As I progress to becoming a true DJ, I’ve coined a few terms to describe some of the concepts that I have encountered. In Mix 20, I reference Meat to describe tracks that are little more than a beat that can be used to transition between featured tracks in a mix. For Mix 38, I showcase another term, Harm. I use the term Harm when talking about a concern that, when mixing a track, the mix may make it worse off than if I were to never tweak it to integrate it into a mix.
As a DJ, it is a thrill to incorporate a great new track that you’ve heard into a mix that your are creating. But, my expectation is that, by blending a series of tracks together, the sum is greater than the part. I feel as if I have done Harm to a track if, my mix is good, but there is a particular track that sounds worse to make the mix sound better overall.
In creating this mix, I was excited to incorporate another Calvin Harris track into my mixes. Both he and Kaskade are ‘Easy Money’ to me. Their tracks are consistently amazing. If I add one of their tracks to my mix, it will more often than not sound amazing. The only concern is, in creating the mix, do I do justice to their work.
With Mix 38, I faced that challenge for Calvin Harris’ track Sweet Nothing. With the 3 tracks that I ended up mixing, it was a recurring challenge that I may do Harm to the tracks. So, with this mix, I ended up just doing drop cuts for the transitions. Not much DJing work, I just immediately starting the next track with a minimum of fuss. You’ll hear a scratch on the 2nd transition when I bump the tracks back in time. A DJ error, but I thought it sounded cool, so I kept it.
Enjoy!
P.S. – In the process of putting together this mix, I learned that the term Harm is used to describe people who do self-harm to themselves. I’ve made a small donation to an organization that is trying to address the issue.
