This mix kinda just flowed for me. I’ve always kinda been a sucker for bluesy or heartbroken lyrics; even in pop tracks. My love of Usher’s Confessions and Kanye West’s 808 & Heartbreak are perfect examples. To varying degrees, the 3 tracks that I mixed reflect that in either lyrics or beat. And, admittedly, I am a little bit lonely.
The DJing was fairly straight forward for this mix. I did a little bit of work on the volume leveling. But the transitions were a swap between pitching down the first track and adding the low frequencies of the next track.
This was one of the most challenging mixes I have had. And, one that has me questioning how I could ever do something like this live.
Mix spin instructor knows I am learning to DJ (and shamelessly stealing her playlist). So, one day during class, she challenged me to mix Jax Jones’ Breathe. It took a while, but here is what I put together; a combination of 4 Jax Jones tracks. The track are Say a Prayer. Breathe (Boston Bun Remix), Breathe, and Bum Bum Tam Tam.
To mix this, I made my first use of decks 3 and 4. When I start up Breathe, I am working with 3 tracks simultaneously. In the span of 3:44, I also use EQs repeated, the crossfader, volume faders, use the flagger effect, sound colors to play with pitch, and a loop.
There were 5 phases of of development of the track. The first was track selection. Listening to Breathe, I felt it was a good track, but could use a little more energy. After going through a couple of Jax Jones tracks, I felt I could do something cool with just that artists’ work.
The second was breaking down the song structure of Breathe. Since this track was intended to be the star of the mix, I really to perfect how I used the elements of the song. This is the first time I’ve ever actually sat down and broken down the intro, verses, chorus, and bridge of a track. I helped me understand how the different phrases could be leveraged to mix in and out elements of the other tracks.
The third phase was creating the mix in. I got hooked on the section of Say a Prayer that I used. I felt it would be a good intro and add the energy that I was looking for. I then used the remix of Breathe to sustain the energy before moving into the main track.
Phase 4 was the outro. I was pretty sure that I wanted to use Bum Bum Tam Tam as the outro, but struggled to figure out how. The song as a section where the lyrics are just “Bum bum tam tam” which echos Breathes, “Dum dum da da” sections. I never found a good way to get the two to work togehter. But, the base line of Bum Bum Tam Tam worked well to keep the mix interesting once I had fully transitioned into Breathe.
Phase 5 was mastering. Have spent enough time on this track, I wanted to make it pop. As usual, after completing the mix, I listened to it in its entirety. Along the way, I found little things in the intro, like when to cut the low form the remix. But I spent a lot of time ironing out the outro. First, had Bum Bum Tam Tam‘s baseline going just during the bridge to exit the track. But that felt rushed. Then I put the baseline on during the 2nd verse of Breathe. But that felt like it got old. Then there was the issue with the horn of the Bum Bum Tam Tam clashing with the vocals of Breathe. Ulitimately what I ended up with is a pitched down baseline of Bum Bum Tam Tam for 2nd verse of Breathe, removing it for the 2nd chorus, then bringing it back with lows and half of the mids (so the baseline is more lively and horn quieter). I think it worked out pretty good.
The name of this mix is a bit of a double entendre. I did buy a car last weekend (with no co-signer 🙂 ). Yay!
The second is a reference to a quote from Eric Thomas. In one of his speeches, he states, ‘I don’t need anybody to co-sign my dreams’. It was a good reminder that, when going after my goals, I own them. Supporters are nice, but not mandatory. I don’t need anyone’s approval or permission. Go get it!
This mix has a few subtle evolutions to my approach. I need to ad-lib and tweak a lot during the transitions to get the levels right. For the first time, I actually boosted the mid to 200% to get Lil Uzi Vert’s vocals to overpower A Little Party. I’m not sure if I have beat jumped before, but it definitely was the first time I used a release effect to enhance it. Finest Hour mixes in towards the end of the track. When I hit the outro, I do a quick reverb before jumping the start of the track; only to play all the way back to where I mixed in (kinda like Pulp Fiction).
