Mixing in Key

[philallen11]

For a set to flow nice you mix in key, right? I was just wondering if this concept still applies to bangers... It doesn't seem to me that there is much of a problem when mixing keys with big gaps in between. What are your thoughts on this?

[russell]

what do you mean by big gaps?

[AlexJ]

what do you mean by big gaps?

i think he means big jumps in key

in essence it depends entirely who your audience is. 9/10 when you are playing the 'bangers' most of the punters in the room could give a shit about key. while mixing in key generally helps produce a nice fluid mix its not always essential.

while you still might not be mixing in key, a mix can still be exceptional. good skills can-to a degree-make up for poor track selection. at the end of the day there have been enough 'bangers' produced to establish a relative key gradient amongst popular tracks in edm.

i use the term 'bangers' in quotes due to the subjective nature of the term. to an educated crowd, a great track produced by someone not many people have heard of can be pretty much the greatest, best, most fantastic (which ever way you wish to describe it) track in the world. because it is appealing to the culture and values of the crowd. This is obvious when you (for example) make your way into one of the many cruisey bars and bistros where 1 dj in the corner is running some deep house tunes that no one has ever heard of and yet set an unbelievable vibe. while the tracks do not meet the necessary convention of 'popular' this doesnt stop the dj from doing his job. that is the end of my point of 'bangers'

back to key.

the reason nobody cares about the big key jumps that often occur when one poorly prepared dj jumps from one 'banger' to the next is that for that crowd simply knowing the song is enough. You simply don't here the big club 'bangers' being played in areas without alcohol because that is part of the environment, the scene, the right setup for those tracks, to be screamed and shouted by a bunch of pis-pot teens still halfway through their 3rd cruiser at 2am. and to be honest, even for the learnered few when you've had a few to drink you dont really care that much because THAT guy who feels more obliged to sit there and point out poor music choices, or sloppy mixing skills is missing the point of being in that environment in which he openly critiques-to have a good time. If sitting there all night and doing that is your idea of a good time, each to their own but you would fall in the minority. i guarentee it.

at the end of the day, as a dj, you are there to please the crowd. THIS IS YOUR JOB. while you also want to have a good time, generally you are paid to be behind the decks (or if your not, then your representing yourself and misrepresent yourself with poor skills is to your downfall) so you are on somebody elses time. do your job or you will quickly find yourself out of one in this business. Most of the time, your job is a to please the crowd of punters who just want to relax and have some fun, provide that and then worry about if your mix of 'bangers' where in key later. if your attending a dj comp where they are actively judging your skills then feel free to flex your selective muscle and internet/cd/record store searching prowess.

Remember your crowd, who you are trying to please, what you want the mix to achieve and you wont go too wrong.

mixing in key helps, but picking the right song for the room comes first everytime

/walloftext

alexj out

[Mitch]

Don't go strictly by the keys as you're limiting yourself then.

Mixing In key Is good, however you also need to remember the saying "if it sounds good, it is good".

[DJSocialApp]

Don't go strictly by the keys as you're limiting yourself then.

Mixing In key Is good, however you also need to remember the saying "if it sounds good, it is good".

Perfectly Said !! If it sounds good to you no need to over analyse it.....

[GREMM1S]

Depends on the genre and how you mix.

I really notice it now when djs dont mix harmonically, it really helps for when you are mashing up tracks or mixing electro etc quite fast.

As others have said though it can limit your set somewhat, remember you can go 1 or 2 camelot points and still be a harmonic mix.

[philallen11]

what do you mean by big gaps?

i think he means big jumps in key

in essence it depends entirely who your audience is. 9/10 when you are playing the 'bangers' most of the punters in the room could give a shit about key. while mixing in key generally helps produce a nice fluid mix its not always essential.

while you still might not be mixing in key, a mix can still be exceptional. good skills can-to a degree-make up for poor track selection. at the end of the day there have been enough 'bangers' produced to establish a relative key gradient amongst popular tracks in edm.

i use the term 'bangers' in quotes due to the subjective nature of the term. to an educated crowd, a great track produced by someone not many people have heard of can be pretty much the greatest, best, most fantastic (which ever way you wish to describe it) track in the world. because it is appealing to the culture and values of the crowd. This is obvious when you (for example) make your way into one of the many cruisey bars and bistros where 1 dj in the corner is running some deep house tunes that no one has ever heard of and yet set an unbelievable vibe. while the tracks do not meet the necessary convention of 'popular' this doesnt stop the dj from doing his job. that is the end of my point of 'bangers'

back to key.

the reason nobody cares about the big key jumps that often occur when one poorly prepared dj jumps from one 'banger' to the next is that for that crowd simply knowing the song is enough. You simply don't here the big club 'bangers' being played in areas without alcohol because that is part of the environment, the scene, the right setup for those tracks, to be screamed and shouted by a bunch of pis-pot teens still halfway through their 3rd cruiser at 2am. and to be honest, even for the learnered few when you've had a few to drink you dont really care that much because THAT guy who feels more obliged to sit there and point out poor music choices, or sloppy mixing skills is missing the point of being in that environment in which he openly critiques-to have a good time. If sitting there all night and doing that is your idea of a good time, each to their own but you would fall in the minority. i guarentee it.

at the end of the day, as a dj, you are there to please the crowd. THIS IS YOUR JOB. while you also want to have a good time, generally you are paid to be behind the decks (or if your not, then your representing yourself and misrepresent yourself with poor skills is to your downfall) so you are on somebody elses time. do your job or you will quickly find yourself out of one in this business. Most of the time, your job is a to please the crowd of punters who just want to relax and have some fun, provide that and then worry about if your mix of 'bangers' where in key later. if your attending a dj comp where they are actively judging your skills then feel free to flex your selective muscle and internet/cd/record store searching prowess.

Remember your crowd, who you are trying to please, what you want the mix to achieve and you wont go too wrong.

mixing in key helps, but picking the right song for the room comes first everytime

/walloftext

alexj out

Totally agree with this, exactly what i thought!!

Thanks everyone for replying, really helpful stuff!!!

[GREMM1S]

its not people won't appreciate key, its just the fact your mixing will sound better.

But as you mentioned majority of crowds you could trainwreck every mix and they wouldn't know the difference.

[djmarkrowan]

Don't get me wrong, mixing in key obviously sounds so much cleaner and nicer.

But lets think of this:

You're in a nightclub, maybe during recovery (4am or later), people have usually had a few too many.

Most won't realise if a mix is out of key unless you have another dj in the crowd.

And once again, if it sounds good, it sounds good.

[gavanbright]

Don't get me wrong, mixing in key obviously sounds so much cleaner and nicer.

But lets think of this:

You're in a nightclub, maybe during recovery (4am or later), people have usually had a few too many.

Most won't realise if a mix is out of key unless you have another dj in the crowd.

And once again, if it sounds good, it sounds good.

Mixing in key should be a fundamental aspect of any music style, if you want your punters to go home with a headache and ringing ears or for your baselines to crash and clash then don't mix in key. Key progression is important to either drop your floor, bar, venue vibe down a few notches in order to change the mood.

Similarly you can give the dance floor, bar, venue a lift in energy without changing the tempo.

Key changes are at the core of what makes a good EDM track a great 'banger' and it is also at the core of the greatest DJs sets.

Don't be fooled either that the camelot system http://www.harmonic-mixing.com/HowTo.aspx is always going to work either. Use mixedinkey to process your collection, organise your music by genre > key folder's (1A - 12B), drop your tracks into their respective folders by dominate key and you will have a large collection of music to select from. Then always listen in your 'cans' if the two tracks sound great in the headphones then they will sound great on the big system.