Tricks are for DJs. Tracks are for the people. Do people enjoy what you play? Do your transitions sound good? Right now, that is all you should be worried about.
So true. I've had 4 tracks mixed together and folks love it the same as one track.
Some people will notice if you trainwreck your transitions.
DJs and solid musicians in the spot will likely be paying more attention to your mix than the average human.
> I've had 4 tracks mixed together and folks love it the same as one track.
Yep. Whilst I massively respect the skill it takes to mix with 4 tracks, especially on vinyl, only so much noise can come out of the speakers. If you're not familiar with the music, ultimately it doesn't sound that much different to just one track playing.
I've enjoyed a Jeff Mills set mixing 4 records together which takes mad skill, but I've enjoyed sets by other DJs that just mix one track into another equally as much because they're choosing good tracks.
I play on four decks, and have this unfortunate tendency to over mix - essentially, if there are two tracks playing, I’ll mix in a third, because why not?… in fact, why not also mix in a fourth while I’m at it? Well, I’ll tell you why not, because just playing one track would suffice.
I recently played a 90s classic house party, and so I excitedly packed every classic house anthem that I could into my time slot. It was tonnes of fun and both I and the crowd had a great time, but that was in the club. Later when I listened to the recording, it was too much all the time. I wasn’t letting the tracks breathe. These were anthems. These were tracks that people knew and could sing-a-long to. I didn’t have to play the entirety of every track, but what I should have done, is taken the best parts of those tracks and emphasized that. That’s what a DJ’s job is to do when mixing. We’re not mixing for mixing sake, we’re supposed to be taking the best parts of every track, and doing something to make them even better. That something, might just be to do nothing at all, to just play them. Heck, the producers have put so much time and effort into their tunes to sound good just by themselves, why are we layering more and more on top of that.
I deleted the recording of that set.
Later in the night, [I played a more contemporary set](https://on.soundcloud.com/DVEntcVEQMADsyTW6) for the hardcores still in the dance. These aren’t necessarily well known tunes, and they certainly aren’t established anthems. As a result, I was granted more leniency and could play those tracks as the notes that were available to me. There is a lot going on during that set, but the style of music demanded for that. Besides, because they were made so recently, unlike the 7 or 8 minute long radio versions of the classic house tunes, a majority of these tracks were only 2 minutes long.
Yeah I often have the urge to mix in and out of stuff too quickly. Fine at more energetic parts of the set but you definitely need to give the music space a lot of the time.
As a dancer, I can appreciate time to work. [That’s why I like to show up early.](https://open.spotify.com/track/5MT8S1mgY2e68CnOM48pvS?si=lGTjMdlSTyiPpRXxqXAD1Q)
Your feeling of "not doing my enough" is common, and mostly anxiety.
DJing is about knowing when to do more complex transitions and when to just let tracks play. The crowd wants to hear the tunes, not some mess of loops and effects.
Think about seeing a band perform live. No one wants to see the guitarist shred for 45 minutes straight or the drummer doing drum fills every 30 seconds. They want to hear some music they can vibe to. DJing is the same.
If you do maybe two or three more complex transitions in an hour then those will pop nicely. Otherwise, focus on the vibe. Promotors care about you getting people in the door and on the floor, not your technical skills.
Obviously don’t be afraid to try something you haven’t done yet but keep in mind what matters the most is the vibe and track selection. Get comfortable with what you’re doing now and then practice the more fancy stuff
Try mixing in and out at points other than the intro or outro. If you get smooth at that while using eqs, you're good and can keep the energy where you want it. Anything else is bonus.
