DJ Lesson on Mixing in Key to Keep the Flow of the Mix BY Ellaskins the DJ Tutor

0:00 This video is all about mixing in key

Alright guys, this video is all about mixing in key. More importantly, about keeping the vibe of your mix. First of all, I've used a software called rekordbox. It's free to download and I highly recommend if you get the software known as rekordbox, get it from the Pioneer website. Okay, so let's say you've got the software and you've got a whole bunch of tracks that are one key. They're all the same key, but if you used all of those tracks, would you keep a good solid flow to a mix and just play them? In other words, let's say it's given you D major and you've got 200 tracks, start at 1 and you go all the way through, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on. Are you going to keep the same flow? Is your mix going to sound as though it's in key, which it should do?

More importantly, is it going to sound as though it's a good solid flowing mix? Well, the answer is if you've got all the same key, you've got all the same style, it's just hands, there's not hip-hop or soul or R&B in there. The answer is no, it won't. Because you have to choose the correct track together. You have to go with the track that you're playing, so even though you may have them all the same key and you play one after the other, the vibe, the feel of each track is slightly different. So in this video, it's about finding the correct tunes to go in with the one that's playing in your mix. Now when mixing in key, there's four big ways how you can mix in key. One is the same flow is like that, it's just a constant.

The other one is when you lift the flow. You go from one key to a higher key. The next one is maybe a lower key, where the feel dips. The other one is where it's just like a train wreck and get this right, you could have a perfectly beat-matched set. You can have tracks that sound fantastic, but if you don't mix them in key, forget it. It is far better to mix in key and be offbeat than perfectly in beat and be out of key. Trust me, because if you're out of key, the flow, the vibe in the room, it doesn't matter.

2:16 The vibe in the room just finishes

The vibe in the room just finishes. Okay, so what I've done is I've got two tracks. The first track here works, but this track here, if I mix this track in halfway through the track that's playing, it doesn't work even though it's in key. But if I mix this track in towards the end of that track, it does work. We keep the flow, but the flow slightly changes, so we have a natural dip. What I want is I want to keep some sort of constant. So also with this video, it's about trying to get you not just to mix beginning and end, but find tracks and listen to them and maybe start them halfway through or maybe a quarter or a third of the way through and mix that part of the track in with the other track that's playing halfway through or three quarters of the way through.

What you find with most songs is it's a bit like a curve. You have a beginning. You have the middle jiggly bit. You have the end at the top where it's full on and everything is happening and people are throwing things about and the boobies are waving and stuff like that. And stuff like that, sorry. And then it dips down. What we want to do is we want to keep that peak. We don't want to come down here and up and down and up and down. What we want to do is we want to try and keep a flow. It's a bit like a symphony. You want to keep a nice steady flow. So let's go. I'm going to go back here somewhere. So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to mix this track here that I feel doesn't work. It won't give a good flow.

If I start this track here halfway through the point where I've just paused it, it will be in key. It will be in beat but we won't keep the flow. If I then start this track towards the end of this track, it will keep the flow. It will keep the beat, the time, etc., etc. But then we would have changed the vibe, the energy of the room. That's what I don't want to do. I want to keep the energy and we'll keep the energy with the next track. So this one here is deeper. It's the original mix. This one here is all about you, the original mix as well. And if you want to know the names and titles and this, that and the other, the best thing to do now is I'll shut up and shazam it. Okay, so you get the idea. It worked.

6:04 We'll do exactly the same mix

They were in beat but we went from this sort of like energetic kind of electro track into something that was just cafe, sit there and chill or lift music. So no disrespect but how can we then do a similar mix but let that track there work with that track instead of like chucking that one in when it shouldn't be thrown in? We can do it towards the end because have a listen to the end of this track. Let's have a listen. Now we'll do exactly the same mix. Same what? Same mix but different point. Anyone fatigued? Anyone? Anyone? For coffee? Coffee? There we go. Okay, so we have two tracks. They do work yet for what I wanted they don't work because I wanted to keep the energy in the mix. So let's go to... Not that one.

Back a bit. That one. Say hello Madagascar. Madagascar. Pussycat. This is Madagascar. The daftest, softest cat around. I'm the only person in the world who can do this because for me he's soft. Anyone else he'll scratch your eyes out, won't you mate? Daddy's pussycat. You daddy's pussycat. Watch. He does get pissed off sometimes, don't you? Yes, you do. Right, one pussycat. Put you there. Okay. So we have this track here. Let's have a listen. Right, this has got the same energy and vibe as that one over there. So we'll do our mix again.

Maybe... Hold on. Yeah, I know what I've done. Hold on. I'll just start that again.

9:27 We're keeping that vibe and what we've done is

So we're keeping that vibe and what we've done is... Okay, I didn't actually start that track at the beginning. What I did, I started it around about eight bars in. So I did that because I wanted the bass line to come in as soon as the break started on that track. So we had a natural dismiss of a break and we've kept the vibe. Now, I could have mixed this one in at the end of that track and it would have worked but I want you to try and get away from doing a beginning and end mix, beginning and end. I'm not saying anyone can do that. It's easier to do that. It's more difficult to find points in tracks, in the middle of the track and bring in another track that's in the middle of the track and formulate a mix there instead of beginning

And end. I hope that's been a help. This one here is finally Vanilla Ace and Dakra Funk Remix which is D-H-A-R-K-F-U-N-K-H Remix. Really good cut. Video's going out to Mark Mosley. Love you man. RIP. And also to my son who will be 18 on the 7th. Ryan, I love you. Practice and enjoy. See you at the BPM show next week NEC 2015, the 12th, 13th and 14th of September and I might actually be doing something really, really silly during the course of the show. I'm not going to say what it is yet but there will be a Facebook page and you've got to donate some money. Practice and enjoy. Thank you.

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