Please help me Improve my Mixing!

Zascar

Hey Guys,

Its come to the stage where I want to improve my mixing, but I need a little help. I've been mixing for a good while with mp3's on a pc, and more recently with an external mixer. I've taught myself everything I know, I've never actually had anyone who can dj properly show me what to do, but I think I've got to the stage where to progress from here i need a lttle expert help. I've only ever played at home and at parties etc, and occaisionally I record some mixes and give them to people on CD, and I always get a pretty good responce... So recently I've made an effort to record some mixes and put them online for friends to download, so i though I'd see if you guys would listen to a few of them and give me some feedback.

I've put a quick page together: www.zascar.com/music - I have 3 mixes online at the moment. All chunky-funky house - I hope you like them.

I'm proud of the point to which I've got to now, however I think I can get a lot better. This is by no means my best work - I always think my best mixing is done when I'm not recording it, less pressure, but these are ok. What I'm sure you'll notsice is that many of the mixes are not as smooth as I would like them to be.

If anyone can give me some tips on how to progress frm here I'd appreciate it, and let me know what you think of them overall.

Cheers
Zascar

Rollo Tamasi

hey, i'm downloading traffic at the moment, will let you know what i think tomorrow. Why not post the mix on my forum (blaa-blaa.com/forum), there are about 30 club dj's all into house down there, those muppets over there will set you straight!

Angel Moraes - Tribal Function (Peter Bailey Final Mix).mp3
Kienzle & Iberle - Touch Me [Raul Rincon Sexy Touch Mix].mp3

sweet sounds

Selik

Check out the beginner DJ tips forum on www.djsource.co.uk

I found them useful a while back when I was getting started in a serious way and you can also post some of your mixes for feedback as well.

Another good place to post mixes for feedback is the house music forum on www.inthemix.com.au

Where do you buy your tunes from by the way and what software to you use to mix with?

Kolodny

Zascar wrote:

I'm proud of the point to which I've got to now, however I think I can get a lot better. This is by no means my best work - I always think my best mixing is done when I'm not recording it, less pressure, but these are ok. What I'm sure you'll notsice is that many of the mixes are not as smooth as I would like them to be.

I know exactly what you mean. Like you, I've recently started to record mixes and I feel it's never quite as smooth as when I'm not recording (or when there's no one around of course!), yet I can play at a party (albeit usually with a few vodkas in me) and not feel the nerves at all, I suppose because there isn't the pressure of it being so 'permanent'.

I'll give your mixes a listen when I get a chance, I see some good tunes in there

Zascar

I use Virtual Dj same as yourself Giles. Use it with a Hercules DJ Console. Its pretty good but really think the market/technology in Mp3 mixers is very much in its infancy. I'm sure over the next year or so more companies will be coming out with much better prducts, I can't wait.

The hercules is great for a beginner, but really I think it looks a bit "Fisher Price" and there is a tiny bit of a delay in operating too, but you get used to it. Scratching is practically impossible, but I'm not really into that. I just like to make decent house mixes. Many top Dj's use Final Screath and Alberton etc, but really I think unless you want to be scratching there is no need for it I'm perfectly hapy with a pc and a mixer. I've used traktor but find virtual dj a lot nicer to use. If anyone else has some opinions on this subject I'd love to hear them.

mordeith

Zascar,
I rekcon your mxing is pretty good to be honest. I do a bit of mixing myself at home (vinyl and sometimes on PC). I think that what a lot of people reckon about their own mixing is that they can beatmatch pretty well, but they want to get more creative with their styles of mixing. I reckon only experimentation and trial and error can bring that to your mixing. As naff as they are to some, I can't help but throw a spinback into a mix every now and then (hands in the air ). Obviously there are more exotic things to try but I couldn't give you any advice on how to do them (have to be able to do 'em myself first :rolleyes: )

tman

mordeith wrote:

Zascar,
I rekcon your mxing is pretty good to be honest. I do a bit of mixing myself at home (vinyl and sometimes on PC). I think that what a lot of people reckon about their own mixing is that they can beatmatch pretty well, but they want to get more creative with their styles of mixing. I reckon only experimentation and trial and error can bring that to your mixing. As naff as they are to some, I can't help but throw a spinback into a mix every now and then (hands in the air ). Obviously there are more exotic things to try but I couldn't give you any advice on how to do them (have to be able to do 'em myself first :rolleyes: )

spinbacks are so addictive, i've had to limit myself to 2 in every mix:p
(traktor dj studio is pretty handy for that kind of carry on btw)

as far as beatmatching goes;
once you have the 2 tunes pretty much dead on, try speeding up the second tune a little bit (i'm talking a minute adjustment here...). this way, once the records start going out of time, you'll know that negative pitch is needed to bring them back in. (it's not something i practise any more though)
i'm not sure which part of the track you focus on at the moment for beatmatching, but ignoring the rest of the track and only matching the downbeats can be a handy skill to learn (especially if you ever try branching off into different styles)

and most importantly (imo) stop using the automatic beatmatching feature of whatever program you use. you'll have a lot more fun manually cueing up tracks and feel a greater sense of acomplishment when you nail a mix:)

your mixing is sounding pretty good anyway, keep at it man.

Zascar

Cool, thanks Lads! Makes me fell much better! I suppose you can be really hard on yourself. When I record a mix I want it to be perfect so if I f*ck up one mix I usually get p1ssed off and quit. I suppose whne you listen to so much music that is premixed and produced, with completely seamless mixes, its hard to compete. I just find that sometimes despite 2 times being perfectly matched, there is still an element of overlapping trebble - what I call 'slapping' - just sounds dodgey.

One of the comments I got from someone in a PM is that the mixes are a bit to "Up and Down" - bouncy funky house, into tech house and then back again. Fair comment, I totally agree it is a bit varied in parts, but most of these mised are recorded completly on the fly with no prior planning. I just throw in whatever feels right at the time. How does everyone else do it?

mordeith

I think its impoertant to have some structure to your set list. There's nothing worse than getting into the swing of a set only to leave the floor because the next tune has less energy than the preceeding one. I don't think mixing styles is a bad practice as long as the tunes have the same danceability. i.e Sebastian Ingrosso - Lick My Deck followed by Shapeshifters - Lola's Theme (yeeuugghh!)