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Eqing Trance

I dunno if its just me,but when I mix trance for the most part I only have time to use the low eqs. Of course it depends on the track,but I always feel rushed. However,when I mix prog or house I have more time to play around with all the eqs.

I find myself using the low eq during a transition of a mix and i play with the mid/high eqs during the build up of a track...

all pref thou... you can use them anyway you want.

general rule of thumb, the more you use the eq to your advantage the better the transition will sound

quote:

Originally posted by Luke Terry general rule of thumb, the more you use the eq to your advantage the better the transition will sound

I nominate this one for the Captain Obvious Quote Of The Week Award.

i usually cut most of the bass and a good protion of the highs out when i bring a mix in. it allows for a smoother transition. somtimes i cut everything, highs, mids and lows. then i bring the the new track in with everything cut and use the eq's to fade the tracks in and out. it works really well. sometimes i completely cut the high's and mids and keep the bass all the way up. the i drop the new track in and kill the bass on the old track and fade in and out with the high's and mids. just experiment. eq is very important when mixing tracks. it's the difference between a transition and a really smooth transition. cheers.

i use all the eq's when spinning trance.

depends on the tracks of course as to the extent at which i use 'em.

once yer comfortable enough to leave the record alone for a little while and have it stay spot on you can get more creative with the eq'ing for smoother mixes.

same as RAAVEN .. i try to use as many if i can euhh if i't's still sound ok i mean but you can do realy great things with the EQS

Re: Eqing Trance

quote:

Originally posted by SlickT I dunno if its just me,but when I mix trance for the most part I only have time to use the low eqs. Of course it depends on the track,but I always feel rushed. However,when I mix prog or house I have more time to play around with all the eqs.

EQing can be a tricky business sometimes but as people have said it's well worth doing it. With regards to the amount of time you feel you have to mix, well that will change as you become more comfortable with your beatmatching skills etc. I have noticed that over the years although my transitions haven't changed in length the amount of time it seems to take is just somehow extended. I just feel like I have more time these days to do what I want.
People that watch me say that my hands go like crazy sometimes, but to me it just seems slow motion. All about how you percieve it.

A trick I like to do with some of the more funky stuff I play is to rather than mix the beats by fading in one bass and the other out. I will cut the bass on both tracks at a suitable moment and make the kick drum do single and double kicks by turning up the bass eq on incomming track so you get a fragmented rythm that can sound pretty cool (Eddie Halliwell does this amongst others). Needs a bit of practice to make it crisp and you must make sure not to over do it as with all DJ tricks it can get old pretty damn quick if you do it too much.
Always better to do a few tricks very well than to do loads badly.

Another thing to remember about Bass EQing is that there is usually a point on most mixers that you don't want to pass as it will suck the life out of the track and make it sound very metalic.

But trust me on this.. once your matching skills get better you will almost certainly start seeking out things to do and start messing around with the EQs if nothing else because it would get boring otherwise.

Both prog and house are more forgiving as they have less layers in the songs (In most cases). With a lot of prog house you don't even have to be too bothered about phrase matching as long as you have the bars (measures) matched.

Cheers
Nem

Re: Re: Eqing Trance

quote:

Originally posted by Nemesis44 EQing can be a tricky business sometimes but as people have said it's well worth doing it. With regards to the amount of time you feel you have to mix, well that will change as you become more comfortable with your beatmatching skills etc. I have noticed that over the years although my transitions haven't changed in length the amount of time it seems to take is just somehow extended. I just feel like I have more time these days to do what I want. People that watch me say that my hands go like crazy sometimes, but to me it just seems slow motion. All about how you percieve it. A trick I like to do with some of the more funky stuff I play is to rather than mix the beats by fading in one bass and the other out. I will cut the bass on both tracks at a suitable moment and make the kick drum do single and double kicks by turning up the bass eq on incomming track so you get a fragmented rythm that can sound pretty cool (Eddie Halliwell does this amongst others). Needs a bit of practice to make it crisp and you must make sure not to over do it as with all DJ tricks it can get old pretty damn quick if you do it too much. Always better to do a few tricks very well than to do loads badly. Another thing to remember about Bass EQing is that there is usually a point on most mixers that you don't want to pass as it will suck the life out of the track and make it sound very metalic. But trust me on this.. once your matching skills get better you will almost certainly start seeking out things to do and start messing around with the EQs if nothing else because it would get boring otherwise. Both prog and house are more forgiving as they have less layers in the songs (In most cases). With a lot of prog house you don't even have to be too bothered about phrase matching as long as you have the bars (measures) matched. Cheers Nem

Any chance you could record a short sample of what you're doing, or point me in the direction of one of your recorded sets for download? I'm interested to hear exactly what you're doing.

