BPM's is your first and foremost best friend to organize tracks by. Genres, I have Top 40, Dance, House, Hip-Hop, Acapellas and Instrumentals. I subscribe to Djcity.com and mymp3pool.com

Thanks man i appreciate it. Also what is the difference from a blend and a mash-up? and what does it mean to mix in key? how do i find the key to a track?

a blended mix is more like faded in and out as you cross over to the next track, a mashup is chopping the 2 tracks back and forward and mixing in other tracks faster
id just concentrate on listening to the music and seeing what works when you mix, think about if the following track will clash with the one playing
i dont bother with mixing in key, never have and probably never will, i mix by ear id most likely struggle to tell what key a tune is in
this isnt 100% but i think half of the mixing in key is because people want a x+z= formula
alot of people new to mixing havnt got a clue so they try and use it to save them learning or because they havnt got the ear for music
not the case with everyone though, i just cant see the point myself you cant make people dance by using a spreadsheet , its about feeling what your doing

To go off of what toasted said. Mixing in key (although a great tool when done correctly) is not nearly as important as just being able to listen to a mix and tell if it sounds right or not. If you have a musical background then you should know that an Acapella that's in A is not going to go smoothly with a instrumental in F#... But hopefully your ear would hear that.

alright guys thanks a lot it really help me get a better understanding. If you guys got anymore advice like Do's and Don'ts id appreciate that too. Other then that thankyou!!

DO use your ears.

DON'T rely too much on automatic options (like auto-sync, relying soley on key tags, etc.)

do wear earplugs...

don't ride the waves! ie, close your monitor when trying to beatmatch...

possibly watch that video over in off topic of the guy getting his head chopped off with a chainsaw...

I was watching a youtube video and this guy was talking about beatmatching he pretty much explained how to do it, but also said like to be different like line the 1 with the 2 of the song your mixing in. He was saying like be creative but when i tried that it sounded horrible am i doing something wrong or did i miss understand him? It was a while ago when i seen it so idk the name...

Wait wait wait what? head chopped off with a chainsaw wtf?!
Ear plugs? why?

its ok it was just some young lad that sent out a edited mix tape so he could get a booking, turnt up to a club in mexico and his mixes were crap, double beats and allsorts so they dragged him out the back and chopped his head off
moral of the true story is dont try and get booking until your good enough lol

just stick with the basics for now,originality will come with time, if you was learning to tightrope walk you wouldnt be trying to do backflips while doing it would you lol
just stick with mixing on the 1st beat unless that tune has a pre beat fill in before the 4/4 drops
if you listen to the song you will feel when it has to be dropped in

oh lol yeah true good moral lol
yeah i been trying to do that. a dj i knew in my area was sorta mentoring me and kept telling me to stop thinking and just listen. I assume cuhz I kept counting and was kinda nerveous cuhz i didnt know him well and ive never mixed for anyone but myself... also a guy on youtube said that sometimes people can never learn how to beatmatch do you think thats true? and what are some good practice techniques for beatmatching?

if you persevere and keep practicing you will pick it up, might take a while but it will be worth it in the end as youl be able to match rhythms and melody’s and even halve/double bpm`s of tracks so it will open up your capability’s unlike some idiot using syn without a clue how to do anything other than press buttons
im self taught, i never had anyone to help me learn but i think that is a good thing as ive learnt to do my own thing
good on you for doing it the right way, big respect

dont just keep the 2nd record playing while trying to match the beats if they are way out because its harder to align them from that point
use your fingers to speed the platter up by turning the platter smoothly rather than just moving the pitch slider as you will have more control and be able to match them quicker
try to get them together within the first 4-8 beats until there close then you can fine tune over more of the track, just practice as much as you can, nobody learnt it overnight
your basically trying to train your ears/brain to do 2 things at the same time, if you can pat your head and rub your belly at the same time your off to a good start lol

giggy-ty !

1, check out this thread.... serato.com

2. when you start gigging wear earplugs, or you will loose your hearing like everyone else in here, i wish someone pulled me aside and seriously told me to wear ear protection 12 years ago...

WHAT?

exactly... haha

where is that video?? I want to see it can someone send me the link I can't find it. Thanks

check out the link in this thread over in off topic... scroll to the top... Im tired of this SHIT!!! why this is not in the NEWS??????

Alright thanks guys for all the help hopefully in the next few months ill be doing better and can upload a video or something to show what I can do and get more tips.

On the off topic note hell no I can't watch that stuff a buddy of mine from work showed me a video of some guy getting his throat cut like a steak with a machete then when they reached the bone they just chopped away shit made me sick the poor guy was still alive when they reached the bone too I don't get how anyone can do that.

+1 .. wear earplugs

+2... tinnitus is NOT fun and permanent.