Harmonic Mixing

[capo ultra]

lol at people who think mixing in key is a chemical program

[AxeD]

lol at people who think mixing in key is a chemical program

Mixed in Key is a program.

[capo ultra]

lol at people who think mixing in key is a chemical program

Mixed in Key is a program.

lol at people who think mixing in key is a chemical program

[miig]

lol at people who think mixing in key is a chemical program

repeat yourself again then we might get if you understand what's being talked about

Mixed In Key is a program which uses the Camelot Wheel

Chemical Records also use the Camelot Wheel

[Shum]

Going up and down thirds and fifths is cool and all but seriously, all you need to use are your ears.

[capo ultra]

lol at people who think mixing in key is a chemical program

repeat yourself again then we might get if you understand what's being talked about

Mixed In Key is a program which uses the Camelot Wheel

Chemical Records also use the Camelot Wheel

lol at people who think mixing in key is a chemical program

[AxeD]

Haha now you'll have to stick with it

[capo ultra]

I can beatmatch perfect, I downloaded the program

[Shum]

I can beatmatch perfect, I downloaded the program

from Chemical?

[camelotsound]

never used keys, once you pitch a tune anyway the key changes so it seems kinda flawed to me.

Net pitch adjustment of less than 2% produces few compatibility problems. Example: If your current track is at 128 BPM, you can easily mix into compatible keys of tracks between 126 and 130 BPM. With a net difference of 6%, you can easily select compatible tracks a semi-tone apart. Example: Keycode 2A tracks at 128 BPM become 9A tracks at 135 BPM when you speed them up 6%. This is "region shifting" as outlined above.

This is how we did it before key lock circuitry. It's the "5P Rule": Prior planning precludes poor performance.

[migration recordings]

I've been DJing for the best part of 10 years and have never once considered the key of a tune!

It's not hard to tell if 2 tunes are out of key in the mix i.e it sounds fucking gash and clashy when you play the 2 over the top of each other.

Just practice lots and get to know your tunes.

This

I've got a very musical background but I don't actually know the key of any tune im mixing and root key doesn't tell you if something will mix anyway, you could have 2 tune in D at the same tempo but one say 49% sharper than the other - unless you are using pitch shifting they will sound horrible when mixed. Also some tunes have key changes might have the same root key but when key changes they clang in the harmonic sense

Tunes in same key (and not too sharp/flat from each other) or a fifth apart mix best but you can seamlessly blend tunes with many different keys depends on whats going on in each tune blending is an art choose the right points of tunes and you can get away with a lot, ive found it possible to mix some tunes a semitone apart (ultimate clang) with lots of music going on as long as u crossfade matched breakdowns etc. Some tunes without much melody will mix into pretty much anything maybe not the best tunes ever but get played a lot as they are very useful.

I put a lot of time into planning sets/learning what tunes mix with what but always by ear (though would probably save some time to know what key computer thinks a tune is in) you need to remember as well that a fast tune slowed down will drop in pitch and vice versa 138-145 would probably be around a semitone (eg. G - G#) unless your using cdjs with keylock turned on (which can fuk bass up on some tunes). I really think that paying attention to key matching and blending tricks makes a huge difference to the enjoyability of a set and allows you to mix up genres/sub genres a lot better as well

[DjMass]

I read about harmonic mixing about a month ago and thought to give it a go in a mix. I was quite pleased with the result as there was a good flow to the mix! Harmonic mixing helps you to structure the mix easily and create a compatible playlist as it can be tricky to create a playlist when you have thousands of tracks to choose from, as camelotsound pointed out. It can also throw up some interesting combinations and its worth playing around with!

However i think that beat matchin and tune selection should be considered before indulging further into harmonic mixing. I also think that harmonic mixing is suited to certain types of mixes, for example it would be a good idea to use it if you are doin a mix using chill dubstep tunes where the melody and the flow of the mix are quite important. otherwise if a mix using more wobbles based tunes are used i wouldn't consider harmonic mixing as much as beat matchin and tune selection!

Anyways thats my view on it, have a listen to my mix i did using the principles of harmonic mixing and hopefully u'll get an idea of the results it can produce!
http://i.mixcloud.com/CMxf3

[rorz9992]

The good thing with mixing harmonically in dubstep is that so many of the tunes are exactly 140pm. This means that as you won't have to pitch the tracks up and down much at all to get them beatmatched, the keys of the respective tunes won't change, so if you know the keys of your tunes it makes it relatively easy to plan a set or at least a few mixes to put in your set. At least compared to other genres where the bpms can vary massively (house, I'm looking in your direction...)

When mixing dubstep (I use vinyl btw) I knowingly mix about 70% of the tunes harmonically, other times you can find 2 tunes that'll work well together that aren't necessarily in the same key.

