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-- Made my first mix... (prog house with a slight tinge of funk)

Made my first mix... (prog house with a slight tinge of funk)

Hey folks, I put together a mix for a road trip to Baltimore a few weekends ago, thought I'd share it with you. I recently purchased a Numark Total Control that I used alongside Virtual DJ to make it.

Fans of Desyn Masiello, Luke Fair, the Anjunadeep sound, etc. will feel at home with this mix, methinks. Please, comment and give me constructive criticism on ways of improving! Especially in regards to programming and how the mixing flows.

Tracklist:
Michael Cassette - Shadows Movement
16 Bit Lolitas - Difficult
Kosmas Epsilon - Speechnuts (Squash 84 Mix)
Kaskade - 4AM (Adam K and Soha Mix)
Patrick Turner and Chris J - Machine Life
The Timewriter - Zero
Vau and Heikki Liimatanien - Loud Music
Jay Lumen - In Love (Mitiska and Medina mix)
Monogato - Kim
My Digital Enemy - Flamenco Loco
Electrobios and Interplay - With You
GTO - Pure (Swen Weber Mix)

Download here!

Good to see you take the plunge mate! Will definitely check it out

looks good, checkin

the fuck possessed you to come here, lol.

quote:

Originally posted by denys envy the fuck possessed you to come here, lol.

Heh, one of my friends from college got a job with the NSA and now lives around Columbia. I'm usually down there for the Otakon anime festival in the summer, as well.

Thanks for checking out out, folks. Enjoy

Nice tracklist, although flow was a little all over.
I liked it though.
Make some more!

Listening now, 12 minutes in. Why can't 16 Bit Lolitas produce shit like this anymore? I'll edit later with a review. I don't have jack-shit to do at work today besides listen to music all day

Edit...here goes my detailed review:

Track Selection

Nice track selection, proggy and funky at times. Even though I have been moving away from this type of Anjunadeep sound towards deep and tech house, I liked most of the tracks, specially some of the infectiously funky ones you threw in there

Mixing

Mixing was pretty good overall. Didn't hear any major issues, and definitely great for a first mix.

The transition between Speechnuts and 4AM sounded like you killed the outgoing track a tad too quick. I think you could have allowed it to blend for a bit longer for a smoother sounding transition.

Programming and flow

As I was advised a few months ago, and something that I think will improve your mixing is to start your mixes earlier. I noticed that on some transitions you waited too long to start the track and there's a lot of empty beats from the outro that don't maintain the momentum of the tracks too well. This is something that I suffered from when I began too, and someone pointed out. I took the advice and I'm very happy with the results. It allows me to blend melodies, it maintains the momentum much better and it allows you to construct better sets in regards of flow because you will have more tracks to work with.

In my own personal experience, once you get to know your tracks better and you practice, practice, practice this will come naturally to you and your sense of programming will improve with every set you make

To sum up, this was a VERY good first mix Luke. Nice track selection, you mixing was pretty much spot on and although your flow was not as constant, it worked. I warrant many more listens from me

Keep working, and listen to what other posters have to say. I'm looking forward to listen your progress from here on.

Thank you so much for your comments, Oscar and Kadomony!

Oscar - totally agree that I might have waited a bit too long to mix and should have worked at layering and combining melodies. Also I need to mention that I liked Groove a whole ton as well! Thought I'd throw that in there..

i liked it. the proggy stuff i don't normally listen much to, anymore. but it was good to hear.

love that particular timewriter tune.

generally good stuff, just time your mixes better. as oscar pointed out - it's all about knowing your tracks and how they'll work best together. some tunes carry pretty much until the end, some start to drop off around two - two 1/2 minutes at the end. once you figure out where these points are and program your mixes accordingly - you'll be good to go.

in the end it's all about not losing drive and energy. i still do it live sometimes, very very hard thing to learn.

Hey man, just chiming in to say it was a great first effort. I agree with Oscar, try to start the mix a few phrases earlier. Don't worry, it comes over time.

