MY FIRST MIX

hay guys this is my first attempt at mixing and i would appreciate any advice/tips/critique
im sure there are a million little things that only experience can teach
im using mixmeister it seems prettty good

http://www.4shared.com/dir/4972206/3d933a98/sharing.html

thanks!!

 
 Moved to dancefloor.
 
 I would suggest posting a tracklist as well so people know what they are grabbing. 

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track list

Here's a suggestion - pay for your music.

Just downloading now, but a) buy your songs - either off the web if you can find them, or cd, or even rip your vinyl or something. Secondly I find programs on your computer are shit if you want to mix well, unless you can fork out for some hardware as well, even simple MIDI controllers and stuff to help out. I also have found that this automatic beat detection stuff works like shit on drum and bass. I'll get back about the mix when I listen, but IMO, save up and buy some decks and vinyl.

im not sure how serious i am about it, just had alot of time on my hands lately.

it would cost me over 2500 to get some wax and decks and im not even that into production/ mixin
love listenin to dnb but im not musically inclined

and all my mates listen to techno and faggy house
so i got no records i could pinch either

whereas i have over 300 hours of dnb on my pc for nics lol

and i pay for my music when i like the artist as i dont wanna sell them short
they deserve every penny

i bought hold your colour twice lol

pendulum can suck my nuts now tho

You could mix both your copies of hold your colour together. 

Had a listen, wasn't too bad some of the transitions were a bit dodge but I find it's hard to get that happening with computer programs. You should use Traktor though, I find it's alot better than Mixmeister.

ahh sick i have tracktor on here somewhere.

since that mix i have discovered t racks 24

bloody incredable program really polishes even a shitty track

Yeah Traktors great especially since you can use four decks. The other day I had a random mess around with some house and trance music floating around on my comp and did some 4 deck destruction madness. Sounded pretty shit though. Probably because I was mixing hard house songs.

lol yeah, if the ingredients are shit + shit + shit
i guess it would be hard to make stompp

Exactly. Although according to three rights is a left, three shits should really be a not shit. Didn't turn out that way though.

i find the more *yoooooo hooooo* i am the more i love what im makin, but then i listen to it the next day and its like
eeeeeeek

Traktor is good, I was controlling it using a midi interface a few years back and had mad fun. Try to avoid stuff that does anything automatically for you, as this takes away the joys of mixing.

LOL @ admitting to illegal file sharing on a public message board 
You should pay for it full stop. Or don't play it. You haven't got the permission of the artist to play it, therfore its wrong on so many levels.

If any of the producers knew you they would grab you up by the balls.

I have ZERO issues with grabbing music for free. Although maybe its just me.

These producers are constantly touring the globe earning ridiculous amounts of money thanks to the fact that the internet & filesharing have spread their music around the world. They never made money from record labels and b4 the internet it took them years & years of hard work before they had any chance of scoring a gig anywhere. Nowadays all it takes is one or 2 decent tunes and your passport is full.

Producers who whinge should take a step back and think about how good they have it these days.

Anyway, people who truly love music will still make it wether they're getting paid for it or not.

But downloading music illegally when the producers don't want you to isn't right.

Your theory is saying, just because someone is better off than you, doing more than you, you have a right to steal from them.

Its not just illegal (Not that I can talk im hardly a fuckin angel when it comes to not breaking the law) but, more to the point if you are a DJ... you shouldn't play music unless you pay for it or have thier permission. Some producers don't even like thier tunes being put on mix sets and uploaded, the guy on SoulR is a prime example.

I aint gonna stop ya, do what you want really but LOL @ openly admittin it on a public board 

Music thats free, that the producers put up like this:

Another free mp3 from commix:

COMMIX - Painted Smile - FREE 320kbps

It's here, It's 320kbps, It's FREE:

http://download.breakbeat.co.uk/?ti...57-9687d03754c9



Is fine... and there is tons of free music up for legit download all over the place.

If you want a hand searching out some free mp3's - I can give you a hand.
 

You have never downloaded an illegal tune, movie, anything off the internet then?

Of course the producer doesn't want it to happen. But they still send dozens of CDs out and about, they still share their tunes with people everywhere via AIM and what not. If it was such a big problem then they should go back to only pressing their tunes on dubplate. Or perhaps they should stop being such cunts and actually press the tunes rather than keep them on plate/mp3 for 6-12 months before releasing them. Hate to say it but these DJs/producers have brought all this upon themselves.

But they don't seem to change these practises because they are all much better off than they were before the internet and mp3 culture took off.

