Funnily enough, this is my actual job. I work for Beatport, and my sole duty is to listen to thousands of tracks every day in order to determine which 2 minutes of each one should form the preview clip. I like to fit as much of the breakdown and as few of the beats in as possible, ideally cutting things off just as the breakdown is about to end so potential customers are completely unable to judge how useful a tune is on a dancefloor.

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Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

I didn't know that. It's nice that you brought context to an otherwise daft thread.

via GIPHY

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Quarantine Classics Brunello di Montalcino (In Transit) Edition [Progressive Classics] (August 2020)
Quarantine Classics - Puligny-Montrachet Edition [Progressive Classics] (April 2020)
What Is Progressive Anyways? [Progressive House Classics] (November 2019)

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J I work for Beatport, and my sole duty is to listen to thousands of tracks every day

Do the Samaritans recognise your number by now?

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Funnily enough, this is my actual job. I work for Beatport, and my sole duty is to listen to thousands of tracks every day in order to determine which 2 minutes of each one should form the preview clip. I like to fit as much of the breakdown and as few of the beats in as possible, ideally cutting things off just as the breakdown is about to end so potential customers are completely unable to judge how useful a tune is on a dancefloor.

Try being the guy who has to decide which 2 minutes of a 20 minute ambient drone piece is the 'catchy' part.

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Everyone has an opinion. Mine just happens to be a little more informed than most.
Electronic Music Critic: Near-Daily Ruminations Of Music I Own, In Alphabetical Order!

Matt has literally never got a joke in his life.

___________________
Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

I was in a rush so I didn't take in the whole post properly. I get it now.

Serious answer: it's done automatically by an algorithm and always selects the exact middle of the tune, unless the track is short (IE: 4 minutes or under) in which case it seems to skew more towards the beginning of the track. It just has an unfortunate tendency on tunes with big breakdowns to result in a useless clip with no beats audible.

___________________
Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

As someone who actually has spent time making a few hundred, 2 minute long audio clips of McProg, anthem house, eurotrance, hardstyle, and any number of other types of tunes with obnoxiously long breakdowns, builds, and drops, let me tell you many of them are almost factory designed to be unwieldy as such. You either end up showcasing the lead-up, then fading out during the breakdown, or start during the breakdown, giving only a small taster of the track's peak, sometimes which is half as short as the lead-in. But you almost always are forced to include some part of that got'dang beakdown/build/drop, always taking up at least 2/3rds of the track.

Of course, if the track has a 2 minute long breakdown/build (eg: Rank 1's Airwave), then I'd just use that for the whole clip.

___________________
Everyone has an opinion. Mine just happens to be a little more informed than most.
Electronic Music Critic: Near-Daily Ruminations Of Music I Own, In Alphabetical Order!

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Serious answer: it's done automatically by an algorithm and always selects the exact middle of the tune, unless the track is short (IE: 4 minutes or under) in which case it seems to skew more towards the beginning of the track. It just has an unfortunate tendency on tunes with big breakdowns to result in a useless clip with no beats audible.

So wait, you don't work for Beatport? Man, you got me good.

My taste in music isn't bad enough to work for Beatport.

___________________
Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/