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How Long Is Your

Well, its not what you think it is, I just have another question that has probally been asked a million and one times here. How long do you guys play your tracks for before you start to mix out of them into another track? Let's just say it was a 7 minute track. How long would you let that play? I have been spinning for a little while now, I have got more than the basics down, so I want to take it a next step up. Any help would be really appreciated.

Rock On,

Mike

depends on the track. USUALLY i'll let most of the track play....I'll be mixing from the prior track for the first minute to two minutes, then I usually mix out with 2-3 minutes or so left, with that mix taking another minute or two.

Sometimes I'll only want part of the track though, so I'll mix out of the first breakdown, or right after it. Or maybe I'll mix into the middle of the track. Totally depends on the track obviously.

Usually I play the songs in the entirety mixing normally, with a mix covering the first minute and then starting to mix out around after the breakdown(if there is one). Recently I've been playing around with mixing out early and seeing what happens. Often it is good because you can avoid breakdowns and keep a constant beat(unless you want them, in which case, play the songs normally). This is really for trance mixing though, it differs for each genre.

There should really just be a correlation between longer and shortened mixes according to your play time.

If you're playing a shorter set it may be better to try and squeeze more things in so that involves shorter time per track and possibly shorter mixes.

Opposite for longer play time.

quote:

Originally posted by jdat If you're playing a shorter set it may be better to try and squeeze more things in so that involves shorter time per track and possibly shorter mixes. Opposite for longer play time.

hmmm i know what your saying but im not sure i agree, i think the length of your mixes should complement the thunes your playing and be soley base around that. There are some tunes that need to be played in their entirety (sp?) eg Kayestone - Atmospheres or Delerium - Silence (too drunk to think of others)

I think the best way too judge it is think if you were on the dancefloor, how annoyed would you be if the DJ mixed out of that tune early?

If you have cd decks, usually the mix out is around 1:49 left. I almost never use it other than a reference point, since doing any mixing by ear is so much better.

For me it really depends on how the que track sounds.... sometimes i'll mix with 2 minutes left so the pace and the beat of the mix is fast, sometimes i like to let the run down of the playing track go for long and then kick the que track in, too me it all depends on hows its all gonna sound.

quote:

Originally posted by djdk hmmm i know what your saying but im not sure i agree, i think the length of your mixes should complement the thunes your playing and be soley base around that. There are some tunes that need to be played in their entirety (sp?) eg Kayestone - Atmospheres or Delerium - Silence (too drunk to think of others) I think the best way too judge it is think if you were on the dancefloor, how annoyed would you be if the DJ mixed out of that tune early?

but what jdat is talking about (or at least i think he is) is that in say an hour timeslot, there isn't really time to build a decent flow, so most djs will just bang out the energetic stuff, meaning you'll naturally mix faster.

as opposed to a two hour slot, you can let things ride, have moments where there's just the outro before the next song comes in slowly.

in my opinion tho, i don't think there's any one correct answer. depends on what genre you play, the song itself, what mood you are trying to create, time of night, type of crowd, blah blah blah.

I play Trance and hard techno. Thanks for the input so far.

quote:

Originally posted by djdk hmmm i know what your saying but im not sure i agree, i think the length of your mixes should complement the thunes your playing and be soley base around that. There are some tunes that need to be played in their entirety (sp?) eg Kayestone - Atmospheres or Delerium - Silence (too drunk to think of others) I think the best way too judge it is think if you were on the dancefloor, how annoyed would you be if the DJ mixed out of that tune early?

There's just some times where you have to cut down .... one example that comes to mind is the end of the Love Parade were all the djs play at a huge roundabout/fountain ( flugplatz? ) ... each dj has a 25 minute slot ....
You think the djs are going to be playing 7 minutes of each of their tracks. NO!!
Also things like the mega lineup festivals like Mayday were each dj has one hour playtime and not one more second.


If you are calling it mixing out early it goes to show that you obviously have not studied your djing suffienctly at least that's how it appears.
A track does NOT require to be played in full.

Depending on what you are going for ( longer/shorter set ) it is all about focusing on the break of the track.


And Binkun was right on the ball in assuming what I was talking about!

Something to be very aware of though is that a lot of clubbers in my experience don't actually like only hearing a part of their favourite track so just playing a small part of it isn't the way to go.

It also depends on your time slot. If you had an hour at the beginning of a night and you started quick mixing and really going for it, the chances are that you would clear the dancefloor and never work there again.
Besides that really quick shit just tends to sound like a cheap remix album from the eighties in my humble opinion. If you have to play many tunes to keep your crowd interested it means that you are reading them badly.
It's a differnt case if you do it a couple of times in a set but in my opinion it doesn't give anything of real value to do it the whole time.

What's more important is the flow you create with the tunes you play rather than the quantity you play.

Cheers
Nem

good point. usually i tend to mix songs in the same key quicker than letting them play out, just because i can get away with messing with the eq's more, and if they're in the same key, it's harder for it to sound abrupt or out of place.

The weed on that deck looks terrible.

quote:

Originally posted by Nemesis44 Something to be very aware of though is that a lot of clubbers in my experience don't actually like only hearing a part of their favourite track so just playing a small part of it isn't the way to go. It also depends on your time slot. If you had an hour at the beginning of a night and you started quick mixing and really going for it, the chances are that you would clear the dancefloor and never work there again. Besides that really quick shit just tends to sound like a cheap remix album from the eighties in my humble opinion. If you have to play many tunes to keep your crowd interested it means that you are reading them badly. It's a differnt case if you do it a couple of times in a set but in my opinion it doesn't give anything of real value to do it the whole time. What's more important is the flow you create with the tunes you play rather than the quantity you play. Cheers Nem

Thanks for the advice Nem.

quote:

Originally posted by Nemesis44 Something to be very aware of though is that a lot of clubbers in my experience don't actually like only hearing a part of their favourite track so just playing a small part of it isn't the way to go. It also depends on your time slot. If you had an hour at the beginning of a night and you started quick mixing and really going for it, the chances are that you would clear the dancefloor and never work there again. Besides that really quick shit just tends to sound like a cheap remix album from the eighties in my humble opinion. If you have to play many tunes to keep your crowd interested it means that you are reading them badly. It's a differnt case if you do it a couple of times in a set but in my opinion it doesn't give anything of real value to do it the whole time. What's more important is the flow you create with the tunes you play rather than the quantity you play. Cheers Nem

just a note on quick mixing though, it does also depend on the crowd's knowledge of dance music. I've been in places where the promoter has asked me to mix "faster" because that's what the crowd is used to. he didn't want to hear the entire song, he just wanted it straight....like you said...from a cheap remix album where each song is only 3-4 minutes TOPS. (needless to say, i played there twice then swore never to go again.)

just an example of why it matters a lot where you are playing also. *shrug.

Actually a good point there, as ultimately they are the ones that are paying you the money and you do need to give them what they need even if it doesn't always correspond to what the general consensus of the dance crowd.
And scouting your venue is always crucial.

Some promoters are great, and some have some funny ideas but they are the ones that hire us.

Cheers
Nem

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