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Modern music still works off the same principles as a lot of classical music. Working largely on a 4/4 time signature, using the Circle of Fifths to determine when things are key compatible (modern day DJs may call it the Camelot Wheel, but it's the same thing). Raising tunes through a half-step (a semi-tone) to instill a sense or urgency into the movement / mix were as well used by Claude Debussy as they are by Armin van Buuren.
If you listen to some classical music, you'll notice how you can strip each of the instruments or sections away from each other and their individual parts sound disjointed ...until they're all put together and they flow into each other. The same is true of the guitar / bass / drums or the melody / bassline / vocals of more contemporary music.
I think they'd get a lot of inspiration from modern stuff.
Build your set in three-song segments, string those three-song segments together. Think of this as the 1-2-3, 1-2-3 approach. Once you establish three-songs that go together, you can vary the order of your set structure by moving blocks of songs around. This also takes the stress out of picking tracks during an impromptu set, since you know where you are headed for the next song or two. The only thing you need to concern yourself with is the energy of the dance floor, and what they are responding best too. Move in that direction.
Things to consider :
- bass-lines, do they compliment each other?
- vocal samples, do they clash or compliment?
- song key, same or complimentary (see mixedinkey.com
- mood / vibe / energy from one track to another
Last, how do you plan on mixing. Long slow fades like a deep house DJ, or jacked up mixer bashing like a high energy DJ? Keep it consistent throughout your set.
Have fun, and good luck!
Madeon upped the level on Launchpad performances way higher than most people are going to be able to reach.
That said, this performance was cluttered and/or out of key, and had some occasional mistakes. I don't expect everyone to be able to play flawlessly, but when you're uploading a video or mix (essentially for promo), you want to display your best possible work.
The best, most clean parts of this performance only had two playing at the same time, which kind of defeats the purpose of the Launchpad.
Suggestions for improvement:
Get things in key. Either do it by ear/keyboard or let software like Mixed in Key [$58] or Rapid Evolution [Free] do a lot of the legwork for you (double check it afterwards, though).
Do some EQing. Outside of harmonizing, the other thing that makes this sound cluttered is having a lot of stuff in the same range (~1:20-1:33 for example). For samples you want to use as kicks or low end, roll of their highs. The opposite goes for your high-hats and high-range stabs.
Lots of respect for putting together a sample-based performance. With some practice and technical finesse this will to turn out great!
Edit: Added suggestions
For when you've got the hang of beat matching and want to take your mixes to the next level ...
Introducing harmonic mixing.
The fundamentals of this are rooted in music theory, more specifically the relationship between keys (don't freak out, keep reading). To simplify, certain keys sound good when mixed after the same or similar key, while others clash and sound like a train wreck.
I have classical music training and understand the relationships between musical keys. It's good knowledge to have ... HOWEVER ... as luck would have it you don't need it :)
So here's the process:
1) download the software app Mixed In Key, and a JPG of the Camelot Wheel
2) load your tracks into MIK and let it analyse them (I also get MIK to add the "key" at the start of the track name, trust me it makes it easier)
3) use the MIK system and the Camelot Wheel while mixing
4) marvel at the harmonic magic
This may sound confusing and too hard. Believe me, it's not, and once you start using it it's unlikely you will ever stop. It will add a professional sheen to your mixes.
Link to the Camelot Wheel: http://www.harmonic-mixing.com/howto.aspx
Link to Mixed In Key: http://www.mixedinkey.com/
(EDIT: line breaks for easier reading)
It's not free but http://www.mixedinkey.com/ has the best key detection and it can put it in the file name. If you already have the keys from something else like Rapid Evolution or Rekord Box you can use MP3Tag.de to change the filenames to %artist% - %title% %key% %bpm%.
Sigma mentions in their masterclass that they run their library through Mixed In Key so that when they're browsing for another hit they only need to hear what's already tuned to their track. So yeah, could work.
This is a good playlist for sure. It's hard to please everyone; there's always going to be that one song that's 50/50 with people. Also, the order of the songs also plays a major factor - a non-party song can become a party song with the right mixing. Idk what kind of experience you have (you could be a popular dj with some clout, for all I know) but harmonic mixing is a good start if you're into this sort of thing.
