don't go random - do sections of styles that flow into one another and learn your tracks to know what works to transition styles as well as just mixing tunes.

for instance if I want to move from hip hop to rock, I mix in some run dmc out of some classic hiphop and move into rock for a bit. Or I work on sample transitions - go from new tune/sampled track to the original track and drop some classic funk.

Not saying this is the right way, but I was the same when I first started I had beastie boys,men at work,dilated peoples,boston records and I tried to mix them all together from the get go. Had some cool sounding mixes haha but there was like no format or flow.

I seriously think the best thing to do is to separate your genres and get good at playing each specific type of music individually, once you're comfortable with a few genre's find tracks that are good to bridge between your genres and practice transitions between different genre tracks.

After awhile youll have a great arsenal of different genre sets and have the ability to completely change it up smoothly into a completely different style of music.

Thanks for the input guys. I'm definitely still learning the subtletíes of each genre, and the entirely different style of mixing in each. Mixing between genres I've definitely tried anchoring the songs into each other via samples, lyrics, etc, so it's good to have that reinforced as the right way to go about things.

Any tips on how to change tempos besides the oft-abused delay freeze?

What do you mean about changing tempos?

Like mixing from hip-hop (tempos in the 80s-90s) into dance music in the 120s. My goto is a delay freeze but it doesn't maintain the beat (due to the awkward pause) and I'm just tired of doing that really

find tracks that are in the 100 to 120 range to slowly escalate into your dance music. Lots of Hiphop/pop tracks that gradually get more dance influenced aswell while the BPM increases (think tracks like Way I are,Dizzee- Holiday etc)

several ways to do that really - you can just stop and drop in a new tempo, there are tempo transition tracks you can do, you can slowly inch up in tempo over the course of your set.

On top of that there are turntable tricks you can do like dropping an acapella pitched way down or up, drop the other tune at the chorus and loop that, start pitching up or down the acapella and drop in a new tune over the looped chorus at the new tempo.

Do the same thing but play the acapella at 45 - power off the deck and wait till the strobe dots on teh platter line up again and then press start - the acapella will then be playing at 33 and subsequently a different tempo and drop a tune/intro into the new tempo.

Playing live, there's nothing wrong with just stopping, getting on the mic, and dropping a hot tune in a new tempo...

++dreamkast

if your into blends thats usually the way to go. i suggest going out to clubs in your area where the dj caters to different formats & study different techniques of transitions. step back from a dj's way of thought in respect to what works in regard to your mix and think from the perspective of the listener. try to envision how a audience would react... dj_soo brought up a great technique as well...because in front of ppl PERFORMANCE IS KING FORMATS ARE ALL SUBJECTIVE so there is nothing wrong with just dropping dope track or cutting into hype track after mouthing off a bit on the mic...as long as the ppl dig it go with it.

Your best bet is getting out and listening to dj's live, watching the reactions of ppl and learning what ppl respond to. Perfect this skill and build up & find your own style through it.

Was that an Ableton mix? If that is a live single-take after a few months of practice... it is amazing progress.

Thanks! That was a live single-take that took about 2.5 weeks to program and record. I didn't start actually putting together minimixes and mixtapes until around mid-January, but it had definitely been on my mind for a while. I have some acquaintances that are big DJs in the Hollywood/Vegas scene as well as an old buddy of mine who now spins for Power 106 LA (DJ P-JAY).

I've always been big on music and the club scene so I immersed myself in DJ theories and read as much as I could in the month leading up to actually getting a MIDI controller to mess around. I guess I have a pretty good ear for what works, but I'm always trying to learn more and get better. I still need to get a set of my own turntables and learn how to scratch. These forums are definitely a huge resource.

It sucks working 8-6 every day, the only time I really get to work on mixes is when I get home (if I decide to stay in) and on Sundays. Hopefully one day I can become good enough to headline bar mitzvah's across the Valley. The dream...

Quickmixing like that without a single double-snare takes skills man. You did that with a MIDI controller and no turntables? You had to have kept a log of pitch settings to pull that off without a single double-kick/double-snare.

Haha yeah I did have notes on the workflow of my plan before recording that included things like pitch, but after 4 or so takes I found the groove and was able to do the 50 minute set not perfectly, but at least to my liking.

yeah, that's the dream! Most of us, even many of us more successful DJs are still working days and dealing with the same thing. Don't worry, those bar-mitvahs will come calling until you don't want them to anymore.
The mix is pretty good technically, I don't think that most people sound that good after such a short time, or are organized to the point of being able to put something like that together. Phrasing mostly sounds good, beats match up... there are a couple times where I can actually hear the tempo changing and a few transitions that a crowd may not love but they are not trainwrecks. You may wish to play it for your "target audience" as well and see how people react to the song selection aspect.

Thanks for the feedback delgado!

I'd be happy just spinning for free at my buddy's art gallery in downtown LA. I really just need to keep at it and get the skills up there. I'm still a newb, but I don't think this feeling will ever pass because there's always more to learn, more room to improve...

I have a folder where I keep transition songs. Try googling transition songs. They even have some on beatport.
Someone posted this on this forum once. Ive been using it a few times from electro to dubstep.

Watchwww.youtube.com

Jaydilla I think it's awesome that you're getting into mixing diff genres if you want to stick out that's the way to go to showcase you can mix other genres and not just one format. Here's a huge tip that will help you I suggest you sign up with an mp3 pool like www.directmusicservice.com download every single genre you like, seperate your downloads into folders of each genre or style make your crates identical to the folders. Set your cue points and learn to use relative mode if u haven't already. I mix many diff genres in my sets here's a few youtube videos of mine to give you an example. Be creative and try mixes that no other dj has tried before and practice everytime u can you will get the respect you want from other dj's and have something else to offer.

