DJ Mixing Harmonically Is the Key to a Good Flowing Mix Dance September CD Pool 2019

0:00 Hip hop into R&B, no problem

So, there is this debate on what is the best way of mixing one track into the other. Some people will say you just listen for the energy, other people will say well if you've got a techno track, another techno track, I mean they're both techno, they'll mix in, both 120 BPM, well of course they're going to mix in time-wise because they're the same BPM. Hip hop into R&B, no problem. Funk into sort of rare groove, yeah that's fine, you know. But what I say in my mind, and I've been DJing for a very, very long time, and I have seen the effect many times on the dance floor, is when you mix out of key, when you mix not in harmony and you do not mix harmonically, it's awful. It's just terrible. It's absolutely just, it's rubbish. And I've spoken to quite a few people and they've agreed. And I would like you, if you are a working DJ and you play in front of a dance floor and there's loads of people dancing, just try this. Have a track playing and either beatmix in or drop in the next track. But make sure the two tunes are not...

Harmonically matched. So for the people who don't understand about harmonies, I'll give you an analogy. Let's imagine you're listening to this wonderful person singing, great voice, there they are, singing away. And then you stop listening to them and you listen to another person who's got a great voice and they're wailing away with this wonderful tune. But then you get them to sing together and it sounds, it just sounds terrible. You just think, oh my god this is just horrendous. That's not singing in harmony. Now maybe you've watched X Factor or you've watched a band, you've been at some big event, there have been bands playing, you've heard a duo sing in a pub, you've listened to karaoke when you're pissed down the road with all your mates and you just listen to the person singing

3:03 It's not holding everything together

You have a guitarist, you have a bass player, maybe you have a keyboard player and you have the singer. And when the singer is singing, or sometimes when the bass player is playing the bass or the keyboard player is playing the keyboard or the guitarist is playing the guitarist, something's not right. It's almost like making a cake and just not having the right ingredients for it to rise properly. It just sinks in the middle. What happens when somebody or one of the links isn't in time with the other? It's not holding everything together. This is when we get that not sort of singing in harmony, or the guitar player isn't playing harmonically with the singer or vice versa. Now you don't really, to be quite honest, you sort of do need a musical ear to listen.

To listen and to go, oh, it's out of key. But then sometimes you just get that feeling. It's a bit like, oh, that sounds crap. There's something wrong. Well, I guarantee you it's probably because... No, I can't... I guarantee you it's probably... It is probably because there's something that's out of key. All right, so I've got a bunch of tunes here from CDPool. Let's just go back. So... I've got the Dance series from September 2019. And let's do some harmonic mixing, OK? Now again, CDPool will be at the BPM show. That's on the 5th and 6th of October. I highly recommend you go there because it's going to be fun. I will be there on the CDPool pitch, so pretty much as soon as you walk in on the left-hand side.

RX2 will be there, we'll have the light console, we'll have a couple of little speakers and you can have a little go with the CDPool tracks. Also I hope to take the DDJ-200 so that's a portable unit, will have headphones on it, a little battery pack so if you just want to sit there and have a little mix with some of the CDPool tunes you can as well. Now the guys from CDPool of course are going to be there. If you're a working DJ and you live in Europe, then you can subscribe to them. And also, if you're a first time user of CDPool and you're interested in getting the downloads, in the description of this video there is a code which is just DJTutor. Use that code for the first time and you will get 50% off your first month's subscription, which is bloody good. Okay, this one here, track 1. Now bearing in mind as well...

