Your Mixtape tips - Digital DJ Tips

This topic has 18 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 13 years, 7 months ago by Phil Morse.

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July 27, 2012 at 10:24 am #1008727

Marcellino Nugraha
Member

What i always do when i create a mixtape is, im using a DAW and edit everything manually there

July 27, 2012 at 11:20 am #1008730

Terry_42
Keymaster

What I try to do when I create mixtapes, especially for demos that I send to clubs (nowadays on nice USB sticks) is that I do not try to showoff too much, but I think about a theme, create a small noted down storyboard and even with a 10min mix try to deliver at least a basic storyline or rather “moodline” with my songselection. I learned that actually from DJing weddings, as it works extremely well there but translates really well into deep genres, lounge, belearic, etc.

July 27, 2012 at 5:26 pm #1008752

D-Jam
Participant

I would say three things:

1) Don’t start off small. When the average person is going to listen to a mix, they are not going to think in terms of a club with a slow buildup of energy over the set. They want to be hit immediately, grabbed a hold of, and dragged into your musical journey. I’ll usually kick things off with some energy, then take it up a little more, then slowly come down and back up through the mix.

2) Have variety. One thing I hate to death with mixes is when the DJ gives me 60 minutes of the same tune over and over. They love minimal techno, or jungle, or whatever…so they think it’s ok to play it for 60 min and never change it up. Now I’m not saying to change genres like go from house to dubstep to trance and then to hip-hop, but to toss in tunes with vocals to break up the monotony of instrumental tunes. Toss in something unexpected that just works. Toss in an old school cut you think might mix in AND everyone recognizes. Take your listener on a journey, and keep it varied enough that they’ll listen to your mix over and over.

3) Don’t make your demo the same mix you give to promoters. With a promoter you do the slow buildup opening set or what not. You have to show you can do the task they want you for. For your fans you should do as I mentioned in #1 and #2.

July 27, 2012 at 6:39 pm #1008767

Rodders
Member

Echoing the above really but don’t treat it like a 60 minute club set – it will likely be listened to in a different environment so treat it differently, like you really are doing a mixtape in the traditional sense of the word. You have the luxury of time, to plan, to get creative with your track selection, to get out of the “2 deck” mindset, to make sure every mix is absolutely perfect and in key, so use it wisely.

July 27, 2012 at 7:31 pm #1008774

Steelo
Participant

Hit record every time you have a mix. Ever had one of those times when you thought ‘I wish I had recorded that?! If you’re not thinking about specifically making a demo that day you will be less stressed and may be more spontaneous. Have some fun with it!

July 27, 2012 at 11:25 pm #1008780

Erik Toth
Participant

As said above: record everything!
And dont be afraid to experiment. Even if it might sound strange when you record the mix but it can actually sound pretty cool when you listen it back. I had such aha experience many times in the beginning.

July 28, 2012 at 4:36 am #1008787

DJXKhan
Member

Usually when I make a mix. Which is quite often. I throw down like I’m playing peak time at a night club or late night event. 126-140BMP heavy bass and vocal breaks. Bobbing my head and waving my hands like Someone’s watching. lol If I was making a demo for a gig I would taylor it based on the crowd ill be expecting to play to and the time of night I’d be playing But I don’t see ant gigs in my near future.

July 28, 2012 at 5:32 am #1008790

TheReturn
Member

Pick a theme, a mood, a time of day, a story or any kind of narrative and build the mix around that. Your ideas can come from experiences in your life or from TV , fiction, history or movies or they can just emerge from messing around on the decks and stumbling across songs that work well together. Check these examples and the mix blurbs below.

A lot of mine are about creating a soundtrack to a real or potential experiences.

http://soundcloud.com/thereturn/dj-return-rotten-coconuts
You’re on a deserted island, all there is to eat is coconuts. You eat a bad coconut and it makes you trip out and run around the island a la Leonardo De Caprio in the Beach. This is the soundtrack to that experience

Where as others are about exploring themes within the music

http://soundcloud.com/thereturn/message-from-the-80s
This mix tries to capture a certain mood in the early 80s. All of these tracks tell a story of hard times, of struggle against racism, unemployment, poverty, drug addiction, urban life, Reaganism and violence. But most importantly they also say “there has got to be a better way” Many of these songs look to the future. Some are afraid that there is worse to come, while others view computers and technology as a positive way forward. However, the overarching message is that change is possible, especially if you take the initiative.

