Phrase mixing and looping

[xslip]

I see a lot of people giving advice about using phrase mixing, counting beats and dropping in so the intro finishes when the other outro ends for example. What's your view on looping a phrase, for example 8 beats, and mixing in the other track? Is this a simple way of getting round actual phrase mixing? I do it quite a bit, as I can never work out how to count when to drop in the next track so it reaches the end of its intro, or build, when the other track enters its outro or ends.

[Manu]

http://www.djforums.com/forums/showthread.php?24568-Phrase-matching-101-The-building-blocks-of-mixing

More or less covered here.

[KRE]

I did a recent Electro House mix and quite a few of the transitions were using loops and a lot of them weren't using the intro of the track as I wanted a later part of the track to kick in to keep the energy levels up (the animals transition being an example). I never used to be a fan of looping when mixing in but sometimes it's very useful, it's definitely worth trying different ways and not always doing the standard intro/outro method. Sometimes I will load up the track twice, and have a loop (maybe a vocal) together with the intro when doing a mix as some intros can be very basic.

http://www.mixcloud.com/djkevine/november-2013-electro-house-mix/

[andystyles]

Heres a demo I recorded. Shows you phrasing without the need to loop. Its all about timing and joining the tracks up so there is good continuity.

http://soundcloud.com/andystylesuk/20-minute-house-promo-mix

[myl//hy]

I compare the waveforms to tell where to drop the next track so its intro works with the outro. It's not always perfect, but pretty close - even with tracks I've never heard. (Just watch out for clashing vocals - scout the intro with your headphones!) If you want it perfect every time, you can work out your mix ins and outs ahead of time and tag them with hot cues or whatever, but this falls apart if you need to change plans. (Although this "set web" approach pretty much solves that problem if you're willing to put in the planning time: http://www.djforums.com/forums/showthread.php?24436-The-art-and-practice-of-set-planning ) Also you may want to loop to exit a track early.

Nothing wrong with looping, but you'll need to keep track of the loop count - 8, 16, 32 whatever. I keep hearing DJs loop for like 6 or 11 bars then drop the next track .. and it sounds off to me, almost like non-harmonic mixing. Crowd doesn't seem to care though.

[TheRabbitMonk]

Nothing wrong with looping, but you'll need to keep track of the loop count - 8, 16, 32 whatever. I keep hearing DJs loop for like 6 or 11 bars then drop the next track .. and it sounds off to me, almost like non-harmonic mixing. Crowd doesn't seem to care though.



spot on my friend, this is somehting i do. when i listen to my mix back and i'm like that makes no sense.

[myl//hy]

Good on you for recording your sets and giving them a critical listen. I need to do this more -- great way to improve rather than just assume everything's perfect.

[Sigma]

What's your view on looping a phrase, for example 8 beats, and mixing in the other track? Is this a simple way of getting round actual phrase mixing? I do it quite a bit, as I can never work out how to count when to drop in the next track so it reaches the end of its intro, or build, when the other track enters its outro or ends.
There's nothing wrong with using loops, but I don't think you should use them for the reason you gave. In the long run, I think it's best to force yourself to get a solid grip of the basics before you go on to adding spice to your sets with effects, loops etc. It's not just a case of "you should have to suffer!", haha - it really does help you in the long run if you can do all of the basics of DJing by ear.

[dj daywalker]

I usually set a loop two phrases before the drop and or into.

I recorded this mix like 7 months ago when I was begining to get the hang of it. Its a tad sloppy especially the first half but there are several times when I have 4 tracks playing at once so I was outside my comfort zone. I also use loops sometimes when doing mashups

https://soundcloud.com/dj_daywalker/dj-daywalker-4-deck-test-mix

[Deep N Sexy]

My rule of thumb!

As long as it sounds good!

Noone cant tell you its wrong as long your not killing or recking the tracks!, ive been a friend of phrasemixing since late 80s, went to practice keymixing in the 1990s and still those two are my favorites and the hardest to achieve good results if your not have the ear of what sounds good. much can be done with programs, but i would say they are far from flaswless and i would not state my balls on a program choosing the tracks or tell me where to mix if my life depended on it!

Nothing can beat the human ear, the feeling and the soul

[Kepik]

Know how many bars the intro of a track has. Most producers create their track with the bare bones intro that is 16 bars, then they start adding more elements to the 2nd half of the intro, another 16 bars. Thus total 32 bars. Then its the breakdown that eventually leads to the buildup OR it could eventually just lead to the drop.

There are some producers that create 45 bar intros and others that just keep it short and have only 16 bars.

For me, I typical mix using 16 bars to cover all intro variances.