How do I mix chillout/lounge?

[Connor]

Absolutely love the stuff and want to start mixing it but it's confusing. The tracks have stuff you can beatmatch to but am I supposed to bring songs in on a breakdown? Do I even beatmatch them? I'm completely lost and it's one of the genres I want to play the most.

[JGeffen]

Downtempo as a genre is incredibly diverse with regards to tempo and rhythms, so basically you have to throw out the concept of beatmatching all your songs. That'll only get you so far in this genre. Instead, concentrate on tone or pitch matching, for one. You're also going to have to really know your music very well; it helps to know parts of a song that might be rhythm-only which is easy to mix into a song that might be more free-form and rhythmless. Of course, scratching is going to be extremely helpful making quick transitions and will help energize your sets.

Essentially, you've got to just be very creative. On the downtempo mixes I did, I tried to focus on just keeping a good mellow vibe going throughout. You can go a long way by just picking the right song to go after what you're currently playing. Sometimes making sense just doesn't matter. I was listening to Pretty Lights play a set earlier this evening and you'd be surprised how often he makes these transitions that are nothing more than turning the deck off and crossfading into something else.

[Connor]

So pretty much I just choose great music that goes with each other and just let everyone relax, let the music play and get everyone feeling good and calm? From what little I've tried of it I was trying to beatmatch shit and it wasn't easy the way I was trying to do it (trying to mix like hardcore lol). Any other information you could provide?

[JGeffen]

See this genre is like sex: you can't force it. You have to be able to figure out how to mix so that you don't ruin the vibe you have going. IMO, DJing this genre is more about setting and maintaining a feeling than it is about showing off technical prowess, though it sometimes takes some skill to DJ it.

[Connor]

I see, so I should just for the most part throw beatmatching and the like out the window and let it do its thing, got it.

[sss18734]

In a very ****** manner...

[farhanashraf]

focus on the breakdowns and see if you can mix from one song to another. i know for example buddha bar music has a lot of breakdowns and u can manipulate them to transition to the next song