practicing mixes?

I think everyone will practice mixes to a certain extent.

When you mix two tunes 'off the cuff' and they sound good, the chances are you'll go back to that same mix again at some point, and maybe practice so it sounds perfect. Most good DJs will know their tunes and keys fairly well anyway so will have an idea of what mixes will sound good in advance. I will always be thinking one or two tunes ahead to make the mix flow well. This also gives you room for improvisation.

In regard to playing out; It would be naive to have a completely pre-planned mix as it would restrict your ability to change for the crowd if they weren't feeling your beats.

On the flip it would be silly to just charge in and just throw tunes in that you had never tried mixing before. It would just end up sounding shit.
 
freestyling a mix is defently the way forward at home purely because its the best way to concuct random double drops that you wouldn't think of normally, well thats how i work out shit like that, as for playing out, always gotta take the crowd into account, if you've planned 30 mins of jump up or what eva and they hate what your playing by the third track , there no real turn around from that.. i always just plan my vinyl bag into sections so i know where everything is and then go from there, nothing worse than thinking of a sick mix when your playing out and then not being able to find one of the tracks coz the vinyl bag is all over the place
 
It's all about having an idea of what your selection will be. What works well with what. Is there enough time to tease another track and then go on to double drop another after.
Learn the structures of tunes aswell. This is very important key part to mixing and will help you in the long run. Usually you'll pick this up anyway if its songs you play all the time.
Make sure you practise when you can aswell. Try and push yourself and don't be afraid to be adventurous when practising. End of the day, you may not start out sounding like Andy C, but with a lot of practise and creativity, anything is possible.
 
Oh and if you are playing out in a club, prepare yourself for shit setups. Not saying everywhere has awful mixing equipment, but make sure you keep on your toes.
 
$marty said:
Oh and if you are playing out in a club, prepare yourself for shit setups. Not saying everywhere has awful mixing equipment, but make sure you keep on your toes.
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Great piece of advice. Not everywhere has functioning Techinics and a Xone!
 
I typically plan everything out. When I get new tunes in I play around with everything and then jot down the ones that go well together. And patch around those with additonal tunes/mixes. Don't think I could ever do everything on the fly. BUt sometimes when I'm stuck on finding a mix to round out a set I will mix on the fly and find the gem I was looking for.
 
Decided for my mix i recorded today to write out the tracklist first and go by that, happy with the result, but did feel quite pressured getting the next tune in exactly how i wanted it, but nothing worth moaning about.. Don't mind doing this or freestyling, both have their positives and negatives! Just personal preference as always!

And Spliff, i've started writing down big mixes as i find them with pen and paper as i mix! Then convert the paper to mp3 for my next mix haha
 
muzzadj said:
Decided for my mix i recorded today to write out the tracklist first and go by that, happy with the result, but did feel quite pressured getting the next tune in exactly how i wanted it, but nothing worth moaning about.. Don't mind doing this or freestyling, both have their positives and negatives! Just personal preference as always!

And Spliff, i've started writing down big mixes as i find them with pen and paper as i mix! Then convert the paper to mp3 for my next mix haha
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Hahahahaha!
 
some good comments in here peeps nice 1,as for the double drop thing i too would never tell or show any1 how to do my own double drops,if they heard them and do them u cant do anything about it but u shouldnt broadcast them as thats what u pulled off,why tell every1.
 
technic1210 said:
some good comments in here peeps nice 1,as for the double drop thing i too would never tell or show any1 how to do my own double drops,if they heard them and do them u cant do anything about it but u shouldnt broadcast them as thats what u pulled off,why tell every1.
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doesnt really matter though does it? if someone did a mix ive done in a club i'm not gonna go an angrily tap them and berate them for it am i? not like you can trademark mixes or anything....
 
waynenoway said:
doesnt really matter though does it? if someone did a mix ive done in a club i'm not gonna go an angrily tap them and berate them for it am i? not like you can trademark mixes or anything....
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so true cant trademark mixes, the only person who can do that really is andy c, i never try and copy any of his when i use the tunes he does, for some reason when andy's done it i think that mix is kind of off limits when it comes to me playing out or recording a set..
 
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