This really was a mix to keep my momentum going. It feels like it’s been a little while since my last mix. So, it was fairly straightforward; 3 tracks. I’ve started playing around more with the FX on my new controller. So, you’ll hear an echo out of Shooting Star and a backspin out of Ocean.
The title of the mix really is a reflection of where I am in general. Earlier this weekend, I got an opportunity to test drive a couple examples of my dream car; a Porsche 911. The test drive reminded me of how long I’ve had that dream, how I’m not quite there, but if I keep at it, I’ll get there. Much like with DJing, I feel like I’m in a good spot.
The title of this mix is a favorite quote of mine from Mike Tyson. Over the past few weeks, I’ve gone through a decent amount of personal, romantic, and career setbacks. I got punched in the mouth. This week, I started getting things back on track, but found myself feeling sorry for myself and feeling like quitting during my Friday workout. But I had a second thought about how in the past, I had more of a fighting spirit when I faced adversity. I wondered what happened to it. The workout served as a reminder to pace myself, but push through challenges; as did the creation of this mix.
When I create mixes, I usually have a bunch of songs I would like to include, but as I begin trying to blend them together a subset of them naturally emerges. I don’t know if something was going on in my subconscious, but all of the tracks in the mix have a taste of melancholy in them. And this is definitely not the smoothest mix I’ve created, when blending in and out of Friends, I drop out of the track for a bar to avoid some crosstalk. The 2nd time around, it wasn’t too smooth. Honestly, the drop cut to go back from Friends to One Kiss was a tad bit rough too. Further, the mix into it flows, but there is a contrast between the beats.
On the plus side, this was really the first time I spend an extended amount of time on rekordbox and my DDJ-1000 putting together a mix. I’m still not as comfortable on it as my Traktor S2, but I am beginning to acquaint myself with the new set up. As far as new techniques, for the drop cuts in and out of Friends, I used a v-brake effect. For the transition into Pray, I used the low pass filter for 8 bars then faded out over the next 8. For the end of the mix, I applied the r. echo effect and faded out. Effects were pretty tricky with the S2, so it was nice to be able to incorporate them with ease using the DDJ-1000.
… so, yeah. Skills development will begin over the long, Labor Day weekend. My new controller came earlier than expected. So, I spent some time today playing with it. In the span of a day, I managed to set it up and figure out enough to get a mix going.
The title of the mix is Reinitiation. The meaning behind it is that 1) I’m kinda starting over with new equipment, 2) if the next phase is separation, I’m reinitiating by going back to my old form, and 3) in going back, all of the tracks are remakes of tracks from the 1990’s.
The new equipment is a little intimidating. It’s definitely bigger with a lot more going on. It took me 15 minutes just to figure out how to get sound to go out of the headphones. But with so much more functionality on this controller, I can see how there will be opportunities for me to do more. The sound coloring seems to be a little more accessible than on the Traktor S2. So, for the first time ever in this mix, I played with hi/low pass filters. This mix was intended to be pretty simple and just an opportunity to play with my new toy, but it was pretty cool to manage to add something new to the mix.
In 10th grade English, I learned that there are 3 stages to a hero’s quest – Initiation, Separation, and Return. If I am to make an analogy of my quest to learn to DJ and that of a hero, I think after this mix, I’ll officially begin the separation.
I really enjoyed this mix and even got to mix in a track that I have wanted for a while, Like I Do. But I realize that I am in my comfort zone. I am not mixing live, I have a cheat sheet. I’m not using effects or samples. I fade in and out using volume and EQs. I am not venturing into new music. Just EDM at 120 BPM.
I hope it doesn’t sound like I am bashing my own work, I think it is a great mix. But to continue to make mixes at this cadence that sound good, I spend most of my time on the mechanics of the mix (track selection, using existing techniques effectively, and mastering/publishing). I’ve recently thought a lot about the concept of deliberate practice and how I can use it to perform better at things that matter (job, DJing). It is at odds with what I am doing.
So, I am about 1 year into being a DJ. I bought my controller over Labor Day weekend last year. The initiation of my quest was to have fun, learn about the culture, and make some cool mixes. But I think I’m ready for the separation.
