Transition Techniques

[mattus123]

Hey guys

ive been mucking around with my DJin and i got my beatmatching close to perfect (can beatmatch a song within bout 20 seconds, give or take)

but im kinda stuck on different ways to transition the songs

at the moment ill either do a quick fader slam or gradually fade in song b and fade out song a, or use the backspin on the outgoing track...but after an hour of mixing this kinda gets a bit boring

just wondering if you guys might know of nay other techniques and when would be a good time to use em

cheers guys!

[CapFive]

filter is a good one, its a nice way to fade out, you can also beat roll out (thats loops it down and slowly fade as well) but only really do that if the song coming in has a made hype up at the beggining, ummm what elase is there, pretty much just go through the effect and learn how to use them, but they are all just facy ways of either slamming or fading lol

[eggssell]

like all things do in moderation. but try to have a few songs in your set that you can do super long mixes of. i remember the one off chevs mix, must of went for a minute or so was awesome.

nail a couple of them and things wont be so boring. not sure if you on tt's or cd's but its even more exciting on tt's cuz you have to keep slightly touching and tweaking.

[lloydc]

pulling the bass on the existing track while the other track is beatmatched can work well sometimes

[CapFive]

i always fade my bass out when fading to the new song

[mattus123]

pulling the bass on the existing track while the other track is beatmatched can work well sometimes

yea ive been doing that a bit actually. works on some songs..absolute train wreck on others

thansk guys ill give some of them a try

im usin CDJs and i got no effects on my mixer, so im limited to the basic stuff...i just wanna get pro at the basic before i think bout effects like echos n all that jazz

[andyman]

i just wanna get pro at the basic before i think bout effects like echos n all that jazz

Smart thinking mate.

Overuse of effects is a crime worse than murder.

[mattus123]

haha you hear it in clubs and the effects start off sounding cool

but after a solid hour of hearing em it gets really frustrating ey

i dont really have the option of using effects anyway, on my mixer (xone:22) all i got is a high/low pass filter

[Ravni]

I tend to eq every thing in, usally get it beatmatched and all that shitz,

then on track B (the one im bringing i) and ill bring in the element of the song that blends the best more abruptly,

so if your mids melt well, then i Bring them in at 90% volume of the current track playin slide the volume all the way up and slowly turn up the low and highs while turning the volumes down on the out going track then you can bring elements in and out of each track, so basic eq' ing

alot of combinations you can do

im not a fan of using effects or filters cause yoy get lazy and mix tracks that dont go too well together and rely on the effects or tricks to disguise the transition

im a big fan of layering transitions so you dont know where the last song ended and when the new one starts.

started to use phrasing where you count beats or identify a new part of a song line the next song up at the same stage so melodically it sounds (hard to explain but google phrasing and ull understand wat i mean)

[CapFive]

its a fine line of how/when you should use effects, my limit is about 1 - 2 every hour

[Ravni]

haha you hear it in clubs and the effects start off sounding cool

but after a solid hour of hearing em it gets really frustrating ey

i dont really have the option of using effects anyway, on my mixer (xone:22) all i got is a high/low pass filter

atleast u got a good mixer the low and high pass filters is all u need the shit u can do with jsut two of them is enuff!

[CapFive]

also here is a little tip, listen to your ending of your songs by themselves, this will help you remember if there is bass fade, of if the vocals go all the way to the end, you can then be VERY prepared when the song is about to end, and you can choose the next song by this (for e.g if the song your playing has vocals till the end, find the next song that has a nice long none vocal lead in )

[mattus123]

atleast u got a good mixer the low and high pass filters is all u need the shit u can do with jsut two of them is enuff!

haha i definetly wasnt complaining, ill probs stick with it untill/if it breaks

also here is a little tip, listen to your ending of your songs by themselves, this will help you remember if there is bass fade, of if the vocals go all the way to the end, you can then be VERY prepared when the song is about to end, and you can choose the next song by this

solid tip, thanks

cant believe i hadn't thought of doing that, coulda saved myself ALOT of shithouse transitions

[CapFive]

no probs took me awhile to figure this one out... i kept going shit whats at the end, ahhh loop dump!

[street]

heres my most used one. takes place most of the time over 32 bars for like electro house, electro trash, fidget. etc.

1.) cue up the track, get it all beatmatched, get the volume levels right blah blah blah.

