what goes into the making of a commercial dj release?

[C_T]

just curious...what sort of equipment is being used to make commercial dj mix releases? i'm talking about global underground type releases. what happens to the music after it leaves the mixer? what sorts of hardware or software are used to give a "blanket" consistent sound throughout the entire cd, despite having different, already mastered tracks?

i'm wondering what i could do myself...and this question has been bothering me forever!!!

[Neve8128]

DJ's with good mixing skills is the first thing that comes to mind.

[C_T]

Originally Posted by Neve8128

DJ's with good mixing skills is the first thing that comes to mind.

thanks

[MAJIK]

As far as i know, very few of the global underground releases are actualy DJ mixes. Most of them are cut and paste jobs done in protools. GU asks the djs to submit a track listing from their recent tour, then the GU people secure the liscensing for the tracks and start putting together a digital mix. Not sure what kind of processing they use.

[C_T]

Originally Posted by MAJIK

As far as i know, very few of the global underground releases are actualy DJ mixes. Most of them are cut and paste jobs done in protools. GU asks the djs to submit a track listing from their recent tour, then the GU people secure the liscensing for the tracks and start putting together a digital mix. Not sure what kind of processing they use.

really? that makes me lose a great deal of respect for the GU series.
i'm guessing the "Balance" series is probably done the same way then?

[MAJIK]

yea, i lost much respect for GU when i found that out. like I said, not all of them are that way, but the majority are. I know the 24/7 series is DJ mixed, as well as some of the nu breed. not sure on the balance releases, havent listened to any of the recent ones. nice website btw.

[horseface]

Global underground is one of my long running favorites, despite me knowing that they 'cheat'.

I mean, I don't really care about cheating, because I'm listening to Global CDs as compilations of tracks and don't really care about DJs and their little 'transitions'. I'm more into their selections.

But anyway. If I was going to do a modern Mix CD, I'd probably do it in Traktor using 16bit wav files. I'd do it all 'live', but I'd definitely record the 'set' and then go back and clean up the little mistakes, if I made any.

I'd then load it into sample editor of choice for extra tweaks.

[majool]

i hear a ton is done in ableton (most likely rewired through pt or logic to keep the quality up).

[MAJIK]

Originally Posted by horseface

Global underground is one of my long running favorites, despite me knowing that they 'cheat'.

I mean, I don't really care about cheating, because I'm listening to Global CDs as compilations of tracks and don't really care about DJs and their little 'transitions'. I'm more into their selections.

But anyway. If I was going to do a modern Mix CD, I'd probably do it in Traktor using 16bit wav files. I'd do it all 'live', but I'd definitely record the 'set' and then go back and clean up the little mistakes, if I made any.

I'd then load it into sample editor of choice for extra tweaks.

Just want to clarify and say they are totally awsome compilations. I just lost respect in the DJ mix aspect of it.

[mikecook]

here's Digweed in SOS back in Oct '02...

"It's all done off vinyl into Pro Tools. I work out exactly how I'm going to do it, so these are all the records, this is the order, these are where the mixes are. They'll be certain records which may need an extra 16 or eight bars, and obviously if the record ends and you're in the middle of the CD you've got a dead spot. So the reason it's done in Pro Tools is so you can add on those extra bars and give it that smoothness. There's always these people who are like 'Oh, it's not a live mix,' but I don't have to justify my mixing techniques to anyone. I'm quite capable of doing it, but I want this CD to be perfect. I'm sure when Oasis do their album they don't do one take and go 'Right, that's it, you only got one go at it.' They make it as well as they can, and when I'm doing an album I want it to be as good as I can make it. If that means using the technology, that's fine."


having seen Sasha and Digweed live many, many times over the past five years, I can say that both these guys are rock solid dj's.. they are known for their flawless mixing (and track selection). Burridge's mixing is tighter than a nun's chuff as well..
If you want to hear 'real' mixing, start downloading live sets. www.mixingbowl.org