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-- Keyed tunes for Harmonic mixers
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Don't trust mixmeister (which nemesis is using to key the songs) to give you the right scales either...I see a lot up there that are major but are listed as the conjugate minor ones.

A scale is a bunch of musical notes that go together by interval (interval being, the distance between notes). There is a different scale for every key, but they all have the same intervals (thus, sounding the same, just modulated up or down a few notes).
The key of a song is usually, but not necessarily, the first note of the song. The exception is when someone uses all the notes of a scale for a given key, but does not start it with that note.

Mixing by a standard chord progression will make things nice if you can work it well enough, but this is impossible to do live, and you need more theory yet to understand that, which I won't get into.

And by the way...going from C minor to C# minor or E minor to F minor will sound like *ass*. If you want to know what notes with function best together, learn your musical scales. What's the best way to learn the scales? Buy a keyboard, go to a website that explains the notes for all of them, and then practice a lot on your keyboard, going up and down the entire thing for each scale. Tedious work, but it really helps you memorize them (plus helps a lot with your ability to play piano, too!)

Remember: +6 is roughly equal to one semitone, so modify accordingly when mixing. Going beyond +/- 1% of a semitone will start to make the mix sound very bad harmonically, so try to avoid that.

do you guys actually remember the harmonics of each song?

i wouldn't thats for sure

+ it requires way too much brain cells

Someone should start a database website for this, its good stuff. How are you getting the key for thease mixes? Running your mixer into your cromatic tuner? I dont have a cromatic tuner, just a regular one, does anyone know of a good program for the computer that does cromatic tuning? I can run the TT's right into my 828 and into the laptop. I'll key my tunes and post them up here.

2slow

Im not sure if I'm harmonically mixing correctly, but I've been practicing harmonic mixing for the past few sessions and, from reference, it sounds awesome and makes your mixing alot more fun to do...you feel a renewed sense of energy mixing from key to key, and it truly feels like your sets go up and down in accordance to the variancen with the key.
The best way, I found, to mix in key is just to do it by ear...start off with some records that you feel comfortable with, and begin with a 1 record transition...see how that sounds, and keep at it. Then try to spin a whole set while keeping the key intact. You'll notice after a few tries that you will be able to understand what harmonic mixing is about.
Thanks for all the info...kepp it posted!

quote:

Originally posted by dJohn Im not sure if I'm harmonically mixing correctly, but I've been practicing harmonic mixing for the past few sessions and, from reference, it sounds awesome and makes your mixing alot more fun to do...you feel a renewed sense of energy mixing from key to key, and it truly feels like your sets go up and down in accordance to the variancen with the key. The best way, I found, to mix in key is just to do it by ear...start off with some records that you feel comfortable with, and begin with a 1 record transition...see how that sounds, and keep at it. Then try to spin a whole set while keeping the key intact. You'll notice after a few tries that you will be able to understand what harmonic mixing is about. Thanks for all the info...kepp it posted!

Keeping the key intact would basically make the entire mix sound the same, and very boring...It's the key variation that brings movement to your mix.

Newbie question(s):

Is it important to try and mix by key when DJ'ing, or is just something that some DJ's prefer?

Do major DJ's (Armin/Tiesto/PvD/Oakenfold/etc) try to mix in key?

Yeah..thats what makes them good, not to mention their track selection

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Nuclear Don't trust mixmeister (which nemesis is using to key the songs)

DJ Nuclear
Actually Nemesis is a musician and producer and doens't need software to do this... Not sure where you got that info from but it's wrong. Very wrong indeed.
With regards to conjugate minors, I am genuinely interested if you could give an example. Rather than challenging you I actually see this as an oportunity for me to learn something so would be greatful.

Agree with you on the rest of your post though.
With regards to using sorftware to do this, I would actually recomend learning a little about music rather than relying on electronics to do this for you. I think you and I share the same opinion on that?

Nem

Just for the record. I key all these tunes manually using either a Ibanez guitar or a Korg keyboard (depending on mood). To be honest, it wasn't actually until I logged onto this forum that I heard of Mixmiester (or what ever it's called).
However, just like the rest of you wonderful human beings I am also prone to the occasional error

Two new additions to the list this morning.

