DJ Listen to the Elements of a Track for a Good Mix Club CD Pool November 2017

0:00 Hopefully this video will help you

Alright guys, so whether you're a new, old, established club DJ, it doesn't really matter. Hopefully this video will help you. Now, to get a really good mix, of course, you've got to make sure that the tracks are in key or keys that work. You've also got to make sure it's in time and phrase and lots of other jiggly bits in the middle. That's the dog barking in the background. So let's look at it from maybe a new angle, an angle that you possibly have not thought of. It's about the track, how it sounds, how it makes you feel. Now I like to work sometimes on images so for example I'll be listening to a track and this is something maybe you can try. I'm listening to a track and that track gives me a feeling, a vibe, an energy and inside that feeling, vibe and energy I get an image whether it be a ball that's got spikes on it or an apple or an orange or

A walk down a country path or maybe a drive in a fast car along a motorway with a big heavy vehicle moving towards you, not a good idea. Maybe you're in an aeroplane, maybe you're an aeroplane with a glass bottom and you can see underneath and you're like, whoa, it doesn't matter. It's about the image, it's about your imagination. So let's imagine you're listening to one track and it's giving you a certain picture. And then you listen to... You listen to other tracks and all of a sudden you find another track that seems to give you a similar kind of image. Now, that could be for many reasons but one could be because of this. Now what I like to try and do sometimes is when I'm listening to a certain track or I've got a track playing, instead of just bringing any random track in that's in key, which alright it works but then it's very boring because you're not really...

Having a good listen to the track, what I try and do is I try and make sure that the other track I'm bringing in almost has elements of the track that's playing. It's almost as though it's made by maybe the same producer or they use the same sound pack or it's got spiky bits in and the other one's got spiky bits or the one that's playing has got mellow-y bits and the other one that I want to bring in I feel works has got mellow bits so what I'm doing I'm taking The music, the sound, the vibe. But I'm trying to create the images of each track to see if the images work together, if they're similar images. So let's have a listen to these two tunes. Now these are taken from the November releases from CDPool from their club series. On the left hand side I have track 5 from disc number 1. On the right hand side I have track 3 from disc number 2. If you want any info on these CDs...

Go to the website cdpool.com, there'll be a link in the description where you can get an insight on this twin CD as well as all the others and I'm going to be playing a few tracks from this, from November 2017 club but if you want to listen to all of them go to the website and every single track there'll be a sound bite so let's have a listen first of all to a track entitled Mind Games. A nice kind of techy sort of skip feel to this, listen.

3:23 You've got a lot of feel on the high sounds of the track

You see what the producer's done here, that there's an uplift in percussion of the track. You've got a lot of feel on the high sounds of the track. See? Now let's have a listen here to Icarus, a track entitled Trouble. This is the Wes remix. Now again here, there's that feel on the high end of the track. We've still got the bassline, that rolling kind of bassline, but it's almost as though we could bring out the colour of that mid and top. And I've done that by just increasing the mid and the top. Okay, so all I'm going to do, a very simple transition, go to the end of Mind Games, wait for my phrasing and bring in Icarus here. Turn it up a bit. Got the bass out a little bit. On Trouble, on the right hand side, phrasing works here. Phrasing worked perfectly because as soon as the track on the left finished, bang, we come in with the beginning of the break on the right hand side. So again, this isn't really what this video is about, about phrase mixing, it's more about finding elements of one track that seem to match and complement the elements of another track. So all I'm going to do now, I'm going to bring my...

7:11 Chop it straight in, okay?

Treble and mid back to 12 o'clock. If you do see lots of DJs, professional or the like, really cranking up that mid, that high and that bass, then I would say watch it beware because there's no need. When you watch me do any video, and I mean any video that I've ever done online, you will very rarely, very rarely see me put the bass, mid and treble up to like 3 o'clock. If you want to learn more about how to set up the EQ curve, click on the link below. All I'm going to do here is I'm going to wait for the break On the Troubles, and then I'm going to just chop in a track here entitled When It Breaks. So here we go. Chop it straight in, okay? Now, completely different BPM, but because I didn't form any kind of overlapping transition, the listener couldn't really hear between the difference in BPM. Okay, so this one here is track number 8, taken from disc number 1. Let's find something from disc number 2.

I don't think it mixes harmonically, but I might play that. Okay, let's try again. I think, I'll tell you what, I'm going to put track 12 on because I like that one. Okay, this one here is track number 8, a track entitled When It Breaks. I'm going to put this one on. This is actually the first time I'm listening to these tunes. Now this one here is a track entitled The Club. It's the extended mix and this is my kind of vibe actually. Let's grab something from CD1 we can put into this one here.

11:07 A nice kind of stomping house tune this one

A nice kind of stomping house tune this one. Another chop from one to the other. Okay, 125.6. Let's slow that one down a bit. Make this a bit faster, 132. I'm going to wait for the end of the break. With the drop. Bang, straight in. Okay, so again, a lot covered today, but also, a mix isn't about that kind of transition. So long as you bring in the next track in, in time and in phrase and in keys that work, you're going to keep the floor there. Alright? Now I hope that's been a help. Don't forget, check out the Club Series November. 2017. Check out the link in the description to see you all practice and enjoy. This one here is Summer of Love, the Felon remix, track 12, disc number 1.

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