so much weight. Again, that’s just an observation based on personal style and taste. No accounting for that.

33:13 – 34:25 – I bet you’re really proud of this transition, aren’t you? You should be. It rocked. This type of thing makes fists pump and bodies jack…

37:02 – 43:52 – Strong. Nice and strong. This is what I mean…keep the groove going. Let me sweat and get tired before you give me another break. There is a bit of a breather in this section, but it plays well. I like this sound. These are good tunes in here. The blend at 43:05 or so is fantastic. I just wish that at 43:52 it exploded into the new track after the “You make me wanna” sample. The blend was tense and got the job done. You know the second “You make me wanna” at 44:36? That should have been where the tune was at 43:52. Sudden gear shifts of style or bassline, done right, make me all slushy. Instead of a shift in whatever, it would have been a continuation of whatever.

46:54 – 50:25 – Oooo…rave stabs. I like rave stabs. These ones got me excited…what comes after didn’t really live up to the emotional promises made by the rave stabs though. Again, this is just my opinion and that opinion is biased and flawed because when I hear rave stabs I expect some heavy business to be forthcoming. I felt let down by the track that runs to 49:50 after said rave stabs. I would have gone to get a drink at this point if it were live. I would hope I was back at 50:25 though, because there it gets thick again.

51:57 – 53:08 – This goes well with the last track. These two tunes are buddies, or at least roommates. Tension returns. I like this even though I usually don’t like this type of tune (because of the aforementioned disparity between time spent rocking vs. time spent waiting to rock). Still, this is the type of tune the rave stabs made me anticipate earlier.

55:24 – Another of those parts where I wish I didn’t have to wait to rock, right when I was really starting to rock. This isn’t your fault though, its how these tunes are made, so perhaps I’ll stop mentioning it. It could have been mixed in earlier to jump from one “we’re rocking here” bit to the next, but again, that’s a stylistic concern, not a technical one.

57:50 – 59:?? – Got way from you a bit here, didn’t it? It happens to everyone…but you let it keep happening. I heard you trying to fix it. As cool as you imagine a mix or blend will sound, if it isn’t working you have to choose one tune or the other and commit to it, let the mix go because it isn’t happening today. And then you added your name drop to that tangle as well…and an air horn…cluttered. Then the name drop and airhorn again. And then it stops on an off beat.

Remember when I said earlier that the first and last mixes are the most important on a mixtape? One tells me what to expect, and the other tells me how to remember what I just experienced. As far as last mixes of a set go, this wasn’t too great. It would have made me delete the whole thing and do it over again. No matter how far into a mixtape you are when recording it, never be afraid to throw it out and start over. Unlike a live set, there is no point of no return when making a mixtape. You have to be ready to get mad and hit stop and start over. Even if (especially if) it is the very last mix of the set.

Overall, had I hypothetically been at a club and this was what was being played, I would not have left that club. Taste-wise, I wouldn’t have been at a club playing this type of material in the first place…but that’s not your problem, it’s mine. 🙂

Nice work. Keep it up.

You’re very welcome. Like I said, I rarely have the time to listen to a mixtape and critique it in full because I’m too busy making one. I record a LOT of mixtapes. It’s just kinda what I do. Hopefully next time I post one you’ll break it down like I just did and then we’ll be square. Even after 15 years I like to hear people break me down, I can take it.