Bm (10A) Motorcycle - As the rush comes (Both Gabriel and Dresden and Armin van Buuren mixes are in same key)
Cm (5A) DJ Kim - Time and Space (Alphazone Remix)

I am working on a more indepth guide to some of the finer points of harmonic mixing which I will put here for people to read, post comments etc. as promised.

Here is the revised list

Fm (4A) ? - For an Angel Bootleg (S.H.O.K.K. style remake of the PvD classic)
A#m (3A) ? - Veracocha (Ferry Corsten Whitelabel Bootleg)
D#m (2A) 4 Strings - (Take me away) Into the Night (Original Mix)
Cm (5A) Airscape - L'esperanza (Original Mix)
Cm (5A) Akusmata x-perience - Tokyo (Original)
Bm (10A) Alphazone - Rockin' (Original Club Mix)
D#m (2A) Andian - Summber Calling (Airwave Club Remix)
Am (8A) Andora - Melody (Original)
Cm (5A) Apotygma Berzerk - Kathy's Song (Matt Silver vs Tony Burt Remix)
Gm (6A) Ascension feat. Erin Lordan - For a lifetime (Ocean Lab Mix)
Am (8A) Ayla - Ayla (DJ Tandu Remix)
A#m (3A) Ayu - M (Above and Beyond Typhoon Dub Mix)
F#m (11A) Baby Doc - La Batteria (The Drum Track)
Dm (7A) Baby Doc and Jon the Dentist - Mantra to the Buddha 2003 (Mark Kavanagh's baby doll Remix)
Dm (7A) BBE - Desire (Age of club mix)
Gm (6A) Bedrock - Heaven Scent (Original Mix)
A#m (3A) Benny Benassi - Satisfaction (Isak Original)
G#m (1A) Big Fat - Discogogo (Original Mix)
F#m (11A) Billy Daniel Bunter & Jon Doe - Round and Round (Original Mix)
Dm (7A) Blank & Jones - Coming to life
A#m (3A) Blank & Jones - Cream (Long version)
Dm (7A) Blank & Jones - It's Alright
Cm (5A) Bobby V - Energy (Espuma Phuture Club Mix)
Cm (5A) Brainbug - Nightmare (Sinister Strings mix)
D#m (2A) Cern - The Message (Northern Mix)
Fm (4A) Chicane - Saltwater (Original Mix)
Gm (6A) Citizen Caned - The Journey (Original)
Cm (5A) CK2 - Rushin (Kernzy & Klemenza Remix)
A#m (3A) Clokx - Clocks (Ron van den Beuken Remix)
Gm (6A) Co-Fusion - Hot Hot
F#m (11A) Cosmic Gate - Human Beings (Extended Remix)
G#m (1A) Cosmicman - I love you (Original Mix)
Gm (6A) D.A.V.E. The Drummer - Bedroom Jazz Tangle
F#m (11A) D.J. Ricky T. - Platinum (Luca Antolini DJ Remix)
Dm (7A) Da Hool - Meet her at the love parade (Nalin and Kane mix)
C#m (12A) Dark Monks - Insane (DJ Shah Remix)
Am (8A) Dark Suite Feat. Aura - Dark Sweet Piano (Frank Trax vs Organ Mix)
F#m (11A) Darren Tate vs Mike Koglin - Now is the time (Original Club mix)
Em (9A) Darude - Sandstorm (Original Mix)
Cm (5A) Dave Devil - Mind Opening (Original Mix)
Am (8A) Dave Joy - Second Chase (Original Mix)
G#m (1A) David Forbes - Simpatico (Original Mix)
C#m (12A) DB Boulevard - Point of view (Hard Option Remix)
Dm (7A) Decoy & Roy - Inner Life (Eject Remix)
D#m (2A) Delusion - Like this
Fm (4A) Digital Blonde - Mooga (Original Mix)
Am (8A) Digital Pressure - Aftershock (Alphazone Remix)
F#m (11A) Dirt Devils - The Drill (Evacuation Mix)
Fm (4A) DJ Choose presents That Mucho - Release Me
Cm (5A) DJ Kim - Time and Space (Alphazone Remix)
Bm (10A) DJ Quicksilver - Bingo Bongo (Club Mix)
D#m (2A) DJ Sakin & Friends - Nomansland 'David's Song' (Lange Remix)
Am (8A) DJ Tiesto - Lethal Industry (Original Mix)
Cm (5A) DJ Tiesto - Obsession (Filterheadz Remix)
Am (8A) DJ Ton T.B. - Electronic Malfunction (DJ Cor Fijneman's Outstanding Remix)
Gm (6A) DK - Murder was the Bass (Reworked) TUNE!!!!!!!!!!
Cm (5A) Dogzilla - Dogzilla (Simon Patterson & Richie Kayvan Mix)
Gm (6A) Drugface - **** master (DJ the Crow Remix)
Em (9A) DT8 Feat. Roxanne Wilde - Destination (BK Remix)
