DJ Lesson on Adding a New Dimension to a Mix Tunes from Defected Records

0:00 Track one is over there, this is track two, that's track three

Alright guys, first of all, let's imagine that we have just mixed in this track over here into track one. So, track one is over there, this is track two, that's track three. So, we've done our mix, this track is happily chugging along, but we've only just about got into the first 16 to 20 bars. What you may find with some tracks is you may feel as though it needs a little bit more depth. Now, this track by itself is good, right place, right time. Any piece of music has its spot, but sometimes to add another layer to the track can not only enhance the mix, the vibe, the feel of the night, it can also enhance the track that you're playing over. The two tunes I'm using are by Defected Records. This one here is When I Play This Record.

It's the original mix, Man Without A Clue. I will put links in the description where you can get these tunes from. And then the one on the right hand side is Decomposing Andrea Oliver. So, play this one, have a listen first of all to the tracks and you'll see where I'm coming from.

You can see this track, it's deep, it's vibing.

It's not full on, not loads of energy, but it's still got a good solid beat. So, let's imagine playing and what I'm going to do, I'm going to bring it forward a bit. So, this could be roughly around about the time when we finish the transition from track one into this one, which is track two.

Again, I haven't got any headphones, well, I have got headphones, but what I find, I find it easier to do demonstrations and talk if you haven't got something blasting in your ears as well. So, did you hear a very, very subtle change just there? That tells me one thing. That that is highly likely, it's not definitely, but it's highly likely it's the beginning of a phrase. It's at the beginning of a segment in the music where we can start to count. So, I mean, that is so subtle, but that is a definite change. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to form a hot cue just for reference purposes for this video.

2:53 It's like a , so that's going to be my reference point

That's all it is. It's like a , so that's going to be my reference point. The track... That's coming in and this is why I'm doing this mix because this track is, it just sort of seems to sort of glide in. It's the analogy I'll give you. You're sitting on the beach in the Bahamas and you're lying there on this warm sand. The sun is baking down at you and all of a sudden you feel as though your foot's being massaged. It's not. It's the sea gently rolling in, just tickling your toes. Have a listen. Do you see what I mean? Also, we've got this with this track. We've got that thing. If we listen to House, it's 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4 what the decomposing track is doing. It's giving us the and, one and two and three and four and one and two and three and four.

Listen to it.

4:23 What I'm about to do now is bring this track in at that point

So what I'm about to do now is bring this track in at that point. Now, even if you copied this mix to the extent where you brought in, you have these tracks and you brought in this track, the decomposing track in at exactly the same time as when I play this record. Your mix would always be different because it's all about using the EQ, setting the levels, how much you use the effects. The list goes on. Believe me, you could give these two tracks to 100 DJs, get them to play the mix, start the mix exactly. At the same time, everyone, every single mix would have its own difference. It's only slight change in the color and the way the DJ would bring his or her mix in. So I'm going to sorry about that is such a subtle change,

But that is the beginning. I'm sure of a phrase that just bring this out. You can have a listen.

There's no need to take any bass out yet from the other track because we haven't got any base in this track at all. Nothing.

6:10 Taking the base out

A bit of filter. Taking the base out. And when I play this record filter up, filter up,

Filter up and that's it.

I'm going to pause that if you can see what I'll do. I'll take the camera off the stand. Excuse the wobbliness.

Right? Let's have a look at where we are. We are just about halfway into the first track. And okay, I stopped that, but we were around about here in the second track. So we're halfway through this track and we're bringing in a new mix. Now, how cool is that? Instead of let's wait till the end and bring the next one in try this experiment. It's all about. Yeah, it's having fun. It's remembering timing. It's remembering bars and phrases are very important, but I think the key here is experimenting experiment with two tracks. The same tracks bring one in at one place. But another one at another place and see which fits where it fits the best and then utilize that best mix into your mix. All right, I hope that's been helpful.

Practice and enjoy. Thank you very much.

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