As I improve my mixing skills, I get more critical of my own ability and the mixes of others. I'm now at the point where I think it's too easy to just take any two pieces that are around the same BPM and mix them together. You end up being able to hear the fade-out of one track and hear the fade-in of the other track because they're completely different keys; there's often a point in dance tracks where the piece stays on the same key for the rest of the song to make it easy for DJs to mix out on. I've heard this in several 'famous jet-setter DJ' sets on CD and radio, as well as in my own music. To me, the art of mixing is to create a seamless blend of song so that the listener ends up forgetting which track is currently playing and doesn't notice the transitions between tracks because they sound like just another part of the music.
I've tried to do that in this mix, but it's hard. The hardest thing that I've found to do is to hear one track and be able to pick the next track that will mix in seamlessly with it. You not only need perfect pitch, but an eidetic memory for the melody and rhythm of every tune – something that would probably develop better if I was listening to my music and trying to mix with it all day (which I'm not, more's the pity sometimes). I'm still only mixing by sorting my collection in ascending order by BPM and then working through the collection from the track I'm mixing, attempting to find a matching song by playing each one in sequence. Sometimes I have flashes of inspiration, and sometimes I've mixed two songs together that sounded good so I know the next track to look for. But it's still not as intuitive and obvious as I'd like.
Use this link to download this mix using BitTorrent.
|
Track |
Title |
Artist |
Mix |
BPM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Tranzy State of Mind |
Push |
136.1 |
|
|
2 |
Vavoom! |
Man With No Name |
136.1 |
|
|
3 |
The Journey |
Loveclub |
Light remix |
136.8 |
|
4 |
Maximum Overdrive |
M.O.R.P.H. |
Benicio remix |
136.9 |
|
5 |
Wired |
Tenth Chapter |
Stonk mix |
136.9 |
|
6 |
Madagascar |
Art of Trance |
Transa remix |
137.9 |
|
7 |
Low Commotion |
Man With No Name |
137.9 |
|
|
8 |
Strange World |
Push |
139.0 |
|
|
9 |
Viola |
Moogwai |
Armin Van Buuren remix |
139.1 |
|
10 |
Symmetry C |
Brainchild |
Lange Breakbeat remix |
139.3 |
|
11 |
Dreams |
Quench |
139.4 |
|
|
12 |
Please Save Me |
Sunscreem vs. Push |
Vocal mix |
139.5 |
|
13 |
Toxic Caterpillar |
Total Eclipse |
139.7 |
|
|
14 |
The Crucible |
Total Eclipse |
139.8 |
These mixes are only available as complete files and I do not trade in the albums that these tracks are compiled from. On the other hand, I welcome feedback of any description about the mix, especially if you have recommendations of tracks I might like. My email address is at the bottom of the page.
I welcome any suggestions, criticisms and recommendations for new music to listen to. I will consider doing specific mixes for people, but this is only a hobby. Hope to hear from you!