DJF Trance Tourney 2012 (ROUND 1): Nutty vs JackStalk !

[Rek_Aviles]

ROUND 1

FILE 1

FILE 2





RULES:
30 minute mark. The final track of each mix must have started by the end minute mark listed below.
it is recommended that contestants use Mainstream Trance (Progressive, Vocal, Tech, Acid, Melodic, Epic) – however if you want to play harder GOA/Psy.-Trance you are more than welcome
Ghost votes do not count in the final score. In order for a vote to count, there must be a comment made by the voter and he/she must have over 50 confirmed posts on DJForums.com.




MORE DETAILS CAN BE FOUND HERE:
http://www.djforums.com/forums/showt...p-entry-thread






**Will display users who voted, and what choice they voted for.**

[M!TCH]

File #1: Very interesting intro. Really enjoying this first tune. I like Gregorian Chant style vocals in trance. Excellent mix. All very smooth transitions and I loved the ambiance throughout.

File #2: I've listened to the mix. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Both of you had a very similar style mix.

I will have to listen to mix #2 again tomorrow. I'm busy working atm and want to give some more detailed feedback.

Listened to #2 again. My vote goes for #1 but it was definitely close. Once again, sorry for lack of super detailed responses School has had me slammed and it is only week 2. FML.

[Era 7]

Mix #1

excellent mixing. nice flow. good trackselection and nice switchup with the breaks at the beginning. liked the vocals. mixing was smooth. can't find any gripe.


Mix #2

pretty much the same as critics i would give mix #1 thought the mixes are not as seemless as in mix #1 but that's probably just me being picky. also i'm not too big of a fan of the vocals on the track around the 20-21 minute mark.

enjoyed both mixes and it was close. gotta give it to mix #1. the tracks were just meeting my taste a little more.

[Ohmega]

Mix 1:
• Intro: Love the build-up
• Track 1: Well it is safe to say that this is Progressive Breaks, feels Trance’ish though. You are taking your sweet time with the transition point. For the battles we tend to push a routine with multiple tunes as it showcases mixing skill vs tune selection.
• Track 2: Transient hit points are out of alignment. 1/3 through the mix and only 1 transition.
• Track 3: Long blend, good use of the vocals, tune plays forever!
• Track 4: Transition out of Run Away was not the right key it was very dissonant and there was some flaws in the beatmatch.
• Track 5: Getting messy with the mixing now but good tune overall.
• Track 6: Not sure if I heard one or not
• Outro: Ending was alright but nothing to write home about.

Overall I feel like the mix lacked drive and the mixing was _______. It just floated around and did nothing that would inspire any type of reaction. I feel like you played it safe on the tune selection too.

Mix 2:
• Intro: I like the feel of the intro, the thunder and piano was a nice touch.
• Track 1: Good build up and BPM delivery on the fade in. Great first tune, very deep and melodic.
• Track 2: Clean transition, I hear a little bit of the new kick pattern but it sits well under the alpha track. The rise out gets a little noticeable, but it resolved well. Nice 303 bassline with some melodic tops. Good tune selection to follow up your leading track.
• Track 3: Transition root key stands out, but nothing relating to a key clash. Props for making changes that require musical movement. I’ve always noticed people playing 4ths or 5ths which sits perfect in the pocket. Classic tune! The Hea (Heaven) clip is a bit strange, not sure if this is you with a loop or the artist did not put a proper tail on the sample shot. I seem to be getting glitches on the playback?
• Track 4: Solid mix, however you let the tune wind down quite a bit before you make your transition. It works beautifully, but feels a little relaxed as far as set drive. Another solid tune!
• Track 5: Not sure if I heard a transition here or not, but the mix is flowing well.
• Outro: Nice wind down on the outro, closes the set of well. Sounds like a classic Couldharbour tune.

Overall the mix was similar to Mix 1 in respect to the genre. Mixing was much tighter and the song selection seemed to fit better. I am going with Mix 2 on this one.

Thanks for sharing!

[Sedna]

Just gave these a listen on my commute. Good mixes from both DJs.

Mix 1 -

Opened with Airwave - Chiricahua... amazing track, love it. First mix is good, I always love the transition from low-BPM breaks to a progressive track with 4 on the floor. The next mix I feel looses a bit of energy, but the tune selection so far is great. I hear 00db - Melatron coming in... amazing track! I feel like the mixing is a little bit rushed, but the last track is a good song too. Can't remember the name. Overall some great tracks selected here, but I feel like after the first couple tracks the mix lost its direction, which is sad because during the first half I thought it had great direction.