Watchwww.youtube.com
Watchwww.youtube.com
Watchwww.youtube.com
Watchwww.youtube.com

if you want to do that seamlessly you could always download "transition" tracks from mp3 pools, it's basically it's own genre/category where tracks are produced from one bpm to another like (100bpm-120bpm) suprised no one even mentioned that to you. You could always scratch in or drop a track if it has a good acapella sample or kick into to get to higher bpms. It can be done it doesn't even matter the bpm range it's all about timing.

What are people's thoughts on transition tracks? It seems like it would be doing the work for you and I imagine that would be frowned upon. I do see the value of getting a grip to use for now and to study how the guys are making these transition tracks in order to eventually try and emulate them.

In any case, thanks for the tips Tecniq! I'm about to board a plane but I'll definitely check out your videos once I get past this security checkpoint (if the LAX wifi can handle video streaming...)

Btw how much do DJ pools usually go for per month? I think I saw a sticky with a bunch of music resources so I'll def have to check that out.

I see it this way jay, you are playing other ppl's music anyways so why not use a transition? 9 times out of 10 I hear other dj's in clubs use transitions to go from one bpm to the other. That's also big in radio mixshows there's usually always one or two transitions. There's unlimited downloading if you use a mp3 pool monthly. The two I highly suggest using are www.mymp3pool.com which is $20 month and www.directmusicservice.com which is one of the top mp3 pools used by dj's worldwide as well as www.djcity.com. Your mixes will become very creative if you use transitions and acapella in or out edits. If you can mix an acapella or drop a beat over an acapella on time then dj'ing will get a whole lot funner. But apparently you used ableton for this mix? I'm not a producer and don't know much about audio software/remixing I've always done it on turntables. I don't have the patience to sit at my laptop and cut and copy and paste mixing. I will prob get alot of hate for that from producers but I gotta be on decks or nothing at all. i respect any dj/producer that uses ableton or any type of software for dj'ing w/o them we wouldn't have such dope tracks/mixes as Dj's.

I don't have a problem with them... i use them all the time.

Nah didn't use ableton, this mix was a live single take. I bought ableton and want to eventually get into production/my own remixes with a maschine, but I'm getting way ahead of myself. Opened it up and couldn't even figure out how to view it in fullscreen without a quick google search, ha. Baby steps, gotta learn how to dj before I even think about anything else. I see your point about the transitions and good looking out on those pool links. $20/mo really isn't much for that huge resource.

My bad man I thought you said u used ableton in an early post. Def look into mp3 pools, most of them now have all sorts of genre's for any dj to cater any crowd/venue. Most mp3 pools have dj intro's for easier mixing but that's not always needed. Here's a good resource for promo's/singles i the hell out of it and it's my best resource.
www.promotionalcdsinglesv2.blogspot.com

For being a bedroom DJ that is a really solid mix bro. Job well done, certainly take advantage of your big time friend DJ, thats the best way to learn new tricks and stuff. I'm mostly impressed with your song selection in this mix, very diverse and that is exactly what bar/club owners managers look for. A talented DJ that can read the crowd and please everyone as best as we can instead of just sticking to one format or playing songs for your own entertainment.

Personally I don't like using Transition tracks unless I absolutely have to - They're cheesy and sometimes ruin a song. Don't be afraid to just drop a hip song out of a dance set. Often a crowd will actually go Bananas for that type of effect. But don't do it all the time. Everyone here has given some great advice, I like the one about practicing one genre and mastering it before jumping all over the place. Also when blending songs, mix them together as the chorus hits. thats called "hitting the post" and it works 80% of the time.

Good Luck!

+1

Most transition tracks dont get from one bpm to the other in less than 32 bars (i've heard ones that took up to 64 bars or more), which is 32 bars where your dance floor is going ok... where is the DJ going with this...

Best transition tracks use wordplay and get to the new bpm in 8-16 bars IMHO.

I used to be ADHD about mixing too but damn son, some tracks need to breathe. You can play more than 8 -16 bars of a song you know...

I talking about just the transition segment. I rarely play only 16 bars of a song.

@soo... Hahaha spot on man, I have mad ADD and I know I need to let songs develop for a little (lotta?) bit longer. With time I'm sure I'll develop a sense for the flow of a song instead of just transition transition transition transition.

Thanks for the feedback, all of you! Everybody has had something super useful to say. Just reading this forum has already taught me so much. The serato forums are a ridiculously diverse resource, I love it.

Funnily enough with my old mixes my buddies told me it felt like nothing more than a playlist with song after song with transitions in between. I'm still new to this so I have to find a balance between quick mixing and letting song structures develop. I def think that I'll get a feel for how long to let songs go. Just gotta do work!

I'm in miami right now for ultra/masquerade motel so I'll definitely be listening with intent. My favorite aspect of djing is how it let's you see music from a completely different, analytical, almost scientific light.

When your at this masquerade, jot down some mixes you hear like the song in and out of and try to duplicate it at home. Thats how I learned how to mix. Once you master that then the rest is easy.

listen to some Z-Trip or DJ AM mixes or even some old Spinbad mixes and pay attention to how they blend genres and tempos.

Thats the best way to learn. Although I never play someone elses mixes live.