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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

          …weirdly, I think I’m always bolder with tempo changes when mixing live, not keen on doing too much of it on a recorded mix (unless its deliberately chill/downtempo).

          Like Hannu says, big changes are tough when mixing…. if you have an ‘end-goal’ tempo-wise, you need to bring it up very gradually over quite a few tracks. I’d also say, don’t be afraid to just do the odd crossfade, you don’t HAVE to beat-mix every track…. something with a nice whooshy intro/outro, preferably in-key, can make for a cool direction change.

            Unbroken1 don’t be afraid to just do the odd crossfade, you don’t HAVE to beat-mix every track…. something with a nice whooshy intro/outro, preferably in-key, can make for a cool direction change.

            Yup. Some tracks call for it. If done well can sound great. Especially when the listener is 2mins into the new track and can’t figure out where it came from.

              Matt Funny. Been researching this last couple of weeks.

              Obviously can’t beat match owt so options seem to be get creative in breaks etc or, the only other option I saw was small increments.

              Have seen a lot of references to 1bpm in no less than 30s. Cant see it not being obvious but going to play around with later today

              • Matt replied to this.

                  Mad_Cyril Good stuff MC! Have your dancing shoes ready for my next mix. Its likely to start with you slow dancing round the kitchen with Mrs MC. Only few tracks later shell be looking on in disgust as you simulate some sort of seizure, bopping away to 170 bpm Drum and bass.

                    Matt Try adding a strong fx and like Damo said you haven’t always gotta mix the bugger. Harvey has the knack of mixing like this.

                        Dan Thats the other one that sounded plausible.

                        Memory like a sieve, thanks for the reminder !

                          Dan Cheers Dan. Bringing in a new track without beatmatching is something I’ve never even tried to be honest. I can imagine it’s a handy thing to be able to do though. I’ll check out some of Harveys stuff, see what I can learn.

                            …check out some Mr Scruff vids too

                            • mjh replied to this.
                              4 months later

                              FX.

                              Just recorded my first mix on the DDJ-1000. My previous controller had little in the way of effects so I’ve been messing about with them. Thought I was subtly using the Trans effect (setting ½, low/medium depth) on a few of the transitions. It sounded pretty good while I was doing it.

                              Listening back, it doesn’t sound great and it’s spoilt what was otherwise a decent hour-long mix. Anyone got any good FX tips they’d care to share?

                                I know from your previous escapades, never to touch the Flanger.

                                Unless you’re an EDM-DJ delay and reverb are all you need. With Pioneer the filters sound like effects too.

                                • Matt replied to this.

                                  Homegrove I’ve never really used any FX before, I just aim to get the beatmatching as tight as I can and go for as smooth a transition as possible. how would the delay and reverb generally be used?

                                      Matt Reverb in transitions (works a treat in techno), delay wherever there are a huge amount of hi hats.