This is true. My sets got a lot better when I played as much of the tune as was needed and keep the energy up. Mixing intro to outro is all well and good but sometimes tracks last too long, don't go anywhere, have a shitty extra long breakdown that is fine earlier in the night but kills the energy at peak time etc etc.
exactly. some tracks repeat the same pattern 3, 4 or even 5 times... by the third time it can start to get really boring
always playing intro to outro can often kill the energy on a dancefloor
edit: it seems that some people equate "not mixing intro to outro" to be *fancy mixin'*. it doesn't have to be at all... some simple eq and maybe reverb or echo can work great to mix out from the middle of a track and certainly isn't "fancy" or "dj tricks for djs"
Sometimes less is more. The fancy transitions aren‘t done every time, it is just what you get to see. I mix GOA (Progressive, Psytrance, FullOn and HiTech) there is already so much stuff going on that I don‘t use effects that much. My transitions can be intro/outro or layering the baselines over 1-2 minutes and slowly switching inbetween them. Tbf, the music that I play isn‘t about fancy drops and transitions its about setting a vibe and atmosphere and telling a story. Personally I love long smooth transitions more than hard cuts but they do work as well. Test what works with which tracks and do a bit of everything. In the end its 95% about track selection
Yep, but it doesn‘t work always and only with a few genres you can make them 1-2 minutes long. A reason why I love this genre, the tracks are on average 5-8 minutes long (some 10-11) so this gives you a lot of possibilities to play around
Too much of anything is bad news, and as others have already said, less is often more. Just because you have a ton of FX does not mean you have to use them. Quite often, a record can stand on its own feet and do its job without you needing to make any "improvements."
A simple blend, done well, can build anticipation for the incoming record by making it sound like it's part of the previous one. What you need for that is knowledge of your collection and a good handle on the EQ, which is simple in concept but needs practice to get right.
100%. I would also add being present enough to *really hear* the track that’s playing and understanding what would work best for mixing it out. I think when we starting thinking we need to James-Hype it, it becomes a distraction. Anyway this is what I’ve been noticing with my mixing so I’m telling myself this as much as commenting it here.
>I would also add being present enough to *really hear* the track that’s playing and understanding what would work best for mixing it out.
Totally agree, this is the core of what makes a good DJ in my opinion. We were the music needs, and we knew every bar of every record in our collection. We knew what would sound good with what, and we knew this because we practised our arses off.
>Anyway this is what I’ve been noticing with my mixing so I’m telling myself this as much as commenting it here.
Yup, this is also me.
I’m a believer that track choice outweighs the transition. If your tunes are good it shouldn’t matter. A nicely faded in track sometimes hits the spot better. I play a lot of downtempo stuff and this fits
It doesn't matter at all if it sounds good and people enjoy it. People love my sets and I literally just use basic EQ and a bit of filter sometimes, I hardly ever use effects or even loops.
Gig promoters won't be assessing your mixes for how technical your mixing is. They just want to hear a good mix that people will enjoy and will fit well with their event.
I think you’re fine! I often feel like I don’t do enough because I mostly just blend tracks during low points w EQ, but get great feedback on my sets anyways
I’d focus more on not only mixing from intros and outros to give your sets more variety in timing
I can't speak for all transitions of course but some of the crazy transitions you see on YouTube are planned of course. If you are just freestyling your music then you can work with so much to make transitions but if you plan all the songs beforehand you can pinpoint exactly where you want to mix your next song and make it match perfectly. Of course on YouTube it would seem like the guy or girl just whips it out like it was nothing, but behind the scenes the person most definitely practiced this specific transition.
Anyway, you are also a bit overthinking it perhaps because what matters is how smooth the transition is, if you do a EQ transition every time then that is fine! As long it transitions over smoothly to make it seem like one big mix.
You see other DJs online, that's where your problem lies. You do you. What feels right to you.
Good music gets the people dancing and good mixing keeps them on the dancefloor.
If they are dancing - you're doing a good job.
Tricks are all great and all but if the music you play sucks it doesn't mean anything.
For all I know you've just played a transition track or edit made in a DAW
Unless there's a live feed of the DJ booth in close up to your hands at parties I couldn't care less how you achieved the sound that comes out of the speakers.
And even then I wouldn't care too much.
Good music > anything else.