Mix 2 -

Really liked your mix through-and-through. Recognized a few tracks but I can't put names to them, so if the DJ could send me a T/L I'd appreciate it XD. Intro was excellent. Mixing throughout the set is smooth and the track selection flowed very well; I really enjoyed the journey this mix took me on. The song with the 303 kicked it into gear quick, and when that one techy breakdown in the middle hit I was definitely car-dancing. Good job overall. One or two of the mixes I felt you let breathe a little bit too much, but nothing major at all.


Overall I'm going with Mix 2. I feel like there was more of a journey and direction, even though mix 1 had some of my favorite tracks.

[Delta V]

Mix 1: Nice intro, fits amazingly well with the desert rain here right now, gonna be hard to remain unbiased about the perfect mood your setting. Oh some breaks, I'm all about that! Mix out of the break to 4x4 sounded good, like Sedna said going between the two always sounds cool. Getting a bit techier here with the third tune. Next transition works well but I think were losing direction after the first two tracks. Last tracks are pretty good though, just the first two didn't mesh well with the rest I think.

Mix 2: Another neat intro, and great starting tune. Mix into the second tune sounded weird on the bass for me, feels a little weaker or less punchy than than the first track. Very cool tune though. Again mix out sounded a little weird. Oh wow Flesh, I have not heard this in a long long time. It sounds sort of like the tilt remix turned into that modern prog psy sound. I like it but I don't think it flows with the first several tracks, it's like your tunes are getting softer instead of ramping up energy.

I'm voting for mix 1, I think the beatmatching and DJ skill was a bit better and it tended to flow a bit better, Mix 2 I felt just decreased it's energy with each song. Both had great tunes and thanks for spinning guys!

[RikkiGTR]

Mix 1
Interesting dreamy intro. Waiting for a bass drop.... I don't think it's gonna come. I like this, but well past 5 minutes and still doesn't sound like trance (not as I understand the definition anyway).
Over 7 minutes now and still this intro seems to keep going
8 minutes now. Umm... 9 minutes, I'm sensing the next track building up now or is this part of the same track? Sounds good now at 10:00 though, you kept me waiting.
11:30 I like that bass line. Still very light and harmonic but it's nice. Up around 13:00 now and if there's been any transitions I haven't heard them (I don't recognise the track(s)), so that must be a good thing.
15:00 nice transition, very smooth. I don't like the track itself, it's far-removed from what I would play.
Can hear the next track building. 22:10 or so, again another smooth mix. This track sounds almost like Agnelli & Nelson, I quite like it.
Next mix around the 28 minute mark or so, nice smooth mixing again. Actually really really good mixing as far as I'm concerned. Another track I don't recognise though.

Overall - I thought the intro was way too long, and it actually started the frustrate me after a while. I guess a 30-min time limit doesn't offer much flexibility.
The mixing was flawless for me, can't complain. I didn't like the style though, but thanks for sharing!


Mix 2
Another very dreamy and creamy intro. Not quite as long, this one. I like this beat. Hmmm... I expected something more at 3:33 after that tense build-up :/
Dunno what it is, but I like this at 4:40+ and at 6:10 that pounding bassline gets my juices going. Maybe PM with a track ID please?
8:55 the track definitely started to change, but sounds very similar to the previous so I'm kinda left wondering if it really did. Into 11:00, don't really like this track at all. Very unusual.
The lead melody has changed dynamic by 12:00 though and I'm enjoying it more. I dunno if that filter is on the track or being added by yourself but it sounds out of place and unnecessary for me.
Mix coming in at around 15:00, nice and smooth, a pleasant vocally track in the middle of this mix.
21:00 minutes (give or take), another nice and smooth mix. Definitely like this track. Not exactly what I would play myself, but has a punchy bass so far that I can rock out to.
I don't know when the last track came in, so it must've been as smooth and slick as Teflon. Unless that was it starting at 21:00? No idea.

Overall - Nice brief intro, straight into a beat. Style of Trance was, again, not what I would play, but the transitions were smooth as far as I could hear, and the tracks blended well. Thanks for sharing!


Vote - my vote goes with mix 2.
Neither mix was completely enjoyable on a personal level. They weren't in a style I like, nor did I recognise a single track.
Both were very well done, well mixed with only one or two little flaws that stood out. It's a close call because neither mix was much better or worse than the other. Mix 2 just had a few more "yes that's nice" moments.

[Rek_Aviles]

Heard mix 1.. will listen to mix 2 tonight.

