Hello all and thanks for tuning in!

I'm interested in mixing some progressive breaks into my trance set, but have been getting mediocre results. When mixing breaks into a solid 4/4 trance track, should I be counting out the snare hits on the breaks track to get my BPM? That seems to be the only logical way to do it, but my mixes haven't sounded very clean yet. There always seems to be some sort of light percussion element in my breaks tracks that have a 4/4 pattern, so it makes sense. I mean, I can cheat and bang the break beat in there through a synth interlude, but I want to mix it properly. Any and all hints, tips and tricks are appreciated.

--->Race

when mixing breaks, mix the high-hats, and don't bother with the lows

although this applies to mixing just breaks, i think if you try it transitioning between breaks and progressive, it should work...

give it a try and let us know

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Yes the snares / claps etc. are ussualy (I have to say it again because this could seriously fuck U up), ussually, in breaks just like in 4beats. But lookeout for "Clap - Tricks", you know, like there's not only a clap every second beat but also there are extra claps and claps that do not come in the exact place...
Try to know the track as much as you can if you're mixing it because breaks can really screw you over. Try to imagine the 4 beats yourself, you'll get it eventually.
-That's as far as beatmatching goes...

As for mixing, in my opinion, the cases where you can have the kicks heard both on the break track and on the 4 beat track without the mix sounding eaky are rare.
Try to do it as quick as you can : slam one track's bass off and the other on, not simultanously cause that's sounds kinda weird when the hard 4 beat kick changes into another track's, sometimes a more gentle breakbeat's kick. Slam one kick off, then the other on... You know wd I mean...

No matter how hard you try, mixing between breaks and 4beats will probably sound weird anyway so try to "Concentrate" your break tracks one after the other.

CyA

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quote:

Originally posted by oDrori Yes the snares / claps etc. are ussualy (I have to say it again because this could seriously fuck U up), ussually, in breaks just like in 4beats. But lookeout for "Clap - Tricks", you know, like there's not only a clap every second beat but also there are extra claps and claps that do not come in the exact place... Try to know the track as much as you can if you're mixing it because breaks can really screw you over. Try to imagine the 4 beats yourself, you'll get it eventually. -That's as far as beatmatching goes... As for mixing, in my opinion, the cases where you can have the kicks heard both on the break track and on the 4 beat track without the mix sounding eaky are rare. Try to do it as quick as you can : slam one track's bass off and the other on, not simultanously cause that's sounds kinda weird when the hard 4 beat kick changes into another track's, sometimes a more gentle breakbeat's kick. Slam one kick off, then the other on... You know wd I mean... No matter how hard you try, mixing between breaks and 4beats will probably sound weird anyway so try to "Concentrate" your break tracks one after the other. CyA

Good advice. Listen to this!

Thanks go out to all of you for posting your tips, I really appreciate it. I'm not going to lie and say that I my mixing sounded great, but it sounds SO much better than it did before. I have the beat matching pretty close and the mixing is twice as good as it was before. I was so afraid to do some drastic slamming of the bass EQ's because I thought it sounded too drastic, but if timed correctly, it works real well. The advice helped me out quite a bit. Now I just have to practice up....

quote:

Originally posted by DJ_Shockwav when mixing breaks, mix the high-hats, and don't bother with the lows

Although this is true you can still mix using the bass drum kick on some tunes. You just have to keep the first beat of the bar in time with the 4/4 tracks. It all depends on the beat structure of the Break Beat tune you’re mixing in though. I myself use the high-hat method but I just thought I should share the other option in case anyone was interested. I do use the bass drum kick just prior to mixing in a track however to make sure I'm still in phase.

Glad 2 help + Thanx DJTJ

Just wanted to add that some tracks have both breakbeats and 4 beats;

In Trance, ussually a track as a beraks intro, and before the second climax there's another breaks part.
These track are good for using to shake the crowd out of the funkiness and abit more calm state of breakbeats.
IE Kai Tracid's "Trance and Acid" (Jesus, what a shake!) or Blank & Jones' D.F.F (CG mix and Sometimes Club mix- see why-)
This works with tracks that begin with a nice little breakbeat and turn harder and nastier, then finish with 4 beats.

Some tracks begin with breaks and then turn 4 and end with breaks, IE B&J - D.F.F. (Club mix) now these ones are good cause the breakbeat is pretty gentle and can be used to shift 4 beats both in an out of the track, both using a slam or even putting the breaks on the 4, cause it's way more gentle than the 4 beat (beware from energy loss when mixing that stuff in when there's gentle break-kicks).

Watch out of breakbeats with a bad-ass pumping kick like D.F.F. (Cosmic Gate remix). Put that on along with the 4 beat kicks and the crowd will just give you the finger.

Tracks like "FC- Punk" both begin AND end with a pretty gentle 4 beat kick that can both be smoothed in with an out-fading 4 beat track (Now this is a pretty smooth transition between 4 beat and breaks cause that's how the track's designed!) or slam in when mixing Punk in (Think of this as giving the crowd a 40-seconds break off the breakbeats into the 4 beat and then getting back there ) Also, since the 4 beat kicks are not that powerfull (hell, they're weaker than the break-kicks), there won't be alot of energy loss when you slam them out when an incoming breakbeat track moves in. Tracks that have a break on both the beginning and the end are ideal cause they are both in-faders and out-faders.

Ofcourse, tracks that begin with 4 beats and end with breakbeats are excellent to shift from 4 to breaks but no-one makes those anymore

Anyways, thise whole post was meant to solve the "No matter how hard you try, mixing between breaks and 4beats will probably sound weird anyway" problem.

CyA

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