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How to make a great mix CD

I find that most of the demo mixes I download from forum members tend to be very bland. In fact, even a lot of the professionals mix CD's can be a bit dull. An example would be Armin's last 3 ASOT CD's - I find that when I see him live he is far more interesting than on these CD's, when he's only got 3 minutes to pick the next track, as opposed to weeks!

So, I just wondered what your thoughts were on how to make a really good demo - whether its trance, house, prog, psy, techno or a mixture.

In my opinion, you need to vary your sound and genra, but only a small amount. For example, in an 80 minute CD, I dont want to only hear epic trance as it will most likely get boring and predictable; but on the other hand, if you try and go from progressive into trance into tech trance into psy, its just not going to flow very well, and you wont find yourself really 'getting into' any of the sounds atall. So instead, you need to find a mood for your CD, and try and stick to that, but remembering to vary the sounds that each song brings.

The other major thing for me is the mixing. Most trance DJ's especially seem to think that mixing is just about getting beats in time, so you can move from tune to tune seemlessly. While on a mix CD, accuracy is important, there are other important factors in the mix. Certain tunes sound class when you play them togeather. This means that (with trance) instead of getting one moment in a tune from the breakdown, then it just winds down and you wait for the breakdown in the next tune, you have another 'moment' in between. Therefore, instead of say 14 highlights in your cd, you have potentially 26! You can usualy achieve this by mixing in key, and going for longer transitions, starting your mix while the melody or riff of the first track is still going.

What are your thoughts?

Re: How to make a great mix CD

quote:

Originally posted by JonDC In my opinion, you need to vary your sound and genra, but only a small amount. For example, in an 80 minute CD, I dont want to only hear epic trance as it will most likely get boring and predictable; but on the other hand, if you try and go from progressive into trance into tech trance into psy, its just not going to flow very well, and you wont find yourself really 'getting into' any of the sounds atall. So instead, you need to find a mood for your CD, and try and stick to that, but remembering to vary the sounds that each song brings.

I don't agree. I try to use different style of trance in my mixes and I think it works pretty well. Check out my mix in my sig and see for yourself. A mix with 100 mins with epic only or psy only can be quite boring. Alot of my favourite DJs are those who mix different styles.

You sound like you've never seen a good DJ...

quote:

Originally posted by Clovis You sound like you've never seen a good DJ...

Aww come on man, everyone's seen Tiesto at least once

Comes down to comfort zones, most people have a fairly narrow palate when it comes to music, if they go out to dance and hear to house, trance or whatever. That's generally all Joe and Jane public want to hear and its a bit hard to make them like something wouldn't they touch on normally. Music lovers and other such open minded bohemian animals you can get away with a bit more in terms of genre mangling mixing.

quote:

You sound like you've never seen a good DJ...

care to elaborate?
baring in mind im talking about 80 minute mix CD's, not live sets

Very briefly because I need to crawl into bed.
Depends to whom you're targeting with that mix, what is the audience you're going to serve it up too and will they consider it successful? Remember it's not DJ's that determine what the music should be, but the audience, some do a variety and have a following in their audience which likes what they do (like John 00 Flemming who mixes in a variety of trance genres), other's will have listeners which don't appreciate some genres, so they play that genre, those listeners will follow them (like Tiesto and Armin who tend to stick to the mostly more popular trance tracks)

Think the best way of describing it is trying to serve meat to vegetarians in a restaurant

Re: Re: How to make a great mix CD

quote:

Originally posted by RebeL9 I don't agree. I try to use different style of trance in my mixes and I think it works pretty well. Check out my mix in my sig and see for yourself. A mix with 100 mins with epic only or psy only can be quite boring. Alot of my favourite DJs are those who mix different styles.

yea I see what you mean - I'll check out your mix shortly.
What I meant is I dont like it when styles are drastically varied. For example, if you look at 'White Label Euphoria' by J00F, although it incorporates all styles of trance and some progressive house, its all in the same vain - its all fairly deep and intellegent. So yea it works really well.

Its not the same as starting with Markus Schuls and ending on The Prophit, as I've herd some people do

Have you got any mixes of your own dude?

I think mixing blindly without a thought towards set structure, overall "feeling" trying to be expressed, is suicide. However, I've heard many a set in the dj promo forum that have been pretty damn good imo.

Of course it's all subjective anyhow.

Can't say I can agree with OP at all. I've only been to like one event though I've heard quite a lot of sets here. They seem mostly good to me.

quote:

Originally posted by eRRaTiK Have you got any mixes of your own dude? I think mixing blindly without a thought towards set structure, overall "feeling" trying to be expressed, is suicide. However, I've heard many a set in the dj promo forum that have been pretty damn good imo. Of course it's all subjective anyhow.

oh yea theres always a few good ones too
one of my tougher mixes is here

http://www.megalev.co.uk/Music/DJ_J...nely_Places.mp3

I agree with the original poster.

Sometimes I hear mix cd's and radio shows it sounds like the DJ is on cruise control compared to what he does live.

DJs need to bring the interesting live aspects to studio recorded mixes. Instead of making the mixes simpler, as it seems, for example AVB does on ASOT, he should use ableton live to make the mixes more interesting. Like DE:9 Transitions, for instance.

quote:

Originally posted by Clovis You sound like you've never seen a good DJ...

Indeed.

