First Mix Up For Review - TranceAddict Forums

TranceAddict Forums (www.tranceaddict.com/forums)
- DJ Promotion
-- First Mix Up For Review

Posted by jayxthekoolest on Aug-25-2008 22:13:

First Mix Up For Review

I've been mixing for less than a week, and I was wondering if you could offer some criticism on my transitions. The first one is certainly the worst. The others are better, but I'd like to know what you guys think I could do better.

EDIT: [[ LINK REMOVED ]]

Music is:

01 Wavy Gravy
02 Who killed sparky (emfire)
03 Who killed sparky (radio slave's panorama garage mix)
04 Mongoose (emfire)
05 Moongoose (the fields disco mix)
06 Coma (emfire)
07 Boileroom
08 Bloodlock
09 Requim

Let me know. I realize the set doesn't have progression/climax, but that's not what I was aiming for. Just want to know how to transtion between songs better. Thanks.

Here are the times I make transitions at (to save you time):

7:00
12:30
24:20
28:50
37:54
43:15

I'll find the others in a little bit.

Posted by camshaft on Aug-25-2008 22:32:

i wanted to give this a listen and offer up some criticism, but damn dude, over 600 MB! please compress a little and i'll gladly give it a go! i don't know where to start with that but ask around in the dj booth - i know there are threads on recording and compressing. guarantee this won't get any listens at this file size, though.

cheers.

Posted by jayxthekoolest on Aug-25-2008 22:38:

quote:
Originally posted by camshaft
i wanted to give this a listen and offer up some criticism, but damn dude, over 600 MB! please compress a little and i'll gladly give it a go! i don't know where to start with that but ask around in the dj booth - i know there are threads on recording and compressing. guarantee this won't get any listens at this file size, though.

cheers.

Good to know, I'll compress this right away.

EDIT: got it down to 57 MB. Uploading now.

Posted by elFreak on Aug-25-2008 23:23:

find music.

Posted by jayxthekoolest on Aug-25-2008 23:24:

quote:
Originally posted by elFreak
find music.

If you're referring to the track selection: I'm only asking to see how good I am at transitioning between tracks, not how well I can construct a set. I stated this in my opening post. Also, I strongly suggest you actually listen to the tracks I picked before you outright say that they're bad tracks...

Update: lower bitrate file now ready for download.

Posted by jayxthekoolest on Aug-26-2008 21:59:

Can anyone offer any feedback?

Posted by camshaft on Aug-27-2008 00:02:

downloading, as promised. thanks for compressing.

Posted by camshaft on Aug-27-2008 18:36:

OK, here goes.

This plays more like a mixtape than a mix in that's is more focused on sequencing/playing tracks one after another than blending/mixing the tracks. There are loads of different techniques, cuts, blends, fades, etc. - and some of the most admired DJs would rather play tracks out in their entirety than mix from one to another.

As far as transitions go on this one though, because you're asking specifically on from track to track, it's pretty much like you're just letting track A play all the way through, then fade out/fade in track B, let it play, fade out, with tracks maybe overlaying each other a few seconds at most and no real transitions to speak of. That's a technique, but what you should start out with is getting yourself practiced and proficient at beatmatching. This is the foundation of making seamless transitions; it's also easily the most frustrating and time-consuming part of learning. It took me about a year to get a good grasp on this. With beatmatching down you'll not only be able to match tempo/bpm/beats, but also bars and phrases and get into all sorts of advanced techniques that can take your mixing places pretty much anywhere you can think of. The idea, generally, is to be able to go from track to track with the transitions as seamless as possible.

What are you mixing on? I'm assuming vinyl or CDJs - or are you using software or something else?

I could go into details and mechanics here but many others more experienced and eloquent than I have done that already many times over - recommended reading: dj recess's (he's a TA) site, has loads of good info I used a ton when I was starting out. Read everything in the "mixing" section, especially "The Point of DJing." I also picked up "How to DJ Right" by Frank Broughton and Bill Brewster, fantastic book, hilarious, easy to read and understand.

http://www.recess.co.uk/html/thepoint.html

http://www.amazon.com/How-DJ-Right-...g/dp/0802139957

Look around in the DJ Booth forum too, lots of good info there from people who have been mixing a lot longer and a lot better than me.

Even better, seek out some buddies who are into it, or people who are willing to give some lessons/show you stuff in person. I learned more in an hour of watching my buddy mix and him coaching me than I did in a week of reading on my own (learning on your own in still real helpful too, don't get me wrong). Listen to DJ sets (the DJ Promotion forum here kicks ass), listen to their transitions (the more you practice the more you'll get the mechanics of it and hear what they're doing), go see live sets in person...and above all, practice! It'll suck for a while, but when it finally clicks, it's addictive like nothing else.

Happy reading and good luck. Feel free to PM me with any other questions or whatever.

Cheers.