Whats the easiest type of music to mix?

linziloop

linziloop

The Puppeteer
Messages
1,624
Reaction score
18
Location
Liverpool
I was just chattin away before and was told that psy trance is quite difficult to mix compared to some other kinds of music. And it got me wondering, purely out of curiosty, what would you say was the easiest kind of tunes to mix?
 
track one of son kite colours into track one of son kite colours :Wink3:

the less sounds in the music, the better. for mixing.
 
Prog house
 
drum and bass at 33rpm
with an audience of sleeping people
:cool:
 
When I was just starting mixing I found all that nu-nrg Baby Doc and sound of the hoover DJ Energy type stuff a godsend. Clearly defined uncluttered beats that were fast enough to home in on and know when you were out.

Hard house was another goodun.

Although I pretty much started on Flying Rhino/Matsuri/Symbiosis/TIP type stuff, think I discovered the dubious joys of hard house and hard trance in that funny/horrific little bar that opened at 6am in Birmingham after the Que kicked out (West End Bar? Was it. Got a bit moody in there sometimes it did.)
 
Yep, hard trance/house is a good hit, 32 bars of kick and percussion then, sure as clockwork, a bassline!! Every bloody time...

Not only will it teach you to beatmix but you'll also start to develop a sense of timing and a feel for when a tune is about to do something (e.g. 8/16 bar phrases) You'll find you'll start dropping mixes that break into one tune just as the old one is fading. It's very satisfying...
 
i'd say hard stuff as well. either minimal tech (so clear, so little aural clutter) or something like minimal hard house (better - more defined builds/etc)

generally, the faster the tempo of a record, the easier it is to mix. that said once you can beatmatch anyone can pull of massive 6 min prog house mixes because all the tracks are 12 minutes of same-ness and there's very little melody to make things interesting :Wink3: also the lack of defined bassline (often) means it's much easier to do longer mixes.

psytrance is difficult to mix sometimes. usually this is because of the complex rhythmic patterns, the lack of 'plain' track (i.e. just kick drum and hihats or whatever) to mix with, and - finally but most importantly imo - the melodic intricacy. having so many different melodies, melodic sounds, scales and progressions means that you have to be really good with tune selection if you're to build a non-dissonant mix; it also means that if you're into really funked-up chord change mixes, you have plenty of ammunition...

it's good. challenging is good. but then again, sometimes i like to whack some old house into the CDJs and just.... relax :Wink3: :Grin:
 
i like a challenge - bring it on! Its like my friend who, wenever he gets say, a new computer game, will ALWAYS set it to difficult mode before he starts playing - reckons thers no point completing the game otherwise. I reckon if ya start off difficult, the easy stuff ya mix will sound proper good! Although i might well be wrong. I don't know all that much. Blah!
 
Ambient atmospheric stuff that has no rhythm (especially if whoever wrote it can only play keyboards in C!!!)
 
seuss said:
... anyone can pull of massive 6 min prog house mixes because all the tracks are 12 minutes of same-ness and there's very little melody to make things interesting :Wink3: also the lack of defined bassline (often) means it's much easier to do longer mixes. ....
Click to expand...

You're listening to the wrong prog house stuff mate. I was going to say prog house also but get it in before the tune comes in otherwise you'll have to deal with key changes.

I agree with hard house and minimalist techno stuff. I also agree that psy is difficult to mix unless you know your tunes - as my brain is a sieve and can't remember one doof doof from the next doof doof I find my mixes sound like drboof drboof :?
 
mixing gabba is great fun :Grin:

just chuck in cuts and drops where you like, mix it with random jazz and novelty charity shop records. can't go wrong :Wink3:
 
I'd say goa, cos if you keep it in the mix for more then 10 secs, you get a mess :Smile3:
Prog house you have to mix for a longer period of time, and I've seen a LOT of trance djs not being able to beatmix at all.
I mean, if you dont know how to beatmix, goa is perfect with all those intros and outros, but when a track is starting with a kick, you cant "cheat".
 
i reckon gabbas the easiest to mix coz ninty nine percent of its RUBBISH anyway so no ones going to notice anything irregular... also when there that many beats happening how can you not get it rite

not that i've ever tried to mix gabba.. but i have been writing my own stuff and it gets more indepeth the slower it gets i reckon

gabba sucks - but its easy to mix and great to listen to on speed... not my cup of tea
 
bollocks! People who say that about gabba usually havn't been listening to good enough gabba imo.

tongue.gif
 
Music without beats is easiest to mix :runsmile:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top