Here's some suggestions off the top of my head... It seems you got most of the current hits covered...here's some extra, maybe a tad older, options to mix it up:
-Dance (A$$) / Big Sean
-Pop That / French Montana
-Party / Beyonce
-Run It / Chris Brown
-Same Damn Time / Future
-Hold On We're Going Home (remix?) / Drake
-Hell Yeah / DJ Rapture
-No Handz (CRNKN Remix) / Waka Flocka
-212 / Azealia Banks
-Bang it to the Curb / Far East Movement
-Good Life / Kanye West
-Main Chick / Kid Ink
-Who Do You Love? / YG
-Bitches N Marijuana / Chris Brown
-Pull Up / L.A. Leakers
-0 to 100 Grand Theft Bootleg (Remix) / Drake
-Make that Sh* Work / T-Pain
-Xxplosive / Dre
-Who ride with Us / Kurupt
-Set it Off / Big Daddy Kane
-I'm Bad / LL Cool J
-Scenario / Tribe Called Quest
You gotta remember at a college parties, or any sort of party really, you have to make the ladies dance first. Maybe you gotta play up to them, then later add a few hard beats for the bros. And sometimes the catchiest songs we think we hate, will go great with a party, so don't be afraid to toss in the "Teach Me How to Dougie's" of the world, appropriately.
Also, you can always add some more creative ones that can still rock the party. For example, Biz Markie's "Just a Friend' works during down time when everyone is drunk and tired of dancing - that will wake 'em up. If you time it right, you can even add some stupid shit like Dolce and Gabbana (riff).
What you're looking for is Mixed In Key. It costs $58, but in my opinion it's an absolute must-have. DJ Tech Tools even compared Mixed In Key against the algorithms used by Traktor, Rekordbox, and other key detection software and found Mixed In Key to be considerably more accurate.
It writes key tags using Camelot notation (or sharps and flats), to the comment field and/or file names of the tracks you analyze. These tags can then be viewed in iTunes and your DJ software of choice.
Check out Mixed in Key:
Sorts them pretty accurately and even renames them for you if you wish to.
Watch out, though: if you rename a sample that was used in an older project there's a pretty good chance that your DAW won't recognize it if you go back to it.
I don't mean to be condescending or anything, but please don't share your 'first mix'. Nobody wants to hear it. It shows that you've put in minimal effort and expect lots of results.
Would you want to critique an artist on their very first drawing? At that point they aren't an artist, they are just exploring a hobby. Nobody wants to see that amateur shit, and it shows your lack of dedication to this craft.
Record at least 30x 30min+ mixes, then you can start sharing. That's one a day for a month. Get started.
You want to get better, go read the book How to DJ Right. Then read the book Beyond Beatmatching. Start showing up in the #r_djs chat channel on freenode IRC. Start listening to other DJs and watching tutorials.
Record your 30x mixes, re listen to them, and take notes about what you did wrong. What parts felt smooth and what ones didn't.
Music theory for the short attention span: Circle of Fifths
The "Camelot Wheel" is just a proprietary notation of it.
So what I was saying is let's pretend my tagged track is in Bbm(B flat minor), I'll start at the 9 o'clock position and work my way around the circle to my tagged track in the 3 o'clock position.
These programs are for two completely different purposes. Afaik there isn't a program which sets automatic cue points.
>Pitch 'n Time DJ - Expansion Pack for Serato DJ users - allows you to speed up or slow down your track to extreme tempo values while maintaining its key perfectly, with the highest quality and definition of any available software.
>The idea behind Mixed In Key is that it analyzes the harmonies and melodies of your music. It shows you the musical key of every track, and helps you choose tracks that are harmonically compatible with each other.
I think it can definitely be done much better than how we did it, but I should have done a lot more research before hand.
- We should have asked the homeowner to do a walkthrough and test everything a week or two in advance, which would have given us time to rent some backup speakers.