[Rek_Aviles]

Had to hear mix 1 again...
___________________________________--


Mix 1
Had no idea where this was going, with that first track. Mixing was good, EQing could've used some work. Set had a good uphill flow.

Mix 2
Starts strong. Did not like that first mix or cut but you made up for it on the next. Good mixing and EQ work in this one.


Really tough call here. Mixing was good on both, but Mix 2 is a bit better. I like the programming in set 1, but Mix 2 had a good flow


Going with Mix 2. #1 had a better programmed set but overall #2 takes it by a hair.


Good battle guys.

[Complex.ity]

Mix #1:

Interesting intro and is quite long as well..
Wow that was about 9 min for the transition to the next song. Well it did set the mood but would've liked the intro to be a lot shorter honestly.
First transition was great, well beat-matched and phased. Very clean and smooth.
Alright your next track was beat-matched well and all but I honestly think you could've brought it in a lot sooner and more aggressive on the EQ's to try and build up more energy because these tracks are quite mellow.
~21:25: The beats could've been a little tighter but overall a lot better phased and this is one of your better transitions in terms of holding the energy. This next track is sounding a lot harder with that really nice rolling bass line so we're building. I'll say right away this mix flows very well, just not exactly the type of trance I spin normally. This sounds like Chill-Out to me.
~24:37: Alright! I'm really liking this synth line. Sad part is that I'm really starting to feel it already towards the end. ~25:22: Massive man! Loving it! Was looking for this a bit earlier!
~27:50: Noticing another track coming in and ~ 27:07: you cut a lot of the track currently playing's frequencies out a bit. There wasn't much going on for the incoming track at the time. Overall though, good transition; well beat-matched and phased.
~30:17: Ooh! I like! Huge sub bass! Alright this track is quite nice and enjoying it!

You took a way different approach to a quick mix of especially trance. You had like a 9 min intro and let the tracks play out quite a bit, thus leaving you with only just a few tracks. The transitions were clean and smooth for the most part. The tracks did flow quite well together too but like I said, not really too familiar with this quite mellow trance. The last 2 tracks really did it for me though! They were quite nice! I just kind of wished you would've dropped it a bit sooner because that's what really got me engaged, unfortunately it was at 24 minutes. Great mix though! Very smooth! Now Mix #2, let me see what you got bud.

Mix #2:

Quite a deep and sad intro and loving that piano though! Alright very nice and short intro. This mix for sure is progressing a lot quicker than the last one.
~9:10: Nice transition. Held the energy very well. I've noticed strange vocals in the back of this track. Like hiccups or something.
On the transition around 15 minutes, the beats could've been a little tighter. Needs a little bit of a nudge and the cut could've been a little bit smoother as well. Seemed just a little bit abrupt because it went almost dead silent.
~17:48: From here on really confused me. I take it this is a new track?
~20:10: Here, a little bit before and after is kind of dead energy. Just subtle sounds going and a kick going. Before there was a huge bass and feel like you lost a lot of energy here.
~21:16: The sounds coming from the next track could've been very useful for maintaining that energy for sure and keeping it flowing. I'm liking this track a lot man! Really nice lead going on!
This transition right here is the best one throughout the mix! Really holds the energy well! Although ~26:22, seems like the kicks weren't aligned but okay later on you nudged it back. Still a solid transition and in my opinion your best one. I'm really liking this track right here! Very nice closing track for sure.

This mix progressed way faster in terms of energy. Thing is, it had a lot of points where it's just up and down. Technically, it was pretty solid. Beat-matching for the most part was spot on. There were some points where it could've been a little tighter but I'd say it was well done for the most part. I enjoyed the tracks also more than Mix #1 for the most part. Although, that one track at around 24-25 minutes from Mix #1 I really liked.

Both mixes were unique in their own way and flowed very well! Both felt like really relaxing mixes and unfortunately I'm judging these mixes during a break from producing (Lol.... A little frustrated at the moment. Not going to lie. Sorry!) They were definitely nice mixes and you guys did well as far as technical aspect. Beat-matching and all were well done. Now for the hard part.. I feel Mix #1 flowed overall better than Mix #2 but Mix #2 progressed a lot quicker (Also the fact that Mix #1 had a 9 minute intro.). I am actually going to go with Mix #1 though in terms of flow. I felt Mix #2 was up and down with a bit of dead energy. At around 18 minutes of Mix #2, there was quite a bit track going on then it just started to got very mellow. There was a very constant progression in Mix #1, therefore I'm going with that. I really wanted to go with Mix #2 because I felt I enjoyed it more but there were places later on in the mix that needed to be filled.