No more progress on training

[pedrorelvas]

Hi,
first of all I'd like to congratulate you all for this forum, which is very helpfull and organized, hardly seen on others.
The reason why I created this thread, as can be seen in the title, is that I don't feel getting any progress on my 'training'. I can see my mixes are not going well, and I have no ideia on where to improve, or what to do to make it sound good. All I can see is that I'm just clicking 'Play' and making few loops, not mixing. I play with a M-audio Xponent controller with Torq 2.0 and I would appreciate a lot if you guys hear my 'mix' and tell what you think I could improve.

http://soundcloud.com/user2365101/mix

Im new to this whole dj world, and I don't know exactly the genre.. I know its something like eletro-house. and the tracklist is:

00:00 - 05:20 Calvin Harris - Feel So Close (Extended Mix)
05:20 - 10:20 Morgan Page, Sultan Ned Shepard, and BT - In The Air (Extended Mix)
10:20 - 14:49 Cristian Marchi, Nari & milani feat. Max C - I Got You
14:49 - 19:00 Michael Calfan - Resurrection (Axwell's Recut Club Version)
19:00 - 23:40 Carlo Astuti & Matthew Leface - If You Would (Original Mix)
23:40 - 28:50 U2 - Beautiful day (Viktor Mora Bootleg 2012)
28:50 - 33:30 Otto Knows - ID & Calvin Harris - Flashback (Avicii Bootleg)
33:30 - 37:15 Haddaway - What is Love (Project 46 Remix)
37:15 - 41:40 Anjulie - Brand New Bitch (Laidback Luke Remix)
41:40 - 46:00 Example - Kickstarts (Afrojack Remix)
46:00 - end Sgt Slick - Like This

obs: I know it's not good, but I want to know where I can improve.

Thank you very much, i'll wait for replies!

[Hamza21]

No genre,No tracklist, no listeners. If you want people to listen your mix you should at least say what kind of genre it is.

[pedrorelvas]

thank you for your reply, I edited the post, so now it contains the tracklist

[minute94]

thank you for your reply, I edited the post, so now it contains the tracklist
I'm in no way the most qualified person on these forums to be giving out advice, but i'll give it my best shot. You have the mixing down which is great. That's what most people have trouble with, and if you're in great shape if you can do it near perfection live. Try making sets as you go rather than a pre planned set to test your skills.

If you're tired of just mixing, try adding a few effects or scratching. Don't overdo it, but just play around a bit. You can also try adding the vocals of one track onto another track and do a few mashups rather than just mixing into the outro.

[Spife]

You ever mix out of the middle of tracks rather then the end? It's always fun finding a break to mix out on, doubly so if you don't loop it. Only 32 beats to mix out, better make your eq'ing count!

[laurentkm3]

Are you blending in with the eq's or just using the cross faders?

Work your eq's and you may get a better mix. Also, know your phrases.

Before you play track A, fast forward it to see where the energy slows down. It usually (at least for the music I play) happens when there is about one minute left in the track. Once you find out where the energy slows down, play the track. Then get track B and see where the energy starts up. It usually (at least for the music I play) happens when about one minute into the track.

So basically, when you have two minutes left in track A, start track B, then about 15 seconds later (8 bars), bring in track B. Work the eq's for about the next 45 seconds (24 bars). This will keep the energy from track A going into track B.

I make mistakes also, but check out my videos and hopefully it'll make some sense.

Here's another practice thing that I do. I play a track. Beat match it as quickly as I can. Once it's beat matched, wait for the start of the phrase and bring the next track it. So basically instead of waiting for an eight minute track to get close to the end, I mix out of the track half way through.

Best of luck :tup:

L

[Rek_Aviles]

Are you blending in with the eq's or just using the cross faders?

Work your eq's and you may get a better mix. Also, know your phrases.




^ This.