Not coincidentally, the guys posting here are all into this type of music. Check out their mixes (and mine if you want) to hear some other takes on this style.

You'll hear that even with more experience, there is always more practice to be had.

Enjoy!

Gonna take a listen. I'll post back with some thoughts later.

Once again, thanks, folks! I am in the planning phase for a new mix, and I will definitely take heed of you guys' suggestions!

Good to know mate, let me know when you put it up.

This one of the few time where people give really good comments.
But I'm wondering about your beatmatching skills. Your device seems to give you the possibility to manually adjust the pitch. So if you used it and if this is your first mix, why the hell are the beats so perfectly matched?

Well, the timing was already mentioned, but I want to add, that in my opinion mixing melodies is the most difficult part as a DJ. You need to have a proper ear for clashing keys and melodies. It's not enough to just "know" your tracks. Actually you have to feel and understand the music, its structure.

Heh, well it being my "first" mix is a bit of a lie... I have practiced before on a friend of mine's DJ equipment, and have made mixes before, this is actually the first mix I felt was good enough to release.

Downloading now.

Now you've done it. Now I think my beatmatching sucks...
I started 3 or 4 years ago and am not as good in it as you are already. Ok, I mix vinyl only and don't use any sort of program, but darn it. Is mixing with electronic devices so much easier?
Well, my timing is much better, but still your skill bugs me...

How much time did you spend on training? I just did it every few days or weeks when I have time.

quote:

Originally posted by DJSoulstone Now you've done it. Now I think my beatmatching sucks... I started 3 or 4 years ago and am not as good in it as you are already. Ok, I mix vinyl only and don't use any sort of program, but darn it. Is mixing with electronic devices so much easier? Well, my timing is much better, but still your skill bugs me... How much time did you spend on training? I just did it every few days or weeks when I have time.

For me, I think vinyl is easier, but I also started with that as well. I use CDJ 1000 MK2's, and they are pretty easy as well, but they will drift sometimes and u can't always go by the beat counters. Always go by ear, and replay the track over and over in que. Your ears will learn to split the 2 tracks and u can tell which one needs adjustment and which direction it needs to go. Practice, and then more practice.

quote:

Originally posted by KiNeTiC ENeRgY For me, I think vinyl is easier, but I also started with that as well. I use CDJ 1000 MK2's, and they are pretty easy as well, but they will drift sometimes and u can't always go by the beat counters. Always go by ear, and replay the track over and over in que. Your ears will learn to split the 2 tracks and u can tell which one needs adjustment and which direction it needs to go. Practice, and then more practice.

+1. While it's something that everyone can work towards getting better at, some thing just come more naturally to some people. I know a few people that have been trying to mix for years with a really slow learning curve. Then there are others that can pick-up skills very quickly.
Anyway I thought this was very good for a first demo. Some nice tracks there and the mixing was pretty tight for most the part, but I also agree with the other comments that you could drop tracks a bit earlier.

I will use vinyl as long as I can get them. What I actually wanted to say is, that if you are already this good in your first mix, then keep on! I expect a lot of you now!

Always remember: A set is a piece of art, your art!

It's your own composition and it's able to transport your feelings and intentions to others. Try to think of yourself as a storyteller and construct your sets like writing a story. Give it a structure and a purpose.
Or think of it as a painting, where the tracks are your colors. Or a classic symphony where tracks compose the chapters. The result is always in your own hands and the better you want to become, the more you have to become one with the music...

Can you believe that I'm studying physics?

quote:

Originally posted by DJSoulstone I will use vinyl as long as I can get them. What I actually wanted to say is, that if you are already this good in your first mix, then keep on! I expect a lot of you now! Always remember: A set is a piece of art, your art! It's your own composition and it's able to transport your feelings and intentions to others. Try to think of yourself as a storyteller and construct your sets like writing a story. Give it a structure and a purpose. Or think of it as a painting, where the tracks are your colors. Or a classic symphony where tracks compose the chapters. The result is always in your own hands and the better you want to become, the more you have to become one with the music... Can you believe that I'm studying physics?

nice post!

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