Advice On Recording A Set.
Advice On Recording A Set. Posted on: 16.07.2013 by Heath Finegold I need someone to describe step by step on how they go about making a mix of lets say 10 songs.Do you record EVERYTHING, then go back and actually edit it in Ableton or FL studio? Do you mess around and literally remember what you did and try to do it perfectly, record that part and save it? Then edit? Do you mess around and try to make the mix nonstop after you have a general idea of what you want? I just don't understand how you do a mix live, perfectly. Do you already know what you are doing? And how exactly did you prepare? Did you macro Que points? Or do you just go with the flow? Or maybe you prerecord a simple transition from song to song, a general mix, and then just kinda scratch and add effects over it? Do you master a mix? Where do you edit it? | |
| Stephenie Liloia 25.07.2013 |
Originally Posted by eatmybunnies
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| Joesph Kasian 24.07.2013 |
Originally Posted by Patch
You've spelt 'free' wrong in the little discription below the profile photo. You don't update your page enough, I believe you should. I'd like to hear more stuff from you. I know this has nothing to do with this topic, but I wanted to mention it when I was reminded. |
| Rocco Knickrehm 24.07.2013 |
Originally Posted by eatmybunnies
USB IO devices are effective for applications such as simple data logging, portable measurements, and academic lab experiments. They are affordable enough for student use, but powerful enough for more sophisticated measurement applications. |
| Ciara Cuttill 23.07.2013 |
Originally Posted by Ed Paris
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| Leota Dolney 23.07.2013 |
Originally Posted by nudedudewithattitude
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| Joesph Kasian 23.07.2013 |
Originally Posted by johney
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| Stephenie Liloia 25.07.2013 |
Originally Posted by eatmybunnies
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| Merna Kitaoka 25.07.2013 | I have a question about recording as well and I hope someone can answer it... I have a Mixtrack Pro II hooked up to my laptop. Recently I've only been able to use it late at evening - therefore I've been doing most of the mixing in my headphones. My question is: is it possible to record a mix this way? I tried but when I played the mix back it was silent (obviously) so is there a way I can record the mix in the same way I would if it was playing out of my speakers? Oh and it's Virtual DJ Pro I'm using which has a built in recording feature. Thanks |
| Heath Finegold 24.07.2013 | Thanks for the feedback guys! Keep them coming! I did 3 practice mixes! Check it out below! (Link in signature) Any thoughts or comments are appreciated! |
| Brunilda Kora 25.07.2013 | Thanks for the feedback! I've just had a baby - so it's pretty hard to make anything new right now... I've got tons of half started stuff, but I'm loving being a Dad so much that it's taking a back seat for the time being. No banner has been bothering me too - it's an easy fix but I just haven't got round to it... I do appreciate the feedback, though. |
| Joesph Kasian 24.07.2013 |
Originally Posted by Patch
You've spelt 'free' wrong in the little discription below the profile photo. You don't update your page enough, I believe you should. I'd like to hear more stuff from you. I know this has nothing to do with this topic, but I wanted to mention it when I was reminded. |
| Rocco Knickrehm 24.07.2013 |
Originally Posted by eatmybunnies
USB IO devices are effective for applications such as simple data logging, portable measurements, and academic lab experiments. They are affordable enough for student use, but powerful enough for more sophisticated measurement applications. |
| Brunilda Kora 24.07.2013 | I don't like all this "do it on the fly" talk. That's great if you want to demonstrate what you can do if you turn up with a bunch of tunes. But... If the purpose of the mix is to demonstrate your skill, selection and diversity as a DJ, then you'd be a fool NOT to plan it out. Do you believe the all time great DJ mixes were just created "on the fly"? The answer is no. Do you believe ANYONE that is good at ANYTHING does it without any planning? Again, the answer is no. Why do people believe that a DJ can do his best work just by truning up with a bag of records???
