Surely if it's a good track, a DJ should be willing to work around things like that? Most dance music suffers from the same problem, that most of the big tracks are the ones that make the DJ look incredibly talented without having to do much. Any fancy trickery within a track which gets a good crowd response is credited to the DJ. The problem you described above is easily solved by knowing when these things happen, and a good DJ can pull such incidents to his advantage. An average DJ just won't play the track.::BLM:: wrote:There is nothing worse then someone who has made music out of the time. For me everything needs to be placed in the correct place, everything should be coming in when its meant to. I know producers who think its clever to have things coming in at random times, but in all honently it sounds sht when your mixing. This music is meant for clubs and for dj's, why make it so it sounds sht in the mix?
Dj friendly Arrangement/Structure
^^ Thats not the point though. For example I have a track here where the clap is placed on bars 1 and 3. Now u cant mix it from the start because then you would get clap clap clap clap in a mix which would sound rubbish. So you mix it from the 2nd beat and then your half a beat out so when mixing everything is out of sync. I'm not talking about polyrhythms or anything like that I'm just talking about basic structures. I also have a track that has the kick slightly out of time with the rest of the track, which means its impossible to mix with anything. He told me he was trying to be clever cause he is rebel! but that makes no sense cause he is making dance music, yet nobody with any sense would play it in a club because its impossible to mix. You can be clever with music and it still be in time. Steevio I quite often play your stuff out and I dont have any problems at all mixing it because you have got the basic structure laid down. There are a lot of people like the person in the opening thread that obviously dont know about this so they make music completly out of time, this is what I'm going on about.
Nail head. I never pre plan my sets, its all done on how I feel on the night. If I know a tune has bits out of time I will leave it alone as its not going to sit well in the mix. Pads and stuff are fine, its just when people have silly structures that keep me away from playing them.also there's different types of vinyl DJ. theres the guy who grabs a bunch of records 5 minutes before a gig and plays by intuition, then theres the guy who plans his set out in fine detail and rehearses it.
if you make tunes without complex intros and outros, you can guarentee your tune wont make it into the first guys bag.
Why are you suprised? Can you DJ?. One can experiment, without placing things in the wrong place. There is a reason why people stick to it time and time again and thats cause it works. Why fix something that isnt broken?think of where would we be right now musically if people out there would stick to the rules and wouldn't take risk and experiment
it really surprised me to even see such an opinion on a forum like this
It depends entirely on what you mean....there was a Bruno Pronsato record I bought not too long ago, and it took me a few attempts to figure out how to mix with it, there's a clap fairly loud in the mix, and it wanders fairly out of sync, and if you're focusing on that, you'll have a problem. It didn't take long to figure out though, now it's great to mix with.
As for a clap on the 1 and 3, I honestly can't see anything wrong with it, in fact I really like it when there's some kind of call-and-response between two tracks like that.
As for a clap on the 1 and 3, I honestly can't see anything wrong with it, in fact I really like it when there's some kind of call-and-response between two tracks like that.
I'm not on about things going out of sync though, I'm talking about basic structures and that so many cant get it right.
And regarding the call and response yeah that is cool, but not with two claps. That in a club does not sound right. For me when Djin my main aim is to keep people dancing and lock them into a groove. If you have it going clap clap clap clap this groove will stop, and it will sound like a bad mix making the dance floor stop moving. Next time you play out try it as its not the correct way to do things.
And regarding the call and response yeah that is cool, but not with two claps. That in a club does not sound right. For me when Djin my main aim is to keep people dancing and lock them into a groove. If you have it going clap clap clap clap this groove will stop, and it will sound like a bad mix making the dance floor stop moving. Next time you play out try it as its not the correct way to do things.
^^^
thats a pretty conservative attitude to mixing. have u only ever mixed 4/4 records? i think that if you dj other types of music that you learn to use other tricks (unless u only do cuts), so maybe, what doesnt seem right for you would grab someones interest on a dance floor.
i think that the OP was asking about dj tools, which can be extremely artless/boring cuts, and if your going choose one of those over a record with a more complex groove, because its easier to mix, well, without meaning to be a jerk, it really says more about your djing than it does about the track.
thats a pretty conservative attitude to mixing. have u only ever mixed 4/4 records? i think that if you dj other types of music that you learn to use other tricks (unless u only do cuts), so maybe, what doesnt seem right for you would grab someones interest on a dance floor.
i think that the OP was asking about dj tools, which can be extremely artless/boring cuts, and if your going choose one of those over a record with a more complex groove, because its easier to mix, well, without meaning to be a jerk, it really says more about your djing than it does about the track.
I mixed Uk Garage for 4 years before moving onto house, so I know about mixing complex records. I don't play around with DJ tools, unless its one that I have made myself in which case I just use it to layer underneath other tracks to make things mor interesting. I'm just very precise when I mix thats all. MarcAshken is always telling me my mixes sound like a mix CD, but I just like them to be smooth ya know? Just my style...Atheory wrote:^^^
thats a pretty conservative attitude to mixing. have u only ever mixed 4/4 records? i think that if you dj other types of music that you learn to use other tricks (unless u only do cuts), so maybe, what doesnt seem right for you would grab someones interest on a dance floor.
i think that the OP was asking about dj tools, which can be extremely artless/boring cuts, and if your going choose one of those over a record with a more complex groove, because its easier to mix, well, without meaning to be a jerk, it really says more about your djing than it does about the track.
The orginal poster put:
That doesnt sound like its got anything to do with DJ tools. That sounds like someone has told him or asked him to make his music more dj friendly to me.I was curious about how can be a song "Dj friendly"?, in arrangment terms.
i agree with points made by blm
why make tracks that dont work --- there is a certain structure to house, techno, minimal (also dubstep hip hop etc) in terms of arrangement --- these are practical structures -- structures we understand. sure you can drift away from them to an extent - this allows for interesting designs. However losing sight of these structures will result in 'chaos' - which (in most cases) does not translate well to the dancefloor
track can be complex and dj friendly. not mutually exclusive are they? what steevio said - keep the beginning (and end) workable (conservative elements) - and make things interesting in between. shooting yourself in the foot a bit if you dont...
why make tracks that dont work --- there is a certain structure to house, techno, minimal (also dubstep hip hop etc) in terms of arrangement --- these are practical structures -- structures we understand. sure you can drift away from them to an extent - this allows for interesting designs. However losing sight of these structures will result in 'chaos' - which (in most cases) does not translate well to the dancefloor
track can be complex and dj friendly. not mutually exclusive are they? what steevio said - keep the beginning (and end) workable (conservative elements) - and make things interesting in between. shooting yourself in the foot a bit if you dont...
cool, i understand. making dj mixes sound flawless is a whole different skill in itself. it would just be a shame to exclude a record that really extended or added to the mood/narrative based on some wonky/rough timing.
as for the op, who knows what he meant? i actually hate the idea of compromising the structure of something so that someone can mix it easier with something.
as for the op, who knows what he meant? i actually hate the idea of compromising the structure of something so that someone can mix it easier with something.