How can I improve my mixing?

[clairvoyeur]

I bought a pair of 1200s & a rane 57 about 4 months ago and I've had to teach myself how to mix from scratch since I don't know any DJs and its been a real trial and error process. I've picked up some tricks along the way but I'm still not happy with the way the mixing sounds overall and I know there's a lot of DJs on this forum and I'd really like some feedback & advice about what I'm doing wrong or right

I recorded like an hour long mix that's pretty dodgy, but if anyone could take a minute and listen to part of it i'd really appreciate it

this was made using a combination of real vinyl and control records w/ serato

Soundcloud

1. Ruckspin - Get Naked
2. Von D - So Many Faces VIP
3. Silkie - Primal
4. Baobinga & I.D. - Tongue Riddim (Roska Remix)
5. Deadboy - U Cheated
6. Monz - Make A Way
7. Spoonface - Boogie Time Riddim
8. Clueless - Paper Girl
9. Appleblim & Geiom - Flame Tree
10. Rob Sparx - Fully Booked (Indigo Remix)
11. Cooly G - Love Dub
12. Numan - Neon Highway
13. Harry Craze - Wa6
14. Synkro - Together
15. Swarms - Never Step On Me
16. HxdB - Stepo Maxim
17. Quantum Soul - Long Time (Ruckspin Remix)
18. Jus Wan - Action Potential
19. Deadboy - Brock Lee Riddim
20. Mosca - Square One
21. Artwork - Red
22. Caper - Poker Ghost
23. Dusk + Blackdown - Akkaboo
24. D1 - Jus Business
25. Burial - Archangel
26. Chromeo - Night By Night (Skream Remix)
27. Duncan Powell - Came Into View
28. I.D. & Skinnz - Shimmy
29. Appleblim & Geiom - Shreds
30. Mount Kimbie - Maybes (James Blake Remix)

[_boring]

nice looking traklist!

[hiat]

Don't hear anything that's wrong with the mixing. Sounds pretty tight to me. Nice job bro !!

[EBR]

Tips for better mixing.

Keep your headphone volume low. It'll force you to pay more attention to what is happening from the monitors. *trust me*
You want to match up the subtle noise during the mix. When you drop the bigger drums, it'll be in sync because you already matched the quieter stuff.

Record every time you mix. Listen to your mixes, give them to your friends and get feedback.

Organize your records by BPM so that it's easy to mix without too much guess work.

Did i say record every time ?

A big thing is have patience when mixing. Don't force it or rush the mix. Trying to force it will cause you to have a train wreck.

Stick to mixing during the instrumental breaks on a track untill you get good enough to blend the tones/ melodies.

Mix quickly until you get good enough to do the extended mixes. If you hear a train wreck coming on don't be afraid to drop back out of the mix, cue back up and try again. Don't force everyone to listen to a train wreck. Drop in and out of mixes quickly (till you get good) to avoid sounding horrible.

Don't be afraid to slam from one record to the next if you want to. You don't always have to do extended remixes.

When you are Djing in a bar remember to crash your dance floor every now and then and send people to the bar for drinks. Tell the bar manager you are doing this and he'll likely book you again. Don't Dj for free. At least ask for gas $ and a couple new 12" records.

To avoid getting jocked by other stupid, moron DJs make sure the guy DJing after you know to stay the fuck out of the DJ booth untill 5 min before its his turn.

When in doubt, Turn the bass up. Keep and eye on your mids and highs, you don't want to have the music sounding too crispy.

Have fun ! play the music that gets you off. If you are up there looking bored, your crowd will be bored too.

Edit : Don't push the gains too much on the mixer. Make sure your Amps & house PA volume is up. If you try to push everything from your gains, the music will sound bad.

[SubLime]

Tips for better mixing.

All good advice here.

[robbiej]

have confidence!! and i enjoyed the mix

[clairvoyeur]

Thanks for the good advice EBR, lots of good stuff. I think I have the hang of the longer mix-ins since I feel my beatmatching is fine, and I organize all my tracks by key signiature so they flow together nicely with relative major / minor keys and tonic to dominant/sub-dominant key changes, but one thing I'm struggling with is equalizing the highs. In most situations should I turn the highs down on the track mixing in and then swap them in before or during the bass drops or is there a better sounding way? Also I rarely fuck with EQing the mids unless there's some vocals going on, so I'm not sure if more should be going on there.

[hiat]

Yeah - turning down the high of the channel your gonna start mixing in will certainly give you a smooth blend to your mix - although it doesn't always have to be that way and there are different ways of bringing in those highs. The best way to figure out the best sound to your mixes is do what EBR wrote and record your mixes. Listen to them and analyze each mix to figure out how you want it to sound. Trial and error but that is what makes dj'ing fun. Mids are also very useful. I use them quite a bit and definitely helps with blending your mixes. You can make certain sounds of the tracks be more prominent or less prominent depending on how you want the mix to sound. Tracks are also mastered differently so it's also a matter of knowing that track's sound levels.

[BastionMusic]

I'm struggling with is equalizing the highs. In most situations should I turn the highs down on the track mixing in and then swap them in before or during the bass drops or is there a better sounding way? Also I rarely fuck with EQing the mids unless there's some vocals going on, so I'm not sure if more should be going on there.

EQing is about subtly 95% the time. Cutting entire spectrums is fine in special instances but doing too much gets old real quick. Turning down the highs on incoming tracks is a good idea but dont overdo it, it'll sound like there is a worn out record coming in. I spend more time on the bass of each track though, if you are doing long mixes I find this is a good way of fading out.