• Music

  • Mix Club - The Remedial Class

Dubman Key lock is limited. The further you stretch the track away from its original tempo the more it can affect the quality of the signal. Some tracks can be ok, but others can be very noticeable.

    gcw you have to go analogue old old skool or get a read on the key on a digital version of the track on mixed in key or rekordbox. old skool is basically with a keyboard and trying to find the root note - its quite easy and there are some youtube videos on how to do it - you can actually do it manually on the mixed in key programme as there is a little keyboard on there to help. then just write the key and Carousel wheel code on the vinyl for future use.

        baggers44 thanks. I bet I’d be surprised by the results. So many times I have been playing track, picked out the next track thinking ‘I bet this will go well with this ’ only to find they don’t go that well!

        • Amps replied to this.

            …sometimes I despair about the prep time I spend with music, creating folders, scanning, tagging. Then I remember what I used to go through when I learned to pitch mix, faffing with pitch pipes/keyboards, stickers and marker scribbles on vinyls and sleeves.

            Along_the_Wire …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.

                gcw Yeah, what Baggers said, but basically for vinyl it’s trial and error. Find tunes that don’t clash, then try and create something worth listening to from them.

                    Dubman Have just been listening to someone do a ‘guest mix’ on 6 Music and it’s basically this. Can’t see who it is, but I can only assume they are a producer of some sort, because if they where a DJ they would be out of work.

                    • Amps replied to this.

                        Amps Bingo! it was Kelly Lee Owens. Pity, I quite like her productions.

                            Fuck me, the amount of admin involved in DJing nowadays. 😅

                            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.

                            Is there any benefit to switching to the Camelot settings? Or is it just a personal preference thing?

                                Amps
                                I really rated her first album. Not keen on her latest effort though.

                                  Matt …not really, if you aren’t musically trained though, it’s much more instantaneous than learning that an F-sharp minor will work next to an A major. The new players will colour-code key compatible tracks anyway.

                                    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

                                            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.

                                                Dubman no. That’s what I meant about it being piss easy. I didn’t know you could do that? I’m not putting a piece of electrical tape on a touch screen. 😃

                                                    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…

                                                        vinnyt77 yes. Well it’s not exactly the same speed, but with 0.02 pitch accuracy with the +/- 6 setting it’s almost as close as.

                                                          Homegrove
                                                          Have found using synch is boring as fuck.

                                                          Use it as a cheat every now and then if I can’t quite time it

                                                            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 👍

                                                                4 months later

                                                                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.

                                                                • gcw replied to this.

                                                                  Homegrove good stuff Hannu. Its a proper buzz playing out isn’t it. I may have a gig lined up for early next year, my first actual non wedding/party gif for about 15 years lol. I may actually have to buy new music for it!

                                                                    Christ, getting together a playlist for a six hour gig where you can’t just belt out your current prog favorites is a lot of work. Especially with my method for gigs where I take double the tunes I have time to play and do the night out of those.

                                                                      14 days later

                                                                      Played my first wedding gig last night in ages. I stopped doing them awhile ago, because despite the good pay they are too much work. Made an exception last night because a couple approached me and said it’s a horror-themed wedding. That sounded interesting, and after getting a Spotify-list with the kind of music they were after I was firmly on board. It was so much fun, got paid great, and I almost never get to play these kinds of sets anymore. Tracklist from Rekordbox:

                                                                      1 Danny Elfman - This is Halloween
                                                                      2 John Carpenter - Halloween
                                                                      3 Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi’s Dead
                                                                      4 Kyle Dixon - Stranger Things
                                                                      5 John Carpenter - Escape from New York
                                                                      6 Julee Cruise - Into the Night
                                                                      7 Wet Waxies - Queen Knight
                                                                      8 Death In Vegas - Witchdance Dub (Dub)
                                                                      9 Da Iguana - Sombra Selvatica
                                                                      10 Massive Attack - Paradise Circus
                                                                      11 Massive Attack - Teardrop
                                                                      12 The Cure - Lullaby
                                                                      13 Róisín Murphy - Overpowered
                                                                      14 Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon
                                                                      15 Tears For Fears - Head Over Heels
                                                                      16 The Cramps - I Was A Teenage Werewolf
                                                                      17 Screamin’ Jay Hawkins - I Put a Spell On You (Alternate Take)
                                                                      18 Depeche Mode - I Feel You
                                                                      19 KC & The Sunshine Band - I’m Your Boogie Man
                                                                      20 David Bowie - Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
                                                                      21 Type O Negative - Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare -All)
                                                                      22 Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
                                                                      23 Ramones - Pet Sematary
                                                                      24 Siouxsie And The Banshees - Spellbound
                                                                      25 Simian Mobile Disco - Cruel Intentions
                                                                      26 Goldfrapp - Strict Machine
                                                                      27 The Knife - Heartbeats
                                                                      28 Placebo - Every You Every Me
                                                                      29 We Have Band - Divisive
                                                                      30 Depeche Mode - Behind the Wheel
                                                                      31 New Order - Blue Monday (2011 Total Version)
                                                                      32 Pet Shop Boys - It’s a Sin
                                                                      33 House of Pain - Jump Around
                                                                      34 Beastie Boys - Sabotage
                                                                      35 Timo Maas - Help Me (feat. Kelis)
                                                                      36 Marvin Gaye - Got To Give It Up (Pt. 1)
                                                                      37 Moloko - Sing It Back (Boris Dlugosch Mix)
                                                                      38 SNAP! - Rhythm Is A Dancer (12′' Version)
                                                                      39 Underworld - Born Slippy (Nuxx)
                                                                      40 The Prodigy - No Good (Start The Dance)
                                                                      41 Blur - Song 2
                                                                      42 Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
                                                                      43 Rage Against The Machine - Bulls On Parade
                                                                      44 Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)
                                                                      45 Garbage - #1 Crush (Nellee Hooper Mix)
                                                                      46 Nine Inch Nails - Closer
                                                                      47 Robyn - With Every Heartbeat

                                                                        Sounds fun H. I’m guessing there wasn’t much in the way of mixing and it was more of a one track stops the next track starts thing?