you need to learn your records like they were you speaking - knowing when a record breaks, what its construction is, its levels etc is one of the most important parts of DJing.

listen to your records carefully counting how many bars each part of the track lasts. if you know that the outro of a track is 8 bars long and you know that your intro to your next track is 4 bars long then you will know that after 4 bars of the outro you will need to have faded it out, cut it, whatever you want to do with it - on the basis that you let track 2 in at the start of the outro.

thats not to say that you must have done something with it by that stage - in some tracks cases you can create some nice mixes leaving it in and messing with teh eq's on the track you are taking out for a bigger build up


whether it is house or trance will make no difference as it is down to the way the track is constructed that will dictate how you mix it -

also you may want to think about harmonic mixing which is a whole other story and covered in detail in some other posts.

hope that made some sort of sense - I am sure lots of people will give you pointers

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"Music is the art of thinking with sounds" - Jules Combarieu

Learn your records.

Make sure you phrase match properly as this can make those little breakdowns sound intentional if it all flows. Especially if the tracks are in compatible keys.

Cheers
Nem

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https://www.mixcloud.com/Calvin_Karass/

what I've come to realize is that if you want a quick and usually decent sounding mix between two songs.. you wait until there's about 1:30 left in the first song and then let the second one go. The second song takes about 1:30 to start the melody and by then the first song ends nicely. or just wait until near the end of the song, and if there is a point where the kick stops for a while... wait and drop the next track right when the kick starts again.

quote:

Originally posted by Omega_Blue what I've come to realize is that if you want a quick and usually decent sounding mix between two songs.. you wait until there's about 1:30 left in the first song and then let the second one go. The second song takes about 1:30 to start the melody and by then the first song ends nicely. or just wait until near the end of the song, and if there is a point where the kick stops for a while... wait and drop the next track right when the kick starts again.

ehh im with Nou on this... it isnt the best way to learn, but ya it works.
just learn the basic phases of a track and after awhile you'll know when the phase changes without even really thinking about it.

1 good tip:

Know your tunes!

You can't make a good mix without knowing what's about to come in the tunes.

Hope you understand

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www.myspace.com/ignazziomusic

not to beat a dead horse or anything but I just wanted to clarify a little... yes while waiting for the last 1:30 is not that great of an idea, you have to admit that with most trance songs it works. I guess what I was trying to get across is to wait for the melody to end and drop the next track. you know, the melody ends and then the song goes for about 1:30 of just the song breaking down. So 1:30, 1:40, 2:00, it doesn't matter. 1:30 just happens to be about when the melody ends in most trance songs (give or take a few seconds depending on the bpm). the horse has been beaten.

quote:

Originally posted by Omega_Blue what I've come to realize is that if you want a quick and usually decent sounding mix between two songs.. you wait until there's about 1:30 left in the first song and then let the second one go. The second song takes about 1:30 to start the melody and by then the first song ends nicely. or just wait until near the end of the song, and if there is a point where the kick stops for a while... wait and drop the next track right when the kick starts again.

waiting until 130 isn't really a bad reference point to set but.. you also have to realize that all songs are the same speed. i spin progressive trance and have noticed that 130 is a good marker if you want to bring a new song in with a bang. this time also depends on what kind of music you're playing, who the producer is, and how long the kick lasts for, but it's a great observation.

pEy

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There's no problem that I can't fix.. cuz I can do it in the mix. -Indeep-

i only look at my timers (if i'm on CD) or at how much of the vinyl is left to spin when i want to know how much time i have left to finish mixing the song.

just know your tunes. you'll get to a point where it "feels right".

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

i suggest trying to know your records. but if its the first time i play the record, i usually let record 2 go right after the breakdown of record 1. then just try to listen to the song. i always try to feel the song and somehow i can predict when song 2 is going into the breakdown or when song 1 is loosing the melody. hth!

how long do u leave two tracks mixed together before u start fading out?

me, i leave them mixed as long as i have to. i try to transfer the energy of song 1 to song 2. so it really depends on what songs ur mixing