Also, I hate spending good money on something that I know I won't touch again in a few months time. I love DnB but it is disposable music - there are very few producers making anything that will be worth listening to in 12 months, let alone 10 years. Hell, thanks to dubplate culture these people expect us to buy a record that is already outdated once it is released. But this aint going to stop because this is what gets them DJ sets and very good money for doing so. More money than putting out a tune will ever make them. And the people that pay the money to see them in clubs (which is costing more & more as these DJs charge more) are the people downloading their music. I don't think they're ripping anyone off.

I know I've never felt guilty for downloading anything.

Totally valid point and I agree - pisses me off seing producers moaning about record sales and then they turn up play with 2 CDjs. With you there but I wouldnt download dnb.

Yes, I admit I watch downloaded movies friends download at thier houses, but personally couldnt give a fuck about the film industry, as much as I give a fuck about the dnb industry (though what with some recent events, I do wonder sometimes why I give so much of a toss with the amount of arseholes there are    )

i've been "PC" mixin for years - u won't get any real recognition for it, but it is fun and my "non-DJ" friends enjoy the mixes i make now i have decks(got my CDJ1000s woot) tho... totally hooked i don't own any vinyl and have 138 tunes - all up cost me around $250 so i think, digitalmp3 stores ftw! all from Beatport, Tunetribe or Freakmp3.com, all "other" versions are usually shit quality anyway - can't beat a real 320

but mylo's right - try to avoid using beatmatch tools, BPM counters, auto cues etc in programs and use your own ear and know your tunes back to front - def. helped when i got my decks already had the practice - if i hadnt i'd be ten times worse on real decks cos i'd be hopeless @ listening to the tune myself/knowing my way around tracks

Here's one of the last ones i did which i think came out pretty well - done on Traktor 2.5 - without cues or beatsync (cos thats cheating ) and yes there's a few blips n skips, but it will provide good background if u ever start mixin fo real - u should hear my first traktor mix... dear god

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6ONR32B5

Culture Shock - Zeppelin
>>>Sub Focus - Xray
Gridlok - Hollywood (feat. El Hornet)
Sub Focus - Druggy
Noisia - Facade VIP
Cooh - Seen
Calyx & Teebee - Enygma
Rawtekk - Seduce
TC - Fuck What u heard (feat. Scratch perverts)
Noisia - Concussion
Sub Focus & Showtek - Verano
Chris Su - To Heal
Commix - Electric
Gridlok - Bottomfeeder
Commix - Be True
Inside Info - Perfect Crime
BSE - Potemkin
Break - Yes
Spor - Powder Monkey
Gridlok & Dom - Hooked (Tech itch & DSL remix)
Jade - Acid flood
Calyx & Teebee - Confession
State of Mind - Veil
Sunchase & Proket - Salo
BC - The Nine (yes i know it isn't on MP3 yet, i ripped it from a DnB classics cd that i own & paid for )
Commix - Satellite type 2
Xample & Crystal clear - Heaven & Hell
TC - Game Over
Hustler Athletics - Lekker Lekker
Noisia - Yellow Brick
>>>Justice Vs Simian - We are your friends

I actually prefer Traktor v2.5 over v3

I got used to v3, has some wild features, but v2.5 just feels more comfy

get yourself serato Live, you will not regret it 

My housemates swear by Virtual DJ... I haven't touched it, but from watching them play it def looks better than Traktor

what about getting second hand decks etc along the way?

do it!!!

Serato is the bizness but you still need decks in the first place. I think the whole argument here is that he just has a PC for mixing.


Virtual DJ is designed for people who can't mix because it does everything for you.

Luke Vibert and Zero DB were both using Traktor at the Ninja Sessions the other week, and I'm very sure these guys would know whats best.

could u get serato for CDJs or is there no point? this maybe a very stupid question - but yeah. please excuse my ignorance on this subject

As I understand it you can get time coded cd's and vinyl, thus using your preference of equipment. I know you definitely can for Final Scratch, I don't see why Serato would be any different...

Why people want to pretend to mix, when final scratch and serato and all that pre BPMS its all for you is beyond me. I know producers who bpm thier CDS and have refused to play on 2 cdjs that are different, because they cant mix and need to pre bpm everything.

Select track 1. Timestretch to 175bpm.
Select track 2. Timestretch to 175bpm.

Press play track 1. Press play track 2 

Hardly DJ-ING You might as well just put a pre mixed mix cd on, press play and let it run. Its not mixing, its called pre bpm'd studio EDITING. 

Final scratch is the fucking business.

