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  • Mix Club - The Remedial Class

Dubman Don’t know if you really liked that mix I sent you but it was done on a Numark mix track pro which very a basic controller so you I wouldn’t spend more money on something more expensive just yet.

I did mate, think I posted at the time that it opened my eyes to the importance of phrasing to maintain energy / flow. Great learning listening.

I’m not spending anything for a long time, just beginning to think I prefer dials to sliders.

Enjoying finding my way and an hour I did tonight sounded smoother

    303abuser you sacrifice the ability to properly gain stage

    I don’t even know what this means, so doubt I’m sacrificing anything just yet 🤣

        Mad_Cyril it’s probably more a thing with vinyl as volumes were all over the place with different pressings, but i’m sure the idea still applies.

        basically, track 1 is playing at whatever volume at it’s peak, we’ll call it 8/10. when track 2 is at it’s peak, it also needs to be at an 8, but the file is mastered quieter and it’s a 6 when the faders and gain knobs are at the same positions. you need to gain match track 2 to track 1 before bringing it in by increasing the gain knob. that way when the fader is at the top, the tracks are volume matched.

        if you’re leaving the faders up and using the gains to bring the new track in, you have to have really well trained ears to make sure the volume stays level from one mix to the next. otherwise you’ll get volume swings that become really noticeable, especially on a recorded mix.

            303abuser
            I see, that makes sense.

            Have auto-gain on at the moment so hopefully helps with that element.

            Something to bear in mind for the future maybe.

            Appreciate the patient explaining 🙂

                Mad_Cyril no worries, like i said, maybe doesn’t matter as much with digital files that you can normalize with software.

                  Mad_Cyril I sort the gain out on the incoming track before anything else. You have more control with the channel fader then. In my shit humble

                    Spent a good 20 minutes perusing this thread, and I’ve now got loads more to think about in terms of my own DJ stuff. I was recently in the market for a replacement for my aging DJM-600, but after looking at my 1200 & 1210 which I hadn’t even turned on for a good year or two, decided to splurge on an XDJ-700 (2nd one gets purchased when the Musician’s Friend reward points unlock in about a month…~$113 savings, woop-woop!).

                    Both will be used as standalone Traktor controllers, seeing as I’m sick of looking at my laptop so much while mixing, and I also wanted to get back that old feeling of “manual” control. About the only thing I’m unsure about right now is controlling loops within Traktor itself, seeing as I tend to loop the absolute fuck out of tracks that don’t really fit together until they finally do. I’ve been using an NI Kontrol S2 that has Move and Loop control knobs (handy little bastards), but I don’t see any capability like that with the 700.

                    /lifestory

                      deathbysmurf XDJ 700 has loops in the touchscreen, you can just push one, it’s got all different lengths in it, up to 32 beats.

                          5 days later

                          I’ve not put out any Livingroom-sets because they’ve sucked lately. Still play every Friday, but listening to the recording they’re dull as fuck, Hernan-level trouble getting to second gear. Yet it sounds great when I’m playing. Weird.

                          Some of it is probably beer, but maybe I also have too good a sound now, everything sounds intense when you play it loud.

                            Maybe you just need a change ?

                            I thought your mixing shot up in quality when you started pacing them out over the last couple of years.

                            Maybe something different will stretch you again? Freahen it up a bit.Some different styles or a different approach ?

                            Not as if you’re a rubbish DJ like Hernan

                            Homegrove I think a big part of that has to do with their search functions going to shit over the last few weeks. I think I’ve purchased all of 2 tracks from them since late January just because it’s such a slog to find decent tunes at the mo, and Bandcamp/Soundcloud search functionality is limited at best.

                              Homegrove everything sounds intense when you play it loud

                              that’s a definite possibility. i know when mixing during production, i try to mix as quietly as i can because everything sounds better loud.

                                Homegrove If you’re following the same labels and artists all the time… shirley what you are doing will stagnate a little? I genuinely suggest using different search methods, change it up a little.

                                  Luckily, I’m fucking dense and use Safari, so no problems at all.

                                  Seems I needed to introduce a little change to the set up, and powered up Traktor again. I think I got a new mix done yesterday, will still need to listen to it through. Used my old set up, Xone P:X 5, Xone K2 and Traktor.

                                  18 days later

                                  changing temp throughout a mix

                                  Been messing about with more tempo variation in my mixes for the last couple of weeks. I’ve been trying to include tracks anywhere from 110 bpm to 130 in the same set. It’s not something I’ve ever really tried before and I’m finding it harder than I expected.

                                  As a practice exercise, I’ve been aiming to increase the tempo by around 1 bpm on each track. By the time I’ve faded out the outgoing track and Tried to slowly increase the tempo of the playing track (without it being too noticeable), I’m finding the beatmatching and mixing in of the next track to be a bit of a panicked rush.

                                  Wondering if anyone has any thoughts or advice on the matter.

                                  Cheers

                                    Matt I can’t do drastic changes, they always sound shit. The only way I can do it is with one track that has a beatless outro and mixing a faster track to that with a beatless intro.

                                    I do however take the pitch up a few klicks (0.8 percent or something like that) after every transition. That way you can get from 118 bpm all the way to 122 in six hours!

                                    • Matt replied to this.

                                        Homegrove I’m just experimenting a bit at the minute and seeing how things sound. I’m getting a bit bored of hovering around the same bpm throughout the whole mix. I’ll give the outro/into thing a go though. Cheers