Add Some Balls and Energy to Your DJ Mix

0:00 Can't answer that, I'm very sorry, I do apologise

So, like with a lot of my videos, someone watching may learn something from the beginning, someone may learn something from the middle, and someone else may learn something from the end. So that's three happy people. Then again you may watch it and just look back and think, why did I waste five, six, seven, ten minutes of my entire life? Can't answer that, I'm very sorry, I do apologise. But what I try and do with practically every video is... Make it unique. So, certain parts you think, oh God, shut the frigging heck up. And others you may go, oh I like that. A little, not a lot. So, what I'm about to show you now is something that you can apply to practically any genre of music. So long as it is electronic music and there's good reason for that. Why? See, I heard you.

Real people. Because when you've got a real band, you have got a drummer, you've got a keyboard player, you've got a guitarist, vocals, and even though they will try and keep up the same BPM, beats per minute, it's highly likely the BPM, the beats per minute, is going to fluctuate. So this technique could be quite difficult. But if you're using electronic dance music... It's relatively easy. Now, I have a tune here from the club releases from Citypool from March 2019. A track here entitled White Lies, the Ferrick Dawn remix. So let me explain first of all what I've done. I have formed a loop from the beginning of the track. Now, I haven't used Quantize here, rekordbox. I've just used the very basic MP3 file. So you have to think in advance and think how you could very easily make this a lot better by going into Quantize mode using rekordbox so your loop is perfectly in time. Now, if we listen to my loop... There. It's a nice driving sort of sound. That's it. OK. Now, I've got the same track on the other side.

2:48 Again, like I said earlier, this applies to only some tracks

And what I'm going to do, I'm going to play that track and I'm going to play the loop over that track. Now, why do that? What's it going to achieve? Well, during most dance tracks, whether it be techno, electro, R&B even, modern day R&B, drum and bass, dubstep, you're going to have parts in that track where there's a break, where there's no drum pattern at all. Now, again, like I said earlier, this applies to only some tracks. Let's imagine you want to have a driving force behind that tune constantly from beginning to end. You don't want it to break. You don't want any dips. You don't want any lulls. You just want it in your face. Now, this sort of technique may apply better to like full on rave music where, you know, it's four o'clock in the morning. The party's bubbling.

And the last thing you want is that dip in the tune. For example, there are a lot of tracks out there where there is a dip and even though all the break, and even though the break has got that, it's got to be there because you've got to have the build and then you've got to have the drop. So the break in a way will enhance the feel of the track because you've got that dip and then it rises boom straight in. If you think about it like that, you probably need to keep it in. I might as well stop now and just carry on and just pretend I didn't start this conversation. But I'm not going to because this is a great way of keeping the energy. So for example, if the crowd are bubbling and you look at the waveform out and you think, oh my God, I've got a 16 bar break now and I've just got them up there.

Think no more. Because using this technique, you will keep the energy quite high. So for example, play them both. Okay, we can hear that phasing in the background because that's my loop in the background. So all I'm going to do now, I'm going to go towards the break in this track here. Listen. I've also made the track a bit faster. Here's the break. There it is. Right, so let's go back a bit. Take the treble away from my loop. Bit of mid away, keep the bass in there. Okay, now we've got the loop over that break.

5:02 We haven't got a lull, it's just still up here

So there's my break, but it's still got that driving force behind it, keeping it going. We haven't got a lull, it's just still up here. Listen, with hands, loop back in there. Carry on, straight in. Okay so again this is another like, it's a little bit of a tip because you are no longer having that oh it's a lull and it's up and down, up and down. You're in control of how you want the energy to be in the track. This is the genius, really, about modern-day kit. Where do you stop? Take a 5.30 bus down the road and you'll end up in the last village. Right, okay, so White Lies, I did choose a few tunes here. I've got some numbers written down here. Don't take these numbers as law because if you go to the website, you will have a different...

Running order. The running order I have on here is in alphabetical order, monsieur. Thank you very much. Bon appétit. I speak very good French. Do you like my French? Let me speak to you in French. Hello, my name is Jonathan. Thank you so much. Let's see if that's my French. Do you want to hear my German? Nein! How many? Nein! What do you mean? Nein. No! No! Nein! Yes! No! Yes! Oh, sorry. Right, OK, so... Okay, let's pause that. Right, I want to talk about 22. It is do what you... Sorry, do you want to play house music? Right, dyslexia. What do you do when you play in the house? How do you house when... In the... Scratch my testicles, God knows. Right, so, if you're into disco music and you're into modern day disco music, which is, some people call it new disco, it's great stuff, but then you do have the house version of that, which is very uplifting and vibrant and full on, bam, bam, bam, bam, and you're not going to fall. Right, excuse me, so calm down, I'm talking to myself, am I? Yes, I am. Right, now, this track here has got everything. It's got, it's just...

7:42 It's got that disco vibe

Got so much energy. Have a listen to this. It's got that disco vibe. Now it's a lot slower than the last track. And it's got a natural build in it. This sort of vibe I love. This is my kind of vibe. I don't know about you, but... If you're into mumble rap, bugger off. Love it. Loving it. And again, another little tip for you. If you want to increase the energy in your track, simple. Watch and listen. I just made it faster. Simple. Simple. Okay, let's find something else. What else have we got? So I'm going to go back.

Next one is Doin' It, the Freejack dub mix. Very good sort of bassy kind of tune. The other one is Elephant Beer. You should know that. If you don't know it, just Google it, Elephant Beer. 2% back to Elephant Beer. Now it's got it. Okay, try another one. Let's do that, we'll try number 20. It's the Wes remix of Decisions.

12:19 I've already done that, haven't I?

It is more clubby vibe, you know, you would expect to hear tunes like this in Ibiza. They're not the sort of tunes that you'd hear in some really wicked, cheesy kind of fun bar where people go listening to the top 40 on Radio 1. I'm going to put one more on, a track here entitled Doin' It, D-O-N, D-O-I-N, there's no NG, it's Doin', not NG, Doin' Good, the Freejack Gun Mix.

I've already done that, haven't I? Sorry, I played that. Ignore me, sorry. Where are we? No, it's back. I'll do what I'm going to do. Let's go back a bit. Not that one. Not that one. Not that one. Shut up. I'm just going to get to the end of this tune here. This is a remix, actually. These are the club releases for March 2019. I did say I was going to spin it forward. Nice sort of build today, very uplifting. But again, what I've done with all the tunes is I've just made them a little bit faster. It has given them more energy. It really has. We're at 165 BPM now. Original speed of this? 124. Still good, don't get me wrong, but it's just got more balls there, hasn't it? It's got more balls. Yeah, love it. Practice and enjoy. Thank you.

This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.