Mixing Drum and bass out of Time and Phrase but in Key NHS345

0:00 Tunes I'm using are from the album called Sick Music 2019 from Hospita

Okay, tunes I'm using are from the album called Sick Music 2019 from Hospital Records. The number for this album is NHS345, alright? There will be information of course in the description of the video. DMB in the place here big time. Okay, so we've got a whole bunch of melodic tunes, different artists. And I will give information in the description on the tracks I'm playing. So the objective behind this video is to form transitions, not in time, not in phrase, but melodically. What we're going to do is form transitions using the sounds of tracks. You can sort of get away with this with drum and bass, as I've said in so many of my videos. The number one priority is to make sure you mix in key. If you're not in key, it's going to sound terrible. Now drum and bass is quite difficult to mix for a lot of people so using this technique what you're doing is you're forming a transition with the melodies and not really in phrase or in time. So let's start off with Murdoch, a track entitled Headshot on the left hand side.

3:29 I'm interested in the breaks of the track

What I'm going to do is skip through the tracks so you get an idea of what the tracks sound like as well. Okay, so beginning. Now right about here we've got a break. Let's go to that break. Okay, so what I'm going to do is let's just bring it back. In fact, let's listen to a little bit more so you get an idea of the tunes. It's a nice eclectic mix of broken beats, good quality DMD style. Alright, check this out. There you go, we're going now into Fred V, a track entitled Burning Me. So there, no thought about BPM, time, the transition. The DJ Tutor tutorial by Ellaskins, The DJ Tutor. Ah, sorry. Okay, let's have a listen. Okay, so this is the beginning. One, one, two, three, two, one, two, three, three, one, two, three, four, one, two, three. Okay, so straight away we've got an idea of the tempo because we're straight in with that beat. I'm interested in it. I'm interested in the breaks of the track. Okay, where you've just got a nice flowing kind of melody. So let's go back to Fred V.

4:30 Let me try something else

You see, I don't think this is going to work. Let's have a listen. Let me just go back a bit. I think this is going to work. Let's have a listen. No. You see, that's not going to work. Okay, so let me try something else. You see, if we listen to that again, too much of a clash there. Have a listen. No. Alright, I'm not happy with that. So let's go back. I'm going to pause it there. Let's try gridlock. It's not... Techno. Okay, so let's have a listen to this track. Maybe not. Okay, let's go back again. Pause it there. I'm going to go to the break. Now, I'm not feeling this as well. I'm gonna give it a go but a very good point here is that the break I found in this track now, it's not techno, still has a definite beat inside the break.

8:08 Really this video is about finding the breaks in drummer based tunes

What I'm really looking for are breaks where you've got more melody and there's less thought on the underlying drum pattern staying there. So you've got a drum pattern here, if you have a listen. You see, let's try it over here. Go back to our break. At all at the BPM. Again, I'm not touching the pitch, it's exactly in the centre position. So let's do that a lot better. Let's just go from one to the other, a straight snap. So we'll go back to that point. So what I'm going to do, I'm going to snap in, it's not techno, straight in at the break. 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, there. Okay, now that works because we're going from one straight to the other. We're not overlapping the melodies because like I said, we've still got a little bit of the structure of the drum pack inside that break and by the look of the wave format, we don't have many breaks here. Okay, so really this video is about finding the breaks in drummer based tunes.

Where you don't have a drum pattern, where you've just got a nice flowing melody. So I'm going to go back, okay, to Fred V. I want to find something that I can bring into this break here. Let me set a hot cue. There, I want to bring in something there. So let's try a track entitled Reload. Let's press play, maybe.

10:33 I'm gonna bring you on

Now again, from a vibe point of view, we've got a nice uplifting tune here on the right. The left, it's a little bit more dark. Have a listen again. I'm not saying it wouldn't work, but maybe not. Yes, same all the way through. Okay, try nail out. Ah, right, okay. This might be better. Okay, I'm just going to go back a bit. Ah, yeah. Hopefully you'll see what I'm trying to do here. I hope. Melodically, that worked. Even though again, no phrasing, no timing, all I'm trying to do is try and create the energies that match in the vibe. Okay, so here we go, we're going into MRSA, Nail Out. Okay, the next one I'm gonna bring you on the right hand side is Graphics, a track entitled Frozen. And don't forget, all of these tunes can be had on the album, okay?

All right, let's go to the break. To the end. See that's the shit, okay? Yes. Okay so we've matched two tracks with a feel and energy without doing any kind of transition thinking about BPM, about phrasing, we just brought another track in. Okay, so if you are having trouble mixing drum and bass, the likes of drum and bass, and you can't understand the timing or phrasing, believe me I've got a whole bunch of videos out there anyway on it. But just consider the tune, the feel, the vibe. That's been a help. Don't forget, once again, check out NHS345 Sick Music 2019 from Hospital Records. Oh! What a good way to start 2019 TV style. Practice and enjoy. Thank you very much.

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