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3/4pts Intro Track
The begining track was a decent one, though I prefer something a little bit shorter like a radio edit or something so that it draws people in better. The good thing about it is that it didn't start off with a plain bass beat or take a long time to start building up.
10/10pts Consistent Beatmatching
Your beatmatching seemed to be pretty decent all throughout. You had no major phasing issues that I noticed.
7/10pts Consistent Phrasematching
I think that this is one of two of your weakest aspects of djing. The tracks were phrasematched, as far as I could tell without counting beats, but I'll go into detail on how to fix the other aspect of phrasematching--phrase timing during the transition. This is an excert from an old post of mine that summarizes what I mean:
Another important point is volume control and transition timing. First off, make sure that your volumes are adjusted properly so that the VU meters hit approximately the same level. Also know that a deep thumping bass beat will hit harder on the VU meter than will a softer lighter bass beat. Because of this, it is important that you listen to the transition in the monitors so that you can stop increasing the volume on the cue track when it reaches the same volume as the live track during the transition. This is why I do not use the crossfader—because you cannot do this unless you use the channel volume faders. The other point—transition timing—is summarized by another post that I made several weeks ago:
“So many people leave the final card out of learning the art of the transition. If you listen to a professionally mixed cd, then the transition will usually be short and it will always be in-phrase. By in-phase, not only do I mean that the two tracks are in-phrase with respect to each other, but that you bring in the volume in such a way that the end result is the second track is in-phrase for the audience. I'll try to explain a little bit more about what I mean. When you press play or pause etc on your cue deck when the volume level is zero, the crowd doesn't hear it. When it is up, then they will hear it. But when you slide the volume bar up, or the crossfader over, then you have to do it so that the audience hears the first beat of the incoming track on beat 1 of the measure of the live track. You can do this by short burst movements instead of sliding the fader gradually.”
To make “short bursts of movement” more clear, push the volume slider up on beat one and only beat one (technically right before beat one, so that the increase in volume is more transparent). This should be done not only with your transitions, but in every thing that you do while djing, including effects.
Now, that being said, this isn't a huge deal, it is actually a rather subtle technique, but it is usually one of those things that separates the amaeturs from the pros.
The transition from Final Emotion to Symbols was a little too long. Try tightening up that transition so there isn't so much dead space.
8/10pts Track Key Matching, Volume Matching and Gain Structure
I think that volume matching is the second of two of your weakest aspect of djing. Your gain structure is good--meaning that the volumes of the tracks are good relative to eachother and there is no upper or lower end distortion. The volume matching you need to improve on is during your transitions. The volume dips noticable during several of your first transitions. This may be due to you turning the volume channel down too much before you bring in your next track or it could be due to the fader curve you have selected. This is an important part of mixing because it is pretty noticable when you listen to a recorded mix. You improved quite a bit during the rest of your set though, after track 5 you did quite well, then during the last transition, there was a volume dip again.
6/10pts Track Selection
You pick out pretty good tracks all around. You picked some good new ones as well as several that have been around for a while, yet not overplayed. The only one that I wasn't that pleased with was Mr. Sam - Surrender. The only problem with your tracks is that they don't have and order to them. The energy in your set is pretty level all the way through. If this is what you were trying for, then great, but the set is defintely more of a starting progressive set than something that would really rock the house. I think that some of your tracks could have been eliminated to make the flow of your set a little nicer. The instruments in Electronic malfunction didn't really go with the rest of your tracks. Look for songs that use the same or very similar instruments and you'll find that they will flow amazingly well together and your transitions will run like water.
7/10pts Mixing Style/Originality
I think that you can shorten up some tracks here and there by mixing in after the first breakdown. That way you can keep the energy of your set up by only playing the last two thirds of the tracks (which are usually where the higher energy is).
5/5pts Sound Quality
I didn't hear any distortion and the quality was excellent. No pops, hisses or cracks either.
0/3pts Effects
I don't think that you had any!
4/5pts Track Order
I think that for the tracks you selected, you could have put some of the higher energy ones toward the end (like symbols), but overall not bad.
2/3pts Exit Track
You final track wound down the set pretty well, though I usually prefer to use a high energy track to leave the listener wanting for more.
Total = 58/70 = 83%
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When you dance, the DJ takes you on a journey, but he or she is usually not the focus of your experience at a club or festival or wherever you hear the music. Dancing is. Music is.
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