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-- minor beatmatching slip ups on demos...
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Posted by Shudder on May-10-2008 02:38:

minor beatmatching slip ups on demos...

I'm not talking about the trains colliding type but more so the type where the average clubber/listener won't really notice but as a dj, its the biggest deal ever.

are they a deal breaker?


Posted by DiscoStew on May-10-2008 02:44:

Reworded because I think some people were understanding what I was saying differently than I meant it:

On a demo, yes it is a big deal. In a club, absolutely not a big deal and 90%+ of folks won't even notice or care. (IMO)


Posted by stan229 on May-10-2008 02:54:

I would think they exact opposite.. Your general populus are going to be too drunk to care or even hear.. The promoter, if he is really a passionate EDM follower and maybe a trainspooter.. he might care more


Posted by nefardec on May-10-2008 03:06:

depends on the style you're pumping


generally it's best not to fuck up


Posted by DiscoStew on May-10-2008 03:14:

quote:
Originally posted by stan229
I would think they exact opposite.. Your general populus are going to be too drunk to care or even hear.. The promoter, if he is really a passionate EDM follower and maybe a trainspooter.. he might care more


I think we're saying the same thing. If you f* up live (but too bad) in a club setting, you might get a few people who might be like "that was a bit off, i think, at least i thought i heard it". But they'll get over it quickly. However, on a demo, the ability to rewind your performance makes it easier to spot flaws.

Always put your best foot forward.


Posted by Yohan on May-10-2008 03:15:

Eh. If I send out promos to promoters, I make sure it's spot on.

You don't know how critical the guy is going to be, so better safe than sorry.

If you're going to do something, at least do it well


Posted by richg101 on May-10-2008 07:55:

a slight flaw adds character imo. reminds you you are listening to a real human instead of a boring ableton mix. if promoters let little flaws where you have had to correct the mix affect their selection then the tunes you are palying dont grab him enough. its all about the tunes imo.


Posted by sleepydragon on May-10-2008 14:10:

quote:
Originally posted by DiscoStew
On a demo, yes. In a club, absolutely not. (IMO)


In a club no one notices stupid mistakes i should know the majority in clubs dont have a clue about mixing you can get pretty slack with it.


Posted by Max Thomson on May-10-2008 15:59:

practice, pre-arrange, edit out your fuck ups, hell you could even sequence the whole thing in ableton, just make sure you put out the best demo possible AND you can back it up live.


Posted by progress on May-11-2008 04:48:

Honestly, if someone hands me a demo with train wrecking on it, I trash it. I understand people trainwreck, hell, call me Amtrak. But take more pride in your work when you are showcasing yourself to get more work (catch my drift?).


Posted by djsphere on May-11-2008 11:04:

quote:
Originally posted by richg101
a slight flaw adds character imo. reminds you you are listening to a real human instead of a boring ableton mix. if promoters let little flaws where you have had to correct the mix affect their selection then the tunes you are palying dont grab him enough. its all about the tunes imo.


very much agree with that

small beatmatching mistakes makes the mix sound "live"


Posted by Tony Morello on May-11-2008 19:08:

you don't put out your resume with a little typo on it "to give it that little touch of character"

a demo is like your dj resume, you want to put your best foot forward


Posted by pkcRAISTLIN on May-11-2008 23:23:

other DJs are the only people that can hear tiny slip ups, my first demo had a few tiny errors and it still got me gigs.

if the mix is good enough for you then chances are its good enough for everyone else.


Posted by Lunar Phase 7 on May-12-2008 19:50:

I got a demo of some chump I know through work, he plays tech house and uses ableton.

No lie everymix was a train wreck. How he fucked it so bad I honestly have no idea, but it was BAD.

I'll rip a sample and send it over for the ultimate lol.

turbo fail to be sure.

yet he is proud of it. retard.


Posted by Ray_Chappell on May-13-2008 01:30:

As a long-time former promoter, my suggestion is that you don't mess up on your demo. I heard half a dozen demos every week. If I got a mix with a mess up or two on it I tossed it... in my opinion, if you were too lazy to record it, or not good enough to get it right on a demo - which you could do several takes at - I couldn't trust you live. I figured demos were the absolute best a dj could provide... if it has screw ups on it (audible ones), that isn't a good sign.

Some promoters may be less picky, but I had hundreds of people I could put on a roster for a party or in a club... I'd pick the best by demo, experience, or reputation.

Also... if you have trouble getting the demo spot on, start recording your live sessions at gigs. One way to get around making a promoter nervous was to hear an actual live mix. Accompany the mix with a flyer of the gig - otherwise I figured it was someone calling it a live mix because they couldn't get a decent demo.