- We should cut the processional songs together so they just flowed one into the next, and gotten a remote for the stereo.
- I should have put a lot more time into the playlist and researched about things like beat matching and creating a good ebb and flow. I completely underestimated the art to creating the ultimate dance playlist and just picked music I thought was fun.
- I should have doubled or tripled songs to dance to. Again, a remote could have helped.
If I were to go back and do it all again, the one thing I would changed would be to to research some beginner DJ techniques and give the project a lot more time.
EDIT: A Practical Wedding also has some great tips that would have really helped us a lot, had we been better prepared.
60 bucks to both analyze and write ID3 tags. Guarantee if you have even a small collection of tracks it will be worth the money in time savings over manually converting the musical key to the camelot key and then manually tagging each file.
I HIGHLY reccomend looking into a program called mixed in key. Ill grab you the link to their website, it has taken my mixes to the next level.
http://www.mixedinkey.com/ <--- link to the website
The program is a little expensive but paired with platinum notes i have found that the music coming out of the speakers flows better together and sounds much crisper due to plat notes and mixed in key. Also, give this a read it helped me a lot.
http://www.mixedinkey.com/Book/
I hope this helps!
Worked with a few mashup artists in my time, its a combination of a few things.
check this linke for info on harmonic mixing, then find songs with similar tempos and compatible (or sometimes contradictory) themes and bam!!
Of course its not quite as simple as that and many mashup artists will spend a really long time either remaking sections with their own twist, adding in new elements etc.
This one by The Kleptones is an excellent example of a mashup producer using all the tools.
Not much a producer here. I browse this sub for the sake of general understanding, but I was a DJ for good while. One tool that helped me when trying to stay in/transition to different keys was this
http://www.mixedinkey.com/HowTo
I don't know how applicable to songwriting it would be, but I like the way the wheel explains how to link different keys/notes.
I organize by key. Have folders for each key so harmonic mixing is easier. Sometimes break them out by genre as well so I have folders for minimal, tech house, high BPM techno etc.
I like the music choice. What software did you use to mix them? I would recommend looking into MixedInKey (or use Traktor's key detection) to get some ideas on the how to do Harmonic Mixing. It is not an iron rule, but its a good suggestions to get more proficient at choosing which songs might work with others.
http://www.mixedinkey.com/HowTo
Can I piggy back your post and ask you to criticize my mix?
Sorry if my original comment of "very" was vague, but I believe that Mixing in key and tempo are important, not always necessary but something I do to keep things smooth. Something called the camelot Wheel helps for harmonic mixing http://www.mixedinkey.com/Cloud/Book/CamelotWheel.jpg but isn't always the way to go. you are the DJ, you make it happen, play what you would dance to, and hopefully they will as well. A program you can rip is called "Mixed In Key" and analyzes songs and assigns them a key, (super helpful). I would say mix in key and tempo as much as possible to keep harmonics within the wheel, and when you have to,.. break some shit and swap some tempo and key, with your own style of transition to keep it human, because we aren't dancing to skynet yet. have fun, and remember a great quote, "I trust a Dj that doesn't dance like I trust a cook that isn't fat." Have fun, make em' move and fuck with them, pauses and anticipation are the world.
A small app called mixed in key will help with this. they have a short guide which helped me a lot.
Here it is: http://www.mixedinkey.com/HowTo
LOVE their apps, thought mixed in key was awesome.
No problem! I was a bit daunted by the idea of keys at first but they really aren't as bad as they seem.
http://www.mixedinkey.com/HowTo
Have a read through this article, it pretty much covers everything to get your head around it! I don't know what software you use, but in Traktor (which is my software of preference) they label the keys with the camelot system, except instead of A's and B's it uses d and m, which correlate the same if I'm correct. Hope I helped!
you can do both, actually. if you want to stay with one vibe, you may stay in 1-2 keys the whole mix. if you in want to have a progression then you can slowly go up and down keys with each new song. this website was how I learned about it. http://www.mixedinkey.com/HowTo
This explains it better than I possibly could, and the whole book (which is quite short), Beyond Beatmatching, is definitely worth a read if you haven't heard of it.
Liked the transitions ...one thing I would say is the two minute build up at the beginning, waiting for stuff to kick off. I was wondering if it was going to be all as ambient, and it took until over 10% into the mix to get really moving with something more than a beat and ethereal sounds.
Frankie Knuckles once said of someone, "His selection of music was excellent, and he kept the energy going." The checklist of engaging a listener, using a Kaskade mix for Radio 1 in London as an example, is given as follows on the above link:
Your first track must be an instrumental (no vocals).
Your second track must have vocals.
The duration of your first track must be shorter than 2 minutes 30 seconds.
The duration of your second track must be shorter than 4 minutes.
All subsequent tracks must be shorter than 5 minutes.
...I was waiting for the vocals as a auditory guide to let me know we'd entered stage 2 of proceedings. It took until 15 minutes to get vocal elements, and over 16 minutes before proper vocals. As the page says, "There are a few reasons why we think it works. For one, the audience never has a chance to get bored. Second, the instrumental intro gives you the option to play a voiceover (listen to Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1 for some of the best), which does a lot to engage the crowd. Lastly, by mixing quickly, you're making a statement about your level of expertise to your audience." You have definite expertise, you had enough space for a radio station voiceover (if you ever submit it to a college radio station in America or something bigger like Triple J in Australia), but I did start out bored and finally had that "at last!" moment after a quarter of an hour. That's the only criticism I have, the early boredom and waiting for voices. Everything else was great.
Nice! I only mix audio, and I use a Korg nanoKontrol with Djay for Mac.
Phrasing is all about paying attention to the different sections of a song, and starting the new track so that these sections line up well between songs.
Harmonic mixing involves choosing to play songs in complementary keys in succession for smoother transitions and a better ability to build up a mood and take the listener on a cohesive musical journey. Serato doesn't have a built-in key analysis function, so start by analyzing your tracks using Keyfinder, Mixed In Key ($50), or another software. Then, it might make sense to make a Smart Crate for each key. Then, use the Camelot Wheel to help choose the next song. It's not too complicated, and makes a huge difference. Just remember to trust your ears over the software.
Here's a short pop/house mix I made that made heavy use of harmonic mixing. It might help give you an idea of how to use it to get really smooth transitions.
MixedInKey's Energy Level feature pretty much does this - giving each of your tracks an "energy level" rating. The energy level is ranked based on a lot of this high frequency stuff - big riffs, big hats, white noise. More info on this here
Great song selection, i liked the transition into Axis. If you don't mind a little constructive criticism, i found some of the transitions between songs to be a bit off key. One great software tool that i use for creating more harmonic mixes is Mixed in Key. http://www.mixedinkey.com/
The software provides you with the Key each song is produced in, and really gives you a better idea of which songs will sounds good together (harmonically at least)
But all in all good mix and keep mixing away! What equipment did you use to mix this?
Sure, as long as you use Sync instead of beatmatching and stick to simple, on phrase transitions it will work fine.
I suggest you check out Mixvibes Cross Free edition. It has a nice feature that will start loops on phrase for you so you could use loops too.
Just make sure to read up on phrase matching from the How to DJ Right book, and read the Beyond Beatmatching book.
Since you aren't going to be able to manipulate the EQ and or Filter easily and with great control while transition, it's particularly important that you mix in key. That Beyond Beatmatching book goes over the techniques.
Nice job - really enjoyed the song selection! I especially liked Where We Belong, Calling Out, How You Love Me, and U - definitely adding them to my music wish list.
Thanks for including the ability to quickly skip between songs using the YouTube annotations! I listened to the whole thing, but it was nice being able to quickly access each song. (BTW, the annotation to How You Love Me goes to 42:40, when it should go to 42:20.)
The drum/bassline is a bit "busy" during some of the transitions - maybe using the EQs to turn down the bass on the incoming song would help. It's also possible that the tracks aren't completely in sync; either the two tracks aren't at the same tempo, or one of them is slightly ahead of/behind the other.
The transitions into Eat Sleep Rave Repeat, Celebrate the Rain, Get Down, How You Love Me, and U were probably the smoothest. The rest felt slightly "off" either due to key clash (doing Harmonic Mixing might help), phrasing issues, or the EQ/beatmatching issue I mentioned earlier.
For future recorded mixes, try to push yourself to make (at least some of) the transitions between songs longer. This forces you to find songs that really "work together" (tempo, key, genre/subgenre, similar-sounding vocalist, wordplay, mood/themes). For example, Calling Out -> How You Love Me was a great transition (nice overlap between songs) because the two songs match each other so well.
Hope my feedback helped, and good luck on your future mixes!
If you're interested, here's a link to my latest mix. It's mostly progressive house, with some melodic dubstep thrown in as well. Hope you like it, and feedback would be great!
I just found it's free to read online, I'd been looking up some advanced techniques on the wheel which is not really in reference here but some interesting literature some might find interesting here: http://www.mixedinkey.com/Book/Use-Advanced-Harmonic-Mixing-Techniques
You mean the Camelot Wheel? It's just basic musical theory that's been prettified by the good folks at Mixed in Key for plebeians like me.
EDIT: Sorry read that as 'Letter' chart. I'm not sure where the more complex chart came from but again it's musical theory.
Also, the new version of Beatport shows the BPM and key of a song on top of the waveform in the playback window. So if you don't own MixedInKey, you can still find the key for a fair few of your electronic tunes. I like to add the Camelot notation into the mp3's ID3 comments field, so that I can sort them harmonically.
http://www.mixedinkey.com/HowTo.aspx
You don't need to buy the software because Virtual DJ has automatic key detection that's about as good Mixed In Key.Just right click the top of the list of the songs and check "key (numeric)."
Just make sure keylock is on (it should be by defualt) and you shouldn't have to worry about the last thing unless you're changing the BPM by something stupid like 20%.
Second this, Mixed in Key is amazing. Rapid Evolution is also pretty good, if you don't mind the clunky interface and slower key detection.
Mixed in Key has a nice color wheel of complimentary keys. If you really want to get in to mixing harmonically then you may want to buy the actual software, unless you have another way of analyzing the keys of your tunes.
I was surprised to discover this as well. You need a separate piece of software for that functionality, and it only works if you're connected to the internet. It's a shame because Serato & Traktor's sound engines are superior to VDJ's (especially if you don't have a fast PC).
Your BPMs are a little off. There are many programs like http://www.mixedinkey.com/ that calculate it for you. Here's a website where you tap along to the song. http://www.all8.com/tools/bpm.htm
Make sure both are on the same tempo before you mash them up.
Also, your timing when you mix the vocals with the instrumentals are also off. Listen to the originals and take note on when the vocals come in on the beat.
i mainly spin prog house/trance myself as well. rare to see other prog house mixes here on reddit too! thanks for the upload
after listening to your mix a couple times i do have some comments:
some transitions werent as smooth and "progressive" as they could be simply because the track were different keys to begin with. the mix between mossy's "after the sunrise" and deadmau5's mix of "you and i" clashed simply because they were different keys, not becuase you train wrecked the mix. try using programs such as mixed in key to help with this.
effects are your friend! especially in the middle of the mix where the energy is high dont be afraid to use some effects to enhance different drops in the track or make quick and efficient transitions from song to song.
even though i understand the reasoning behind playing out these progressive tunes basically from start to finish. i would recommended trying to cut down the playing time of each track down to around 3-5 minutes to keep listeners interested and on their toes. this may be just my personal taste so dont take this comment too harshly
on a different note, i loved how your mix flowed from a very mellow start to a more electro feel in the middle and finally calming down again to finish of the mix. i also enjoyed all the tracks in the mix which is the honestly the most important part of any mix no matter how well done it may be. great organization and track selection is the fundamentals to any great mix... all you have to do now is hone in on those details!
subbed on soundcloud. looking forward to your new stuff man!
After a couple of listens:
You need to key match your transitions; most notably mixing out of Belong (which I think deserved more prominence, as it's an amazing track). Try something like Mixed in Key, if you've never done any musical training.
I don't know if you noticed, but "Tom Lue - Into The Closet" sounds like some kind of slower, "orchestral" dub of Kyau & Albert's remix of "Bent - As You Fall" (another mix to check out is Guy J's remix), and to me, it sounds tired here; this is my opinion though, don't take it too critically.
Overall, not a bad mix, look forward to seeing new mixes/contributions.
If you don't mind spending a little money, a little piece of software called "Mixed In Key" will analyze whatever mp3 you throw at it and tell you what key it's in. It labels the song/clip according to the "camelot wheel" and helps DJs mix in harmony. I've used it, and it's suprisingly accurate. It might be worth giving it a shot, although if you're just interested in finding the key for 1 sample, it may be more than you need.
> If I was to perform a live set with Ableton, would this involve getting an hours worth of music together in the session view, warping each track to match the BPM, and then just playing through the tracks, fading in and out, maybe have a drum rack set up to launch some SFX/percussive hits?
Yes I'm pretty sure that's it. I've never DJ'd with Ableton myself (I use Mixvibes Cross currently but also Virtual DJ, Mixx, and Traktor previously). As you can see because of locking the BPM Ableton is pretty limiting for a DJ use. It's usable though if you are DJing some of your own productions with others.
The main thing I want to add is that you should mainly focus on "on phrase transition mixes". This is a simple transition from the '16' on track A to the '1' on track B (the downbeat). You fade between them.
The other thing you want to do, and as a producer you should have some knowledge of this is to mix on harmonic key. You obviously must know about the harmonic key (tonic) of a song already. When DJing what we do is just like you build a scale of notes from the tonic - we mix songs together with tonics that fit within a scale. Obviously most of the time we use simple Major or Minor scales and don't worry about more unique scales.
So essentially what you want to do is make a major scale or minor scale off of tonics of different songs then 'DJ' through the scale! You can of course keep just hitting the same 'tonic' back to back and it'll sound fine but it kind of gets a bit 'boring' to the dancers.
In DJ use we use something called the camelot wheel to give us a 'shortcut' to building major and minor scales around tonics. There is a nice guide to how to do it here: http://www.mixedinkey.com/book/
I keep a copy of it plus a chart for easy use of figuring out the scale and manipulating the camelot wheel: http://www.evernote.com/l/ABZlxsDkpsNBJ4zq9uKAmXl9SaMH13yHR9k/
Basically you should have around 95% or more of your tracks straight from this list:
http://www.djintelligence.com/charts/DJIntelligenceMostRequested2015.pdf
Print out the list, and mark down any songs you even remotely kind of sort of like. Buy all those songs and play all those songs. Seeing as it is a high school dance you might want to focus more on the list "Top 100 of 2010's" and "Top 100 of 2000's" but don't ignore any older stuff that you also like. Who doesn't love to dance to Michael Jackson - Billie Jean (best dance track of all time IMHO!)
Do not beatmatch, learn how to do simple transitions on phrase. This means don't worry about sync just play the next track at the right phrase start time. Learn about Harmonic Mixing which mixes your songs based on similar harmonic keys of the music rather than matching the speed of the music by beatmatching.
Again, and I can't stress this enough do not beatmatch, do simple on phrase transitions using the transition fader, eq, and filter. Don't play with effects either.
Just remember what you are listening to and doing is underground it isn't pop. This is the equivelent of throwing a mixed party and serving really weird food. For a mixed party you keep it simple with food that lots of people love. You don't go all out with escargot, fine whiskey, expensive IPA, and Menudo. You go with Pizza, Hot Dogs, or Tacos.
You need to play out pizza, hot dogs, or tacos for a mixed crowd.
Maybe something like this? link.
Maybe the best way instead of hardware is sent an audio line to a pc with a software in there
http://djtechtools.com/2014/01/14/key-detection-software-comparison-2014-edition/
Maybe there's something i'm missing... I don't understand why anyone would buy mixed in key when you could just print up the Camelot Wheel and be good to go.
Or better yet if you're using Serato just switch it to display keys in in the Camelot System, learn the system in 2.5 minutes and boom you're good to go.
Yup, absolutely. Best bet is to try to mix harmonicaly on the key of the music. Then just do a simple phrase transition, probably over the last 4-16 bars (depending on the outro/intro) with a super filter or with just the bass & treble EQ if the outro or intro doesn't leave room then just transition on the 1 of the phrase.
Also it gives you the ability to easily create playlists with tracks that fits together because of same key or matching key.
If you don't know much about key/scales go for the camelot system.
The whole point is to be able to find tracks that use similar keys, so they aren't "clashing" when they get played together.
The Mixed In Key site has a great guide regarding this. http://www.mixedinkey.com/HowTo
If you find that you're having trouble with mixing in the right key range, you should try out MixedInKey. It's a software that will analyze your library and show you compatible key ranges for each of your songs. Also they use the "camelot wheel" and explain how pitches match each etc
Why, where, and when great composers choose to modulate and depends much more on the rest of the music around it and therefore could never be represented by a chart, diagram, or algorithm.
But, if you keep in mind two things 1. What key you want to go to, and 2. That your pivot chord needs to work in both keys, this diagram should help visualize it: http://www.mixedinkey.com/Book/How-to-Use-Harmonic-Mixing-2
Also, learn your keys!
Another thing to note is that your friend mixed two songs together from compatible keys; Pompeii is in A major (11B) and Animals is in F major (7B).
Here's some info on mixing in key:
In a similar vein -- and I haven't tried this out myself yet -- is using Mixed In Key on your sample folders for inspiration and/or organising samples by key. It's not a new concept but /u/villemuk put a tutorial together explaining his workflow.
You could organize by key. I do that with all of my music. (Deep and progressive house mostly). This also has a tendency to organize by mood somewhat, as certain keys lends themselves to certain moods imo.
Traktor has key detection software now (I'm assuming Serato does as well) but I've always been partial to Mixed in Key.
Sorry for being rude, I had a few when I replied. Mixed In Key is a program that automatically finds the key and tempo of a song. Sometimes it's a little off, it thought the song was in 4/4.
And when I said multiplying 3/4, I literally meant 0.75, or three quarters. 124 x 0.75 = 93. I was trying to make a math equation out of it. I found the answer in this gearslutz thread anyway. So the next time I have a beat that lines up in 4/4 but is actually 6/8, just multiply by 0.75 to find the new bpm. I definitely could have worded the whole post better. Sorry.
This is a nice mix overall and the song selection is great, but if you don't mind I have a few critiques.
IMO Liquid is usually very melodic, so mixing in key is extremely important. In other genres like house you can get away with mixing out of key, but liquid dnb usually has very melodic intro's and outro's. Most of your tracks were mixed out of key and there was a lot of clash of notes.
I'd suggest using a program like MixedInKey to identify keys and learning Harmonic Mixing
Also some of your phrases were a bit off and you tend to mix vocals on top of vocals which can be OK at times but it usually clashes.
Idk how long you've been mixing, but I'd suggest checking out /r/beatmatch if you want to learn more or ask any questions there. And even if you have been mixing for years it's still a great sub for learning all things DJing.
You can also hit me up here as I have been mixing liquid for a few years now and have been doing a lot of DNB gigs lately. I'm no superstar or anything, but I like to think I've built a pretty solid foundation on mixing Drum and Bass and a slew of other genres.
Just my two cents. Keep it up!
club edits will help with that, as will Virtual DJs key detection. There should be a way for it to display Camelot Keys which make it easy to start getting decent mixes going. Theres an explanation of the camelot system here
Here you go: http://www.mixedinkey.com/HowTo.aspx I'm not a shill for MIK, and I only use it as a guide. And there are other tools out there. And you only need it if you do a lot of mid-range transitions.
A friend at my studio suggested this. It won't help you much with the cutting and all that but it will at least get you started by identifying keys and tempos so you'll have at least some idea what parts fit together and how better to fit the ones in odd keys. Pitch n' Time is a great plug for tempo/key changing as well though I believe it's prohibitively expensive.