But remember, just because 2 songs are in the same key or relative keys, doesn't mean they will always sound good mixed together!

[icanicant]

The good thing with mixing harmonically in dubstep is that so many of the tunes are exactly 140pm. This means that as you won't have to pitch the tracks up and down much at all to get them beatmatched, the keys of the respective tunes won't change, so if you know the keys of your tunes it makes it relatively easy to plan a set or at least a few mixes to put in your set. At least compared to other genres where the bpms can vary massively (house, I'm looking in your direction...)

When mixing dubstep (I use vinyl btw) I knowingly mix about 70% of the tunes harmonically, other times you can find 2 tunes that'll work well together that aren't necessarily in the same key.

But remember, just because 2 songs are in the same key or relative keys, doesn't mean they will always sound good mixed together!

Surely beat matching is always important

[ajw11491]

Not to say it's NECESSARY to know the key of what you're mixing back but... honestly, think how much time you could save if you just knew what you were working with, rather than guessing? The trial and error method just seems kind of like a waste of time to me when you can just play a couple scales and and find the root of whatever tonal center you're in pretty quickly. As opposed to blindly doing it and later asking, "Wow, why does this sound awful?". Also if you're gonna pitch shift it to another key or harmonic region, it would just be nice to know how many half steps or whole steps away you actually are.

[rorz9992]

The good thing with mixing harmonically in dubstep is that so many of the tunes are exactly 140pm. This means that as you won't have to pitch the tracks up and down much at all to get them beatmatched, the keys of the respective tunes won't change, so if you know the keys of your tunes it makes it relatively easy to plan a set or at least a few mixes to put in your set. At least compared to other genres where the bpms can vary massively (house, I'm looking in your direction...)

When mixing dubstep (I use vinyl btw) I knowingly mix about 70% of the tunes harmonically, other times you can find 2 tunes that'll work well together that aren't necessarily in the same key.

But remember, just because 2 songs are in the same key or relative keys, doesn't mean they will always sound good mixed together!

Surely beat matching is always important

It is but I can't help the fact that a lot of my favourite tunes are at exactly 140bpm. It is a very popular speed to produce at it would seem! To take advantage of this I will mix a lot of tunes harmonically. But I don't just own tunes at 140 so of course I'll beatmatch.

Even two tunes that are both theoretically at 140 can still differ a little in speed (often down to what software/sequencer was used), so beatmatching is still required in these circumstances.

I find that two tunes that vary by a few bpm tend not to change key when pitched up or down a bit when beatmatching, so is still possible to mix these harmonically too

[icanicant]

The good thing with mixing harmonically in dubstep is that so many of the tunes are exactly 140pm. This means that as you won't have to pitch the tracks up and down much at all to get them beatmatched, the keys of the respective tunes won't change, so if you know the keys of your tunes it makes it relatively easy to plan a set or at least a few mixes to put in your set. At least compared to other genres where the bpms can vary massively (house, I'm looking in your direction...)

When mixing dubstep (I use vinyl btw) I knowingly mix about 70% of the tunes harmonically, other times you can find 2 tunes that'll work well together that aren't necessarily in the same key.

But remember, just because 2 songs are in the same key or relative keys, doesn't mean they will always sound good mixed together!

Surely beat matching is always important

It is but I can't help the fact that a lot of my favourite tunes are at exactly 140bpm. It is a very popular speed to produce at it would seem! To take advantage of this I will mix a lot of tunes harmonically. But I don't just own tunes at 140 so of course I'll beatmatch.

Even two tunes that are both theoretically at 140 can still differ a little in speed (often down to what software/sequencer was used), so beatmatching is still required in these circumstances.

I find that two tunes that vary by a few bpm tend not to change key when pitched up or down a bit when beatmatching, so is still possible to mix these harmonically too

Ah I see what you mean now. i thought you were talking about breaking new boundaries by mixing without beatmatching different bpms

[DREdio]

I can beatmatch perfect, I downloaded the program

[capo ultra]

Not to say it's NECESSARY to know the key of what you're mixing back but... honestly, think how much time you could save if you just knew what you were working with, rather than guessing? The trial and error method just seems kind of like a waste of time to me when you can just play a couple scales and and find the root of whatever tonal center you're in pretty quickly. As opposed to blindly doing it and later asking, "Wow, why does this sound awful?". Also if you're gonna pitch shift it to another key or harmonic region, it would just be nice to know how many half steps or whole steps away you actually are.

you see it's totally not a waste of time because the trial and error method requires you to deeply listen to your records, repeatedly. This is valuable time and should illicit much enjoyment and satisfaction

[wizeguy]

headphones for a few seconds does the job