Fm (4A) Dutch Courage - The World (That Mucho Remix)
Fm (4A) Echoten - Liftin' me up (Pulser Remix)
Em (9A) Electric Kid (aka M.I.K.E.) vs Fred Backer - Now or never (Original Mix)
Fm (4A) Electrique Boutique Feat. Taz - Heal (Vocal Mix)
Am (8A) Endyminion - Running Again (Mat Silver vs Tony Burt Remix)
Fm (4A) Energy 52 - Caf� Del Mar '98 (Original Three 'n one mix)
Am (8A) Euphonic - Asia
Cm (5A) Euphonic - State of Evolution 'Original'
Fm (4A) Fatboy Slim - Star 69
Gm (6A) Floyd - 4 Ever (Abel Ramos Remix)
Em (9A) Flutlicht - The Fall (Marc Dawn Remix)
Em (9A) Flutlicht - The Fall (Original Mix)
Em (9A) Fridge - Angel (Club Mix)
G#m (12A) GY-RO - Tomahawk
Bm (10A) Hemstock & Jennings - Mirage 'of hope' (Lange Remix)
Bm (10A) Hiroshi Okada - Beyond the Green (DJ Hinx Original)
D#m (2A) Human Evolution - Project Magenta (One Giant Leap for mankind mix)
Am (8A) Igor S - Boomerang (Igor S mix)
D#m (2A) Informers - Dawn of Mankind
G#m (1A) Ingo vs Daz - Tranceptor
D#m (2A) Insigma - Open your eyes (Original Club Mix)
Am (8A) Inzite - Everest
Fm (4A) Inzite - Spellbound
Fm (4A) Jefferseiff - Take me on (Southside Spinners RMX)
D#m (2A) Jens - Psycho Strings (Jens 99 Remix)
Em (9A) Jezper S�derlund - Angel (Bravo & Priest Mix)
Fm (4A) Jon the Dentist - Mercury (Push Harder Mix)
C#m (12A) Joy Kitikonti - Joydontstop (Freaky Mix)
Cm (5A) K2 - Binary Finary (Single sided bootleg)
Bm (10A) Kernkraft 400 - Zombie Nation (Dave Clarke Remix)
Am (8A) Liquinoid - Substance (Original)
Cm (5A) Lost Angels - Storm of trance (Backslash and Procell mix)
D#m (2A) Lost Witness - Happiness Happening (Lange Remix)
Em (9A) Lovechild - Liberta (Moonman Remix)
A#m (3A) M.I.K.E. vs John '00' Flemming - Ice Cream (Original Mix)
Cm (5A) M.O.R.P.H. - Creatures (G&M Project Remix)
Dm (7A) Mac J - Perfect Blend (Rank 1 Remix)
Em (9A) Magic Alec vs Jay Griffin - The key (Original Mix)
Em (9A) Magnum Force - Blow the Bloody Doors Off (Cool acid techno track using cool sample from the film 'The Italian Job')
Fm (4A) Marc Dawn - Expander (Flutlicht Remix)
Am (8A) Marc et Claude - Tremble (Ltd Remix part 2)
Em (9A) Marcel Woods - Serenity (Original Mix)
A#m (3A) Marco V - Godd (Original)
Gm (6A) Marcos - Red Bullet (Marcos Mix)
Dm (7A) Marcos - Sunfire (Original Mix)
Gm (6A) Mario Piu & Mauro Picotto - Arabian Pleasure (Tuareg Mix)
Fm (4A) Mat Silver - Unique
D#m (2A) Mat Silver vs Tony Burt - Teardrops (S.H.O.K.K. Remix)
F#m (11A) Mat Silver vs Tony Burt - Ultimate Wave (Alphazone Remix)
F#m (11A) Matt Darey - Electro Buzz
Dm (7A) Mauro Picotto - Back to Cali (Push Remix)
G#m (1A) Mauro Picotto - Pulsar 2002 (Picotto Verdi Mix)
A#m (3A) Max Savietto - Alone (Original)
Gm (6A) Melodica - Tornado (Original Mix)
Cm (5A) Michael Splint pres Eruption - I feel free (DJ Choose & F's That mucho remix)
Em (9A) Milanel - Unravel (D.A.V.E. the Drummer Remix)
Em (9A) Minimalistix - Magic Fly (Nord vs Bonka Remix)
Bm (10A) Motorcycle - As the rush comes (Both Gabriel and Dresden and Armin van Buuren mixes are in same key)
D#m (2A) Mr Sam vs Fred Baker - Forever Waiting (M.I.K.E. Remix)
F#m (11A) MTW - Follow the Dream
Cm (5A) Mundane Men - Joy (Instrumental)
Cm (5A) Mythos n' Watergate - A never ending dream (Hennes & Cold Remix)
D#m (2A) Nalin and Kane - Beachball (Tall Paul Remix)
Cm (5A) Naxos Project - Our Time (Digital Pressure Remix)
Gm (6A) NBG - Universal Love (CJ Stone Remix)
Em (9A) Neo & Farina - Wav Assasin (Original Mix)
Gm (6A) N-Fluence - Sweet Substance (Original)
Cm (5A) Nick Rafferty & Paul Kershaw - Every single Sound (Original Mix)
