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Need some help with mixing
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| Bear4569 |
Anybody that can give me some input would be greatly appreciated. So I have been DJing now for a couple of months and I have gotten alot better at it, but I have hit that point were I don't know where I can improve because everything that I do sounds the same. So you know, I'm mixing with Technics M3D's and using a Numark 1002 mixer. So here is my question, when I'm mixing from one track to another I can't seem to bring in the other track without it being complety obvious, so what are some things that I can do to introduce the other track without it being really noticable? I have tried to just mix with the eq's, I have tired mixing it by bringing in the volume slowly, I have tried everything that I know of. Another thing...how should the bass be brought in?, I can't seem to get that right either. So any help anybody ca give me would be great.
Thanks:D
Bear |
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| phatdelt |
i have the exact same set up as you.
what i usually do is when i'm ready to bring in song #2, i drop the gain and bass all the way down (bass usually 1/4 or 1/2 up) and over 16 or 32 beats slide the fader up then start switching out the basslines (i dont use the cross fader) to match song #1. if the basslines are completely different, just experiment to get it sounding good - sometimes you can have both basslines going and it sounds good, other times no.
anyways, after you have the volume matched, start raising the gain to fine-tune the volume of song #2 to match song 1.
take it from there, experiment with the EQs, i would stay away from the kill switches though - when i do use them i forget i have them 'on' and it can up your mix |
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| Dj Flesch |
I also don't use crossfaders, they are too different on mixer to mixer, and , on the DJM600, you have three different crossfader selections. So I leave the crossfader in the center. When I was first starting out, I had problems with making good mixes too, and it wasn't because of beatmatching, it was because I was mixing with music that was already mixed by other djs (using the cds that I have). That was what was killing me. there is a point in the beginning of each track around 32-64 beats into the track that you should start playing the track live (except in really drawn out mixes or the first track--which of course gets played in full). Every track also has an exit, which at about 50-30 seconds before the end of the track, it presents itself a great opportunity to mix out. This is because all of the main instruments of the track have faded out and it's basically only a bass beat and a hi-hat or something. If you mix in before this, all of the instruments clashing will make your mix sound like . If you mix in too late, then either your track ends, or you have a lot of dead space. So the trick is to mix in either 0, 4 or 8 beats after the live track has started it's exit. The less number of beats, the tighter the mix. Just make sure that when your mixing in, you're mixing in after the 30-50 second intro of the cue track so that you don't transition over to just another bass beat and a lot of dead noise... it's a real floor killer.
ANyway, hope this helps. You can check out the info page on hyperreal:
http://music.hyperreal.org/dj/AVH/ |
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| Dj Flesch |
| oh, I also forgot to mention about the volumes etc. I usually pan up the volume to 6 or so on the cue track before I start fading the bass on the live track. Just be slow and careful about it because it sounds worse to kill the bass than to have too much--and it's much more noticable. So fade the bass just a little bit maybe one-two tick marks on the knob and then instead of decreasing the bass more on the live track, while you are increasing the volume on the cue track up to max, fade at the same time, the master volume on the live track. Then at that point your cue track should be your live track and you've made your mix! |
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| Bear4569 |
Thank you so much for the info that you guys have given me, it will hopefully help me out alot! Well it should;)
B |
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| Great Outdoors |
My latest trend during mixing is to introduce the MIDS of the incoming track first, while slowly reducing the corresponding MIDS of the outgoing one to about half the original. The I will bring in the HIGHS of the incoming and do the same to the outgoing. This transition will normally take 32 beats, so by the time I'm ready to fade in the bass, the skeleton structure of the incoming song would have already been there, so it will just be a matter of switching the bass from the outgoing to the incoming- normally I try to do this fast, about 8 beats.
All that's left to do then will be to adjust any discrepencies between the two in terms of beatmatching on the fly. I will then fade out the outgoing one slowly.
I've got one bad habit, though, and I'm not sure if I will be allowed to do that in clubs. My volume controls are always up to the maximum on both channels; I only twist the knobs when fading in or out, so if I want that channel to be silent I will just set everything to minimum on the knobs. Is that wrong? |
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| DJTJ |
| You mean you use the gains for mixing? Yes, this is a bad habit. The gains are not designed for mixing, they are there to adjust for the fact that different vinyls etc. are cut/recorded/whetever at different volume levels. You should use the gains so that all of the tracks are at the same relative volume in the headphones. You should use the volume sliders for mixing instead. |
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| Great Outdoors |
| No I wasn't refering to the gain knobs DJTJ I was refering to the EQ knobs. :) I know it's a bad habit but it's utterly convenient. :) |
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| DJTJ |
| Oh, using the eq knobs is fine. That way you can control exactly what frequencies come in at what time. |
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| Transa |
Anybody else agree that u wearnt really comfortable about the perfect mix until u actually dj'd in a large club venue? First time i did i was shokked at how diff it was to the studio enviroment.
My advice doesnt involve counting anything or turnin this knob this much for this long.
I was a train wreck boy for months, then a couple of years back it all fell into place, and i neva looked back. |
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| DJTJ |
| Well, I haven't spun in a large club, but I've done a small room in a club with a rig of about 2kW-ish. It's definitely a lot different to spinning in your bedroom, and you can get away with a lot more. For example, if your beats are slightly out then it doesn't notice on a large system, and the eq doesn't have as much effect when you are in the mix. But that's not to say it isn't important, though. |
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