One would think that at this point people would know there's a small difference between a live set and a dj mix. Such is life.

quote:

Originally posted by JonDC care to elaborate? baring in mind im talking about 80 minute mix CD's, not live sets

If you look to the likes of Armin for a good mix CD, you're not looking very far...

I could name a ton of interesting, different and well executed mix CDs, but I doubt any of them would be of any interest to you as they're not trance.

quote:

I could name a ton of interesting, different and well executed mix CDs, but I doubt any of them would be of any interest to you as they're not trance.

i'm interested

quote:

Originally posted by Drake44444 i'm interested

Try James Holden - At The Controls.

quote:

Originally posted by Beat Blog Try James Holden - At The Controls.

fuck man, i thought at the controls was terrible. "try balance 005" is what he meant to say.

good tunes...interesting transitions...flow


that's about it.

quote:

Originally posted by Clovis If you look to the likes of Armin for a good mix CD, you're not looking very far...

You are making some fairly big assumptions here arent you.
I do listen to Armin CD's - but as you can read I feel that some of them are lacking (though I love Universal Religion 2004, which is an example of what I do look for in a mix CD)

However, they are not the only CD's I listen to - otherwise I wouldnt be able to tell you the difference between a good and bad mix CD would I?

Furthermore, you said it sounds like I've never seen a good DJ before.
At what point was I talking about live sets?? I'm not going to start mentioning DJ's I've seen in hope that you will like one of them, but I've been going clubbing for 4 years and I've seen a fair few.

DO you want to add something to the thread instead of just gobbing off at people you dont know?

quote:

Originally posted by Clovis I could name a ton of interesting, different and well executed mix CDs, but I doubt any of them would be of any interest to you as they're not trance.

Ok, so it sounds like ive never herd a good DJ before because you dont like trance?

To be frank, Jon, what everybody is saying is that trance DJs are actually really terrible at DJing, and the vast majority of the most famous ones can't (or won't) do what you are asking. They can't scratch, don't backspin, don't quick-cut (without making it sound lousy), don't edit, don't phrase-lock, and don't rewind. They discriminate, they ignore, they pander, they block, and they paint themselves into musical corners where they only play the previous months chart toppers of a single genre in every set, effectively ignoring 99.8% of electronic music's discography. This worsens as they are contractually obligated and financially motivated to only play their own productions and the productions of their label and their label's partners.

In short, the trance scene is not interested in making good music that you will enjoy. It's interested in making a product that you will consume. Marketing controls the music, not creativity, and you will listen to whatever they tell you is good.

Off the top of my head, this is a good mix cd. But it's not trance, because no trance DJ has the skill, the creativity, the ingenuity, or the ambition to do anything like this.

I think you just have to think of what you've been up to in either your bedroom or out at the club and try and find those songs you think are really doing it for you, I personally like to put a bunch aside or make a mental note on specific tunes I think would work really great in my next demo. In fact, within one day of putting out a demo I seem to be going back, rethinking and hearing new songs or getting different ideas for the next promo.

Personally, I'm trying to share music people can enjoy and have that number of people be as large as possible. I know two things, you can't please everybody, and not everyone likes what you like. Each and every song is going to be percieved differently by different people and thats for sure, but sometimes you can trick people into hearing other sounds or styles of music they may not have appreciated prior.

It's about exposing people to music they haven't heard and can still boogie down to and if they have some of the songs on the mix, hopefully they can enjoy them in a fresh new memorable context.


It's about getting into someones house and taking over their stereo!

I enjoy working with some kind of central theme or concept to build a mix. Crossing between related styles to provide a sense of dynamism in the mix is important. With proper track selection one can actually end up relatively far from where it all began, but I tend to orchestrate things in a fairly tight fashion, encouraging a smooth flow from track to track. Of course, this also depends on the style; progressive lends itself well to smooth mixing, whereas the more energetic styles could benefit from more drastic and surprising transitions. In the mix, it all depends on what you're looking to achieve... and in my case, I've usually gone for the smooth journey.

Anyhow, I would suggest sampling a few of my mixes... plenty of time when into them, and I am quite happy with how they all turned out--not perfect, but a fine experience all the same. Here's a few that show a slow yet deliberate transition through a number of different styles/moods:
http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music...k-heliocentric/
http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music...tic-revelation/
http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music...t-harvest-2006/

I drop hip-hop, trance, breaks, dnb, and everything else in my sets.

People seem to enjoy them.

I've listened to a lot of good recorded mixes that really only cover one style of music throughout. The reason why I like them is for their nice flow, and hopefully that the set atleast somewhat builds in energy toward the end of the mix.

As for seeing a DJ live, I am not so complacent to just hear one style of music. I enjoy it most when they explore different genres to keep you guessing what is next, and keep the party going with a slightly new vibe every so often.

quote:

Originally posted by JonDC You are making some fairly big assumptions here arent you. I do listen to Armin CD's - but as you can read I feel that some of them are lacking (though I love Universal Religion 2004, which is an example of what I do look for in a mix CD) However, they are not the only CD's I listen to - otherwise I wouldnt be able to tell you the difference between a good and bad mix CD would I? Furthermore, you said it sounds like I've never seen a good DJ before. At what point was I talking about live sets?? I'm not going to start mentioning DJ's I've seen in hope that you will like one of them, but I've been going clubbing for 4 years and I've seen a fair few. DO you want to add something to the thread instead of just gobbing off at people you dont know? Ok, so it sounds like ive never herd a good DJ before because you dont like trance?

Not much to say that hasn't already been said by Ishkur and Allied.

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