Next step in mixing

Mitch Hambling, post: 41078, member: 7942 wrote: about beatmatching. What is the point of beat matching songs when you have a sync button? I know there has been a lot of controversy over this topic, but honestly, if you have a sync button, why not use it? Ive never really beatmatched songs before. besides songs that are beat gridded wrong

I play reggae, hip hop, soul & funk for my ‘work gigs’ (I also host Bass culture music nights as well) and most of the music isn’t created within a DAW so the bpm drifts making manual beat matching essential. I mix with a Vestax VCI-380, which does have sync, but the only times it’s been activated have been when I missed the cue button. I definitely used sync when I first started out learning but beat matching is essential to calling yourself a Dj. Even if you never use it playing out it’s a skill you need to master before playing out before a crowd.

Like you mentioned, if the beat grid is inaccurate your mix will trainwreck if you can’t beatmatch. Or, what if your midi controller fails and you have to use DVS or CDJ w/Serato/tracktor? It is difficult at first, but once you get the hang of it, your mixing will sound much better.

For me, the key to smoother blends is to go beyond beatmatching.

1. Use your EQs. I’ll see many DJs barely touch them, but they should. I usually bring in a new tune with the bass turned down, and then gradually blend the volumes while raising the bass on the new track (and lowering it on the old one).
2. Learn great music programming. I don’t mean programming code, but more learning what works and what doesn’t work together so your blends and sets sound more fluid. Some even subscribe to harmonic mixing in this regard.
3. Explore music. I know when I was where you’re at, I was mainly playing the big house music that was on the radio. My brother pushed me to go underground and explore…and I haven’t looked back. You’ll stand out as unique when you bring tunes to your set that others aren’t playing (but crowds will love).

when you go pro, i guess you never go back to 2 deck mixing anymore right? I tried to use 4 but my controller (ERGO) can do 4 but the interface is messy on VDJ especially when my controller has deck a turned down while deck b the settings don’t match what’s going on the ergo if that makes sense.

I can and use 4 decks regularly, but I do not think it necessary.
I could prolly do 70-80% of the time without them and the rest is just fancy things that are not really needed.
And there are some DJs on 2 decks that are way better than me… (of course that is subjective and of course I have mad skeelz!)

Totally unintentional 😛 hrhr

Oh yes, if you produce/mix/master your tracks on home speakers that are not up to the task, you are in for some fun on large systems. Pink noise, a good (calibrated) measuring microphone and a simple acoustic analysis tool and you can easily find out what the frequency curve of your listening environment is, approximately where your ears are. Worth a shot.

Especially with smaller monitor speakers (even if they are “studio” monitors, like the KRK Rokit 5s), they will generally not be able to deliver a solid enough bass. If you compensate for the lack of low in your monitors, in real life on a big system you will end up having too much low end.

As far as the moment goes, it is a bit of a trial and error, but you can actually just hard switch (with a kill switch if you have one ore the low knob) between beats. DJ Player, the iPad DJ app, actually does that for you if you want. You can set it to automatically switch basslines when your crossfader reaches halfway. I’ve played around with that and the result are actually pretty acceptable.

So don’t worry too much about it. Just try to make sure the total (low end) energy doesn’t change too much. Again, that is a matter of trial and error to find out the proper amount of in/out EQ-ing.

Greetinx,
C.

strictlyt, post: 41268, member: 2747 wrote: Your point one here really interests me. I play techno and I really struggle to swap the bass when blending in a new track with the bass turned down, the switch doesn’t sound right. Do you have any tips for this?

My expectation is that for this technique you need the songs matched perfectly so you turn the bass up at just the right time as to not disrupt the flow of the mix.

Could this also be down to the fact that my speakers at home are not made for DJing? When I play out I find EQing the bass much easier for some reason on a proper sound system. Sometimes I am shocked at how much bass some of my new tracks have haha

I’d have to hear some tunes you play to understand fully, but what I’ve found is you first need to pick tunes that meld well. Many turn to harmonic mixing to do this, but I more see it as your sense of taste and your ears as the guide.

You also need to orient yourself on finding the “sweet spots” where you start playing and blending in the new tune. I see too many guys get impatient and end up blending in over vocals or even the main “meat” or synth of the tune playing. Makes it all sound like a mess.

This blending with the EQs also goes beyond bass. Sometimes you need to turn down one tune’s treble or mid if it’s coming in too strong. Sometimes the hi-hats and cymbals in a new tune will be too strong and need to be dampened. Plus this technique is more ideal for longer blends, like 1-2 minutes.

The end goal is to make things meld…to gradually hear the old tune being taken away in pieces while the new one takes over. This is a lot of why I like to mix off the ends and chop out the “middle” of a tune if I need to shorten it. The intro/outro is the ideal spots now since we don’t see breaks happen too much in a lot of dance music.

From there you even try to mix where there isn’t dead spots…so when one tune lets off into the outro the new tune is taking over. It just takes time, practice, and exploration.

Mitch Hambling, post: 41534, member: 7942 wrote: Thanks, and yes i do that. Im not stuck on one specific genre either. Im super into electro house, progressive house, big room house, glitch-hop, dubstep, trap, tech house, minimal, deep house, and nu disco, as well as melbourne house. My main problem is still being able to mix on the spot. given that ive only been mixing for 6 months, i havent gotten it down yet. this is the best mix i have recorded i made for a contest http://www.mixcloud.com/mbling52/danks/ . I can get a good mix like this goin occasionaly, but when im practicing I cant get a fluent mix without stopping and figuring out where to bring the next song in

Well…just be patient. It takes a lot of time. I started in 1992 trainwrecking all over. Then I got it down to 32 beats held with a lot of preparation. Then 64 with a lot of prep. Over time you just get into a flow and get it all down. Suddenly you hold stuff together for minutes without much prep.

A lot of it is training your ears through practice. You begin to see which direction you go with the pitch and thus it gets easier. Be patient. It takes years to achieve this.