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View Full Version : Open format - Genre Switch question



DjDisArm
10-09-2013, 11:52 AM
I know open format is just how it sounds, open. theres no set formula on what genre to play but how would you guys recommend more smoother transitions from genre to genre whether its hiphop/RnB/rock/edm etc. i dont want to sound like im all over the place. cheers

Mephs
10-09-2013, 01:54 PM
Try to mix styles that mix well together. A sudden BPM shift works if the two tracks sound sonically complimentary. I utilize this a lot, but sometimes you have to get really creative to mix two genres in/out that aren't compatible.

House mixes really well inside itself as most house is mid 120BPMish, but you could say, mix from house into a faster BPM electro house track, then into breakbeat, creeping into the 130's, then into trance (130-140'ish), or dubstep (~140ish on average), or trap. Often times you'll have breakbeat artists put a "dubstep breakdown" in their track which can seamlessly transition into the 70/140bpm paradigm.

Then from there dubstep obviously works out well with other bass styles, and hip hop is a no brainer.

You can have open format but you have to experiment with a lot of tracks and see what tunes can genre shift smoothly and which ones are just a trainwreck waiting to happen. You also can't be afraid of BPM shifting or creeping to get there either. Small BPM shifts during breakdowns are almost inaudible to the untrained ear (read: most of your crowd). Believe it or not people LOVE genre mixing because it reaches out and attempts to please the niche-heads more than someone sticking to one style all night. Not to say you should always just hop between genres without any thinking or on the fly, until you've gotten comfortable with your own formula of what works and doesn't work.

You can always abruptly shift the BPM but do it logically, like using a particularly effective buildup from one track, doing a beat roll and then dropping into a new BPM on the drop is one of the more effective ways to jump styles arbitrarily.

Mixxed
10-18-2013, 01:58 PM
commercial house to hip hop is easy.. 128-130bpm (house) can mix in with some of the more ratchet hip hop out now (about 68-72bpm) with some pitch control... 70-75bpm you can transition to or from trap-hip hop... mix in some pop songs here and there... It's really not too hard. It's more work with the timing in which you play the genres that is the challenge, rather than the actual technical aspect of the mixing...

Here's an example of an open format hour-long set, which mixes RnB, Trap, Hip Hop, Commercial House, Pop... I could have probably thrown in rock too, just depends on what track you choose to throw in...

http://www.mixcrate.com/djmixxed/public-house-mix-vol-i-867716

Mixxed
10-18-2013, 02:03 PM
Also, transition tracks are your best friend in open format as well... In my mix, check the transition tracks I have at 33:00 and 46:00. Great way to smoothly transition from large gaps in BPM

kick6
10-30-2013, 05:22 PM
Would it make sense to mix from house through some poppy hip-hop (ala flo rida) with really dancy rythms to gangsta rap?

Kepik
02-11-2014, 02:51 AM
Would it make sense to mix from house through some poppy hip-hop (ala flo rida) with really dancy rythms to gangsta rap?

If you play for a crowd that likes both house, dance pop and urban hip-hop then I see no problem in that. When I do an open format set and I'm ready to slow things down from all the fist pumping action, I transition it down to the 65-70 bpm range where its mostly hood music, just to slow things down.