Cm (5A) Nick Rowland & Dave Wright - Silverspeed (God's Child)
A#m (3A) Nigel Gee - Hootin' (Ariels Paradise Factory Mix)
Cm (5A) Nitromothane - Time to die (Seraque Remix)
D#m (2A) Nivago - I feel free (Niels van Gogh Remix)
Bm (10A) Norman Bass - How you like bass (Warp Brothers Club mix)
Am (8A) Ocean Force - Euphonic Dream (Free Radical Remix)
A#m (3A) P.K. - Insomniacs
G# (4B) Paffendorf - Be Cool (Original Mix)
Fm (4A) Para X - Skytunes (Instrumental Club Mix)
Gm (6A) Phat Bloke & Slim - Primary (Trance Mix)
A#m (3A) Planet Perfecto - Bullet in the gun (Saturday Mix)
D#m (2A) Plastic Boy - Live another life
Dm (7A) PPK - Resurection (Space Club Mix)
Fm (4A) Progresia - Stockholm (Martin Eyerer & Hiroshi Okada Remix)
G#m (1A) Public Domain - Operation Blade (Original Mix)
D#m (2A) Pulser - My religion (Original Mix)
Bm (10A) Push - Journey of Life (Rank 1 Remix)
Bm (10A) Push - Strangeworld (2000 Remake)
G#m (1A) Push vs Globe - Tranceformation
Am (8A) Queen + Vanguard - Flash (Tomcraft Remix)
C#m (12A) Queen's Jewels - Don't stop me (Single sided test pressing)
Am (8A) Rapid Eye - Circa Forever (Free radical Remix)
Bm (10A) Red Alien feat. Afrika Islam - Red Alien (DJ Evolution Mix)
C#m (12A) Riley & Durrant - Candesco (Wavestorm Remix)
G#m (1A) Ron van den Beuken - Timeless (Ron van den Beuken Remix)
G#m (1A) Ronski Speed - Iris (Original Mix)
Cm (5A) Saltwater - The Legacy (Alphazone Mix)
Gm (6A) Sander Kleinenberg - Observator
Gm (6A) Sander Kleinenberg - Slipper Sleaze
A#m (3A) Sander Kleinenberg - Sound Family (Is all I need)
Em (9A) Sander Kleinenberg - Venus & Mars
Cm (5A) Sandra Flyn - Do it right (Original Mix)
Em (9A) Sasha - Bellfunk
C# (3B) Sasha - Rabbitweed
Gm (6A) Sasha - Xpander
A#m (3A) Sasha/Emerson - Scorshio (Full Length Version)
Am (8A) Scott Mac - Damager 02
G#m (1A) Sensation - The Anthem 2003 (Original Mix)
Am (8A) Shane 54 - Equinoxe 4 (Martin Eyerer Remix)
Am (8A) Sister Bliss - Deliver Me (Mix 1)
Em (9A) Size Triple D - No one listens to techno
D#m (2A) SMF aka Smurref - Madness (Original)
G#m (1A) Space Planet - Sentence of Eternity (Acid Mix)
A#m (3A) Spider - Striker (Original mix)
Dm (7A) Stimulant DJs - Legitimate Sounds (Paul Maddox Remix)
Am (8A) Storm - Love is here to stay (Blank & Jones Remix)
Dm (7A) Storm - Time to Burn (Original Mix)
Fm (4A) Su Real - Always on my mind (12" Vocal Mix)
Bm (10A) System F - Spaceman (Extended Mix)
A#m (3A) TDR 01 - ? Big Dutch Trancer (If anyone recognises that promo code and knows what the name of this tune send me a PM as I would love to know.)
Dm (7A) The Digital Blonde - Noctone
D#m (2A) The Moon feat Nu NRG - The Moon Loves the Sun
Cm (5A) The Mystery - Feel 4 You (Dub Mix)
A#m (3A) The Sunseeker - Oasis 2003 (Mind X vs Stenzel Original)
D#m (2A) Todd Tobias - Brave New World (K90 Mix)
C#m (12A) Tomcraft - Loneliness (Klub Mix)
Bm (10A) Trancesetters - Roaches (Bugs in Slacker's Basement Remix)
Em (9A) Tukan - Light a rainbow (Green Court Mix)
F#m (11A) Unknown Source - Nadjanema (Fire & Ice remix)
Gm (6A) Utah Saints - Lost Vagueness (Oliver Leib's Main Mix)
C#m (12A) Visionaire - Body Fever
G#m (1A) Walt & Feliz - Endless (Original)
C#m (12A) Wellenrausch - On the run (TMT Mix)
D#m (2A) William Orbit - Adagio for Strings (Ferry Corsten Remix)
A#m (3A) Yoji Biomehanika - Bangin' Globe (Ferry Corsten Remix)
Fm (4A) Yomanda - Free (Syth Mix)
Cm (5A) Yves Deruyter - Spiritual Feeling (Remix)
D#m (2A) Yves Deruyter - Y.D.O.T. (Original Mix)