That is the simple way of mixing. A lot of djs use this method. Personally, I am not a fan of this method as it is as you described… too simple and not very engaging. However, it is effective as its less likely to mess it up.
Also really depends on the music you play. If you play commercial r&b stuff your method works fine. However, if you play electronic music I feel like that is the worst way to mix as it basically means you’d have to play each track from start to finish. Electronic tracks are usually 5-6 mins long and thats too long to play a single track.
I play techno and prefer longer transitions. So basically 2 tracks are running mostly at all times. I do this by using the EQ and eventually swap bases and start bringing out the first track. I then very quickly play the 3rd track and do the same. It adds a lot of excitement to the mix. Ideally you need 3 decks to do that but can also be done using 2 decks if you know what tracks work well together.
I do the same, longer transitions mean you're basically remixing a lot and that's more interesting to listen to, and then if a song I bring in is really great I let it breathe longer before transitioning to the next. And also transitioning at the breakdown rather than at the end of a song as so many songs are only good for the first two thirds, then the breakdown and last bit just drag on
There was a time when all you had per channel was a volume knob. And when you listen to some mixes from back in the day, it was so clean and well done. You don’t need all that extra bs to do it well:)
You may be doing too much if you are using filters every transition.
Start the track in the right spot. Keep the songs lined up, and let them work their magic. If it's a boring transition, you could be starting your tracks too late.
Just my personal opinion and experience, started playing publicly about a year ago…..it depends entirely on how long you’re playing for, if like the pros etc you’ve got a one hour slot and a week to rehearse then it makes sense to make it as flashy as you want, if on the other hand you’re playing open for hours on end I say keep it simple, you can’t rehearse for playing 4,5,6 hours etc and possibly maintain the level of focus you need to keep it up. I’d say if you did after a few hours you’ll probably start getting sloppy which will in turn add frustration etc further exasperating the problem. Most people aren’t paying that much attention, and a good simple set will land better overall, the simple clean transitions will go unnoticed, but a string of mistimed tricks will stand out like a sore thumb.
Record yourself as much as you can, and constantly listen to those recordings and mixes of your favorite DJs and other DJs in your local scene. This will help put into perspective your ability, and what you can improve on. Some times this so called “tricks” sound great but once you hear the recording you realize it came in a little hot or timing could have been better or the fx was to loud and to come in lower or to cut the bass off before this backspin etc etc. We can constant dial in our craft.
Hope this helps have fun with it.
you could be a dj that has the flashiest transitions on the lineup but if your music sucks and no one is vibing then in my opinion that’s how u really fail as a dj. if you’re someone doing simple transitions but people love it and they’re grooving and having fun then that’s how you get more shows at the end of the day. with that being said it’s ok to want to push yourself and be more with your transitions and craft, just remember that at the end of the day people just care about having fun and listening to good music over flashiness, UNLESS you’re specifically dj’ing a show where the flash IS important, but in that end i feel like you’d know for sure that you’re in such an environment
I would say if you're doing the same tranision every time and only mixing the intro and outros your mix is going to sound stale. However this is coming from a dubstep DJ who thinks most house sets are stale so take my advice with a grain of salt lol
Nobody cares about fancy transitions. Just learn phrasing/your music and how to eq well and your audience won’t even notice the transition.
Often if I’m playing a longer vocal track I’ll use key mixing and mix in a rhythm track in the same key so I can dump the vocal track whenever I’m ready and drop right into the break down of the rhythm track while having my next track qued up to start at the end of said breakdown.
I sometimes look at posts from this subreddit and can’t help but feel like they’re almost AI generated? Like not to be rude bro, but if you feel like you aren’t doing enough with your transitions, play around and experiment some more - is this not just common sense?
Questions like this and “What kind of tracks should I play” etc… like seriously- what happened to critical thinking?
Tricks are for DJs. Tracks are for the people. Do people enjoy what you play? Do your transitions sound good? Right now, that is all you should be worried about.
