Hints for structuring tracks for to be DJ freindly

looklookbb

looklookbb

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Jan 9, 2015
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Boston
Hi,

I've been making tracks for a while, now I'm trying to DJ them for myself, and I'm wondering if there are standards or hints to structure the intros and outros for DnB to make it smoother for me or other people to mix. just the intros and outros, once the track starts I'm going to have my own "unique" haha stuff

or did I miss it some where in the forum?

I've only heard mixes of DnB either at Pheonix Landing in Boston, or from podcasts from RinseFM, and never the original tracks

Thanks!
 
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As a dnb dj:

- 32 bar or 64 bar intros. (or 96, 128,...)
Or a clear point where it's 32 bars left till the drop.
I hate too look for that point. So, if I have to search for that point, I just don't play the tune

- some kind of on beat hit in the intro
this can be a hat, a crash, a synth, a piano,...
just something we can use to count the tune/to beatmatch the tune


Just no tunes as Four (by Dub Phizix)


Outros don't matter as much, because they never get played in a set.
 
Standard timing and no ghost bars, I watched seamless make a tune for some course and he put in a phantom bar in the tune, would mess you right up as a DJ, and just drop the tune out of your rotation.

You need some rhythmical content, be it drums or fx, just some thing that underlines the beat. Maybe its even your instruments having some sort of rhythmical feel in the notes. Something that is easy to hear a beat over.
 
tewky1 said:
Standard timing and no ghost bars, I watched seamless make a tune for some course and he put in a phantom bar in the tune, would mess you right up as a DJ, and just drop the tune out of your rotation.
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This isn't true. If the tune is good enough you will learn the bar pattern and mix it in your set anyway.

Tunes like M.I.S.T. - How You Make Me Feel (Photek Remix) (28 bar intro) and Ebony Dubsters - Ra (20 bar intro) have odd bar intros but you learn how to mix them and play them in your set.


Advice to OP.

Make sure your time signature is 4/4 and that the phrases in the main body of your tune are 16 bars.
 
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Gloxxy said:
This isn't true. If the tune is good enough you will learn the bar pattern and mix it in your set anyway.
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Very true, tunes like that will only take a bit of learning, as long as its 4/4. If you're producing, then a DJ friendly intro might help your tune get played more, but as long as the tune is quality it shouldn't really matter.
 
Just load a tune you wana make your track like into your DAW, look at the waveform to see where it breaks etc. Copy the structure then tweak to how you want it.

EASYYYYY
 
i usually with some exceptions cue my songs 32 bars before the drop or if i wanted a long intro then 64 bars or more (going in 32 bar segments call phases.)


If your looking for a nice smooth flowing mix that all sounds ‘Right’ then you should incorporate phasing into your mix. Im sure you could find a very helpful post on phasing in the forum somewhere as it will probably explain it better then I do.

Hope i helped
 
Dark Lizardro said:
To be honest, IMO that's what is killing the music industry creatively speaking: the same formula applied to different songs.
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only the music you listen to tho ..? There's tons of music that doesn't have structure and weird time sigs, you're just not listening to it :P

Plus structure of songs has been around forever.
 
Why don't you grab a few tracks that are out there intended for mixing (pretty much most DnB) and structure out the way they have built up the intro's to look at the variations and patterns you can see. Will give you an idea to base your own music on which is great as you aren't copying the track but rather making a structure that follows a similar path to other music out there. Could be useful for forward planning the sections in other areas of a track too.
 
I find a lot of drum & bass tends to forget that the intro is actually part of the track and use one just to give DJ's something to mix with or for a big swell into a drop.

It can be any number of bars you want in reality - if DJs want to mix it they will. The intro can be as long as you want it with as much progression as you want.

As a DJ I much prefer mixing tunes that have an intro that I actually want the crowd to hear in the mix - it has something extra to add than the 'main body' of the track.
 
Crizis said:
Outros don't matter as much, because they never get played in a set.
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I disagree, I really hate mixing tunes that just suddenly stops after the meat of the track.
Having an end part/outro (whatever you want to call it) that drops in intensity but still rolls along makes it possible to do longer mixes and transitions. DJs who don't want that can just slam the crossfader, so there's no real drawback in having an end part.

Leaving a faint echo of the vocal hook (if present) or some other key melodic part is a good idea, and remember to keep beats going. You can leave the sub if you will as well, since it's easy to get rid off with kill eqs (which every decent dj mixer have).
 
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lug00ber said:
I disagree, I really hate mixing tunes that just suddenly stops after the meat of the track.
Having an end part/outro (whatever you want to call it) that drops in intensity but still rolls along makes it possible to do longer mixes and transitions. DJs who don't want that can just slam the crossfader, so there's no real drawback in having an end part.

Leaving a faint echo of the vocal hook (if present) or some other key melodic part is a good idea, and remember to keep beats going. You can leave the sub if you will as well, since it's easy to get rid off with kill eqs (which every decent dj mixer have).
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Well yea, a nice outro is pretty ofcourse, and if you have one on your track it immediately makes it a better tune. But, (and I'm solely talking in the dnb genre now, now idea how it is in the other genres) who uses outros the mix?
Mostly, a new tune gets mixed in the first drop, in the breakdown, or in the second drop. I've never heard a tune play until the outro before a new tune gets mixed in.
 
Why would you want your tracks catered to DJs and the dancefloor? One of my pet peeves about dnb is far too many artists structure tracks for raves and DJs
 
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