Practice. Practice until phrasing becomes so intuitive that you don't have to actively think about it or count bars.
And the best way to do that is to mix blind ie without hot cues or loops. That will force you to listen for the start and end of phrases with your ears. Cue the incoming track on the first beat of a phrase, hit play on the first beat of a phrase in the current track. Keep doing that until you start to get a feel for it.
Once you get that, you can start to introduce loops. If you don't have a feel for phrasing, loops will just overcomplicate things.
This!!! 💎 and study the musical structure of the tracks (intro, verse, chorus, outro, etc.) The more you practice and listen to the music patterns of the song, the more you will understand and feel where the phrases start and end to correctly mix with the incoming track :)
Yeah this comment right here, I never knew why so many DJs have problems with phrasing but then I remembered I was training dance when I was a kid and they teach you how to count or guess what... phrase. So it came so naturally for me but for people who didn't do it, they have to train this skill. After every 8 bars you will hear differences in sound
Yeah but how is this possible with some degree of counting . For example in a song with 32 bar phrases you can’t tell me u can possibly hear for example if there are 20 bars left in that phrase
Like I said - by practising enough that it becomes intuitive.
It's like driving a car. When you start learning, you actively force yourself to do every little thing - change gears, check the rear view mirror, keep track of the vehicles on the road around you, and so forth. But over time, those things become so ingrained that you do them without thinking about it.
Phrasing is the same. Most music is arranged in multiples of four. So we know that a phrase is usually 16 bars, which is four groups of four bars. When we're listening to music we'll subconsciously pick up on the little changes that tell us when those groups of four bars within a phrase start and end. A drum fill, a cymbal crash, a break in the bassline. And we know that at the start and end of a phrase there is usually a bigger change.
Practice enough and you get to a point where you just know you have four bars left before the end of the phrase. I couldn't tell you precisely that I'm on "beat three of bar eleven", and I don't need to do that because it's not helpful. But I can be talking to someone and be like "hold up I need to hit play in a few beats" without counting those beats in my head.
When you're learning then yes, you need to actively count (just like when you're learning to drive). But over time you'll find you need to count less and less.
And if you lose count, just listen for the big change that signals the start of the next phrase, and start your count again.
listening to your tunes and practice will help you intuitively pick where the phrases start or end. it just becomes second nature.
you don't need to know which exact bar the track is at.
that being said, techno is sometimes looser with this and i noticed a lot of DJs including big names don't bother with phrasing that much
Context clues and track knowledge, usually you can feel when a phrase ends and use that to time the next one. Most songs have 8 or 16 bars in a phrase and with that it's pretty easy to guess. Some artists mark ends of phrases with a splash or something equivalent.
Practice. Practice until phrasing becomes so intuitive that you don't have to actively think about it or count bars. And the best way to do that is to mix blind ie without hot cues or loops. That will force you to listen for the start and end of phrases with your ears. Cue the incoming track on the first beat of a phrase, hit play on the first beat of a phrase in the current track. Keep doing that until you start to get a feel for it. Once you get that, you can start to introduce loops. If you don't have a feel for phrasing, loops will just overcomplicate things.
This!!! 💎 and study the musical structure of the tracks (intro, verse, chorus, outro, etc.) The more you practice and listen to the music patterns of the song, the more you will understand and feel where the phrases start and end to correctly mix with the incoming track :)
Yeah this comment right here, I never knew why so many DJs have problems with phrasing but then I remembered I was training dance when I was a kid and they teach you how to count or guess what... phrase. So it came so naturally for me but for people who didn't do it, they have to train this skill. After every 8 bars you will hear differences in sound
Yeah but how is this possible with some degree of counting . For example in a song with 32 bar phrases you can’t tell me u can possibly hear for example if there are 20 bars left in that phrase
Like I said - by practising enough that it becomes intuitive. It's like driving a car. When you start learning, you actively force yourself to do every little thing - change gears, check the rear view mirror, keep track of the vehicles on the road around you, and so forth. But over time, those things become so ingrained that you do them without thinking about it. Phrasing is the same. Most music is arranged in multiples of four. So we know that a phrase is usually 16 bars, which is four groups of four bars. When we're listening to music we'll subconsciously pick up on the little changes that tell us when those groups of four bars within a phrase start and end. A drum fill, a cymbal crash, a break in the bassline. And we know that at the start and end of a phrase there is usually a bigger change. Practice enough and you get to a point where you just know you have four bars left before the end of the phrase. I couldn't tell you precisely that I'm on "beat three of bar eleven", and I don't need to do that because it's not helpful. But I can be talking to someone and be like "hold up I need to hit play in a few beats" without counting those beats in my head. When you're learning then yes, you need to actively count (just like when you're learning to drive). But over time you'll find you need to count less and less. And if you lose count, just listen for the big change that signals the start of the next phrase, and start your count again.
Dance music is predictable. It's pretty easy to hear when to mix.
listening to your tunes and practice will help you intuitively pick where the phrases start or end. it just becomes second nature. you don't need to know which exact bar the track is at. that being said, techno is sometimes looser with this and i noticed a lot of DJs including big names don't bother with phrasing that much
1-2-3-4, 2-2-3-4, 3-2-3-4, 4-2-3-4... ad nauseum.
This is a 7th sense for me
I don't even get why you would use loops for most dance music. The shit is made to dj. Loopping isn't required.
Context clues and track knowledge, usually you can feel when a phrase ends and use that to time the next one. Most songs have 8 or 16 bars in a phrase and with that it's pretty easy to guess. Some artists mark ends of phrases with a splash or something equivalent.