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I need some clarification.
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| daphunky1 |
Alrite, so I do not DJ, nor have I ever even messed around on any equipment. I have used ableton a bit. Anyways I met this guy randomly and we started talking music. This is how it went: (edited for shortness)
me listening to trance on my headphones, guy sitting beside me on train:
Him: Hey man cool tunes.
Me: Thanks this is pretty much all i listen to
Him: Ya me too. I mix too. (he goes to a Audio/visual school he told me).
Me: ... Ya I'd like to start. I've just been messing around on ableton so far. I was thinking it might be easier to buy a mixer and hook it up to ableton, so that it would be easier to adjust the EQ's.
Him: That's not how you mix.
Me: What?
Him: You mix with pitch man. You changed the pitch of the record that isn't playing to match the beat of the record that is playing. If the record playing is 132 BPM and you the next record is 128 BPM you'll move it to plus 4 pitch.
Me: But then it will sound funny if it's too sped up.
Him: Well ya, that's why you always adjust the one that's not playing yet. And then on a 4 count when the song is changing you can drop the pitch back to zero and that when you pull the cross fader across and bring on the next track.
ME: So you've just just changed the bpm of the set by 4 all at once?
Him: Ya, just do it at the right time so the crowd doesn't notice and it all continues on smoothly.
...then I asked him, what if you want you tracks to be overlapping by 1-2 minutes for a nice long mix, and he just kinda looked at me funny. Because from my knowledge all he is doing is picking a time and yanking the song in all at once, as long as it was beatmatched... and then changing the bpm right away...
He's the one who "mixes" but it all sounded a little dodgey to me.
So what's his deal. And if anyone would like, they could give me a quick rundown of what is actually going on generally in a mix. |
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| stan229 |
the basic general objective is to get the incoming song matched in tempo with the outgoing song.. there are different ways to go about doing it.. usually its involved in manipulating the tempo slider which increments/decrements pitch by .1%/.05%/.02% and then after you launch the song, if you launched it too early/late you use the jog wheel to slow the incoming song down or speed it up
this is one of hte most generic ways afaik, hopefully i wont get flamed on this because im no expert, there are very talented guys in here who would be able to answer better than me
the type of mixing youre referring to is what i heard at a club i went to in NYC that i was completley appalled by.. but for that tpye of mixing, if there is no mixing of the tracks involved... you dont even need the same bpm really because youre practically pressing "play next" in your winamp playlist |
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| s3nate |
- Beatmatch
- Drop record on 16th or 32nd beat or phrase
- Drop the bass (or any other EQ's) on incoming track
- Bring up channel fader
- Turn up the eq's that you dropped on the incoming track while turning down the eq's on the track you are mixing out of
- Bring down the channel fader for the first track |
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| Drake44444 |
| If you warp in complex mode on Ableton, it does not matter if you change BMP. The pitch will be ok unless you change it drastically. |
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| Beat Blog |
Well, since none of you bothered to answer his question...
The guy on the train is a retard.
As you said, if you're doing a one minute transition, the tracks will need to be kept at the same BPM for the whole time.
In regards to the pitch, you can speed a track up by about 2-3% before pitch changes really become too noticeable to yourself, let alone the crowd. Besides, CDJs have "master tempo" buttons which keep the pitch the same, if that floats your boat.
Also, sets generally have a constant BPM; you don't start at 128, then mix into a song that's 130, and bring the tempo up accordingly. Generally, you pick a BPM and stick with it for the duration of the set.
edit: people seem to have misunderstood what I meant, which was:
You wouldn't play as such: 128>130>131>135>132>136
You would instead do something like this: 128>128>128>130>130>131 |
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| stan229 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Beat Blog
Also, sets generally have a constant BPM; you don't start at 128, then mix into a song that's 130, and bring the tempo up accordingly. Generally, you pick a BPM and stick with it for the duration of the set. |
gonna have to disagree with you here man, there have been two answers to the questions on how the "djing process" works
i never go with a constant bpm, as my set progresses in certian direction with songs.. usually the bpm alters, slowly but smoothly and surely i mix in songs that are in different bpms and change my tempo, its part of the set flow not only by the tracks but by the speed.. |
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| G-Con |
| quote: | Originally posted by Beat Blog
Generally, you pick a BPM and stick with it for the duration of the set. |
I'd have thought the opposite, that generally the tempo will change over the course of the set |
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| Storyteller |
Exactly. Slowly increasing the tempo of your sets makes it possible to gradually buildup a set from 128bpm proghouse to a hot and steaming uplifting set at 137 (or whatever you want).
would be fun to see a night where the first dj starts off with proghouse forcing the ending dj to finish with 128bpm techtrance or so :D |
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| Beat Blog |
| quote: | Originally posted by G-Con
I'd have thought the opposite, that generally the tempo will change over the course of the set |
You use the intensity of the individual songs to craft a set - not the BPM.
BPM is no guarantee of intensity.
There are plenty of low BPM songs which convey far more energy and danceability than tracks which are 6 or even 8 BPM more. |
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| Beat Blog |
| quote: | Originally posted by Storyteller
Exactly. Slowly increasing the tempo of your sets makes it possible to gradually buildup a set from 128bpm proghouse to a hot and steaming uplifting set at 137 (or whatever you want).
would be fun to see a night where the first dj starts off with proghouse forcing the ending dj to finish with 128bpm techtrance or so :D |
Hence why I said "generally". When I've played a six hour set, I've done exactly what you just said - but when it's a one or a two hour set, I don't think it's appropriate to be jumping up by more than 2 or 3 BPM - and then there is no point, because you're within mixable BPM range anyway, as in, you could play a 132BPM track at 130, there is no point going up to 132. |
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| stan229 |
there arent really any rules though.. you do whatever sounds good.. theres dj whos mix 8 different genres in one hour.. theres djs who's transitoins are longer than the song they play themselves.. theres djs who shouldnt even call thesmelves djs :)
just do what sounds good and be happy, not good to confine yourself to a set of standards of rules |
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| Storyteller |
| quote: | Originally posted by Beat Blog
Hence why I said "generally". When I've played a six hour set, I've done exactly what you just said - but when it's a one or a two hour set, I don't think it's appropriate to be jumping up by more than 2 or 3 BPM - and then there is no point, because you're within mixable BPM range anyway, as in, you could play a 132BPM track at 130, there is no point going up to 132. |
Very true, but also very personal. Almost none of my sets actually have that constant of a bpm... maybe some 1 hour ones, but if it's more then 1 hour then definately not.
On the other hand the mixing as mentioned by the topicstarter is pretty common here. Especially in those popular top 40 clubs etc etc. :) |
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