Nemesis -- I am fairly sure clocks is D-sharp major (with a few accidentals), and scorchio is also major.

Every major key has a conjugate minor. The easiest one of these to know is C major and A minor. The entire C major scale is white keys; same with A minor. For every major scale that exists, a minor one using the exact same keys but beginning at a different interval exists.

Many guitar players do not seem to know this for some reason...

here is the whole list of conjugates
minor Major
A C
A# C#
Bb Db
B D
C Eb
C# E
D F
D# F#
Eb Gb
E G
F Ab
F# A
G Bb
Ab Cb

quote:

Originally posted by montie i'm no expert. but i think when you want to step up the emotion and energy of a mix, you would mix in your next song which is in a compatible key with the song being played and which is higher. the opposite is true for stepping down the energy

sounds like a good theory

Heya Nuclear,

Thanks for the response.

Ah yes.. Clokx. I remember keying that one... bit of a tricky one as I recal. What happens there is that while the first chord of the melody is indeed as you have correctly stated a D# major, the actual key of the song is a A# minor.
When trying to find the root of this song you can try playing the D# all the way through and it just sounds rough in my ears in some parts. A# seems to fit in everywhere as does the whole A# minor chord. I often use scales and tend to add my own solos whilst doing my keying and the A# minor stuff works better than the D# stuff.
What also makes this song a little tricky is that the break down changes the whole character of the song whilst the in between bits bubble along happlily in A# minor the break leaps up and starts the tune in D# major which gives it a new sense of energy almost like a key change.

Again with Scorchio it just fits with A# minor and I just can not get it to sound good with D# major... will be checking tuning just to make sure but pertty sure that's how it is.

Thanks for the list though, it's always cool to learn stuff. I also appreciate someone who is prepared to discuss in a good way.

All the best to you

cheers
Nem

quote:

Originally posted by montie i'm no expert. but i think when you want to step up the emotion and energy of a mix, you would mix in your next song which is in a compatible key with the song being played and which is higher. the opposite is true for stepping down the energy

Heya Montie/ Sebjr

They way a key changes to get renewed energy is a little bit different and in a way has nothing to do with harmonics.