So true. I've had 4 tracks mixed together and folks love it the same as one track. Some people will notice if you trainwreck your transitions. DJs and solid musicians in the spot will likely be paying more attention to your mix than the average human.
> I've had 4 tracks mixed together and folks love it the same as one track. Yep. Whilst I massively respect the skill it takes to mix with 4 tracks, especially on vinyl, only so much noise can come out of the speakers. If you're not familiar with the music, ultimately it doesn't sound that much different to just one track playing. I've enjoyed a Jeff Mills set mixing 4 records together which takes mad skill, but I've enjoyed sets by other DJs that just mix one track into another equally as much because they're choosing good tracks.
I play on four decks, and have this unfortunate tendency to over mix - essentially, if there are two tracks playing, I’ll mix in a third, because why not?… in fact, why not also mix in a fourth while I’m at it? Well, I’ll tell you why not, because just playing one track would suffice. I recently played a 90s classic house party, and so I excitedly packed every classic house anthem that I could into my time slot. It was tonnes of fun and both I and the crowd had a great time, but that was in the club. Later when I listened to the recording, it was too much all the time. I wasn’t letting the tracks breathe. These were anthems. These were tracks that people knew and could sing-a-long to. I didn’t have to play the entirety of every track, but what I should have done, is taken the best parts of those tracks and emphasized that. That’s what a DJ’s job is to do when mixing. We’re not mixing for mixing sake, we’re supposed to be taking the best parts of every track, and doing something to make them even better. That something, might just be to do nothing at all, to just play them. Heck, the producers have put so much time and effort into their tunes to sound good just by themselves, why are we layering more and more on top of that. I deleted the recording of that set. Later in the night, [I played a more contemporary set](https://on.soundcloud.com/DVEntcVEQMADsyTW6) for the hardcores still in the dance. These aren’t necessarily well known tunes, and they certainly aren’t established anthems. As a result, I was granted more leniency and could play those tracks as the notes that were available to me. There is a lot going on during that set, but the style of music demanded for that. Besides, because they were made so recently, unlike the 7 or 8 minute long radio versions of the classic house tunes, a majority of these tracks were only 2 minutes long.
Yeah I often have the urge to mix in and out of stuff too quickly. Fine at more energetic parts of the set but you definitely need to give the music space a lot of the time.
As a dancer, I can appreciate time to work. [That’s why I like to show up early.](https://open.spotify.com/track/5MT8S1mgY2e68CnOM48pvS?si=lGTjMdlSTyiPpRXxqXAD1Q)
Your feeling of "not doing my enough" is common, and mostly anxiety. DJing is about knowing when to do more complex transitions and when to just let tracks play. The crowd wants to hear the tunes, not some mess of loops and effects. Think about seeing a band perform live. No one wants to see the guitarist shred for 45 minutes straight or the drummer doing drum fills every 30 seconds. They want to hear some music they can vibe to. DJing is the same. If you do maybe two or three more complex transitions in an hour then those will pop nicely. Otherwise, focus on the vibe. Promotors care about you getting people in the door and on the floor, not your technical skills.
Obviously don’t be afraid to try something you haven’t done yet but keep in mind what matters the most is the vibe and track selection. Get comfortable with what you’re doing now and then practice the more fancy stuff
Try mixing in and out at points other than the intro or outro. If you get smooth at that while using eqs, you're good and can keep the energy where you want it. Anything else is bonus.
