How do DJs mix drastic BPM differences? (ex. in post)

[TBA]

Hey guys,
I've been trying to mix different genres, similar to what Designer Drugs always showcase in their DATAMIX series.
My question is, How do to they do it?! I am having tons of trouble.

Here is an example:
http://soundcloud.com/designerdrugsmusic/datamix-17

A super drastic example in this mix:
@5:00 its Alcoholic (Dada Life remix) which is originally 128 BPM into Atrium (Designer Drugs Remix) which is 140 BPM..
How do you pull off something clean like they did in this mix?

Another ex:
@22:50ish the song playing is Monolith -Congorock, which is 128 BPM
it then mixes into Earthquakey People (Alvin Risk Remix) which is 139 BPM.

It sounds super clean but when I try something similar I can't seem to get it to sound right.
Any tips/help would be great

[Era 7]

easy. both times the outgoing traps were significantly pitched up. just tapped it out and for your first example the track was already played at 135BPM when it hit the break before the transition and was gradually sped up during the break.
for the second track it's the same. track going out is running at roughly 136BPM.

[TBA]

ahh, thanks for the explanation. I guess I'll get back to practicing more.

[TBA]

So, back to my examples, they basically mixed this entire mix at 135-138 bpm.
The issue I am having is that when I take songs that are at 128 BPM and ramp them up that high, the tracks are VERY difficult to keep in synch for more than 15 seconds or so...
I like to think my beat matching is pretty damn solid so I am wondering, could Designer Drugs possibly just be throwing tracks into Ableton and having them pre-synched or have pre-made, re-adjusted BPM edits?

I'm just getting a little frustrated i guess...

[mantis]

the mixing part was short in that section you pointed out, which lead me to think that there were definitely some pre production planning going into it. Either they used digital tools to pre plan the transition or they carefully calculated and executed it. Either way it wasnt done randomly. Some people makes transition tracks specifically for this type of situation.

btw - i never really listened to these guys. Im not really into this style of music, but i enjoyed their set and it gave me a few ideas. thanks for posting it

[nevin]

Most people use premade transition tracks these days. I have a whole folder dedicated to transitions from dance to hiphop (128 - 90 or 128 to 70 etc) and another dedicated to transitions from hiphop to dance.

[TBA]

btw - i never really listened to these guys. Im not really into this style of music, but i enjoyed their set and it gave me a few ideas. thanks for posting it

Designer Drugs are the shiiiett!!! go to their soundcloud and check out their other DATAMIXes. (DATAMIX 16 is pretty rad)

also, thanks for the additional info

[TBA]

Most people use premade transition tracks these days. I have a whole folder dedicated to transitions from dance to hiphop (128 - 90 or 128 to 70 etc) and another dedicated to transitions from hiphop to dance.

How do you go about making these transition tracks? do you just loop the end and have the BPM slowly ramp up or down to the BPM you want to mix into?

[electricsmooth]

+1, also very interested in these transition tracks. Just how do you do it?

[Austin GoGreen]

Electricsmooth, Transition tracks are easy to find in record pools.

TBA, what kind of equipment are you using? These types of mixtapes can be laid out entirely in Ableton.

[DJ Nada]

When I'm having trouble beatmatching tracks, I'll loop the intro of the incoming track, and play with it until I get it exactly lined up. Then I just wait for a good spot to transition in the new track.
Hope that helps.

[samuelsan]

I have the same problem when trying to mix into a much higher/lower BPM

[montgomery]

Designer Drugs are the shiiiett!!!

:madbanana: he knows

[Kill Creation]

Im no expert but what I some times do is wait for the track I am mixing out of to have no percussion or hats, nothing of any particular, something like a pad or extended vocal line.

then i create a loop on the cdj in time with the track I want to bring in, i have 1000s so its not quantised and you have to do it yourself so it can be hard to make it perfect, but once its loops i break up the other track and it flows together dead nice. It works really good but it is hard to do.

Or sometimes I just do a spin back, but I think the transition tracks sound like a really good idea too so I will try them too

[Brian Sang Han]

this is where sync can drastically help in a good way. you can do long drawn out transitions and then find the perfect place to cut and no one can really tell you switched. im sure you can do this without sync but theres no way id be able to do it currently.

[sephi]

Some people play tracks pitched up at peak hour for more energy. E.g., 128 at 133-135. It's easy to transition from that to trap and dubstep.

You can make drastic tempo changes during rolls and other buildups without listeners noticing.

I go from 90 to 128 to 135-ish to 140 to 150 to 175 in a night - sometimes with more than one shift from one of these speeds to another. You can shift the tempo, use tracks with tempo changes, edit tracks in your DAW so that they include tempo changes, edit tracks so that you have versions locked to one BPM (128, 132, 140, whatever, you've shifted them all to 135 in Ableton or Acid or whatever beforehand), or just find smooth methods of mixing that don't require beatmatching..