Mixing and the perfectionist.... to pefect or not too perfect?

**Bassline Brine** · 09-05-2010, 07:05 PM

I have a friend whom I believe mixes incredibly well. He uses two 1200's and SL1. He's never recorded a set, because he's a brutal perfectionist about it.

Now, don't get me wrong, you don't want issue after issue, but sometimes you just need to hit record and go with it, and don't look back. I know for a fact he'd school some of the DnB local DJ's we have.

**wrong chris** · 09-05-2010, 07:08 PM

Originally Posted by BigC

I have a friend whom I believe mixes incredibly well. He uses two 1200's and SL1. He's never recorded a set, because he's a brutal perfectionist about it.

Now, don't get me wrong, you don't want issue after issue, but sometimes you just need to hit record and go with it, and don't look back. I know for a fact he'd school some of the DnB local DJ's we have.

you should teach him the ropes of editing in soundforge, he'd probably like the results he can get with doing a bit of cut&paste.

it's a different buzz than doing a live mix for sure, but sounds like he's the kinda guy who refuses to share his work unless it's near flawless. that's a difficult goal to achieve without a bit of studio magic, unless you're using software like ableton where you can automate much of the work.

**Ciar2001** · 09-06-2010, 01:18 AM

stick to random track selection and just off the bat mixing, honestly some of my best transitions and fx sessions come from being completely spontaneous, on top of that i honestly find mixes with zero mistakes so dull, they have no energy too perfect, but that's just me

either way don't beat yourself up, I did that still do sometimes but now I realise that you actually make things worse best to stay chilled and try and do things over.

**sarasin** · 09-06-2010, 03:24 AM

Originally Posted by JesterNZDJ

Keep practising til you can do two hours without an obvious mistake. Then you can really start to express your ideas with your recordings, personally i hate "clinical" sounding mixes, i dont like to hear trainwrecks either but a little glitch here and there is fine with me

I have to go thru a few mixes every day running the soundcloud group and OMG you guys are fucking geniuses compared to some of the shit we (sarasin is a mod also) dont let thru

That be correct!

I needed to do an hour and a half mix this weekend....got to 45mins and fucked it up.

The mapping I was using was for my APC40 and there is no deck load lock if there is a track playing. So I loaded into the wrong deck.

School Boy error!

There are one or 2 odd bits in the mix...where I left the beatmasher on too long (fucked up there) and also the Richie Hawtin effect fucked around a lil.

But its still usable! and I did!

**Yul** · 09-06-2010, 03:35 AM

With experience, I learned than trying to be too perfectionist is actually a flaw because it 'may' be an issue when it comes to spontaneity. I need a bit of both.
You have to "let go" any piece of creation at a point either if it's a produced track or a recorded mix. It has to take its own life (now I'm getting poetic mood).

ctrld · 09-06-2010, 06:23 AM

it depends.

"selection > mixing technique" applies to live situations where people are hyped up and simply don't notice when the DJ messes up as long as he/she keeps dropping sick tunes. but when the listener sits at home and can fully concentrate on listening, mistakes are much easier noticed.

so - if you're making a mix for listening, make it perfect. period.

but if you're making a peaktime demo... that's entirely different. focus on putting some energy in there, don't obsess with technical details too much. if it's too clean, I for one won't believe you can pull it off - because no one (yeah I said it - NO ONE) plays a flawless set. there's always some kind of a slip-up in a live session, even (or, if you listen closely, especially) with the big names. look at jeff mills - guy goes crazy with 4 decks and whatnot, most of what you hear is him correcting the mix but it's cool as shit...

hearing the dj work in an energetic mix (as long as it's just a bunch of quick, subtle corrections, I'm not saying trainwrecks are okay) is good, because the people need to be reminded that it's a human up there doing the creative work - not just a machine syncing beatgrids...

**sarasin** · 09-06-2010, 06:52 AM

Yeah...coming back from a fuck up is an art on its own!!

That shows real skill....

Noticing the flubb immediately and fixing it.

Nothing wrong with that!

**photojojo** · 09-06-2010, 07:51 AM

I just want to say that if someone is reading this thread and has aspirations of playing out in a big club you shouldn't get in the habit of fixing mixes in Audacity. Make a point to practice getting out of tough spots and you'll be better because of it. And if your doing three or four "fixes" in an hour mix maybe you need to look at what your doing wrong and fix the problem at the source.