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How To Dj With Armin Van Buuren (pg. 2)
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| jurel |
| quote: | Originally posted by coolestrl
thanx mate |
no prob.
I use mixed in key religiously. I used to tune myself and have saved countless hours by purchasing this program. |
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| zizack |
| quote: | Originally posted by coolestrl
Okay, thanx. so how does the key affect mixing? When i mix, i beatmatch and sync perfect, my mix sounds good, i never had any ideas about "key" and how it affects music, sorry about my lack of theoretical music knowledge, im more curious and intrigued after watching this. |
Keying tracks allows you to be much more creative with your mixes. If two tracks are written in the same key, it basically means that all of the melodic parts of both songs will sound great over each other... You don't have to just mix intros and outros, you can layer more parts of the tracks on top of each other (with proper EQing of course).
Thats how a lot of the best trance mashups are made actually...producers use tracks that are in the same key, which makes it easy to layer a vocal from one song, over the breakdown of another for example.
Ever mix two tracks, and while they are beatmatched, the sound of the two basslines over each other sort of just sounds unpleasant? Thats because those basslines are written in different keys..they conflict with each other, and clash.
By no means do you need to run out and buy a key-detecting software though. The more you practice, the easier it will be to pick up on whether tracks are compatible or not. If two tracks go really well with each other (or really badly) just make a note of it for the next time. Thats how guys like Digweed can off 3 minute mixes in a club. |
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| Fibonacci |
Am I the only one who read this and thought 'oh sweet, some guy got to spin next the AVB and he's gonna show us how we can get up on stage w/ him' or something... maybe it'd be something simple like a few shots o' tequila. Oh well!  |
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| coolestrl |
| quote: | Originally posted by zizack
Keying tracks allows you to be much more creative with your mixes. If two tracks are written in the same key, it basically means that all of the melodic parts of both songs will sound great over each other... You don't have to just mix intros and outros, you can layer more parts of the tracks on top of each other (with proper EQing of course).
Thats how a lot of the best trance mashups are made actually...producers use tracks that are in the same key, which makes it easy to layer a vocal from one song, over the breakdown of another for example.
Ever mix two tracks, and while they are beatmatched, the sound of the two basslines over each other sort of just sounds unpleasant? Thats because those basslines are written in different keys..they conflict with each other, and clash.
By no means do you need to run out and buy a key-detecting software though. The more you practice, the easier it will be to pick up on whether tracks are compatible or not. If two tracks go really well with each other (or really badly) just make a note of it for the next time. Thats how guys like Digweed can off 3 minute mixes in a club. |
Sweet thanx for the insight. |
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| zizack |
| quote: | Originally posted by Fibonacci
Am I the only one who read this and thought 'oh sweet, some guy got to spin next the AVB and he's gonna show us how we can get up on stage w/ him' or something... |
Yes. ;) |
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| RoBDaWG |
| HAHAH no... when I saw the title i thought "oh wow i can dj with armin van buuren" |
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| DJ_Rafnel |
| quote: | Originally posted by RoBDaWG
HAHAH no... when I saw the title i thought "oh wow i can dj with armin van buuren" |
I wish i could DJ With Armin van Buuren :( |
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| The Vza |
I thought it was interesting that he uses his hi and low pass filters when he's mixing in and out. That way he can isolate the bass and kick of one track wit the highs and snares and cymbals of the other, and when they are in the same key, voila.
also when you're mixing in keys, different keys sound good on top of each other, you just have to know which ones.
its usually the 1st, 4th and 5th of a scale
for example if you are in the key of B flat Major then a song in E flat M or F M may sound good layered on it as well.
Im about to add music as a minor at school and I've been studying it for a while. We actually had to pick a song and figure out the chord progressions on our own for an assignment. Now he's got us composing on staff paper.
It's satisfying to see that armin knows his circle of 5ths. |
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| BradMiller |
I love how Armin says "that's a good trick especially for when you play festivals" lol... yeah cause all of us watching are worried about our festival sets :toothless
Re harmonic mixing +1 for sure. One thing I've also found is that it's important to realize that you don't always have to use it. When I first started getting into harmonics I found my mixes to be somewhat bland, almost lifeless with everything mixed in key (and not just staying in the same key or even shifting up). I think there's a certain energy shift that comes from mixing out of key that I find to be just as important as mixing in key. For this reason I like to use both. When you're going for a long mix or want to have a steady build use a track that's harmonic, but when you want an exclamation point to grab attention don't be afraid to use something inharmonic and mix if quickly or at the very end.
my 2 cents..
| quote: | Originally posted by jurel
I use mixed in key religiously. I used to tune myself and have saved countless hours by purchasing this program. |
Loooove this program - although just my luck it came out literally the month after I keyed my entire crate by hand lol
Swear by it nowadays, one thing to keep in mind though is that it's not always 100% accurate, so trust your ear first if something sounds off. |
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| DJ_Rafnel |
Armin has always had this interesting key change every once in a while and i honestly couldnt figure out how he did it. When he does it, it just builds energy like crazy. After studying some of his mixes more i figured out that jumping up 2 semi tones is his secret. IE:
Song 1 - D#
Song 2 would be - F instead of G# or A# it hits with a good punch and builds the energy like crazy. Just gotta be careful overlapping melodies and such.
Usually ill use this technique every 2 or 3 songs in my mixes. Makes for a more uplifting builder you know? Any other ideas guys? |
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| BradMiller |
Using the harmonic wheel (http://www.harmonic-mixing.com/Imag...monicMixing.jpg)
I find sometimes mixing 4 or 6 steps up or down can work well too (i.e. 1A into a 5A or 7A). If you're using Ableton you can also change the pitch of a song up or down (a 1A will become 6A pitched down or 8A pitched up). You can also use this intentionally, by making tracks feel darker or lighter as you like. |
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