Mix Club - The Remedial Class

Mad_Cyril hd25s are great for mixing, that’s definitely not the problem. how are you monitoring before and after bringing the new track in? all headphones, headphones and monitors? when you cue the incoming track how do you have the sound split in headphones between the outgoing/incoming tracks?

If beat matching is the problem, then getting two copies of the same track and relentlessly mixing between them is the way to go. Removes any distractions about key or phrasing. You know they go together, so can just focus on getting the beats aligned. It does take practice though. Lots of it.

Once you have cued it in and it’s beat matched, ditch the headphones, you’re hearing it as it is then.

Mad_Cyril maybe try this, see if it helps with some practice … when you’re beat matching play both tracks at equal volume in your cans, independent of the master output, and after you bring the new track in initially, take off the headphones and mix purely off the master output. you want to check back if the beats start to slip, but that will ensure you’re focused on the actual mix. also, if you’re ever playing out, you don’t have to worry about the cue features on the mixer (although that’s probably less of an issue now than when i was learning).

Mad_Cyril i think the other thing might be just to practice mixing tracks that you know are exactly in the same key and practice the transition in various places - it all depends on the tracks but start with track A say just after the last drop so maybe 32 or 64 phrases from the end and Track B from the beginning - so a long boring mix but in the same key and see how it sounds - then try at places with more complexity and build from there. there is no right answer - we all have different ways of hearing things - what sounds harmonious to me might not to you - for all i know i might be tone deaf!
To check the key of a track i run it through MiK and sometimes use the little keyboard feature so i can hear the key in the abstract just to convince myself it is the right one. but the other thing is this: WTF is wrong with the odd key clash of the tracks are good and it keeps the energy up? i reckon when i was going to the Gallery of a Friday night that the guys playing there were not massively programming by key all the time - just slamming in Madagascar to get the energy up !!!

Mad_Cyril
You are starting it on the first beat of a bar.

Mad_Cyril for years i mixed in the new track on the EQ in the order of bass - mid- treble i got much better when someone pointed out to me that i was doing it in the wrong order!

Mixing in the cans is a dead end by the way. Ultimately you are trying to teach your ears to work independently and then make sense of what they are both hearing, in can mixing just makes this harder and will ultimately hinder your progress. It’s really hard to get over this fact, as in can mixing is something of a comfort when you start out, but it’s not the way to progress. Learnt this the hard way myself.

Plus, if you ever play anywhere other than outside your four walls, the mixer might not do ‘in can’ and you will look like Judge Jules rather than Sashweed.

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.

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.