Last suggestion - run it through SoundForge or whatever to get tracks level and a relatively decent sound. Make it fun to listen to.


Posted by Lunar Phase 7 on May-13-2008 22:40:

quote:
Originally posted by Ray_Chappell
Last suggestion - run it through SoundForge or whatever to get tracks level and a relatively decent sound. Make it fun to listen to.


Normalise all your tracks you wanna mix, then just set the gains the same. That way all you gotta worry about is EQ and the actual transition logistics anyways.

Levels are the hardest thing to get right anyways with compression and shit fucking dynamics left right and centre these days, so if you normalise all your tracks to like -3dB you don't need to keep an eye on the level meters.


Posted by Storyteller on May-13-2008 23:48:

quote:
Originally posted by Lunar Phase 7
Levels are the hardest thing to get right anyways with compression and shit fucking dynamics left right and centre these days, so if you normalise all your tracks to like -3dB you don't need to keep an eye on the level meters.


Not entirely true. In the majority of cases this is sufficient. But there are more and more tracks being released everyday which have not had any proper post processing.

When using your method you match the levels of the peaks. When mixing this way the average volume levels could be way different. This could still cause a dramatic increase/decrease in volume when mixing into your next track. Matching peaks is good, but a second check through your headset couldn't hurt.


Posted by elFreak on May-14-2008 05:56:

if you fuck up the first time, start over. If you don't have time to do this, you certainly don't have all the time involved it takes to be a good dj. From digging to hustling, it consumes alot. If it doesn't you aren't investing enough into yourself to be anything decent imo.

pps...sets that are too planned tend to fail alot, have an idea what you want to convey but let it flow. Then nail the mixing, problem solved.


Posted by Shudder on May-14-2008 06:07:

yea thats what i tend to to. i just redid the set 2 more times. 2nd time i messed up at the same exact transition which sucked balls.


Posted by elFreak on May-14-2008 06:24:

maybe its just not the right track man. Some tracks wont sound good together no matter what. Learn to gunsling and play on the fly and it will teach you how to mix in any situation. Planning all the time = bigger learning curve imo.


Posted by Tony Morello on May-14-2008 10:18:

coming from the 2 promoters in this thread

if you fuck it up, start over

Ray Chappell said it best, i'm getting a bunch of demos a week, you must pass the cut in the first mix or 2 or i eject it and you wind up as roadside trash pickup (trust me, i've honestly crushed my share of dreams by tossing a cd out my window without a second thought, it's a business people)

it's the sad but true fact of semi-pro djing, you fill the cut or there's 100 willing djs frothing at the bit wanting your spot and they're much more willing to undercut you at the price

now, make me want to book you, as long as what you put on your demo, you can do live

edit: elfreak is onto it, if the transition doesn't work, it doesn't work

hell, i've replaced a track the day i went to record a pressed mix cd of mine, i didn't like the mix in the draft copy i recorded (always record your mixes and listen beforehand, you are your worst and best critic, if you don't like it, do it over, be happy and proud of what you put out and know that it's the best that you can do) so i grabbed a new track that i just got and slapped it in and it turned out great


Posted by PivotTechno on May-14-2008 19:41:

Out and out trainwrecks, no...but keep in mind the style of music and how it's being played. Two of the best mix CDs I've ever heard had some bordeline fuckups (quickly corrected) and seemed constantly on the edge of falling apart - understandable, seeing as they were by Jeff Mills and Fumiya Tanaka, both of whom were playing live on 3 decks. Maybe not comparable to a bedroom-made demo, but read on...

I can only speak on the Techno tip, but as a promoter I'd sooner take a demo that had a couple of excusable blemishes, but sounded like the d.j. was capable of improvisation and taking some real chances, rather than just phoning in a perfectly dull set, planned to the most minute detail.

P.S.: Ableton sets generally bore the fuck out of me - I've heard only a few that didn't fall on the side of being waaay too linear and predictable. And if you edit your demos to hide mistakes, you'll most likely pay for it if/when you do end up getting a gig.


Posted by Owsey on May-14-2008 21:28:

Drunken clubbers wouldn't notice a minor slip-up...Some really drunk ones wouldn't notice a train wreck either. Personally i wouldn't care if it was only minor. Although its different when its a demo obviously....


Posted by sleepydragon on May-14-2008 22:18:

no one noticed that i accidently lent on the reverse button on the cdj you can get away with alot playing out.


Posted by Dreamer2go on May-18-2008 17:40:

i never used ableton before
but can you trainwreck using ableton?


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