Originally Posted by Jester
DJ Touche - JDJ Coldcut - 70 mins of madness Dave Clarke - Electro Boogie part 2 Carl Cox - Fact (+ Fact 2) DJ Spinbad - ***take your pick of DJ Spinbad mixes, actually!*** ...and pretty much any Radio1 Essential Mix that you've ever enjoyed! Play a set on the fly, by all means. but when you are puting together a lasting record of what you are trying to be or do as a Dj, put a little extra effort into it, eh? |
| Latoria Kavulich 24.07.2013 | no such thing as a perfect mix, its a myth, like nessy and fair elections |
| Ciara Cuttill 23.07.2013 |
Originally Posted by Ed Paris
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| Leota Dolney 23.07.2013 |
Originally Posted by nudedudewithattitude
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| Stephenie Liloia 23.07.2013 | I record & will do post edits but not to improve any of my djing or technical skills but simply to make the sound quality better by using eq8+compressor & sometimes a ever so slight reverb. Generally I will find my mixes come out a bit too quiet & end up enhancing my volume levels and get a bigger sound out with my eq's. There have been times where I will use my utility and tail in the start and finish of my volume levels of my set, if you find one transition is quite a bit off in volume from the rest of your set you can your volume levels up or down a bit in this portion to smooth out your transitions but if you're a good dj this shouldn't be required. Good luck!!! |
| Joesph Kasian 23.07.2013 |
Originally Posted by johney
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| Augustine Mitzen 23.07.2013 | just learn to mix, it isn't something you learn step by step. practice makes perfect |
| Olin Easley 23.07.2013 | I have no idea what kind of house you like, so you just have to look for DJs that you know and then look at youtube suggestions, etc. |
| Heath Finegold 22.07.2013 |
Originally Posted by DISaS73R
There is a lot of stuff there, anything in particular? |
| Olin Easley 22.07.2013 | http://www.djranking
s.com/2013/01/0...reams-for-djs/ Check out the video recordings of house DJs, try to understand what they're doing and recreate it later. |
| Heath Finegold 22.07.2013 | I like electro and house the most. |
| Augustine Mitzen 22.07.2013 | well obviously the sound is going up and down as he's cutting with the faders. If you don't like it, don't do it, really... I'm not big into this stuff, but when playing out there's usually a limiter to protect the soundsystem, you don't have to worry about that, just don't redline/keep the volume at the level you were told and you're good |
| Olin Easley 22.07.2013 | That's the point of the technique. Some people like it, some don't. Personally, I believe it's often misused, but has the potential to be quite good. If you're just starting out, I don't believe that you should be looking at advanced techniques like the above, just learn normal mixing first. What genre do you want do play? |
| Heath Finegold 22.07.2013 | Another question! First of all, Ellaskins is amazing. Here is a link, really good stuff: Now quick question, when using effects or sliders for transitions and such, the volume always seems to change. For example that link above, Starting from around 1:40 to around 1:55. When he is using the Up-faders, you can hear that the volume sounds really choppy. *Choppy is a bad word to describe it really, more like up and down* To me this is horrible! How would you go along playing that live!? That would sound god awful! Also when mixing this seems to happen all the time! So my biggest question is when performing live, do people run compressors, to manage the sound output? How do you manage that sound fluctuation? |
| Valeri Holderness 22.07.2013 | I throw parties fairly regularly in my city, and as a result get a fair amount of mixes. Along with this, I just finished recording a mix I've been working on for a few months (just need to do video editing) and I've learned a tonne a long the way! Heres my 2 cents on recording a mix: a) Treat it like your recording a song. The problem with a lot of mixes is that they are carelessly put together in 1 hour. Nobody is going to listen to something you put so little effort into and they shouldn't have to. A band would NEVER put up something they just randomly pieced together (or atleast i hope not); as an artist don't put out a mix that you did not put your full effort into. b) How much of the mix is "you"; essentially as a dj your playing music made by other people. people don't respect their ipods, so why should they respect a human iPod? Unique track selection, creating a vibe, and technical skill (scratching, blends, finger drumming, etc.) all play a role in show casing you as an artist. Remember the mix is your piece of art; to get people to listen to it and to get people to respect what you do, you need to be doing something artistic! c) choose a style and skill set that you want to focus