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Posted by Dj.neelzo on Mar-27-2008 03:05:

mixing help

Hi, i was just wondering if i could get some more insight into creative mixing.. or like more advanced mixing techniques...

I've been practicing for about 6 months... ive got decks and a mixer with serato scratch... but its come to a point where beatmatching and looping, playing "track to track" is getting too repetitive... not saying that im getitng bored of it, i love playing trance for hours... but i wanna learn much more about (sampling and like different ways to use loops or like harmonic mixing) etc .. any one care to guide me through the next step?... or just some tips and pointers???

Thanks heaps....

Posted by AnomalyConcept on Mar-27-2008 03:34:

Listen to some sets from DJs that you like and try to figure out what they're doing. Obviously, it will be more difficult (or downright impossible) to replicate what Paul van Dyk or other laptop DJs are doing these days with the equipment that you have, but most that are using Ableton or the like used to use decks.

While reading suggestions from others certainly is helpful and may give that 'oh, I never thought of that!' factor, there is a sense of accomplishment/satisfaction from figuring things out for yourself by listening to a recording.

I say this because I'm in more or less the same position. You could also check out the 'Mixing & Techniques' section in the 'Read Here First' stickied thread.

Posted by SteelWolf on Mar-27-2008 06:22:

I don't know what your mixing style is, but does your mixer have EQ kill on it? You can do some pretty neat stuff by killing channels. Just play around is all I can say.

Posted by Dj.neelzo on Mar-28-2008 05:17:

Nah it doesnt have kill... Been wanting to change my mixer for a lil while now... ive got a pretty basic one.. i think its time i get a change... which ones would u recommend??

Posted by abletonlive05 on Apr-02-2008 20:59:

your going to get bored with it regardless unless you can afford to always buy new vinyl or tracks. Your limited on tricks, trustme if you want to maintain the flow of stuff stick with beat matching, if you start melody matching halfway through your set then it throws off the flow. try doing something neat like start real slow and then build up to a high point and then work your way back down.

Posted by abletonlive05 on Apr-02-2008 21:01:

your gonna become not interested in most mixer effects stuttering a track or killing off eqs. you best bet is to stick with a flange or filtersweep or check out something like a djm-600 for a nice mixer.

Posted by abletonlive05 on Apr-02-2008 21:11:

if you wanna start adding samples to your dj mixes it is not going to work it will not sound the same as the vinyl that you are playing. if you really want to mess around stuff you need to get something like ableton or some high end production software. then you can build really crazy introductions like those of trance around the world. but you will notice the introductions are produced at much better quality than the dj mixes.

Posted by muravei on Apr-05-2008 19:20:

There's a certain point where it stops with trance?
Correct me if I'm wrong

Posted by bucke on Apr-10-2008 14:14:

play around with phrases when mixing. yeah, mixing on the first beat from the last phrase can get boring. you can do lots of neat stuff like layering breakdowns if you know how tracks go together and how long your phrases are. for example, start mixing the next track while the previous track reaches the main breakdown, and have the 2 tracks playing together so the sounds blend. by the time the breakdown of the previous track ends, the main part of the next track will just be starting. i suck at explaining these things its best if you just hear them.

you can also do some neat remixing if you have a mixer with a sampler. that takes a lot of practice and some getting used to though.

Posted by SteelWolf on Apr-10-2008 15:25:

If you liek the feel of tactile control with real turntables... but want to explore ableton, I reccomend the switch to Torq. Torq can be ran simultaneously with Ableton allowing you to get the best of both worlds. And torq is cheap. I heart my setup.

Posted by bucke on Apr-10-2008 16:17:

quote:
Originally posted by SteelWolf
If you liek the feel of tactile control with real turntables... but want to explore ableton, I reccomend the switch to Torq. Torq can be ran simultaneously with Ableton allowing you to get the best of both worlds. And torq is cheap. I heart my setup.

yup i use torq as well and i love it! although i think its a little unreliable with ableton, as it has trouble keeping tracks and loops in sync. and you can't use external control while running it with ableton.

Posted by bucke on Apr-10-2008 22:46:

quote:
Originally posted by nerdgrl416
man, I'm tempted to get Torq but I'm worried I'll want to by Traktor or Serato later.

Oh gawd decisions. I don't know if I could justify the extra cost with Serato.

i thought we already went over this a long time ago in another post? lol

Posted by nerdgrl416 on Apr-10-2008 22:59:

quote:
Originally posted by bucke
i thought we already went over this a long time ago in another post? lol

That's why i deleted the post. haha

I went over it with myself many times too. Gay...