I've made a bunch of mix CD's in the past, but they've all been less than perfect because I've done them live, beginning to end with no editing. I was just wondering if the general practice is to do them on the computer with no table-work whatsoever, or do people do mixes on tables and splice them together using SoundForge or what?

I just want to know what other DJ's do so I know if I'm being too hard on myself. You know how it is, you sound amazing live because the beats meld a little easier, but man, once you record right from the mixer, you can hear every little mistake no matter how small.

Thanks!

DJ Adam Smith

I totally know what your feeling, When I play live at a club, everything sounds great!.. of course once I start recording.. tiny little drifts make me kringe... :P.. anyhow I usually mix live from my tables and record it.. then I will listen to where I make the mistakes and remix that particular section I messed up. I use Cooledit pro to cut and paste.. I do hear a lot of other DJ's cut down DJ's for do it.. "Blah.. It takes away from the skill.." "Your not true to your art.." blah! (I get cut down by some DJ's all the time) I personally think that if I was to make a CD for me and my friends to listen to.. even sell to people.. I want it to be as perfect as I can possibly get it. As a Promo CD.. I don't think it is bad either.. most promoters want a promo CD to hear what type of music you play.. and whether you understand the principles of mixing and beatmatching. If they really want to hear whether you can Mix or not.. Let them hear you play live!

Peece!

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Thanks for the info. I think the main problem is that if there's a little drift, I can fix it right away, but by then, it's already recorded so every time I listen to it, I hear it and it's painful. I'd rather just make the miniscule little correction to get it perfect and try to do it again. No one's going to ever notice that in a club, but when it's recorded that's another story..

DJ Adam Smith

Go for Sonic Foundry Vegas Pro
I use it all the time when I mix cd's

U can find it here http://www.sonicfoundry.com/

on most of the CDs i have, it says "live turn table performance"...

I already told this to several people ... if you're making a demo CD to promote yourself as a DJ (and basically every time you're putting your name on a CD you're doing this) it should either be mixed live without ANY editing or it should clearly be indicated that it was digitally edited. Also, when promoters listen to a demo CD, they are looking for slight beatmatching errors to see how fast you can catch and correct them.

Also, the reason why you think you're better live is because the big club system is MUCH more forgiving. You should try and record a live set at the club ... you'd be surprised how often the mix would be slightly off but you wouldn't be able to hear it on a club system.

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