Rufio

Chuck van Eekelen, post: 39880, member: 2756 wrote: Question: are you a gifted person by any chance?

Vocals mixing: the obvious advice to NOT mix vocals is solid. If for some reason the vocals get in the way, a trick I use on occassion is mid EQ. Since vocals happen around 2-4 kHz, turning down the mids on the incoming tune will give it a karaoke feel. If you do this on a singlee song it sounds awful, but in the mix the effect gets masked because you still have the full mid range of the outgoing song, including … it”s vocals. If all else is going well, you quickly bring over the lows (down eq on outgoing up eq on incoming), then start with the vocals. Depending on the vocalsyou can do it quickly or play with it for a longer mix. It’ll be a knob turning mix but can be done.

Big BPM difference: the first question to ask is, WHY do I want to switch tempo so dramatically. More often than not those transitions break the flow you have the audience in. cause no matter how smooth you transitioned, ghe crowd needs to start dancing to a totally different beat! Mobile DJs are forced to make some crazy moves like that and will use mic techniques to prepare the crowd for what is coming, effectively slowing the crowd down before getting them moving in a different direction again. Ifyou really want/must do it, tap delay could offer a helping hand. Make sure that you have a tapped in delay ready that is long enough to give you a few seconds of echo. Then bring the new song in (maybe from a filtered position bringing in the lows first). What you have accomplished is that the dying out echo will signal to the crowd that something is coming to an end and you bring in something new ” through the mist” so to speak.

Tip: in the old days, you just had records and a flat mixer. DJs managed to get crowds moving then. Sure the crowds have gotten more demanding, but in the end it is still musical selection that will make or break a night, no matter how skillfully mixed. I have seen trainwrecks at great nights and I have had flawless nights that were dead as a doornail.

Others said it already, but allow me to drill the point home: don’t focus on the technology too much, enjoy and use what you can with confidence. I have 35 years of DJ-ing on me and have never made a serious mashup ( well not consciously anyway :)) But I have made my audiences happy most of the time and sent people home after a night of enjoying themselves. What they’ll remember is having danced all night to great music in a flow. Very few will remenber the transitions, the effects and yes even the occassional trainwreck.

Good luck buddie, your in school for life. Just make sure you enjoy the journey not just the destination.

Greetinx,
C.

Thanks very much for the clarification and helpful tips, i found your email very useful to my problems. Parts of your message were revelations for me and others just nailed down the preconceived knowledge. Thanks again.