Haven't heard the mix yet, will in a bit, but this is my process:

Knowing your tracks helps in knowing where to bring in a mix for a perfectly phrased up blend. Since most tracks produced follow the same formula, wait for the break after the main buildup, usually (like Lauren mentioned) it's about the 2 min mark.

I mix with the up/down faders and have my EQs turned down, bring in the highs first. Depending on the track(s), i'll work the mids and highs and let them ride for a bit before I start introducing the bass. When I bring the bass, I listen to when one start over powering the other, at which point I start lowering the bass in track A as I continue to bring the bass in track B. After that, to finish up I just wait for the break in track B or fade track A out.

Before this method, my mixing was boring to me and I could never figure out how to fix it. Read up on EQing and tweaked what I learned to get my own method. So if you already have beat matching down to where you have time to kill after, start messing with the EQ and you'll notice a difference in the blends.


On another not, it's also fun to do live mashups. Challenging but fun. :D

[BurntToast]

For your style of music, you will notice that every ~30 seconds, something in the song changes. A lot of times, the first 30 seconds is very minimal... just a kick or maybe kick and snare. At the 30 second mark, something else gets added in. It may be more percussion, or maybe a melody or bassline starts to build over it. By 1:00, the main part should be playing, but sometimes the percussion drops out and you just end up with the melody and/or vocal with no rhythm. Dance music is structured that way for purpose of mixing, but it's also just basic math...

120-130 BPM = ~2 beats per second. Since there are 4 beats per bar and the song usually changes every 8 or 16 bars, then you end up with ~2 seconds for every bar, or ~15 seconds for every 8 bars, or ~30 seconds for every 16 bars.

Use this to your advantage. When searching for phrases to blend, fast fwd to the 30 second mark. If you don't think you want to mix that phrase, fast fwd to the 1:00 mark. Maybe you'll want to mix that phrase. As you keep an eye on the song that's already playing, you'll usually want to bring in the new track by the final ~1:00 of the first song. A lot of times, that's where the song really drops out and it just winds down inversely to how it started.

[TBA]

Biggest factor that helped me improve my mixing TENFOLD was by listening to mixes done by my favorite artists. Since you like electronic music, there are TONS of artists putting out mixes almost monthly for your listening pleasure (podcasts, through their websites/soundcloud, etc). Listen to how they transition, copy some of the ideas, practice, and eventually, you'll get a feel for how the pros do it and be able to implement your own creative ideas.

[prODucer]

Yep...if I wanna be the next Carl Cox, I gotta listen to Carl Cox ;)

[pedrorelvas]

Thank you all for the replies


You ever mix out of the middle of tracks rather then the end? It's always fun finding a break to mix out on, doubly so if you don't loop it. Only 32 beats to mix out, better make your eq'ing count!

Yes, sometimes I try to mix is the mid of the song, but I always miss the gains, so track B comes up in a higher level or in so much different tones that the mix gets really weird. Even trying to adjust the gain and the eq's, I don't feel any better..




Yes.. I try to use the effects but I don't have an ideia on which one to use, I mean: when I hear some mixes from experienced dj's, i can see them using effects all the time, on breaks and when they are changing the tracks. But when I try to, it sounds horrible. Can you please tell me the effects that you guys uses the most?

[QUOTE=laurentkm3;63109]Are you blending in with the eq's or just using the cross faders?

Work your eq's and you may get a better mix. Also, know your phrases.

Before you play track A, fast forward it to see where the energy slows down. It usually (at least for the music I play) happens when there is about one minute left in the track. Once you find out where the energy slows down, play the track. Then get track B and see where the energy starts up. It usually (at least for the music I play) happens when about one minute into the track.


I always try to use the EQ's when mixing, but I don't know perfectly how to use it, I just have an idea. Do you know any 'instructional' site or something like that that teaches how to use them right? where can I see your videos?