July 28, 2012 at 4:23 pm #1008817

DJXKhan
Member

Here is a tip I use with some of my mixes. I do experimental stuff mixing two songs of different genres,tricks,scratching and effects. Anything thing that is not straight mixing (beatmatching). I try to do at the beginning or end of my recording session. So if i make a mistake I can go back and use mp3 cutter to trim off my garbage with out having to shit can the whole mix.

July 29, 2012 at 12:46 pm #1008830

SCHIES
Member

What I found that has helped me in creating my mixtapes is to always have a notebook next to you where you can jot down notes. This is especially useful when you are practicing and you happen to mix two songs that really mix well together or songs that are in the same key. Write those two songs down and build your set list from there, grouping those songs into groups of 3’s that mix well into each other and you will gradually have a whole list of songs to choose from.

Then what you can do from that list is to go through it and take out along the way what you feel doesn’t sound right to you. Like what others have said, it also helps to have an overall theme in mind where you can revolve your set list around and continue to come up with new ideas for your mixtape.

July 30, 2012 at 12:54 pm #1008889

Lordamercy
Participant

I’ve always championed warts and all mixes. I hate sanitized mixing as it were lol. All the mix tapes I ever had from acid house, rave days through drum n bass and onwards have always had mistakes on. Needles jumping, MC calling for ze sound engineer lol I think it gives mixes character and if ur learning peoples comments will help u learn more. Obviously not the best thing for DJ competitions but for posting in forums here and on Facebook why not

August 6, 2012 at 6:02 pm #1009284

Rodders
Member

TheReturn, post: 24883, member: 2640 wrote: Pick a theme, a mood, a time of day, a story or any kind of narrative and build the mix around that. Your ideas can come from experiences in your life or from TV , fiction, history or movies or they can just emerge from messing around on the decks and stumbling across songs that work well together. Check these examples and the mix blurbs below.

A lot of mine are about creating a soundtrack to a real or potential experiences.

http://soundcloud.com/thereturn/dj-return-rotten-coconuts
You’re on a deserted island, all there is to eat is coconuts. You eat a bad coconut and it makes you trip out and run around the island a la Leonardo De Caprio in the Beach. This is the soundtrack to that experience.

There’s no way I could resist that description – downloading now 🙂

August 6, 2012 at 6:27 pm #1009286

Will
Member

Marcellino Nugraha, post: 24818, member: 2451 wrote: What i always do when i create a mixtape is, im using a DAW and edit everything manually there

Otherwise known as: cheating.

In the end, you are cheating yourself if you pass out mixtapes and your abilities don’t match up to it when you play live. Club owners will not book you if you can’t deliver a consistent performance. I notice this with bands alot, they have a really well produced album, but when you go to their concert, they just plain suck at performing. That’s usually the first and last time I ever bother seeing them again.

August 6, 2012 at 7:10 pm #1009287

longmover
Member

go with your gut instinct, if you think a transition or track doesnt sound right , then it probably doesnt.

August 9, 2012 at 10:55 am #1009395

Rodders
Member

Will, post: 25413, member: 46 wrote: Otherwise known as: cheating.

In the end, you are cheating yourself if you pass out mixtapes and your abilities don’t match up to it when you play live. Club owners will not book you if you can’t deliver a consistent performance. I notice this with bands alot, they have a really well produced album, but when you go to their concert, they just plain suck at performing. That’s usually the first and last time I ever bother seeing them again.

Agree that you need the skills to back up the mixtape, but I don’t see using a DAW to sequence your mixtape together as cheating at all. James Zabiela openly admits to using Ableton to sequence some of his released mixes (of course the guy can mix), and I’ve heard stories of well-known DJs basically just compiling the records and getting their engineers to mix them together for certain compilations. Unless you’re recording the mixtape (I love how we still call them tapes :)) live in front of an audience, it’s not going to be a true reflection of how well you can actually perform, because it’s going to be recorded an environment where there’s a lot less pressure, you aren’t reading a crowd and you can hit stop if you fluff a mix.
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