Key progression

nscotto

New Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2017
Hello,

A lot of DNB tunes are in F minor, or around that key, mainly because it's a note with low bass that we can still hear.
So in my library, I have a ton of Fmin, a lot of Gmin, a little less of Emin, F#min, G#min... I have tunes in all the other keys, but a lot less. Maybe that is just because I don't know the good tracks in the other keys...
For those who have the same problem, when it comes to djing, what sort of "key progression" do you mix? And how long do you stay in those keys?
I am talking in general of course. Also, I know how to mix and I am not trying to find a "recipe" for creating dj set, I am just curious. :rolleyes:

cheers
 
Right so I'm relatively new to this ( 1 year now ), but I've learned using the Camelot wheel so instead of all those letters which don't mean anything to me I use numbers that don't mean anything to me :rofl:
Jokes aside I assume you're talking about tracks that for me are in 4A, which I have a crap-ton of, compared to all the other keys.

I have noticed the majority of tracks are within the 4A to 6A range, once you go higher or lower there tend to be less tracks per key. Same goes for tracks in major keys, from what i have, it's like 1-2% of all tracks.
Now back to your question, there IS no progression, no right or wrong way to do it, just feel it out. :p
I have library management system in place, so tracks that are good for intros are labeled as such. So I start off maybe with 1A and work my way up to 4A, or start with 12A and go down ... or just skip it all together and start straight at 4A, or 7A, or 9B, who cares ? :banana:. Depends what works for you, what sounds good to you, and wether you can build the energy of those tracks.

Just don't always trust the keys, I don't know if it's software related, or like an actual melodically related problem (I have no musical background), but sometimes you get songs that are in the same key and sound totally crap together, like worlds apart bad.

And while I'm at it, you don't even need to mix in key, which is advice I should follow myself. Since I learned about it, harmonic mixing is all I've done ... but then I take a step back, and listen to some stuff I put together before finding out, although crude and not so well rounded an consistent, it did sound funkier jumping from one key to a totally unrelated one, it was unpredictable, and makes you reconsider how and when you drop your second tune. Some might argue that's the way to do it, some argue that harmonic mixing is the "key" (see what I did there ? :) ).

Bottom line is do whatever works for you, practice, and know your tunes. Once you know your stuff you'll be dropping records so hard you won't even have time to remember or even care what key they were in :rofl:
 
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From experience I would say harmonic mixing is only really essential when mixing liquid dnb, you can often get away with chucking two unrelated dancfloory tunes into the mix. Obviously there are exceptions from this though, but it's probably more to do with taste and knowing your tunes rather than following a chart.
 
Yeah sure, but would you begin a mix in 4A? Cause that's the key of most of your tunes.
But yeah I know, there's no recipe and the only way of mixing good is to feel it, that makes sense for me.
I am just expecting some tips found by all of you folks who mix in key.

I give one as an example: for mixing tracks with clashing key I cut the mid of one leaving only the rhythm so it doesn't sound that bad.

But the real question is how you manage to pass all your best tracks in Fmin whithout staying in Fmin during the all mix?

@WhoSayReload? Maybe, but the best matches you have found was probably two key-compatible tracks, from my experience


PS: I was disinteressed in the jump up for a while, I am just going back to it now and I have found that it is more varied in key, that's good ;)
 
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