To give you an example of what I mean think of some of the old 50's rock n' roll tunes when they are going into their final verse... (can't think of a good example though) when the music just seems to speed up a bit and just seems to give it that bit more. That's a key change.

Let's say you are playing a song in a C minor (5A), what you need to do is pick a song in C#/Db (12A) minor to get the key change. What's important however is that you don't fade these two together as that would sound very bad. With this type of mix you need to have the second song come in just as the other finishes from a musical point of view.
They way I do this sometimes is to slam the bass down on the outgoing and replace it with the incoming. this all has to be done pretty instantly so you don't get a key clash as the combination of the two will sound hideous.

This trick is used quite a lot by PvD in his sets, I have also heard Eddie Halliwell do it, although he does it a little different by jumping two or three steps on the chromatic scale, he doesn't however always kill the bass enough in his mixes and I think that sounds arse in my humble opinion.

Hope that helps a little.


Hey Montie,

By the way been looking for those tracks you mentioned you wanted keyed. As I don't have them, if you want put them up on your site and send me the link and I will do if for you.

Cheers
Nem

quote:

Originally posted by Nemesis44 Heya Montie/ Sebjr They way a key changes to get renewed energy is a little bit different and in a way has nothing to do with harmonics. To give you an example of what I mean think of some of the old 50's rock n' roll tunes when they are going into their final verse... (can't think of a good example though) when the music just seems to speed up a bit and just seems to give it that bit more. That's a key change. Let's say you are playing a song in a C minor (5A), what you need to do is pick a song in C#/Db (12A) minor to get the key change. What's important however is that you don't fade these two together as that would sound very bad. With this type of mix you need to have the second song come in just as the other finishes from a musical point of view. They way I do this sometimes is to slam the bass down on the outgoing and replace it with the incoming. this all has to be done pretty instantly so you don't get a key clash as the combination of the two will sound hideous. This trick is used quite a lot by PvD in his sets, I have also heard Eddie Halliwell do it, although he does it a little different by jumping two or three steps on the chromatic scale, he doesn't however always kill the bass enough in his mixes and I think that sounds arse in my humble opinion. Hope that helps a little. Hey Montie, By the way been looking for those tracks you mentioned you wanted keyed. As I don't have them, if you want put them up on your site and send me the link and I will do if for you. Cheers Nem

I'm a tad confused. So basically you do a quick swap of basslines and then drop the volume of the outgoing track quickly? No blending of eqs right? Also, you can't gradualy bring in the volume of the incoming track at all? Is this best done after the second breakdown or in the outro of a track? I thought I had this down,but I don't think I do...

quote:

Originally posted by Nemesis44 Heya Montie/ Sebjr They way a key changes to get renewed energy is a little bit different and in a way has nothing to do with harmonics. To give you an example of what I mean think of some of the old 50's rock n' roll tunes when they are going into their final verse... (can't think of a good example though) when the music just seems to speed up a bit and just seems to give it that bit more. That's a key change. Let's say you are playing a song in a C minor (5A), what you need to do is pick a song in C#/Db (12A) minor to get the key change. What's important however is that you don't fade these two together as that would sound very bad. With this type of mix you need to have the second song come in just as the other finishes from a musical point of view. They way I do this sometimes is to slam the bass down on the outgoing and replace it with the incoming. this all has to be done pretty instantly so you don't get a key clash as the combination of the two will sound hideous. This trick is used quite a lot by PvD in his sets, I have also heard Eddie Halliwell do it, although he does it a little different by jumping two or three steps on the chromatic scale, he doesn't however always kill the bass enough in his mixes and I think that sounds arse in my humble opinion. Hope that helps a little.

Ok I think I understand, now just gotta do the hard part, keying the tunes :/

I was wondering, if you are just mixing in the same key, so it sounds smooth, can you still create a lift in energy just by putting in a tune which is in the same key but more energetic? or does the key kind of relate to that...hope that isnt too confusing.

Also if I'm keying my tunes, and some of them are wrong, will it sound really bad, or if i get the key 'close' will that be better then not keying them at all?

Also when keying tunes, I've found a program called Transcribe which can analyse part of the track and give you a breakdown of it in wave form. Has anyone used this??

Must admit that I don't see any real reason why software couldn't do this for you, but I must also admit I don't know enough about this software to comment. Only you will be able to tell if your mixes sound right. It would be interesting to perhaps compare a track or two just to see what we have.

