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rain91
06-06-2012, 01:38 AM
im having trouble mixing electro for some reason. learned the hard way that you cant mix every genre the same way. i feel like with electro i have to slam the xfader into the next song and ive been trying it with a handful of songs but its not sounding right to me. so i thought id steal Ohmega's idea from the Trance forum and make this.

MIXING ELECTRO HOUSE

What do you look for in a track (beat structure, keys, BPM, melody)?
Where do you prefer to shop for tunes? Beatport, TrackItDown, Juno...
What transition methods do you use-and how long do you hold tracks together?
Crossfade or not to crossfade?
Gain knob or channel fader?
EQ settings for maintaining priority of sound, i.e. overlays?
Tricks you learned to get from deck A to deck B, C and D?

- pretty much how do you guys do it. i feel like i critique myself pretty harsh thats why i feel like my mixes arent even decent.

** and just for future reference, no flamers or bashing, this is meant to help me and everyone else that needs this **

FireArmed
06-07-2012, 07:12 AM
What do you look for in a track?: Anything that gets my head bobbing or my body moving.

Where do you prefer to shop for tunes?: Beatport, but I'm considering subscribing to a record pool sometime soon, if I get more gigs.

What transition methods do you use-and how long do you hold tracks together?: Depends on the key and the structure of the song. I've found tracks as I practice that fit perfectly together in key, feel, the structure of the song, when lyrics are playing, when drum beats match up. To me it's all intuitive, you just need to experiment with what sounds good and write down everything you learn. Some tracks I can lap over each other for a minute, some for only a few seconds. It's all dependent on what feel you want. Want the drop of one track to play over another drop as your transition? Slam the fader at the right moment. Want to ease into a new track seemlessly? Mix the outro of the first track with the intro of your new track. Cut out the bass of your first track so the drum beats don't overlap. I play a lot with my EQs when I mix, because I'm rather anal about getting the right mix.

Crossfade or not to crossfade?: Covered this above.

Gain knob or channel fader?: Covered this above.

EQ settings for maintaining priority of sound, i.e. overlays?: Just make sure your bass drums aren't overlapping. It's the most noticeable mistake I hear from a lot of new electro DJs. If your mix is just a MILLISECOND off, the double bass drum makes the mix sound sloppy. Sometimes you need to cut the mid or highs of an intro song because the drum beats don't match up, or you don't want those highs to overpower the mix. It's all about your own feeling, really. I can't tell you how to appreciate music.

Just a few tips from a fellow new guy. Take them all with a grain of salt. I wouldn't say I'm the best contact for this kind of thing, but I definitely have a feeling for what sounds good and what needs work. Hope this helped.