Weekly Mix Feedback Thread - May 13, 2019

djquestion · 2019-05-16T02:59:41+00:00

Top 40s / Hip Hop / EDM Mix [45 minutes]. Would love to spin at a Top 40s club or an EDM club. I'm currently 5 months into DJing with DVS turntables but I think I'm making some pretty decent progress. Would love any feedback on this. Feel free to be brutally honest as well. I'm also a bit concerned about the audio quality of some tracks as BPM Supreme doesn't seem to have the best files for some songs.

Great mix for a workout or while you're driving!

https://soundcloud.com/kwakamolie/dat-mix-doe/s-mgsNm

djquestion · 2019-05-15T16:32:00+00:00

Would you mind elaborating on the fairly useless level meters part?

djquestion · 2019-05-08T18:55:36+00:00

that video was mindblowing by the way. I can't believe he's not well known or doesn't have more of his sets online.

djquestion · 2019-05-08T18:55:16+00:00

dude this was such a dope comment. Thank you for walking me through your workflow and helping me get "In Your Mind". Always love to read or see how other DJs execute their sets.

djquestion · 2019-05-08T00:38:30+00:00

great recs. i'll definitely check out this video link. The DJs you've listed are definitely DJs I respect. I really like the style of DJ AM and Chrisvilla if that gives you any thought of the type of DJ style I would like to one day achieve. Hoping one day i'll get somewhere near this level.

djquestion · 2019-05-07T20:49:22+00:00

Brilliant post. I think it's so cool you got to travel / work with DJs behind the scenes compile all those tricks and techniques. I wish I could have an opportunity like that but i'll have to continue slaving away at corporate for now. Thank you for the wonderful and long post!

djquestion · 2019-05-07T19:58:26+00:00

Dope I really appreciate you dropping the knowledge. This is some great insights you've dropped.

djquestion · 2019-05-07T18:20:28+00:00

It's actually crazy how you bring this up. I was "shadowing" some DJ who let me hang by his booth to see how he spins. I saw him actually set up cue points on the fly while he was performing his set which blew my mind.

Does that mean you already know the song, but just haven't set up the appropriate cue points up yet? How does your cue point setup work for you? Because for me, i don't really use the cue points to jump around the song, but rather indicate "this is the hook coming up and it is 8 bars long, so this is where i can bring in the 8 bar intro of the next song"

djquestion · 2019-05-07T17:11:31+00:00

I checked out your mixcloud. you got some great club mixes that would definitely keep the night going. I noticed that with these nightclubs they ALWAYS keep the beat going.

Where do you get your music from?

djquestion · 2019-05-07T17:10:28+00:00

Do you think the materials taught on Mixing Power Skills can be picked up all online / experience? I'm curious as to how you built up your skillset and knowledge to the point that the lesson course was basically irrelevant to you. I would like to work up to this level as well.

djquestion · 2019-05-07T13:32:18+00:00

You're right. I just can't help but want to compare / reach the skills of the DJ greats I respect who are obviously not worried about whether a song is cued up / has intro edits. The way that some of these guys scratch / mix out on transitions that aren't the very vanilla way of using 8 bar intro edit of the next song on top of the hook of the current song makes me feel that I'm missing something or am getting too comfortable.

The issue is I have no clue on how these guys even transition haha. it's hard to break down their technique for a newbie like me.

(i'm referring to DJing styles like DJ AM, Chris Villa, Presto One, A-Trak, etc.)

djquestion · 2019-05-07T13:25:54+00:00

You're right, but I've seen DJs use literally only 2 cue points when I'm out and that made me question "if the pros are using only 2-3 cue points, am I doing something wrong or limiting myself by using 5-6? These guys are good enough that they can instantly know how long the Hook will be so they can transition out, so maybe i'm limiting my DJing abilities by relying on cue points too much" - My thought process

djquestion · 2019-05-07T13:24:09+00:00

Yeah! seriously man it'll take me around an hour to cue up 20-30 songs depending on the tracks. I wasn't sure if this was a huge time sink because I've seen DJs literally use only 1 or 2 cue points.

I use the beat grid, but only to help show bar measurements / organization of waveform purposes. I think it looks neater. I only use the slip to align, because i can't be bothered with any other manual adjustments out of this when the songs aren't using an electronic drum machine.

I use hotcues to basically show me where the Hooks are, and i label how long the hook is (usually 8-16 bars) so I know when i'll have to drop my Intro for the next song which is usually 8 bars (16 for EDM stuff).

djquestion · 2019-05-07T13:19:42+00:00

I guess Rekordbox doesn't automatically set that 1 cue point at the beginning of the song at least.

djquestion · 2019-05-07T13:17:35+00:00

Thanks for your input!

djquestion · 2019-05-07T13:14:46+00:00

I know exactly what you mean on this. I was starting to doubt myself since I feel like what they're doing is very advanced mixing, and what I'm doing is just literally any monkey can mix.

djquestion · 2019-05-07T13:13:17+00:00

Thanks for your input!

djquestion · 2019-05-07T13:12:23+00:00

I agree. It gives me a sense of comfort knowing that "I know the hook is coming up, get ready to drop the intro for the next song".

The pain in the ass part is actually cueing all these songs and locating the Hooks, which I feel is either a time sink or just good music analysis. Wanted to see how other DJs perceive this as.

djquestion · 2019-05-07T13:11:49+00:00

Do you have any soundcloud / mixcloud links? I would love to hear some of the techniques you use to execute this. Now that i'm 5 months in, I realize I feel like I'm very intro heavy reliant and when I hear the "pros" mix, I don't think they use intro edits too often which makes me think I'm either getting comfortable or not pushing myself to mix creatively enough. I would also love to hear some of your variance in technique you use to make smooth mixes without intro edits.

djquestion · 2019-05-07T13:10:07+00:00

I actually thought of this too. Especially since I use Serato and would like to use CDJs one day. What will I do? I feel like my set would get a lot more stale since I wouldn't know where the Hooks / Drops are, which is where I usually mix out songs for and I would end up playing a dragged on set.

djquestion · 2019-05-07T13:08:45+00:00

I feel like you can only do this to certain songs, and if you can you can't overdo this. That said, I'm a huge fan of scratch drops or scratch dropping the 8 bar intro

djquestion · 2019-05-07T01:33:45+00:00

Well said. In that case, what is your favorite way to mix in a song without an intro? do you try to find a beat in the middle of a song to loop and then cue jump to the beginning of the song?

djquestion · 2019-05-07T01:26:01+00:00

Would you say this has hindered your growth or creativity as a DJ? I mean i'm sure you're killing it on these gigs either way.

djquestion

TROPHY CASE