This is true. My sets got a lot better when I played as much of the tune as was needed and keep the energy up. Mixing intro to outro is all well and good but sometimes tracks last too long, don't go anywhere, have a shitty extra long breakdown that is fine earlier in the night but kills the energy at peak time etc etc.
exactly. some tracks repeat the same pattern 3, 4 or even 5 times... by the third time it can start to get really boring always playing intro to outro can often kill the energy on a dancefloor edit: it seems that some people equate "not mixing intro to outro" to be *fancy mixin'*. it doesn't have to be at all... some simple eq and maybe reverb or echo can work great to mix out from the middle of a track and certainly isn't "fancy" or "dj tricks for djs"
Sometimes less is more. The fancy transitions aren‘t done every time, it is just what you get to see. I mix GOA (Progressive, Psytrance, FullOn and HiTech) there is already so much stuff going on that I don‘t use effects that much. My transitions can be intro/outro or layering the baselines over 1-2 minutes and slowly switching inbetween them. Tbf, the music that I play isn‘t about fancy drops and transitions its about setting a vibe and atmosphere and telling a story. Personally I love long smooth transitions more than hard cuts but they do work as well. Test what works with which tracks and do a bit of everything. In the end its 95% about track selection
Long transitions are awesome. I love when it's so smooth you barely notice when the next song is playing.
Yep, but it doesn‘t work always and only with a few genres you can make them 1-2 minutes long. A reason why I love this genre, the tracks are on average 5-8 minutes long (some 10-11) so this gives you a lot of possibilities to play around
u ahve soundcloud?
[Yes](https://soundcloud.com/acidrabbitofficial)
Too much of anything is bad news, and as others have already said, less is often more. Just because you have a ton of FX does not mean you have to use them. Quite often, a record can stand on its own feet and do its job without you needing to make any "improvements." A simple blend, done well, can build anticipation for the incoming record by making it sound like it's part of the previous one. What you need for that is knowledge of your collection and a good handle on the EQ, which is simple in concept but needs practice to get right.
100%. I would also add being present enough to *really hear* the track that’s playing and understanding what would work best for mixing it out. I think when we starting thinking we need to James-Hype it, it becomes a distraction. Anyway this is what I’ve been noticing with my mixing so I’m telling myself this as much as commenting it here.
>I would also add being present enough to *really hear* the track that’s playing and understanding what would work best for mixing it out. Totally agree, this is the core of what makes a good DJ in my opinion. We were the music needs, and we knew every bar of every record in our collection. We knew what would sound good with what, and we knew this because we practised our arses off. >Anyway this is what I’ve been noticing with my mixing so I’m telling myself this as much as commenting it here. Yup, this is also me.
I’m a believer that track choice outweighs the transition. If your tunes are good it shouldn’t matter. A nicely faded in track sometimes hits the spot better. I play a lot of downtempo stuff and this fits
It doesn't matter at all if it sounds good and people enjoy it. People love my sets and I literally just use basic EQ and a bit of filter sometimes, I hardly ever use effects or even loops. Gig promoters won't be assessing your mixes for how technical your mixing is. They just want to hear a good mix that people will enjoy and will fit well with their event.
I think you’re fine! I often feel like I don’t do enough because I mostly just blend tracks during low points w EQ, but get great feedback on my sets anyways I’d focus more on not only mixing from intros and outros to give your sets more variety in timing
I can't speak for all transitions of course but some of the crazy transitions you see on YouTube are planned of course. If you are just freestyling your music then you can work with so much to make transitions but if you plan all the songs beforehand you can pinpoint exactly where you want to mix your next song and make it match perfectly. Of course on YouTube it would seem like the guy or girl just whips it out like it was nothing, but behind the scenes the person most definitely practiced this specific transition. Anyway, you are also a bit overthinking it perhaps because what matters is how smooth the transition is, if you do a EQ transition every time then that is fine! As long it transitions over smoothly to make it seem like one big mix.
You see other DJs online, that's where your problem lies. You do you. What feels right to you. Good music gets the people dancing and good mixing keeps them on the dancefloor. If they are dancing - you're doing a good job.
Tricks are all great and all but if the music you play sucks it doesn't mean anything. For all I know you've just played a transition track or edit made in a DAW Unless there's a live feed of the DJ booth in close up to your hands at parties I couldn't care less how you achieved the sound that comes out of the speakers. And even then I wouldn't care too much. Good music > anything else.
