basic dnb mixing question

Krispy

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Im really new to mixing dnb, ive mixed most other kinds of electronic before until now.
My question is a really simple one for anyone who is familiar with mixing dnb...

Obviously this depends on the songs involved... But generally, at what point on the song that is playing on the speakers do you usually like to throw in the track you have cued on your headphones?

I notice in alot of mixes people will drop the cued tune right before the breakdown on the first tune so that the second tunes drop hits right as the breakdown finishes. This is good and all but I dont want to be breakdown mixing everytime.
This just seems to be my biggest problem right now, not really knowing when I should be throwing in that next track. Maybe I should be waiting until after the breakdowns right when the second drop hits?

I know I should just do whatever sounds good but just looking for some other opinions, hopefully that all made sense
 
Hello there

There are various ways of mixing dnb, some DJs mix 35-40 tracks in a 60 minute mix, while others mix twice less. The reason is simple: you can mix it before or after the break. I prefer the "less tracks way", waiting for the first kick after the break on the first tune to start the second one (or snare, whatever you set your cue point to). The "more tracks way" gives you less time to beatmatch, set cue points etc, so you obviosly have to be quicker. Mixing here starts almost instantly, as soon as you can beatmatch tracks and should start at the beginning of the 8/16/32 bar.
 
any drop/end of phrase, essentially, as Veno said, 8/16/32nd bar's, and so on, most track phrases go in 16 or 32bar sections, eventually u'll know which drops work best, but as long as you match the drops up, it'll generally work ok (as long as the tracks work together in the first place)
 
Yeah ok that all makes sense

But what about tunes that have these crazy long winded intros but not really any percussion at the beginning? How do you approach to beat match and throw in that tune? I have trouble with the tunes that don't really have well defined percussion in the intro.
 
I think on the whole it's best to ignore padding at the start unless you have a good enough feel for that tune to keep it in time (usually wont drop perfectly). Otherwise start with the first beat as nature intended.

That is unless you're mixing tunes like this...


In which case keep practicing until you get used to the noise/sample/lush pads being in time. It helps if you get it in time first as the record shouldnt slip too much in 16 bars...makes it nice and easy. The intro 'noise' should also be on 2/4/8 bar cycles.

I dont know who the first person to tease mixes just before the drop of the tune that's playing but it's tarts like Friction that push the style and personally I find it irritating. Most dj's dont do that. It sounds like when you leave accidentally leave a tune in when the other one's gone quiet...absent minded almost. The less people that do that the better imo.



On a more interesting note who does that 'wanna see me work for tips' tune Krispy? Big tune mate.

---------- Post added at 01:45 ---------- Previous post was at 01:36 ----------

Also I'm not sure what you mean by 'breakdown mixing'? I think you're describing double-dropping which is generally what happens with drum and bass. That actually a good place to be although you could just switch tunes if you want to avoid that.
 
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Ah so thats what I was wondering, if people ever skip ahead to where the first bars start.
Im used to mixing electro where pretty ever track starts with a beat and not this padded intro
I notice that sometimes there is a highhat pattern to follow or a cymbal where the kick is or something during the padded intro

That song you were talking about is
Krafty Kuts – Shake Them Hips (Punk Rolla Clean Mix)
:D

Yeah what I meant by breakdown mixing is a double drop lol
I know that in dubstep alot of the time you will just mix the breakdowns together and then right at the drop cut the other one out
because 2 dubstep drops can definitely be too much at once but works much better for dnb purposes
 
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