Cheers
Nem

well i checked a few of the tracks you did with the ones with mixmeister, and they are the same. so it seems mixmeister is accurate.

still dont trust it though, as ive found a few which dj prince has keyed on djprince.no, which dont match with what mixmeister came up with...hmmm

think ill just use it as a guide.

quote:

Originally posted by sebjr well i checked a few of the tracks you did with the ones with mixmeister, and they are the same. so it seems mixmeister is accurate.

LOL... Either that or I am as mad as mixmeister

With regards to DJ Prince
Actually to be honest, this may sound like a bold statement but I have found that just like my list may not be 100% accurate neither is his.
Cream by Blank and Jones is down as a Db major on his site. While I agree that it's the first note/chord in the melody it's not the root/key. If you try and play a scale in Db major it just sounds baaad. What can also confuse things is that he doesn't always put which mix it is. A remix doesn't always go in the same key as the original.
He does have a top site though with regards to information and tips. Worth a look in anyones book.

Worth checking out some of the mixes he does. From a technical point they are very good although he is one of those DJs that mixes 100 tunes in about 15 minutes (something that I can't stand). My guess is that the mixes on his site are studio based or the man is an octopus. A lot of the stuff is a bit commercial for my liking too but you can alwways learn something or get some ideas from it.

Just out of interest. Just so you guys don't think that I'm some jumped up ego who's been DJing about a year and know's a little about music, I have actually been doing this for about 17 years. Both DJing and production. I have also released two tracks and had a hand in a few more. I don't actually call myself Nememsis as a DJ either . I DJ live about 4 times a week normally and atleast an hour a day at home (Crazy after all this time I know, but I just love it).

Cheers
Nem

hey nemesis, what are the names of your tracks?
i'd like to check them out.

I'll post them on my website so that you can check them out. I will send you a PM when it's done... hopefully in the next week or so.

Cheers
Nem

Are there any programmers here who'd like to take a shot at programming a key finding program? I have several essays of algorithms that will sort out harmonics patterns and automatically determine the key something is in.

I happened to come across a very accurate C algorithm for the determination of a track's BPM that I'm going to try to reorganize later so you can give it a directory of MP3's and it will give you a list of perfect integer BPMs.

Nice one. Sadly my programming skills are not up to much, but I think that sounds like a really good idea. Man you like your music theory!

Cheers
Nem

heheh.../me wonders if nem is some kind of big dj in the UK...interesting

this key thing is starting to irk me a bit now...i still havent got the hang of it.

ive keyed all my records using a variety of programs, and using my ear all of them seem right

however some mixes which are in key, still sound bad, i thought you were supposed to overlay the entire track over another and it should sound good? because if it is in the same key, all the chords/notes should be the same shouldnt they?

example, gus gus - david (darren emerson mix) an absolute bitch to mix in over any other tune i have...it is in b minor, and i cant mix it with feel alive (scumfrog mix)...even though it is the same key, it just sounds weird. better then some other mixes sure but still not very good to the ear



also i find it much harder to beat match when mixing in key, its like the bass is harder to pick up in the headphones when fine tuning. when mixing just by ear, i am much tighter, i am wondering if this is because i am usually out of key so the bass sounds different, lol.

Heya Seb,

The tracks that you mix still have certain rules etc. There is still a lot to be said for placement of the mix even if it's in key.
Some tracks can even be diliberately out of key with themselves (Something that may give it a more sinister sound etc).

The funny thing about a key is this that even if the root of the record will work with all the notes/chords, the other notes/chords may not work with each other. You will ofcourse get these magical records that go together as if they were written for eachother but it's often better to mix while there is less happening in one of the records i.e. just beat and bassline.

In answer to your question regarding being a big DJ, the answer I'm afraid has to be no. Although when I used to play big beat I was getting a lot of recognition and had started to climb the ladder of fame there. Played some pretty big places back then. I just didn't feel like commiting myself to a music style that I didn't feel 100% in love with. Was almost like having a girlfriend and being in love with another woman. I guess Trance has become my naughty mistress of sin now. But she is right for me and that's what I want to do. It does mean I have had to start again but knowing people in the business has helped a lot. Plus I have a good agency so I get a lot of work. I don't call myself Nemesis though.

And yes Harmonic mixing can change what you hear though the phones so you may have to get used to it.

All the best
Nem

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