I posted a thread not to long ago asking for advice about how to mix better live! My beat matching and phrase matching ability were questioned along with harmonic mixing. The beats and phrases were mixed fine , but it wasnt until i read up on harmonic mixing that i knew what my problem was.

I would try to mix 2 records together off key- the conclusion - One shitty transition ! I took Nems advice and read up on it , and decided its somthing definetly worth learning. One of NEMS quotes that stood out to me was :

--Harmonic mixing is the scientific side of picking the right tune for the right moment or part of it at lest. It is one of the things that really determins if you should play a track or not.
If you don't harmonically mix and you pick records that aren't in key you stand a good chance of killing energy in a place.

I know some of you don't beleive me but trust me when I say this, it is one of the major skills that separates the successful DJs from the guys who may play the local club but never get any further. It's all a question of how good you want to be?


After reading the guide to harmonic mixing I have a few questions i need anwsered. First of all I was wondering if any other programs like acid pro or such would work like mix meister. I really would like to label my vinyl for future mixes!

My next question is I was wondering if someone could give me a less scientific version of Harmonic Mixing .. The guide was great , but i do not have a good background when it comes to music.. I usually just find mixes that sound good together ..

Thanks for the time,
NICK

firstly, i strongly suggest you learn how to key tunes yourself. these programs arent as reliable as your ears. its really quite simple. like anything, just a lil bit of practice and you should be fine. all you need is a keyboard; cheap & shitty is fine.

could you elaborate on what you mean re the scientifics? have you gone thru the entire harmonics sticky? that basically contains everything you need to know...

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I agree with using just your ears , but what i dont understand is if i get a key board, Yea i could match the key with the sound of the keyboards keys , but how am i going to know if it's A,C, C minor and so on....I did read the hole sticky threas about harmnic mixing , but its sometimes hard to picture it. I somewhat understand the sub-dominant and dominant so i think i could figure out once i fgure out how to key the records. Isnt dominant like mixing a Cm into an F minor , or am i all mixed up ?????????????

hey im going to figure this out... its my new goal for the new year

So does A minor start on one side of the key board and makes its way up to A#?? I know this might sound like a dumbass ?, but i'm really trying to get a little knoledge of it before i go into the music shop and make an ass of myself asking these questions. When reading the harmonic mixing guide i couldnt get the example pics to come up could that be a prob! I did search for keys but all it did was confuse me more.. I need DJ terms i guess.. If possible!!

Thanks
Nick

Dont worry your not alone...all what I read in the sticky went right over my head!. I just cant for the life of me understand how I go about keying my tracks.

Also isnt writing the key of a track on a vinyls cover pointless if the key is affected by pitch?

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If you look at a keyboard there are two sets of black keys that repeat up and down the length of the instrument. They are in either groups of two or three. Find any group of two black keys and the white key to the immediate left of them is C. Then the white keys just follow the alphabet. C D E F G A B, then they repeat again.

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Give this link a try, I know it's a little basic but it will tell you where the notes are on the keyboard. And if you carry on with continue the lesson it evolves a little.

As I said, it starts pretty basic but keep going.

http://cs.hiram.edu/~pliskowb/cpsc222/tutorial_01a.html

Basically when you are listening to the intro of a track you will find one key in particular that will fit more than the others... this is most likely the root of the key. After that you start applying chords but that's the next step.

Cheers
Nem

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say you hit the 1st black key on the keyboard between C & D would it be considered Cm or D# or D minor C#..My guess is it would be the second one .. Hey Nem , thanks a lot i've been looking for a basic link like this for hours... Basic was just what i needed..The only links i have found were a bunch of complex piano junk that didnt apply to what i was lookin for..

-Nick-

quote:

Originally posted by Nbrablec9 say you hit the 1st black key on the keyboard between C & D would it be considered Cm or D# or D minor C#..My guess is it would be the second one .. Hey Nem , thanks a lot i've been looking for a basic link like this for hours... Basic was just what i needed..The only links i have found were a bunch of complex piano junk that didnt apply to what i was lookin for.. -Nick-

Between C & D becomes either C# (C Sharp) or Db (D flat) although they are both the same note on the keyboard, I say choose one and stick with it but just be prepared that someone else may call the same thing something different. It's not really that important for harmonic mixing. It's something you may choose to get into if you start producing and even then it's questionable how useful it would be. It basically depends on the scale that you are using. But as I said, it's not worth confusing yourself with now.

The Major and the Minor is a different thing all together as it relates to the chord and not any single note.

Cheers
Nem

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Im at work right now so i dont have a keyboard to get the vinyl keyed up, but to find the key for the record, should i just hit the keyboard key one at a time until i find the one the goes best with the flow! If possible when i do it could you test it out the same record to see if i have the hole idea down.. If your not cool with that it's ok , but I'm hoping we might have a couple of the same vinyl!

another ?- So is the first half the key board minor or somthin -- then the other half major-- or do I just make no sense with this one ?

Thanks,
Nick

quote:

Originally posted by Nbrablec9 another ?- So is the first half the key board minor or somthin -- then the other half major-- or do I just make no sense with this one ? Thanks, Nick

hehe, no. major & minor refer to keys (or chords?) ie a combination of 3 notes together (i think, hehe). theres a link in the sticky (and possibly the link nem posted here) that gives you all the keys and which notes to press for each. ie if you press a & c & e you get an 8A (i think thats an A minor), and if you move your finger from the C to the little black note (c#), you get an 11B (a major i think?).

it might seem daunting at first but its all pretty simple. forget all that dominant and sub dominant rubbish. that just complicates things for those of us without any music training.

edit: changed keys coz im retarded

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Last edited by pkcRAISTLIN on Jan-11-2006 at 22:26