Entra:     

Forum: General Discussion

Topic: 70's to now gig tips needed please. - Page: 1

Questa parte dell'argomento è obsoleta e potrebbe contenere informazioni obsolete o errate

hey guys, so my next gig is booked and the client wants 70's to now, the issue i face, is im not farmiliar with mixing "generations" sets. i have considered working through the decades, but im unsure how i should go about mixing 70s' 80's??? not only that i gotta get as many floor fillers in there as i can. so the task in hand is looking pretty daunting atm.

im pretty good with track selection through the decades, but not mixing them.
 
Inviato Sat 09 Jun 12 @ 11:45 am
If you mean mixing literally, you do it the same way as anything else!

The only thing to be aware of is that back then, BPMs weren't as steady as they are now, so you need to have your wits about you.

If you just mean combining different decades into one night, that's not hard either really. If that's what they've asked for, it makes it even easier because they're expecting it!

I tend to play little groups of songs together, so a few from now, a few from the 90s, a few from the 80s etc.

You can also link from new to old by using 'bridge tracks' that sound older than they are, or sample bits of old songs.
 
thanks GDJ, its the iratic bpms that that have me on theback foot. being unfarmiliar with the track structures too is a light issue. i know mixing is the same, but its the constant transition between decades and genres im haveing a little trouble contemplating
 
For these type of gigs you don't really have to mix. Some tracks have similar bpm and mix together quite well, some you can chop mix and others you can blend while being on the mic. Try to stick to sets of 3 per decade or genre.

Pick 20 tracks per hour and make up a playlist of guaranteed floor fillers and go from there. Any requests can be slotted in as suits.

Keith
 
Don't make a set out of a decade then go to the next, bust the whole lot up, two from one, one from another, three from the next and so on throughout the night, keep chopping and changing and put some singalongs in to cut the tempo up.
 
kradcliffe wrote :
For these type of gigs you don't really have to mix


Exactly!

Often people who've grown up around music made with synths and drum machines & recorded on computers tend to think that a DJ must mix - that that's what DJing is, and because the music they know has a steady tempo, they get confused when they try and mix two older tracks and it doesn't work!

Those of us who started DJing when everything had real musicians on, and direct drive turntables were the stuff of dreams, have dealt with 'flowing' tempos long enough to have come up with all sorts of other ways to blend tracks together.

The quick beat mix (do it before it drifts off!), the chop, the backspin, the 'power off' etc. etc.

Of course the other way to deal with it (these days) is to use Ableton Live to warp the tracks and straighten the tempos out.
 
Some things to note with the earlier genres of music:

They use REAL humans playing REAL instruments. This of course is the cause for the BPM shift. I would suggest not relying on BPM's 100%. Some songs from the 70's and 80's can have lower BPM's but higher energy. The best advice I can give is to listen to the songs and see how they make you feel. Parties like the one you are talking about are great parties not because the mixing is technically good, but because the RIGHT songs are played at the RIGHT time.
 
i actually listen(d) to music form those era's so it may be easier for me than it is for you. but most record pools have an 80's, disco or funk section so if you are a member of one there you go. and alot of those will be reworked to have intro sections. but just look up funk and disco hits/charts to see what is playable. i bet you know a lot more songs that will fit than you think
 
definitely change around the era's/ decades

i thought Tayla's admonition to throw in some sing alongs was excellent.....

to protect your ears leave your headphones ON during the sing alongs....

nothing quite like hearing dear aunt petunia belting out her version of

"Sweet Caroline" ......while your hair turns whiter by the second .....


the music of these earlier geologic era's does drift tempo wise

i could forgive the shoddy musicianship , but i don't understand why they always left

out the cursing and swearing track....?

you can add them back in , but you gotta practice .....


just count it off , 1,2,3 sh!t , 1,2,3 f@#k..... after awhile , you get pretty good


next , you just add the good stuff back in .....


so for instance "If I ruled the World " you could improve it like this .....

instead of " if i ruled the world ... everyday would be the first day of spring"

would become " if i ruled the world , everyday would be the first f$%king day of spring......

see ? much better ......

it's a shame all the music isn't as advanced as today's ......
 
chucknorrisyouwimps wrote :
i could forgive the shoddy musicianship


No no, it's not shoddiness - it's called groove or feeling.

Back then it was achieved with the subtle nuances of human playing.

Now it's a setting in a DAW. :-)

You can actually take a modern, totally rigid track and apply groove to it with software such as Ableton Live, Cubase etc.
 
