EoghanRussell

gbadegesin, post: 16439, member: 1507 wrote: EoghanRussell,

First and foremost, i am not an “EDM Head” so you might take most of what i have to say with a pinch of salt. Albeit, most of it applies generic to the world of Djaying in general.
I listened to your mix and honestly i could not find anything wrong with it. Transtitions were fine, excellent song selection and nice track selection. I always tell people that “DJs are their own worst critics”. There is a thread here (maybe Phil can dig it up for you) where it asks all the DJays how they feel about their mixes after they have made it. And guess what? Most people felt their mixes were not good enough when there was actually nothing wrong with it.

What i tend to do when i create mixes like that is that i forget about the mix and then listen to it weeks later. If i get the same ‘not good’ feeling then i accept that it is not good enough. Also , send the mix to your friends and ask then for feedback, infact, pester them to give you a feedback. If their feedback tallys with what you have thought then it’s probably right.
Another good thing is to post your mixes online and ask for feedback. You will get listeners unknown listeners from all over who will give you a truthful feedback ( rather than a friend who does not want to hurt your feelings)
One more thing i do is to put on my mixes when a friend is in my car or come to visit. I do not tell them i made the mix. If they ask about the mix then i know i have created something good.

Lastly, whatever you do in your DJ carrer, make sure you create your own style. You can have DJs you admire but your own style should never be a copy but a reinvention. What i am saying in essence is that no matter what advice we give you here, you will have to embark on the journey on your own and discover somethings your own way

My 2 cents

All fair points. I do feel though I need to work on my mixing. I am only mixing a short time. I am a classically trained musician so that does give me a leg up but I need some serious work I think. I was happy with the track selection for the most part and I was mixing it live. If I played that short set for a crowd I would have been happy enough, but I think (for me) I am missing the polished finish.

2SHAE!, post: 16309, member: 1459 wrote: Apart of your DJing skills leaves the equipment here. The ability to find those new tracks before the mainstream, that you know will blow up, that people will be listening to 10 years down the road is a great feeling. So try to find them first and include them in your mix. Personally, unless I dedicate myself to making a classic songs mix, I only mix new songs from the current month. This way I can learn all of the best new tracks from the month and see how they work together.

good point

Firstly thanks for the reply guys. After posting the thread I kind of realised Im asking a very difficult question to answer, particularly with no examples to give. Ive been quite careful with track selection and track order thanks to some articles from the digitaldjtips team, although Im still open to criticism and suggestion.

What you said about phasing BigChipsHI, it sounds to me like you could be on the right track. Im very conscious about letting the songs get boring so I try to eliminate that as much as possible. That too though can be bad seeing as, as you said, you cant have the big chorus and theme banging out the whole time. Ive my very first mix posted up on mixcloud, nothing much else uploaded yet. Too critical of my own stuff but feel free to have a listen.

http://www.mixcloud.com/eoghan-russell/the-first-of-manyhopefully/

Phil Morse, post: 7696 wrote: So when is it OK to lift a track from anywhere you can find it? I’d say when you can’t but it legally. As DJs it is fair game. The key is to but it legally as soon as you can.

Thanks Phil. Sorry for the double post.