5:20 Website cdpool

These tracks I'm playing there are in alphabetical order so when you go to the website cdpool.com you will not have them in this order or actually you might check, I need to check as well but I will explain every track I'm playing I'll give you the at least title or artist so this one is Sad Song okay now the dance releases as well a little bit more euphoric more handbaggy lots of piano breaks Always loads of vocals in here, okay? Whereas the club series, you've still got vocals but slightly more minimal. The underground is, yeah, twisty bendy sort of interesting sounds. My preference, if I was to give Mars a preference, I personally like the club and the underground and the global. I like the dance, I like the urban, but they're sort of, when I say they're not for me, if I had a

If I had a choice, I would choose the other three. But then again, of course it depends where you're working and what sort of DJ you are. Okay, so mixing in keys is about harmonies. It's about listening to the sounds. Do the sounds work? So if you're not familiar with harmonic mixing, play one track, play another one. And do they complement each other, those sounds? And you can even do this as well Without having to beatmatch them, you can almost just play the one track, play the other one over it, so it just sounds completely offbeat. But we're not listening for it to be in beat, we're listening for the harmonies. Do the harmonies work in each track? If they definitely do, then it's very, very possible they're harmonically matched. If they sort of don't, then it could be because maybe they're slightly out of key, but they will mix.

7:30 Lenny fontana, willis lenny, harmonically harmonically

The DJ Tutor offers a wide range of options for mixing harmonically and harmonically harmonically You've got to maybe be slightly more careful about where you mix them in. Or, on the other hand, they could be completely not in key and just don't bother. But then you can bother if you do like a spin back in between or talk in between the two tracks because that's what you're doing is you're segregating them, you're moving them completely away from each other and you're adding something in the middle. Okay, so what I'm going to do, I'm going to go towards the end of this one here. Next one we've got He is Chris Willis and Lenny Fontana, track entitled Dance. Sorry, Top of the World. Okay, so I'm going to wait until... Here we go. Long introduction with this one. Got it in the background. We should have a nice little bass line coming in with this one now. And they sort of, they sound well together. It sounds happy and nice feel. Yeah, that to me sounds nice.

Now maybe if I was using rekordbox, I could do a loop here now. Just to elongate sad songs. Okay, top of the world, club mix. Chris Willis and Lenny Fontana. Big shout out to Mr. Lenny Fontana. I mean, go from a sad song to a like really boring happy song. Yeah. Yeah? No? Yeah? No? Yeah? No? Okay. Okay, next one. I hate how much I love you.

10:16 Talking to each other

I suppose I get it. Talking to each other. Those tracks were sort of, they complemented each other but they were sort of talking to each other as well. I hope you get that. Okay. And I have arranged these tracks so I do know what I'm going to play. Up here now. This is a demonstration. Now this, I do like this track. Do you remember that?

12:03 It's just that rolling, kind of sweet sounding bassline

DJ Ella. It's just that bassline. This is such, such a good track. I mean, I'm not really one for the cheesy, commercially kind of house tunes, but this is something about this tune. Something about you. It is amazing. It's that bassline. It's just that rolling, kind of sweet sounding bassline. Okay? So this is... Elderbrook and Rudimental, Something About You. Such a good track. It's got everything, alright? It's got that commercial feel, it's got the deep feel, it's got that really nice warm kind of rolling bass line. So many layers to this. I mean, the production on this is like sky high. Amazing. Big ups. Okay, let's make two tracks talk together again, talk to each other. So I'm going to go towards the end of this track here. There we go. Okay, this one here, there for you, the extended mix. Alright, now all of these tunes and more, I mean a shitload of tunes are going to be at the BPM show 5th and 6th. You tried a bit long.

5th and 6th of October 2019, alright? And again, thank you very much to CD4 for letting me promote their music. I've been doing this for like over 10 years now. We've had our ups and downs, believe me, but I've seen music progress and grow. If you are interested in getting sort of a pool of music, so you don't want to have to try and find tracks and search anywhere and everywhere. If you think about it, pure logic, pure logic. Companies come and go, people come and go, but CDPool is still around, so they must be doing their job correctly. They've got to be doing their job correctly. Otherwise, you know, They would have gone years ago. They're still here. Alright, so see you at the BPM show 56th October. Practice and enjoy. Thank you.

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