Shuffling / House Music / Cutting Shapes

Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I wonder if its cos I haven't mixed myself in a few years now that I'm hardly ever excited by MIXING anymore? When I was into DNB the technical aspect (basically double dropping tunes and stuff like that) was a big thing - you went to see DJs mix, how fast they could mix, how they blended different tunes and all that. Then dubstep, less so - though you still had ppl like Youngsta who blended tunes masterfully. But since then I've very rarely heard/seen a DJ pulling off a mix that excited me more than what they were playing. I guess EZ is an obvious example of a virtuoso DJ who draws attention to his mixes. I guess in house/techno (which has been dominating more in the last few years) the approach to mixing is generally much more DELIBERATELY subtle. The point isn't to do some amazing thrilling mix but to blend things seamlessly. At least it seems that way to me.

This style of house, though, I can see it being mixed in almost a Youngsta-ish way - just cos of how minimal and sparse some of the tunes are. You could drop basslines in and out. I do think (though I'll probably get shouted down again, perhaps justifiably) that this strain of house, at least at its most obviously distinctive (Know My Name, Made U Look RMX etc.), is something similar to the techier strain of DNB, albeit with hip-hop samples instead of sci-fi shit. I mean you could do a DNB remix of 'Know My Name' pretty easily, just speed it up to 170bpm.
 
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David_M

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Yeah dynamics has always been the one most important thing about a dj set, even more than beatmatching. I'd rather have a dj clang every 3 tunes but get the build/release aspect of the set correctly (a la Jeff Mills) than a tight dj that's just embarassing himself with no sense of flow. And sadly there's far too many of these.

Speaking about that, and what Datwun mentions about long mixes, it's true that this music calls for longer and more subtle mixes, but I hope they avoid the mid noughties tech-house state where every dj tool sounds the same and every dj is doing 4+ minute mixes with a million layers of effects and loops that's only making the set fun for him. I'd much rather it kept the UK way of it being more about the tunes and and the energy.
 
wise

wise

bare BARE BONES
surely good mixing exists between those 2 poles, with a dj creating something new by the blending of 2 separate pieces of music?

Corpsey prob the reason you're not interested in mixing anymore is that hardly anyone does it these days.
Post Dubstep everything seems to be about the quick mix. I hardly ever hear 2 tunes playing at the same time in clubs. Part of the reason most DJs are so boring these days.
At D&B nights it was often the mixes that made you rush the most
 
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David_M

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wise said:
surely good mixing exists between those 2 poles, with a dj creating something new by the blending of 2 separate pieces of music?
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Oh yeh definitely, a good balance is where it's at, sure. Hard to get too excited about 8 bar mixes either.
 
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datwun

Well-known member
Yeah, I'm definitely not calling for subtlety in mixing! Just like more awareness of how tunes play off each other than we're seeing at the moment. I see it as part of the flow thing actually, like finding tracks that sound good with each other and move a mix forward.

I like the UK thing of focussing on the tunes of course, and I'm very pro wheelups, even for this sort of stuff when a lot of the DJs seem to be against it. I also think a good host could improve almost any set that I would ever give a shit about. But long mixes aren't the opposite of any of that stuff.
 
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
wise said:
Corpsey prob the reason you're not interested in mixing anymore is that hardly anyone does it these days.
Post Dubstep everything seems to be about the quick mix. I hardly ever hear 2 tunes playing at the same time in clubs. Part of the reason most DJs are so boring these days.
At D&B nights it was often the mixes that made you rush the most
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so it isn't just me?

The thing is I know from my limited experience mixing that mixing different genres is a completely different game - you can't mix house music like DNB music, or at least not as easily. I remember mixing DNB was all about being propelled along by the sheer pace of it - it was actually something similar to dancing to it. You're catching the beat and then its a bit of a sprint. Whereas dubstep mixing was sort of going in at that slower pace and there was so much spaciousness to it that it lent itself to slightly slower blends.

The other factor is of course the rise and rise and rise of the producer-DJ - which wasn't completely the case with dubstep early on - think of Chef, Youngsta, Hatcha (who produced stuff I think but was mainly known as a DJ).

I'm thinking of starting a thread about what the best DJs are to see these days, and the best clubs to go to etc. cos I feel like there's such an explosion of dance music these days but probably a lot more mediocrity.
 
Tentative Andy

Tentative Andy

I'm in the Meal Deal
Big up everyone posting mixes in this thread. Got a fair bit of catching up to do on them still but at the moment really enjoying the Majesty and Lance Morgan sets from Frequency.
 
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vvvwwwv

Well-known member
the phrasing thing is something i find lacking from most djs these days. fair enough, on radio when the focus is on promoting/testing new material or whatever, it would be silly to expect perfectly complimentary mixes there. at nights and on mix cds etc. though there doesn't seem to be enough work being put in on knowing your tunes and creating those elusive '3rd tune' moments, too much focus on latest releases and exclusives.

allow the parrish-esque moan though, the latest rs4 house mix is a stomper. here's nightshift's latest offering featuring his two new'uns 'dancefloor' and 'i like bass'. heavy hitters!

feeling this too, could anyone point me in the direction of the original vocal? really obvious but can't for the life of me remember.
 
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denoir

Well-known member
^^ Tracy Chapman - Behind The Wall famously sampled by Dem 2 in Destiny (Sleepless)
 
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owengriffiths

owengriffiths

Owen
Phrasing is easier if you write the structure of the tune down on the record sleeve/ piece of paper in the CD bag. Last Chorus/ 16s bar to outro/ 16 bars to track end. GCSE revision nostalgia.

wise said:
Corpsey prob the reason you're not interested in mixing anymore is that hardly anyone does it these days. I hardly ever hear 2 tunes playing at the same time in clubs. Part of the reason most DJs are so boring these days.
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I always put this down to a lot of DJ's not being very good at beatmatching so just throwing things in to hide the fact- plus it sounds a lot less abrupt on a club soundsystem than it does on a home hi-fi or PC. But with so many sets mixed on Ableton it sets the standard too high many people could be mistaken for thinking that beatmatching skills are almost always perfect- even CD's from ten years ago were guilty of this 'cheating'. Cold comfort for the DJ with a mere 50% success rate.
 
wise

wise

bare BARE BONES
If you can only hold a mix 50% of the time you shouldn't be djing in a club.

I've been listening to that Roska Funky Xmas special today there are some good mixes on that show, and a couple that start off a bit weird but the dj hangs in there and makes them work.
I don't mind hearing abit of slippage as long as its not like a drum kit falling down stairs, can give a set more energy hearing the dj fighting to keep the mix in time.

old skool
 
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glasshand

dj panic attack
wise said:
I don't mind hearing abit of slippage as long as its not like a drum kit falling down stairs, can give a set more energy hearing the dj fighting to keep the mix in time.

old skool
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ahaha me too definitely. as long as it's not an absolute trainwreck i find myself sat there listening with some weird 'good for you' expression on my face
 
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