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-- Everything's Bollocks: I Can't Mix!
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Everything's Bollocks: I Can't Mix!

You know when you sometimes just aren't feeling it. Everything seems to not sound quite right? Tonight is one of those nights for me.

When you have those nights where you just can't put a foot wrong, you can be as cocky as you like and every mix you manage to pull off - they're so cool - if only every mix could be like that.

But in the great words of Beavis and Butthead: You've gotta have stuff that sucks, to have stuff that's cool.

when this happens i stop for an hour and have a stiff drink.

it usually improves when i come back, and if it does not, well at least i am drinking.

It must happen to the pros - surely? What can they do? Suppose they just have to get on with it....?

Nem? Stu Cox? Mr Morello? Woody?

Speak out dear friends.

i can't speak for them, but many headliners play a set with tracks that they have a lot of experience playing.

what you are talking about tends to mostly happen when i am using new records

Happens sometimes too to me. Best thing i found is to take a break for a while. Play video games, watch a fight, or get some food. Then come back to it a bit later. Usually helps alot.

The biggest thing though...that helps me is to watch videos on youtube on some of my Armin Only DVD's stuff like that really inspires me and gets me in that "i need to mix" mood.

PS: A few beers never hurts either

This does happen to me at times and it doesn't matter if the music is new or old; easy to mix or hard. Sometimes i'm just not interested in mixing. I'll go and listen to some big timers set that is shit and that will re-motivate me the next day to get the mix done.

The brain is a funny thing.

watch youtube vids always helps or like already mentioned have a few drinks. Sometimes mixing is like playing pool for me. You can have a few drinks and be right on that edge of being awesome, but one too many and you are screwed for the rest of the night.

i noticed that my care factor winds down towards the end of a bedroom set, coz that goal of "here we go, lets make it a good one" has been more or less fulfilled & since im the only person in the room theres really no energy coming back from the dancefloor to keep me going.

Does anyone else get confussed by the beats after about an hour of mixing & having 2 out of time tracks playing through the phones? My beats end up being something like 0.02 - 0.04 off

i'll just roll one up , watch an episode of some good show, get some munchies , if the girls around , do her and then maybe i will get back on the decks. otherwise, tomorrow is a new day my friend!

quote:

Originally posted by lenazi i can't speak for them, but many headliners play a set with tracks that they have a lot of experience playing. what you are talking about tends to mostly happen when i am using new records

that's pretty close

yea you have off days, you have a drink or 5 and get over it, the show must go on

when you play out every week you tend to have a set of "tunes of the moment"

as songs get old they leave your playlist while new songs come in, it's a cycle

i'm not saying i play the exact same set every week, but you have a cache of tunes that you play with and draw most of your songs from, of course there's always room for dropping a track you haven't played in a while that people love and stuff like that

there have been nights where i just don't really want to be there but because i'm paid to be there i have to, you have to get over it, it will show and it will come through in your music and track selection, half the show is showing that you're into what you're doing, if you're into it, the crowd will follow.... so yea, get drunk, loosen up and have fun

quote:

Originally posted by Jarvmeister It must happen to the pros - surely? What can they do? Suppose they just have to get on with it....? Nem? Stu Cox? Mr Morello? Woody? Speak out dear friends.

I always think about this when people mention "Oh, so and so sucked that night." Just weren't feeling it that night I suppose.

When these complete mixing failures happen I usually quit for the day.

I've noticed though that this seems to happen when I'm mixing consistently day to day. Lose motivation.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ_Lord i'll just roll one up , watch an episode of some good show, get some munchies , if the girls around , do her and then maybe i will get back on the decks. otherwise, tomorrow is a new day my friend!

While I love some good green I always found this harmed my abilities while mixing; while alcohol improved them. Weed generally makes me over analyze and alcohol usually loosens me up and I have more fun spinning drunk.

With production it's the opposite, lol.

quote:

Originally posted by lenazi when this happens i stop for an hour and have a stiff drink. it usually improves when i come back, and if it does not, well at least i am drinking.

Basically this, lol. That was exactly how my first SSS mix was recorded.

However I've had long runs of 3 or 4 days or even a week when I can't mix shit. What I do is that I just stop trying and spend time listening to the tunes on the car, while talking a walk or have them in the background while doing some casual stuff and after listening to the whole lot 4 or 5 times I usually have a better sense of which tracks go better with one another, I go back and try again.

Mixing just requires repetoire, if you dont have a ton of practice, of course your not going to mix well, i'd imagine if you do practice a lot, it should not be that hard. I'm looking forward to the days i'll have to practice an hour or two a day, or at least 5 hours a week. That time currently goes fully into production.

We are still waiting for that epic mix of yours

quote:

Originally posted by woscar We are still waiting for that epic mix of yours

i'm sure i'll get to it soon. At the very moment I dont actively seek enough tracks to throw into a promo type mix, busy and logically focusing on production side of things.

I'll be mixing without headphones, since I dont have any at the moment, so I dont know what the cued in mix sounds like until i've faded it in a bit, and I use the old Traktor version 1 to do mixes. Not to mention, I have to start the incoming mix from the start of the track so I can time the clap/snares together. So a bit of hands tied behind my back, but will still try to put together something nice ; )

I think i'm close to having enough tracks to put on a proper mix.

quote:

Originally posted by Kismet7 I'll be mixing without headphones, since I dont have any at the moment,

How the hell are you producing then? I call bullshit.

quote:

Originally posted by woscar How the hell are you producing then? I call bullshit.

Why would I need headphones to produce? Have you heard of something called monitors? Wonderful invention that lets you hear what your working on. When I say headphones, I mean for monitor mixes prior to mixing them in, and Traktor 1 dont have the feature that Traktor 3 has that lets you check out the cued in mix without affecting the mix. So without line input headphones connected to an interface, I cant check mixes prior to mixing the track in a bit.

I just don't get why you don't have headphones.

Just get some, they're normally the cheapest part of any setup.

I probably will sooon. I'm about to invest some more on my productions, getting either a Nord Lead 2x or Korg MS2000 synth within the next week or two, excited about that at the moment. Over the next few months i'll get deeper into DJ'n side of things, since im pretty good at picking music and building a set ; )

ROFFL that's nuts you buy a nord lead before headphones?! LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!

Get your priorities straight.

Headphones should be the VERY first thing you buy; they're equally important to monitors.

a pair of 7506 are $135 canadian, cheap as fuck and they last forever

i hate mixing with headphones..those things give me a headache.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ_Lord i hate mixing with headphones..those things give me a headache.

quote:

Originally posted by woscar

hahah oh FUCK!

She come back yet under any new alts?..lol

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