Mix Club - The Remedial Class
You still need to learn which Camelot codes go with which, so it’s pretty much like reading music. I actually think I was better before I used MIK with my tracks. Once I started using MIK I became obsessed with key mixing when you can still be creative off key and it just felt unnatural/cheating. Trying to stop using the keys for track selection was like weaning myself off a drug addiction.
…learning which go with which is specifically designed to be easy/memorable with Camelot though, MUCH less intuitive to know A flat minor > B major etc. unless you have some level of musical training.
Absolutely agree with your point though, it’s a tool, tracks that are in-key on paper don’t necessarily sound good together and vice versa, never let it 100% dictate track selection.
Personally find unusual/unexpected key transitions much more interesting that an endless succession of tracks in the same key.
In all honesty I think it depends on how seriously you want to take things. I reckon 90% + of punters in a club really wouldn’t have a clue whether the DJ is mixing in key, nor would they care.
For mixes for home listening, it’s different, but still it depends on what you want to do and how much time you have to dedicate to a mix. There are posters on here like Damo and Si Langham (not seen him for a while) who will put out professional quality mixes which are better than most DJs do. I’m using these 2 as an example purely because I listen to their mixes the most. Jamie was another, alas he seems to have moved on.
I think.key may ‘make’ a mix a lot more than break a mix so nice to have if you can do, but I’m bollixed if I’m going to start trying to learn this now
Amps Aye. To do it properly takes ages which is why professional DJs used to have a basic set of maybe 50-60 vinyl tracks which they knew intimately and had tried in many combinations and would only drop in a couple of new ones every week. these days digitally it is much easier not just because of the ease of key matching but the homogenisation of production methods where now you can easily predict the grid of tracks you can actually almost mix them without sound simply on the waveform of how they look and will probably sound. which is probably not a good thing. to get amazing combinations still takes a lot of graft - a lot i think depends on your personal tolerance level for what sounds good or not - the perfectionists amongst us (not me!) will never quite think it works and will keep going for the perfect transition. others with far too many tunes (me) will busk it and stitch a few together and learn to like the result so long as it is not terrible! horses for courses. i would imagine that if you did it for a living you would need to spend hundreds of hours defining your set and tunes and honing it carefully - i mean i hope they bloody do that rather than a 60 minute job like the rest of us!
Mixed in key and other software has certainly made it easier to pick tunes in a hurry. I did like the way you can just going up or down a key can change the energy of a mix. Nowadays there’s so many tracks released on a weekly basis it must be hard to find the time to really get to know all the tracks you buy. It’s why I only buy albums these days as I don’t DJ anymore
Unbroken1 in Rekordbox switch to the Camelot settings (6A, 6B, 7A, as opposed to G minor, B-flat major, D Minor etc.), it’s a piece of piss. I can walk you through it if you like.
Fuck my old boots, that’s a doddle. Looks like I enjoy bringing a few tracks in a couple of keys higher
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Unbroken1 learning which go with which is specifically designed to be easy/memorable with Camelot though, MUCH less intuitive to know A flat minor > B major etc. unless you have some level of musical training.
Sure, though the combinations go beyond the Camelot wheel and then it’s really just another set of coding like reading music. It’s easier to relate to letters and numbers for sure.
Ditched Traktor, and just went with the XDJs with the sync off, and suddenly had 3 hours of fun last night on them. It seems using sync is a problem for me, I get bored. It’s funny because there is very little difference with using digital players, fucking up a mix on them is pretty hard even without sync.
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Homegrove Forgive ignorance etc etc.
So using your XDJs, you guarantee the two records are moving at the exact same speed, but as not using sync, you’re in control of releasing and aligning them before you start your transition?
I ask, because like you, I get piss bored using the ‘full’ sync on Traktor…
Along_the_Wire Love this Dude’s tutorials. Nifty little trick.
Over the last 5 or 6 weeks I’ve started to record my mixes. It’s amazing the difference that practice makes to the process. I know that sounds like an obvious thing to say, but I had just never been bothered to do it before. I’ve just listened back to a 90 minute mix I did yesterday and it is so much better than the mix I did 6 weeks ago - nowhere near perfect or something I would want to publish, nor is it anywhere near the standards of the Hannu/Unbroken mixes that get posted.
It’s really kept me motivated to keep practicing - although saying that, there is the odd time where you listen back and think ‘could that have been any worse!’
gcw
Good man, great to hear.
@303abuser and @Dubman encouraged me to post one to get some feedback. Took me a while to get the balls to do but was well worth it.
Wise heads 
After about 4 years I got a new residency in town, the bar/ lounge section of a new restaurant once a month playing electronica and indie. Should be a lot of fun, and I’ve badly needed a reason to start buying that kind of music again. I’ve just listened to it on Tidal. I used to do those gigs a lot up until 2018 or so.