Whats the point in being a traditionalist when there is no point? Move with the future or get left behind.

imo - there is a LOT more to mixing than beatmatching - any monkey with any hearing sense can get the jist of beatmatching, and DJ's doin it for years, i can see it becoming a chore. Patch uses serato religiously i think, but also cranks standard wax & i think he's proven he can beatmatch fine without it.
The way Andy C, Patch etc play there sets, there's bigger impact on the next song drop, less slow merge if that makes sense and the punters love it, i certainly do, a sudden huge double drop/mash is sweet in a high energy set and is usually what leaves me yellin "CAN MIX" to my nearest fellow drop-jawed friend .
i think needing less time to beatmatch would help perfect this, and focus on other aspects of DJ'n, Maybe Patch has somethin to say bout it all... lol i'm just speculating. i'm enjoying gettin better @ doin it manually after coming from traktor which helps a bit, but i could be putting my attention to other things if i didn't have to worry bout my bpm slipping out at all, for me its practice practice practice

Because having used final scratch for 6 monthes, and using it in clubs, it sounds god awful. There is mass loss in audio quality and anyone who says Mp3's sound better is talking rubbish. I use vinyl and cds and you can hear the difference between a wav file and a 320. 

A wav file being the original digital source on cd, and the 320 compressed audio on cd.

On your home stereo, or a set of headphones, granted you dont hear the difference but when the sound is amplified onto a massive system - bigger than 10k you can hear the diifference.

Just as when I have swapped the needles over infront of some of the ASR Djs - to show them the difference in sound quality from a shitty £20 set of carts to a £80 of carts. They were all pretty stunned, the audio quality difference is huge.

OMG

Whats stopping you playing WAV files with Final Scratch then?

Rip ya CDs, vinyl, etc. to WAV and just don't compress them.

Easy?



On another note - I'm definitely not a fan of pre-BPM'ing shit, but the use of Mixed In Key is okay in my books:

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Because the AD (analouge digital) converter that transfers the signal from the laptop through the ports, to the needle back out again looses audio quality. This is audiable. Again, on my home speakers playing on the internet you cant hear, but boost that signal on a £30,000 club system and you can hear it all.

90% of people wont play Wavs on final scratch either as they can store quadrouple the amount MP3s that Wavs take up. Even with my sony Viao, it has limited storage when you come to piling wav files on top of mp3 files.

Then get an external hard drive, and other problems like digital information skipping because its not stable. Final scratch is good, but its not good enough imo. Cds are good, but you cant beat vinyl or well cut well mastered dubplates.

Its also music legitamacy, like on this thread has proved, if a Dj is playing vinyl then you can guarentee they have bought and paid for the music. If a z list DJ is playing CDS - 90% of thier set is theft.

Might be different in Australia, but as a promoter and a Dj, here in the UK you will not get taken seriously if you are doing that. You also wont get producers sending you tunes, if they know you are on every P2P network sharing files.

If you take your dj-ing seriously and professionally, uploading mix sets on the internet and getting paid for gigs, then you will do whats right. If you want to be taken seriously you wont BPM and you will mix and you will mix legitamately.

If you just dj as a hobby for yourself, in your bedroom then of course your standards will differ, to pre BPM and do whatever.

 

if you're gonna use stolen songs. use complete versions of decent quality - Subfocus - Druggy's playing, then suddenly TC - where's my money comes out of no-where just before the next mix cos u've got a clip out of a real mix, Chase & status - hurt you, some random song that the real DJ was mixing in comes in:rofl: Commix - Be True, cut up like 5 times out of different mixes to make 1 song, thats horrible!! its worth listening to it for a laugh if nothing else!!

lol seriously dude - d/l music, give PC mixing a crack fair enough, but half those songs apart from being illegal, are clips, if u like them, buy them(all those songs are released and available online except a couple i believe) and @ least you have a chance of your mix not sounding like shit. Tough love, i know but it will stop u making a fool of yourself in front of a bunch of real DJs (not me i'm a n00b ) and use traktor if u must mix with a PC seriously

lol that was on mix meister with a mouse dude
i wanted feedback on my transitions between tracks
i copy pasted the tracks in the order they were str8 across
is was about that at all,
it was to see whether my very first attempt at anything like it had was at least having the right idea?
buy music lol
i do buy music when i want to support that artist
but no body buys things they can get for free.
and its for personal use

should i pay for this copy of vista ultimate im using also
lol
fuck that

but i picked up a bcd2000 yesterday
so im gunna try mixing a properly structured set
in realtime
with a usable interface, at which point i may submit for csome feedback
but prolly not as it seems that cos your all fully sick djs i should know what im doing?
ill put it out there to someone who maybe wants to help me learn to get better

a few people gave great advice and i do appreciate that from those who did, so dont think i dont appreciate the time you took to listen

to be honest i havent really noticed the difference between me burning things onto disc and playing them off serato.
i have noticed that the sound quality of the newest serato software has drastically improved when scratching and playing things slower.
and as cool as i think it is, i would still rather rip a 12 out of my box and slap it on.
its all about being able to see it and feel it. i hate having to scroll thru things on the screen, and setting it up as easy as it is, is a pain to do unless you go in early and get it done b4.
the only reason i bought serato was so i could play 3 decks without having to use cdj's and cos i was moving overseas and couldnt take records with me, but the collection is slowly growing with new and second hand things from here that ive left at home.