Separation to me means become good at DJing. So, I am making some changes. First, I am not saying that I will not publish mixes anymore, but I don’t know when the next one will be completed. In general I will focus my DJing time on skills development in things like beat counting, beat matching, mixing live. Second, I am switching my equipment set up to Rekordbox DJ. I wanted to go to a 4 channel mixer so it felt like a good time to reevaluate which software I was using. At this point, I think they all (Rekordbox DJ, Serator, Traktor, and Virtual DJ) will sufficiently meet my needs. But I wanted to go with a Pioneer controller as they among the best/most generic. that pushed me to either RekordBox DJ or Serator. The controller I went with, the DDJ-1000, is designed for Rekordbox DJ, so that made the decision easy.
So, if you are reading this, thank you! In some form or fashion, I’ll keep you posted as I progress. But for now, Enjoy!
The title of this mix is an homage the track and hook Limitations from Souls of Mischief (The album art borrows from the album that is was on as well). After every handful of mixes, I get an urge to do one with some hip hop tracks in it. And I don’t think any of them have turned out as well as their more EDM-centric counterparts. As I am learning more about DJing, I realize that mixing hip hop and radio edits (e.g. track without long sections with the beat and no vocals) generally works better with a different type of mixing. I a lot scratching and drop cuts. Most of my transitions use fades between the tracks and/or EQs.
In this mix, I tried to push past my limits. I played around with scratching a ran though a number of tracks to get a solid drop. Unfortunately, most of it didn’t make it into the mix. For the first time ever, I incorporate a baby scratch at the beginning to allow me to drop into Lil’ Uzi Vert’s Sauce It Up, but my technique could stand some improvement. The blend between that and God’s Plan sounds good. God’s Plan and Win is just aight. But hey, this collection is called Rough Drafts of My Perfect Mix for a reason. I’m happy with the results, but they are definitely a step on my journey to becoming a quality DJ.
The idea for this mix has been floating around in my head for a while. I’ve heard of DJs adding tracks to a mix that are just a beat to help transition between two big tracks that they want to play. I’m not sure what the technical term for these transition tracks are, but I’ve started referring to them as mix meat or just meat. The concept of this mix was a mix where all of the tracks are just meat.
It took me a while to put this together. Last weekend, I had Anthem and Music Sounds Better With You. But I couldn’t find a good third track. I ‘dug into my crates’ of tracks that I wanted to mix, but nothing seemed to flow. I downloaded a bunch of new tracks too, but still nothing. Ultimately, I found Pick Up on Sunday, but ran out of time to mix.
I’ve kinda had a DJing vibe going on this morning, so the concepts of this mix pretty much just flowed. Anthem is really the anchor. Having the extended version gave me a lot to play with. I start by move back and forth between two points in its intro before playing a second copy. Next I mixed in Music Sound Better With You, only to go back to Anthem where the track left off when mixed out. Later I mix in Pick Up, but the exit to the mix is mixing back in the intro of Anthem and doing a fade out. What was kinda cool for me with the outro was I made a 16 bar phrase where 1) I mix in Anthem for 4 bars, 2) play both for 4 bars, 3) fade out Pick Up for 4 bars, and 4) end by fading out Anthem for 4 bars. Likewise, the intro was an 8 bar phrase I created. So, kinda cool to use some musical techniques when mixing.
So, it’s definitely a work in progress, but for the first time ever, this weekend, I scratched!!!
I saw this video from DJ TLM (I’m a HUGE Fan!) on Friday night and was amped. So when I woke this morning and started playing around with my DJ set up, I just had to start playing around.
What was also really cool to see was that people were DJing all over the world, in all types of spaces, with all types of equipment. No excuses, just doing it!
I’m switching my DJing to focus more on practicing skills instead of just recording mixes. This morning’s practice session was dedicated to just getting into the flow. I spent the time just trying to smoothly transition between tracks in real time. But at the end of my session, I ended up on a pretty clean loop, so I figure why not? It kinda felt like double dutch jump rope where you are trying to find the right time to jump in, but are nervous about not being able to catch the rhythm.
I had a few more riffs that sounded better, but by the time I thought to record, I lost it a little. This is definitely not enjoyable listening, but you’ve gotta capture moments of progress when on a journey of building a new skill.
