Music mixing will be an extremely important part of your overall performance. Sometimes you will encounter people that do not want to, or simply can not, dance. It is amazing how these people still can have an excellent time if the proper music is played at the the correct volume, and mixed together properly. Various techniques will help you to accomplish this. They will be outlined in this chapter.
Eventually (actually, as soon as possible) you will have someone else handle the music mixing aspects of your job. This person will have to be trained by you, so make sure that you are an expert.
As the Mobile/DJ entertainer, you will be emceeing - also handling the music mixing at the same time can be somewhat of a hassle. Get a good assistant.
Segueing
Segueing is the art of smoothly fading from one song into another. This is accomplished in various ways because you can be going from:
- Record to cd
- mp3 to cd
- Record to mini disc etc.
Certain laws are universal. Let's cover them now.
- Always have one hand on the volume control of the incoming song.
- Do not let the first song completely fade out. If the volume level gets to low you will lose energy on the dance floor and it will die.
- Do not let the 2 songs play for to long together. You should be quickly fading from one to the other.
Beat To Beat Mixing
Beat to beat mixing is the overlaying of two (or more) songs on top of each other so that they blend together smoothly. This is accomplished by stacking the beats right on each other. To pull this off, the dj will need pitch controlled units. For example, to mix two cds together, the dj will need a cd mixing unit or two individually pitch controlled players.
To mix songs together effectively, you will need to know the tempo of each song. This is done by counting the beats per minute (BPMs) of the songs.
Counting Beats Per Minute
Here is how this is done. Count the up and down beats (bass and snare) of the song for 30 seconds and multiply this number by two.
For example if you arrived at the number 60, and then you multiplied it by 2, the song would be 120 beats per minute.
Three rules to live by when beat to beat mixing are:
- Don't try to mix songs that are more then 5 BPMs apart.
- Always increase the amount of BPMs. (Except when playing a slow song or starting a new set)
- Stack the snare beats on top of each other.
As you progress in your beat to beat mixing, you will explore more of the tricks of the trade. For now these steps are more then enough to get you sounding like a professional.
Just make sure you employ the three Ps.
Practice, Practice, and some more Practice!
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