id fuckn love some 1200s and good wax,
and i 100 percent agree with the feel thing
hence the midi controller to play around with

but to start now no way

if i asked patch how much he spent to get your mad collection of records and equip
youd just laugh ad walk away sobbing about the lambo he coulda had
lol

which rox but houses and families become a bigger priority than doin the right thing "real djs pay for their tracks and use wax debate"
i just love the music and wanna experience it how ever

my point wasn't dissing your use of a PC - hell i've done a stack of mixes on traktor. but for the love of god, get a vinyl VBR rip of the tune - please tell me with all this banter u spew about computers u haven't worked out how to search in soulseek?

and all those tunes u have in your mix, u could buy real 320s of for bout $25 from beatport, it cost bout $1.80AU per song or new releases are bout $2.90AU i'm sure u can spare $25 - hell $100 and u could have 50 songs - except the dubs or songs with no digital release.

transitions - its hard to judge your transition when 3 songs are actually playing cos u've used a clip - that was my point, read my first post i've now got around 150 tunes - totally maybe $350 in value, and u can mix them all on your PC, no other costs.

You'll A. mix better cos u have a complete song
B. Sound better cos of quality
C. not cop shit from everybody for using stolen songs and worse clips

its not rocket science & will cost u fuck all. i see no reason u can't support an artist if possible with a 12-15 track mix

Too fucking right!!! Serato is all well and good if you want to make mixed cds to listen too. But if im handing over my cash to see a "DJ SET" I want them to actualy be DJ'ING!!

Long live vinyl!!

8 mile can you show me where the auto mix button on serato is?

Fair enough. I dont even know much about serato and these programs. But from what I gather it automaticly beat matches your tracks?  I think its cheating a bit. But thats my opinion.

Whats been happing anyways jules. Hows uk treating ya?

i havent found the part where it does anything like that for me, all it does is carry my tunes around instead of a record bag

uk is good, cold and wet but good

I've never seen Serato or FS do any of that. If they did automatically beat-match, then why the need for control plates?? The whole idea is that you retain the same feel as vinyl.


I'm vinyl all the way, but you have made a few mistakes.

The output sound comes from a D/A converter, not A/D. They're the opposite thing. And since when does the sound go back out to the needle? The timecode which is picked up via the needle gets sampled for the software to make use of. And I must admit that the output sound quality of the FS box is rather shit, but Serato's does sound a LOT better.

I'm sure the next generation of these boxes will offer SPDIF output so that you can connect them straight into digital mixers, e.g. the DJM-800, that way you get the whole signal - and the D/A conversion will occur just before the sound leaves the mixer. Even the analog inputs are on this mixer are digitized. If you are an analog purist then this is not the mixer to get. Obviously Pioneer can't make good-sounding analog mixers so they have moved to a strictly digital domain now. If I was using just digital sources, then yes this is probably the mixer to get.

I realise that MP3 is one of the most destructive formats when it comes to quality, but there are loads of better ones to use e.g. AAC, OGG, FLAC, Apple Lossless, etc.

Fair enough. I should probably look into it before I open my mouth.
Take it ez Mr. patch. Hope all goes well over there. Peace.

LOL @ "transfers the signal from the laptop through the ports, to the needle back out again looses audio quality."

Haha how does it get the sound to the needle then back out again 

P.S. Loses, not "Looses".

Its all about feedback 

You like Subfocus; How much can you really be concerned with aural standards?

dude, but you play tech itch at 10pm, how can you be concerned with anything resembling criticism?
 

I know there's some program (Can't remember what one) which has a DJ button, where you basically rack up a playlist, hit play, and it beat matches and mixes all the songs together for you. Seriously. Why?

Does it sound like dubstep?

 you can time stretch anything on your laptop and then bang it into final scratch, ive had the pleasure of watching so called djs do this. It takes seconds, and therefore I am wary about anyone using 2 cdjs or a lappy and having no vinyl...

as for A/d 0r D/a - you know what I mean Its the same thing, just reversed. The process of digital information through a shit A/d or D/a converter includes :

Loss of information. You dont get that loss of warmth with vinyl.. and like I said yeh, it will sound fine on your shitty internet radio streaming but get it on a banging sound system and amplify that sound, and you have a whole different story.

I never played Tech Itch at 10pm! On top of that the last time I played a set out I was 19, and it was all liquid. I haven't even listened to a Tech Itch tune in 3 years.

i seem to remember you playing tech itch at your debut set @ turbine?
ok, so maybe 10:59?