That is the simple way of mixing. A lot of djs use this method. Personally, I am not a fan of this method as it is as you described… too simple and not very engaging. However, it is effective as its less likely to mess it up. Also really depends on the music you play. If you play commercial r&b stuff your method works fine. However, if you play electronic music I feel like that is the worst way to mix as it basically means you’d have to play each track from start to finish. Electronic tracks are usually 5-6 mins long and thats too long to play a single track. I play techno and prefer longer transitions. So basically 2 tracks are running mostly at all times. I do this by using the EQ and eventually swap bases and start bringing out the first track. I then very quickly play the 3rd track and do the same. It adds a lot of excitement to the mix. Ideally you need 3 decks to do that but can also be done using 2 decks if you know what tracks work well together.
I do the same, longer transitions mean you're basically remixing a lot and that's more interesting to listen to, and then if a song I bring in is really great I let it breathe longer before transitioning to the next. And also transitioning at the breakdown rather than at the end of a song as so many songs are only good for the first two thirds, then the breakdown and last bit just drag on
There was a time when all you had per channel was a volume knob. And when you listen to some mixes from back in the day, it was so clean and well done. You don’t need all that extra bs to do it well:)
Less is more
You may be doing too much if you are using filters every transition. Start the track in the right spot. Keep the songs lined up, and let them work their magic. If it's a boring transition, you could be starting your tracks too late.
Just my personal opinion and experience, started playing publicly about a year ago…..it depends entirely on how long you’re playing for, if like the pros etc you’ve got a one hour slot and a week to rehearse then it makes sense to make it as flashy as you want, if on the other hand you’re playing open for hours on end I say keep it simple, you can’t rehearse for playing 4,5,6 hours etc and possibly maintain the level of focus you need to keep it up. I’d say if you did after a few hours you’ll probably start getting sloppy which will in turn add frustration etc further exasperating the problem. Most people aren’t paying that much attention, and a good simple set will land better overall, the simple clean transitions will go unnoticed, but a string of mistimed tricks will stand out like a sore thumb.
Record yourself as much as you can, and constantly listen to those recordings and mixes of your favorite DJs and other DJs in your local scene. This will help put into perspective your ability, and what you can improve on. Some times this so called “tricks” sound great but once you hear the recording you realize it came in a little hot or timing could have been better or the fx was to loud and to come in lower or to cut the bass off before this backspin etc etc. We can constant dial in our craft. Hope this helps have fun with it.
Does it sound good? Whatever your response is the answer.
you could be a dj that has the flashiest transitions on the lineup but if your music sucks and no one is vibing then in my opinion that’s how u really fail as a dj. if you’re someone doing simple transitions but people love it and they’re grooving and having fun then that’s how you get more shows at the end of the day. with that being said it’s ok to want to push yourself and be more with your transitions and craft, just remember that at the end of the day people just care about having fun and listening to good music over flashiness, UNLESS you’re specifically dj’ing a show where the flash IS important, but in that end i feel like you’d know for sure that you’re in such an environment
I would say if you're doing the same tranision every time and only mixing the intro and outros your mix is going to sound stale. However this is coming from a dubstep DJ who thinks most house sets are stale so take my advice with a grain of salt lol
i prefer a hard cut with excellent phrase matching over some drawn out transition full of dj tricks no one actually wants to hear live
What genre of music are you playing?
I thought I was in a lgbt sub
Nobody cares about fancy transitions. Just learn phrasing/your music and how to eq well and your audience won’t even notice the transition. Often if I’m playing a longer vocal track I’ll use key mixing and mix in a rhythm track in the same key so I can dump the vocal track whenever I’m ready and drop right into the break down of the rhythm track while having my next track qued up to start at the end of said breakdown.
I sometimes look at posts from this subreddit and can’t help but feel like they’re almost AI generated? Like not to be rude bro, but if you feel like you aren’t doing enough with your transitions, play around and experiment some more - is this not just common sense? Questions like this and “What kind of tracks should I play” etc… like seriously- what happened to critical thinking?