I mix with the up/down faders and have my EQs turned down, bring in the highs first. Depending on the track(s), i'll work the mids and highs and let them ride for a bit before I start introducing the bass. When I bring the bass, I listen to when one start over powering the other, at which point I start lowering the bass in track A as I continue to bring the bass in track B. After that, to finish up I just wait for the break in track B or fade track A out.


Hmm, thats nice. I will try that. But always when I EQ the bass, i get those overpowering, but if I bring the bass in track A down, and up the bass in track B up, it sounds weird, because at one time, you hear one type of beat, and like seconds later, a different one. I know it will happen, but I think that it needs to be smooth or quickly but in a break, right?



120-130 BPM = ~2 beats per second. Since there are 4 beats per bar and the song usually changes every 8 or 16 bars, then you end up with ~2 seconds for every bar, or ~15 seconds for every 8 bars, or ~30 seconds for every 16 bars.

Use this to your advantage. When searching for phrases to blend, fast fwd to the 30 second mark. If you don't think you want to mix that phrase, fast fwd to the 1:00 mark. Maybe you'll want to mix that phrase. As you keep an eye on the song that's already playing, you'll usually want to bring in the new track by the final ~1:00 of the first song. A lot of times, that's where the song really drops out and it just winds down inversely to how it started.

Ok, but when I'm getting to this track B phrase, is it a mistake to loop some bars before and start fading and when the track A drop I exit the loop and start the phrase? or should I just 'play' it in the right time?


Biggest factor that helped me improve my mixing TENFOLD was by listening to mixes done by my favorite artists. Since you like electronic music, there are TONS of artists putting out mixes almost monthly for your listening pleasure (podcasts, through their websites/soundcloud, etc). Listen to how they transition, copy some of the ideas, practice, and eventually, you'll get a feel for how the pros do it and be able to implement your own creative ideas.

You are right, I will start listening more mixes from experienced djs rather than listening to single musics! I've already learned something from that, but I need a lot of improvement.

[laurentkm3]

A lot of the comments you just made come down to just practicing. You seem to have the concept down, so you're on the right track :)

[dlove]

Hi Pedrorelvas, I'm no expert on blends, but in my experience, I learned playing with the EQ's with my headphones off - trying to learn through my headphones just confused me.

(ps, the effect I use the most (but still not often) is the filter. I mainly use EQ's tho', because not all event mixers have effects, so I don't want to get comfy with the 'extras'.)

[dlove]

Also, don't over-think it when you're practicing, just go for it. Play! It doesn't matter if it's messy, it'll tighten up over time. It's great to learn the theory, but when you're on the decks, hear the sound and cool your mind! :)

[Rek_Aviles]

But always when I EQ the bass, i get those overpowering, but if I bring the bass in track A down, and up the bass in track B up, it sounds weird, because at one time, you hear one type of beat, and like seconds later, a different one. I know it will happen, but I think that it needs to be smooth or quickly but in a break, right?


When bring in the bass of trackB, listen to when both tracks are evenly match in sound, then start lowering the bass in track A while you finish brining in the bass of B. It's basically mixing the EQs as you would the 2 tracks, on the mixer.

And in regards to switching the kick of one to the other, sometimes you want that. When making a mashup, you take elements from one track and put it in the other. So, you're actually doing that on the fly, when you mess with EQs in that way. Play around with the sounds and you might get a new sounding track, if you swap the bass out.

You have to train your ears and know when its going to work or not, once you start the mix. that'll come with time I guess.



But yah, like dlove said, don't over-think it. Just have fun with it. :D

[Adzm00]

If you just keep playing, EQing over time it becomes something that you subconsciously recognise and automatically realise how to compensate depending on the tracks you are mixing.

There is no "this is how to EQ", there are general guides sure, but music is different and there are many ways of mixing the same tracks together.

[pedrorelvas]

thank you guys, you're great! Now that I know where to focus, I will practice more. thank you again!

[Mega Marty]

this was very helpful!!!