2.) Start playing your incoming track with the bass and volume all the way down.

3.) After 8 bars, smash up the channel fader of the incoming track to about 2/3 volume.

4.) After 16 bars crank the volume to full on the incoming track and turn the bass up like 1/3

5.) After 24 bars bring the bass up of the incoming track to about 2/3

6.) During the last beat or 2 of the 32 bars simultaneously bring the bass of the incoming track all the way up and the outgoing track all the way down in a slow gradual motion then kill the outgoing track all together.

7.) ????

8.) Profit

[dim]

^ is a good way to do it, would it be fair to point out that for that to really rock you would have had to take care to line up phrases as well as beats?

i like swapping bass too, drop one as you raise the other.

also like drop ins: where you're incoming tune is matched but instead of fading it up you just fade up on the snare every other bar then fade back down, then after a few bars of that fade up for more of the beat, it's kind of like a build up effect. cant explain it v well but its a common technique so google drop-ins. can work real well on b-lines + melodies too.

also on outro getting a snare sound for scratching out with an echo can be good if the transition doesnt occur on a break.

WHat caps said about listening to the songs end is so important. If you know your songs inside out you can do so much more with them and this includes knowing how they end. You may find that doing nothign excpet that basic fade at the right place is the best mix available.

for instacne if you know two songs and phrase them so the one tunes intro ends just as the outgoing tunes break begins then you get build of intro to tune 2, then tune 1 bass cuts and breaks without you doing anything and your tune 2 should hvae just kicked off after it;s intro.

It isnt always about what you do to it, it;s about where you start it and where they fall after that.

in other words - know your tunes and let them do the work for you.

finally there are occasionally little outro vox comments or other noises which can be scratched out nicely wihtout needing to know much about scratching, just rock the platter back and forth as you are fading out vol.

[street]

yeah, phrasing is important. most of the time its dropping a 32bar intro with a release/build section at the end of it on a 32 bar drop.

[Ravni]

yeah, phrasing is important. most of the time its dropping a 32bar intro with a release/build section at the end of it on a 32 bar drop.

7)????? = hands in air while looking down to see if the groupie is still doin her thing

[mattus123]

thats given me some new things to try

ill give em a go now

also that whole listneing to the outro of a song, i suppose that only applies if u plan on playing that particualr track to the outro ey?

cheers guys

[Elsamchez]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, commonly overused - sure but can be cool. Creating a loop at some point in the song, then pressing out and editing the loop down with the jog wheel until it is one constant noise. This plus the phaser and drop in the new track while slaming out the already running one.

[street]

^^^thats a good one for genres changes

[mattus123]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, commonly overused - sure but can be cool. Creating a loop at some point in the song, then pressing out and editing the loop down with the jog wheel until it is one constant noise. This plus the phaser and drop in the new track while slaming out the already running one.

haah yea ive tried that one

i always find there is the bit between the 4bar loop (for example) and hte constant noise, that just sounds terrible and sloppy

guess i gotta practise gettin from hte loop to the constant noise a bit quicker

[imadje]

^ yer that deserves practice, but no harm in fading down vol or applying extra phase for a few secs if you know the dodgy bit cant be avoided but the mix is worth it.

...and listening to the end of the tune is always worth it coz you never know what the artist puts at the end... you may want to use it.

[street]

yeah scanning through the track before you bring it in is a good idea so you can get an idea of how busy the outro section is so when you bring in the track after that you can have a good idea of how to make your transistion.

if I dont already know how the song is structured, ill scan through it before I bring it in just with the fast foward button to see where the drop is, how many bars the drop is, and when the release is etc.

[CapFive]

also that whole listneing to the outro of a song, i suppose that only applies if u plan on playing that particualr track to the outro ey?

i don't mean just listening to the end on the fly, you wanna know all your bangers all the way to the end, if you in the car and have your library playing, don't just change the track once it drops back to kicks and snares, like foolish said, you never know what you might find, it's that one vocal drop in between the 32 bar loop that can royally fuck your transition because the song your already dopping in has the same vocal drop, also when you get good enough you will learn to save cue points at the best point for a transition, this way when you want to put the next song on, just cue and loop and your in the perfect spot to bring in your new song but i guess it's all about what your using, thats not always as easy with CDJ's but traktor loves cue points