As for the main poster, I use all of my EQ knobs, particularly when doing transitions. It really depends on the tracks, but for example sometimes there are tracks that have really loud highs that need to be toned down, too much bass when both tracks are playing at the same time, etc.

And I hear you about feeling rushed, I think it'll improve for both of us as we spend less time beatmatching. Oddly enough I've recently been finding that some of my beatmatching is happening without me even thinking about it. I just kind of move the slider right to the general speed that I need, then tweak it to get the speeds matched up. Unfortunately this doesn't happen nearly often enough.

i usually drop the bass and play around with the hi eq's while transitioning. Takes alot of practice but I;ve gotten it down pretty good. It's always cool to have the hi's from one trakc and the lows from the other track playing together.

As I've only been spinning for 3 months, I try and force myself not to drop the lows too much, it forces me to choose the next track that I'll be bringing in more wisely. Also I feel as if I'd be cheating myself if I relied on cutting out the lows of the previous track during a mix. But for the highs, I dont usually cut or add more than 45 degrees +- from the "center" position. However I do end up using the eq's much more frequently recently.

quote:

Originally posted by Endo As I've only been spinning for 3 months, I try and force myself not to drop the lows too much, it forces me to choose the next track that I'll be bringing in more wisely. Also I feel as if I'd be cheating myself if I relied on cutting out the lows of the previous track during a mix. But for the highs, I dont usually cut or add more than 45 degrees +- from the "center" position. However I do end up using the eq's much more frequently recently.

other then playing pre-mixed stuff there is no cheating. a good mix is a good mix no matter what the technique.

Re: Re: Eqing Trance

quote:

Originally posted by Nemesis44 Always better to do a few tricks very well than to do loads badly.

i nominate this one for the second "Captain Obvious Quote Of The Week Award"


hehehhe

LOL!

Point taken
Perhaps you are right, but if it was that damn obvious why is it everytime I see a young resident at a club he is murdering the mix with stuff he doen't have mastered?
Another classic mistake one sees a lot is not turning the volume down on the channel you are doing a spin back on. Sounds like crap!

Cheers
Nem

Re: LOL!

quote:

Originally posted by Nemesis44 Point taken Perhaps you are right, but if it was that damn obvious why is it everytime I see a young resident at a club he is murdering the mix with stuff he doen't have mastered? Another classic mistake one sees a lot is not turning the volume down on the channel you are doing a spin back on. Sounds like crap! Cheers Nem

Sure, even the most obvious things need to be said every now and then

Your post was actually quite good, I know that Halliwell trick, have heard it before (though by someone else I guess).

And for the phrase / bar matching in prog house: the same goes for techno most of the time, it's sometimes quite hard to keep track of the phrases, mixing with only bars aligned will also do the trick then (as 95% of the audience doesn't care about that anyway )

Re: LOL!

quote:

Originally posted by Nemesis44 Another classic mistake one sees a lot is not turning the volume down on the channel you are doing a spin back on. Sounds like crap!

oh yeah, that's border line painful to the ears!

Re: Re: Re: Eqing Trance

quote:

Originally posted by razzi i nominate this one for the second "Captain Obvious Quote Of The Week Award" hehehhe

haha, nem is captain obvious for the day!!!

Does that mean I get to wear my underpants outside my trousers or get a special mask?

Nem

quote:

Originally posted by Nemesis44 Does that mean I get to wear my underpants outside my trousers or get a special mask? Nem

actually you get a special captains hat and a cape, and you get to run around the city fighting crime... or perhaps just people who have no common sense.

I'd go for a combination of these:

- cap
- cape
- underwear outside of trousers
- running around like a moron
- trying to educate noobs

Have fun, and don't forget to take pictures!

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