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Sunshine was a great movie... moving on.
Opening track is fantastic, gorgeous steady build-up and one of my favorites of Invol2ver. Having vocals somewhere in the opening sequence really helps to pull your audience in (I believe, anyway). So I can also understand letting the track run, in order to fit those vocals in. You need to edit that bitch next time, it did drone on for a bit too long.
Right away, first mix, I notice that you have to maintain your bass levels. Can't let one and another run consequently, it overloaded for a good 30 minutes. Try dropping the one you're mixing into down and gently blending the two (bring one up, bring the other down - it'll take time to master. there are mixers that will do this for you, but you're not working with one) The mix was a bit short, you're running into the same problems that Oscar (woscar) is - program your mixes so it doesn't sound like bleeding one song into the next, add your own flavor (this comes with time too). The two do work well enough together, I liked the idea.
This next tune (Holing The Moth) didn't work well with Laget, they clashed during the mix. I dunno if it was the timing or just the simply fact that you mixed into a breakdown. The track by itself is pretty intense, love that bassline and the fx on the vocals.
There you go! Mix #3 worked well. Really liked the blend between the two tracks, I think you need to focus on what you did here. Vocals from Moth flowed for a bit into Deadman, which created some good continuity and a better connection between the two.
Too quick of a cut into Flashing, Deadman just dropped out and was heard a "little bit" in the background. You brought it back a bit by the end of the mix - that's adding your own flavor, see you're learning on the fly, great!
After a half an hour, the problem I'm running into, is that I've only heard 5 tracks. They're all good, but it just feels a bit drawn out. You need to learn your collection and figure out some "filler" tracks that you can throw in, that aren't as "long-winded" but convey a similar feeling, so that your listener doesn't get bored.
Speaking of bored, even though Flashing lasted for only a little while, I did not find it to be my cup of tea. The mix into Holden worked well, and debatebly one of my favorite tracks from the good old progressive house era.
Beautiful Strange was a... interesting choice following A Break In The Clouds. Nothing like a bit of acid techno feeling to flip the script. But that Underworld track actually continued the feeling, so that's good. Again you just dropped out into Metropolis during the mix. Gotta Say that Beatiful Strange through Metropolis was not a genre I listen to often, so an enthusiast of that style might enjoy it more than I did.
POB was a bit trancey, and then again dropped right out into Little Bullet... which was not. Stand alone they're both decent tracks, that could be worked in right. But you gotta find your time and place, it just feels like random tracks that you like being worked into one another. I think you flowed between the two, which was another good "flavor" moment. Until they both "died" on us and we got a steady 8 minute dose of Sometimes I Realize.
In the end, I think Rob touched on most of this. But I'll repeat. You gotta know your collection, what works with what. All these tracks can be used well when you place a proper flow before and after. The mixing worked in a couple of instances, but overall it was too much "cut and paste", which we've all done at the beginning. As you get more comfortable you'll find yourself being able to spot your points of mixing in and out better, and in turn should be able to avoid simply overplaying a track, carrying it on from beginning to end.
And if this is your first mix, it's certainly miles better than my first one was. You're well on your way. A lot of it is developing your own style. Everyone on the boards (including myself as you can see) can talk all the shit we want to, and pretend like we know what we're talking about. But you yourself, after a period of time, will be able to realize what you'd like to get out of your mixes. Listen to other artists to get ideas, and in turn will develop your own way. I think everyone that DJs has been influenced in one way or another by their favorites artists/DJs.
Cheers, and sorry for the looooooooooong post.
Last edited by denys envy on Jan-02-2009 at 17:07
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