mixing on the fly

[ST.PE`]

i've taught myself so much in the past few months by doing what is mentioned. I usually take 10 songs from a particular genre and will do 3 mixes. each mix i will juggle the songs orders and try to mix in or mash-up them in different cue points. This frustrated me so much at first but once i got timing the song and cue points i was able to "reallly" mix on the fly. I personally feel that if you dont have someone that can teach you this will be a really good way to get to know the songs you play and learn more.

Now many parties i do for my friends i wont have any idea what im gonna play, this is bc its a house party. now at the club people dont want to listen to a dj mix in beginning of each song, gets boring. Knowing and practicing will help keep your mixes exciting and entertaining.

[dope]

I don't plan anything either. But what i like to do is to write down my favorites 50 of my whole collection, and especially underline the tracks that i'll play no matter what (favorites of the favorites )
I prefer to work with paper, having a small list in the booth can be helpful, and can remind me if i just forget about an awesome track.


But my plan for the future is to have 4 decks, with the following idea in mind :

Having planned several mashups of 2 songs, and going from a mashup to another.
Like (A+B) -> (C+D).
Then if you see the mashup as a track itself, it's still on the fly, but the mashups themselves are prepared and defined.
I'd like to work on tons of mashups, but if i want to perform them perfectly, then I can only plan enough for a set. Cause i can't remember 100 mashups perfectly, even if they all have a part of improvisation.
Not to mention that you need to find the perfect combination.
Had this idea like 3 weeks ago, and i got 1 mashup done and learned, and 2 are just ideas that popped in my head.

If i manage to achieve this, then it will add "live perfomance" comparing to standard mixing.

[photojojo]

I use playlists with more tracks in it than I'll need for however long I'm going to play. Pretty similar to the way you work when you have 1000's of records at home but can only bring a fraction of them to a gig. As far as practicing goes, I don't really practice mixing.

[Dubstyles1]

thats the way ive always mixed