EQ knobs are your best friend here. Other than that, depends on what kind of transition you're trying to do. A fast cut, long smooth blend, etc.

ok, so what you're saying is that although the tracks are beatmatched the mix still sounds pants?

Are your phrases aligned?
ie count the beat as 1,2,3,4, 2,2,3,4, 3,2,3,4,...8,2,3,4,

so that when the beat of track A hits on the 1 again it is aligned with the 1 on track B? so they both start phrases at the same time.

Or maybe the tracks are out of key and harmonically clash? That can sound really bad as well.

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Meh

could be that...but how do you do that beatcount you are referring to?

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TUNES OF THE MOMENT

Any music on a 4/4 bar is easy to count, which dance music is. The "one" is easy to hear because something in the song changes at that time. Now not every "one" has a change, usualy you can count 1,2,3,4 1,2,3,4 1,2,3,4.......do each cycle 4 or 8 times and thats when the change comes on the "one". Its best to listen to one record over the speakers from the very start.When the kick comes in, start counting and you will hear the changes I'm talking about. When you mix you always whant to release the incomming record on the "one". Its hard to explain but you'll get it.

quote:

Originally posted by deibero could be that...but how do you do that beatcount you are referring to?

Basically this is the way I do it is I spin pretty much trance which is written in I think 64 and 32 beat phrases (can't vouch for the other EDM genres but I suspect most if not all will be the same). At the start of each phrase usually, not always, you'll hear a change in the song (hi hats drop in/out, kick drums in/out, crescendo ,decrescendo etc). You take these little hints and determine where your phrases are and then you can take the one beat off the incoming song and be able to drop it on the one beat of the outgoing song. I should also add that the one beat is the start of the whole 64 beat phrase and there might be a small phrase change sound in the middle of the 64 beat phrase signifying a 32 beat phrase but you can usually differntiate the 2 because the start of the 64 has more of a dramatic/noticeable change. If this confuses you just try counting beats (1-2-3-4, 2-2-3-4, 3-2-3-4 etc) from the start of the song and hear for yourself.

Bear in mind I'm a noob to this as well (2 months) and I suspect that my explanation might be a bit shite but I can try to iron out anything you don't understand or someone might be able to explain it better. Besides, it's really late, almost early, and I need to get to bed.

Do the following. Play any song you like, from the very beginning, as soon as the first beat lands start counting each beat... 1,2,3,4...16, and then repeat 1,2,3,4...16,1,2,3,etc. So basically, what should be the 17th beat is the 1st beat of the next phrase. Mentally split the song into 16 beat pieces, that repeat themselves throughout the song. At the first beat of a phrase (17th/1st beat), you'll hear a slight addition/subraction/variation in the sound of the song. Once you get the hang of that, keep reading.

The key to phrase matching is simple, match the first beat of a phrase in the first song (beat number 1) to the first beat of a phrase of the 2nd song coming in.

This will make the mix sound MUCH better, much smoother due to the structure of music in general. This "rule" is applied to every song, it's even true in other genres with a distinct pattern structure... such as rock, rap, etc.

To mix well, you must not only beatmatch but phrasematch as well. Good luck bud.

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When I turn on my mixer, drop the needle, and put on my headphones... nothing else matters.

I am a DJ.

Last edited by Ibiza Dreams on Jun-09-2004 at 09:16

Sounds good, only for trance / progressive I would take 64 beats as the point of starting the incoming track (which means every 4 phrases of every 16 bars), that'll sound even better.

For (loop-based) techno, where it is often quite hard to find out where you are, matching tracks on a bar level often suffices in order to make it sound decent.

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d&b session 20090519
My take on... (various mixes planned, updated when I can be arsed)

quote:

Originally posted by TwoPlow EQ knobs are your best friend here. Other than that, depends on what kind of transition you're trying to do. A fast cut, long smooth blend, etc.

never thought of that.... thnx!

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Mixed Genre Mixes [50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s]:
MGM 6 /
MGM 5 / MGM 4 /
MGM 3 / MGM 2 / MGM 1


Electronic Dance Music Mixes:
EDM 7

backspins are a dj's best friend! just backspin from one record to the other, a whole set long! People love it!



actually i've seen a "dj" do that some time ago at a local party. We pretty much boo'ed him away

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quote:

Originally posted by basd For (loop-based) techno, where it is often quite hard to find out where you are, matching tracks on a bar level often suffices in order to make it sound decent.

yeah, but techno, in the harder varieties, normally allow you to slap the faders upward, play with them, generally go wild, as it is very hard style of music, it logically goes with a hard style of mixing. not to mention you normally use 3 decks, and it's a constant pummelling of beats, no space to try and mix it like Sasha.

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check out my guest mix for OndaSonora Podcast (aug.2009)

quote:

Originally posted by Wildfir3 backspins are a dj's best friend! just backspin from one record to the other, a whole set long! People love it! actually i've seen a "dj" do that some time ago at a local party. We pretty much boo'ed him away

What's backspin? Hope I'm not doing it, hehe.