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Posted by agentdansmith on Jun-07-2007 08:24:

70 minute Mix CD's....

When you guys record a promo cd, how do you go about creating a 'journey' so to speak when all you've got is 70 minutes?

I've done a few CD's now and although I am very pleased with them and people I know who have listened to them usually have nothing but good things to say - they are usually a compilation of biggish tunes and rarely build smoothly throughout (take a look at the tracklisting in my latest mix, Sessions vol.2 in the link below to see what I mean).

So... the question is, do you just go for a pleasing CD with top tunes where the listener has probably heard 50-60% of them before or do you try and create something completely new and try to build your cd up to a climax?

Cheers

Posted by SPAWNmaster on Jun-07-2007 09:43:

it really depends on what sort of feeling your going for with the promo...you trying to impress promoters? trying to show your style? etc?

as a general rule, set flow tends to stand out more than anything.

Posted by stan229 on Jun-07-2007 13:16:

the promo im working on now.. doesnt really have the hit-tunes of the year, there are a few gems i really love in it but it has a strong showing of the style and flow i wanted to achieve in the set

Posted by G-Con on Jun-07-2007 13:18:

Play the biggest hits you can and throw in some commercial cheese aswell.

Posted by stan229 on Jun-07-2007 13:21:

that'd make you seem like every other dj though or like an EDM radio station, even those have more unknown songs

edit: oops didnt realize the sarcasm, good morning

Posted by agentdansmith on Jun-07-2007 13:36:

quote:
Originally posted by stan229
that'd make you seem like every other dj though or like an EDM radio station, even those have more unknown songs

Something tells me that he was being sarcastic

I think I might start doing 2 CD's - a warm up and a peak time mix.

Cause at the moment I am very into genres that cater for both these moments but I'm trying to get them both into one mix cd which means that it's very hard to smoothly get from warm up to peak without it sounding a little too sudden.

If any of you wouldn't mind downloading my latest mix (in my sig below - Sessions vol.2) and posting up some feedback on what you thought of the structure, it would be much appreciated. I have posted it inot the Promotion section and it has been downloaded many times but no-one has left any feedback (You know what they say - "If you haven't got anything good to say, then don't say anything" )

I'd just like to know if I'm defo going down the right track.

Posted by stan229 on Jun-07-2007 13:38:

i was thinking of doing that too with the two sides of the trance i like to play.. so far i only did a very dark,moody,techy style of trance.. if i feel incomplete ill do a euphoric style, but its not good to have people listening to two cds of your stuff when tehy dont even want to listen to one if you know what i mean, like i dont think the cd i have to go mix right now will be near 80mins

Posted by Mmanu on Jun-07-2007 22:22:

Re: 70 minute Mix CD's....

quote:
Originally posted by agentdansmith
90 minutes?

fixed

Posted by Mr.Mystery on Jun-08-2007 02:00:

My sets always progress somewhere, it's not even very hard to do in 70 minutes. I usually do 60 min mixes and I still manage to make them progress - it just takes a bit of planning.

Posted by skip on Jun-08-2007 07:24:

my sets always seem to progress in to a harder way. i've actually had a bit of trouble doing a set which doesn't progress that much, in to a harder direction at least. i've thought about doing a summer mix with chilled summery tracks and i don't want it to progress to anything hard at all. i just somehow always end up playing harder stuff.
so for me the biggest problem is trying to do a set which doesn't progress that much but still stays interesting.

Posted by agentdansmith on Jun-08-2007 08:07:

Ok guys, thanks for the comments - I'll just have to spend it little more time planning the track structure then

Posted by Project-K on Jun-08-2007 10:40:

Planning is key, and having a varied and comprehensive music collection helps alot too. If all you have are hard driving tracks at 130-135bpm you'll never manage to make your sets progress. You need variety.

Posted by agentdansmith on Jun-08-2007 12:21:

quote:
Originally posted by Project-K
Planning is key, and having a varied and comprehensive music collection helps alot too. If all you have are hard driving tracks at 130-135bpm you'll never manage to make your sets progress. You need variety.

This is the thing, I do have a very varied selection of tunes, but since no-one has ever left we with any feedback on my track selection or mixing (even though my sets are downloaded a lot), I can't tell if I'm going down the right path (you can access my mixes in the sig below if you just want to see the tracklistings).

My music goes from 115bpm right up to 155bpm and covers many EDM genres - I also like to cross genres slightly within the same mix, and I'm thinking that that migth be whats making it a little harder to structure correctly.

It's much easier to structure a mix where all the tunes are of the same genre or sound similar.

Posted by CiTrus on Jun-09-2007 03:34:

how about track planning for 30mins set as demo ?

kinda little for trance music (7min a track) so wats the style that you would use in the demo?

Posted by nrjizer on Jun-09-2007 04:03:

Listen to disc 1 of Luke Fair's Balance, and take notes.

Posted by agentdansmith on Jun-09-2007 09:00:

quote:
Originally posted by CiTrus
how about track planning for 30mins set as demo ?

kinda little for trance music (7min a track) so wats the style that you would use in the demo?

Ok, I've pasted below the tracklistings for the last 2 sets I've done - this will give you an idea of what I like to play.

Sessions vol.2
1 - Oxio - Domino (Original Mix)
2 - Extrawelt - Soopertrack (Original Mix)
3 - Electrochemie - You're My Kind (Original Mix)
4 - Nathan Fake - The Sky Was Pink (James Holden Mix)
5 - Nathan Fake - Outhouse (Valentino Kanzyani Mix)
6 - Umek - Carbon Occasions (Original Mix)
7 - Sander Van Doorn - Grasshopper (Original Mix)
8 - Julian Jeweil - Air Conditionne (Original Mix)
9 - Klaxons - Golden Skans (Erol Alkans Mix)
10 - Simian Mobile Disco - Just The Beat (Original Mix)
11 - Gui Boratto - Beautiful Life (Original Mix)

Electrotech vol.3
1 - Vitalic - The Past (Intro)
2 - Vitalic - Repair Machine (Disco Mix)
3 - Gabriel & Dresden - Dangerous Power (Discount Rhino Mix)
4 - Moby - Raining Again (Steve Angello Mix)
5 - Moby - Dream About Me (Ingrosso Mix)
6 - Yoshimoto - Du What U Du (Trentmoller Mix)
7 - The Spoons - Nova Heart (Redanka Mix)
8 - Umek - Love, Peace & Hippies (Original Mix)
9 - Blake Baxter, Marc Romboy - The Club (Version 1)
10 - John Dahlback - If You Give Me (Original Mix)
11 - Freeform Five - No More Conversations (Mylo Mix)
12 - Audio Jack - Robot (Original Mix)
13 - Umek - Another Matter Entirely (Original Mix)
14 - Vitalic - LA Rock 01 (Original Mix)

Posted by Mmanu on Jun-10-2007 10:23: