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  • Mix Club - The Remedial Class

Getting the volume just right between the headphones & your speakers/monitors is also important. To loud on the headphones and it’ll be much harder to beat match the monitor tune

    Dubman this is a good bit of advice. set your monitor volume bottom up so it’s not too loud, then match the volume of your headphones accordingly. this will help your mixing and save your ears.

      Dubman Once worked with Sander just as the draconian sound laws came into effect at festivals in the UK, maybe mid to late 2000s. He was irked by the low volume of the sound system, so he just cranked the monitors up and aimed them at the crowd… fuck knows how loud his cans must have been. Also, apropos to nothing, he did the set with a miners lamp on his head.

        Had a quick 40 minutes last night, results much better than previously so thanks for all the advice 👍

        Been mixing for hours today with the ‘new’ XZ - beat matching is getting quicker and tighter, but since losing the crossfader and using channelfaders and EQs it sounds like I’m losing energy through the mix. Don’t get that with the crossfader, so I know I’m got the phrasing right. Any further tips?

          Along_the_Wire I’ve experienced this kind of thing before aswell. In my case I think it might be down to a combination of having the EQ’s dialled quite far back and the volume fader too low as the outgoing track begins to drop out. I’d imagine there are quite a few things that can cause it.

            Along_the_Wire that’s a really open question, we’d probably need to hear an example. could be the way you’re bringing in new sounds, phrasing, or even the key change from one record to the next.

              Along_the_Wire Crossfaders will regularly have a ‘sharp’ or ‘quick’ volume transition, so even if you are super slow / careful with it, it will still bring in a fair bit of volume from the new track, that might be where your mix is getting it’s ‘energy’. Just be a bit more boisterous with your channel faders and you should get the same effect. As mentioned, I could be barking up the wrong tree though.

                  I put my hand across the channel then wack it up so as to not bring it in to loud,

                  Along_the_Wire that’s possibly your problem, try it the opposite way. keep the highs up, mids low, bass cut and slam the fader up after the break. slowly swap the mids and bring the bass in quickly or slowly, depending on how well they mesh together.

                      303abuser That’s what I’m doing. I meant both channel faders are up when I start farting around with the EQs. I’m beatmatching, then turn the mid and bass down, bring up the channel fader and then start the fiddle.

                          Along_the_Wire ah ok, i thought you meant you were using the eqs to bring the levels up. it’s a smooth way to mix, but won’t necessarily create energy. if your mixing techniques doesn’t seem to be the issue, really look at phrasing. mixing in earlier could help and look at key jumps (if you use the camelot system, moving up in numbers translates to increasing energy iirc).

                              303abuser I spent a lot of time today working on two loops - pretty sure the phrasing was bang on - crossfader mixing didn’t lose any energy. I’ll work it out - was fun today - the actual beatmatching improved a lot. The jog wheels are so, so good compared to what they were originally.

                                that’s good, making progress at the beginning is really rewarding. it all comes down to practice, which is pretty easy if you enjoy doing it. how long are your average mixes between two records? 30 seconds? 2 minutes?

                                  303abuser I’m giving myself around
                                  two minutes - I need to experiment with the timing on the EQs I suppose. Today was brilliant though, love it.

                                      303abuser mixing in earlier could help

                                      Yeah, have a look at this, but if you think your timing / phrasing is good, maybe record what you are doing now and then go back to the crossfader and record that, listen back to them both and compare etc.

                                      Also, and this might not be universally agreed upon, but I would never fade basslines or have both bass elements playing at the same time. I might fade one kick drum into another if there are no other bass elements at play, but I would never fade basslines / bass elements with either the faders or EQ. It almost never sounds clean, even if they are different sounding voices and in different octaves etc having them playing at the same time gets muddy. You can sometimes get away with it in a club on a ‘boomy’ system, but recorded and listened back it always sounds a bit amateurish / shite to me. I like a nice clean change from one bassline / bass to the other. That said, lots of top DJs to mix their basses / basslines / bass elements together at times.

                                          Along_the_Wire that should be enough time to use the line/eq method vs the cross fader. and amps is right about the bass stuff. on trick i liked, but it requires good beat matching and some balls if you’re doing it in front of a crowd, was to throw the new record at the start of the break, drop the bass out of the old track, and bring the fader up on the new track with just the lows coming it. if your beats are on, it’s a really imperceptible way to bring in a new track. requires similar or more energy on the incoming track to really work, unless your goal is to settle things down.