on. This is something i struggled with a very long time, I would try to fit every single genre in a mix. You should always try to focus in on a certain vibe (or alternating vibes) and portray that through your mix. Along with that you should choose skills that you want to show case in your mix (could be some sort of turntablism or whatever). In my case, I wanted to make a mix with a lot of f1 and maschine work. As for the vibe, I chose to go with deep house with a few patches of more up beat music. The hard part is that you sometimes have to remove songs or routines that you enjoy but don't fit the mix. d) Put lots and lots of time into it. A lot of good mixtapes take a lot of time to make. Heres my favourite mix; The Gaff and Skratch Bastid spent about 2 years making it and to me it perfectly incorporates everything I said above. This is an excellent mixtape that has great music, a great vibe and is a powerful showcase of skill. https://soundcloud.com/skratchbastid...tand-up-part-1 |
| Armanda Yankauskas 22.07.2013 |
Originally Posted by eatmybunnies
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| Latoria Kavulich 22.07.2013 | How long is a piece of string? Just mix mate, you will develop your own groove as you progress. |
| Heath Finegold 21.07.2013 | Another question! How many songs should be in, let's say 30 minutes, or even an hour mix? |
| Contessa Atanasoff 21.07.2013 | The more you practice, the more you won't NEED to pre-plan a set. Some DJ's (including myself, if I have a big gig where I really want to be really complex with my mix) plan out all the transitions, preset cue points and everything. It works wonders, but I would never do it for every performance. It's definitely a good bet if you want to really impress people by doing some crazy stuff (like live mashups for example, which is one of my favorite things to do). But for the most part, I just choose a tracklist of about 150 tracks or so (for an hour long set, let's say) and just pick songs as I go along. I've been doing it long enough that I can freestyle, and it definitely saves a lot of time rather than planning out a set. But, as many have said above me, PRACTICE is the best option. Record EVERYTIME you mix, and listen to it over, find what doesn't sound good, and learn from it. That's how I learned, and just about everyone else that really wants to get better. Good luck!! |
| Heath Finegold 20.07.2013 | Thank you guys for all of the advice. I am working a mix of 5 songs, should be around 20 minutes. I'll link it when I am done! Hopefully I will finish it this week! |
| Gaynell Rydberg 17.07.2013 | You have to make sure your gain is set up high enough. Look at the sound meter when you're recording. |
| Sonja Roybal 17.07.2013 | Was actually just recording a mix and just decided it wasn't my day. Stupid mistakes, like hitting cue in browse mode instead of load. Another one was playing almost an entire tune with ice verb on because I was paying more attention to the cue tune and cue point dropping. |
| Marcelina Hanaway 17.07.2013 | What about mixing in Traktor? I just recorded a an hour and half set of no sound lol. Heard I need to mix internally. Any other settings I need to make sure are set? |
| Pierre Aliseo 17.07.2013 |
Originally Posted by Ed Paris
This. Possibly edit the timing to shorten it if I want to. -trick |
| Onie Sarandos 17.07.2013 | yeah dude. i record everything right in traktor. no editing. i feel like if you do a whole lot of post mix editing (other than, say, cutting a 3 or 4 hour mix into manageable 1 hour sections), its not really a "live" mix. If you mess up during your mix, great, learn from it! Have fun. |
| Joesph Kasian 17.07.2013 | Depends what it's for man, I do mixes differently depending on if they are; 1) for my podcast 2) for a free mix 3) for a released compilation a label like Ministry of Sound has commissioned me to mix If you let us know what yours is for I believe you'll get even better answers than the great ones already listed above. |
| Matt Kane 17.07.2013 | The only things i do, when creating a mix: 1. believe about 1/2 tracks for the beginning of the set 2. mix the rest on the fly 3. convert the mix to mp3 4. edit the gain of the mix 5. upload it |
| Efrain Scharr 17.07.2013 | I record my own radio show and podcast every other week. I have to upload my radio show on Monday evening
s, so I literally record them Monday evening
. I just record a set in Traktor. No redo, no editing, nothing, just an honest recorded set that wasn't planned out. After I record my set I bring it into Ableton to just drop the show IDs, "your in the mix with Lance Blaise", etc... I just believe this is the most honest and true way to give my fans and potential fans a real mix from me, and something they would potentially hear me drop if I were playing live infront of them. So there you have it, take away what you want from my 2 cents... |
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