Of the various directions in the industry I’m playing around with these days, mixing progressive house definitely makes the time go fastest. It’s d*mn exciting, twisting knobs and planning ahead, racing against the clock while hearing songs I love.
Over time, I’ve started to notice some ways it’s changing how I approach music too, and all for the better.
For one thing, I need to mix fast. I find I’m forced to make snap decisions about how much to bring up one frequency band and drop another to keep the mix from getting muddy, which hopefully translates into faster decision-making in my other projects.
Speaking of keeping the mix clean, it can be pretty fun trying different ways to make a transition sound more natural, especially since things like how fast the song ends, whether there’s a melody on one or both tracks, and which frequency bands are distinctive can all affect the decision.
Here’s a few things I’ve learned about EQing when switching tracks:
- When fading in with the LPF, cutting the lows and half the mids initially helps keep the mix clean, especially if there are potentially conflicting melodies.
- When fading in with the HPF, it’s almost always a good idea to cut the highs by 50%, as the filter cutoff point can sound very harsh at the higher frequencies.
- If fading from the bottom up, gradually reducing the highs and mids of the song I’m replacing helps gradually soften it and prepare for the next one.
Since I’ve been focusing on a single genre, I also notice patterns that indicate the kind of transition I need. For example, many songs have a few bars where the beat drops out, as if to say, “here comes the outro!”
Slow fades in and out allow slow, gradual changes – but you have to time the fade out to coincide with when the main melody kicks in.
Fast transitions are, well, fast, but as long as you get the timing right, you can switch from one song to another in just 8-bars, or even just hit play from an abrupt finish to abrupt start.
Seeing these patterns over and over helps me figure out what I want to create for my own music. Speaking of which, my latest fantasy-based track, To Arms! should be ready in a few more weeks. More to come!
Credits:
‘Close-up Photo of Lighted Dj Controller’ by Francesco Paggiaro from Pexels
‘Green Car Running of Flooded Road’ by ahmad syahrir from Pexels