Another thing you should be aware of is that the bass & drums are not usually as strong as they are in today's music due to the recording techniques (or lack of) back then.

I have a mate who has DJed for 40 years and still can't beatmix and is still working. You don't HAVE to beatmix everything. :-)
 
DJSoulman wrote :
the bass & drums are not usually as strong as they are in today's music


I think this is more down to production/mixing tastes rather than it not being possible...
 
well ive been playing around the past few days with the earlier decades and have come to the conclusion that im just gonna mash up the entire night and use beat mixing only were possible, im debating the fade in/out technique from one song to the next if i cant chop, loop, sample and drop tracks in .... the more i play around with the earlier years the more im coming to the conclusion "yeah i aint mixing these any time soon" lol
 
Funny really how people get put off by it....

Think back to all those early DMC mixes from the 80s. No computers or warping involved there, and yet they used to mix all sorts of things.

Same with people like James Hamilton (the man behind the yearly Capital Radio Houseparty mixes for NYE). Lots of old tunes in those mixes too.

Going even further back, US DJs were mixing disco (and in some cases quite oddball stuff) in clubs and loft spaces before we in the UK got wind of that new fangled mixing lark!
 
"Back in the day" the DJ finger was more important than anything else... It could speed a platter up or slow a platter down! and would have to do this continuously throughout a mix - while also watching the crowd and matching the levels!!!

Unless you've experienced mixing vinyl from those era's I think you could struggle! You can do the same with CDJ's or controllers but have to be more subtle.

I watch now and see DJ's spending more time "twiddling" with effects or the decks EQs, back then we had no time to worry about any of that stuff we were too busy keeping the BPM's in check.

Having just read your last post you got it bang on... Mix when you can and when it works. Cut's and fade's work just as well ... In fact watched a Brian Redd video on this subject just the other week. Mixing doesn't have to be about the 20-30 second "blend". As long as the BPM's are close enough a straight cut will do.

Some examples for you:

Cut: ABBA - Dancing Queen to Four Seasons - Oh What A Night!

Mix:
Celebration - Kool & The Gang
We Are Family - Sister Sledge
Billie Jean - MJ
Word Up - Cameo
Vogue - Madonna

Now there's a generations mix for ya ;-)

TBH, what you are doing is what I call a typical wedding/40th/50th party. I do this stuff week in/week out.

You'll be fine... Happy to offer a playlist or two if it helps...

Cheers,

Roy
 
Yup sometimes you gotta ride the pitch..............guess that's another point for the old school way of things.
 
all of that previous post of mine was meant to be over the top sarcastic .....

i may have succeeded too well .....


to my warped view , the human groove is what's correct , not the drum machine


i was a drummer for a long time and still enjoy teaching it; the only perfect tempo's are from

drum machines and etc. , fortunately people get caught up in the excitement and speed up and

slow down slightly causing the present problem ....


as for the other so called problems with the old music.....

i hope there isn't a room somewhere with students counting it off , practicing there cursing......

and there's no such thing as an explicit version of " if i ruled the world" by Tony Bennett

(so far , knock on wood )

that song might be good for your cocktail hour .......

Roy gave you some great songs and ideas .....

it may be illegal in some areas to NOT play Billie Jean ......
 
chucknorrisyouwimps wrote :
all of that previous post of mine was meant to be over the top sarcastic


Yeah I got that.

I was replying with kinda the same vibe. We now have a button on a sequencer to put back what got taken out by drum machines!
 
Hey Blulite

About 2 years ago I was spinning a live on air broadcast in the philadelphia market that specifically catered to that format. I quickly browsed through the responses. Definitely dont spin one decade a time, bounce around. Stay with the hits alot of those are sing alongs anyway, the tru sing alongs like Sweet Caroline could be used at the slower points of the night.

I dont know your market as some songs are stronger in different areas but you can try something like

I want you back - Jackson 5
Crazy in love - Beyonce
mo money mo problems - biggie
I get lifted - KC
poison - BBD

Yeah I know its a long hip hop/r/b set but again your the dj so you'll know when to move on to a different tempo or genre. You can mix out, loop out, fade or slam out of all these and it'll work. Ive done that set at a wedding, but thats my style anyway at any function, I like to jump around from different era's...i think its the most fun a dj can have
 
chucknorrisyouwimps wrote :
Roy gave you some great songs and ideas .....


Cheers Chuck ;-)

chucknorrisyouwimps wrote :
it may be illegal in some areas to NOT play Billie Jean ......


Not Wrong!
 
87%