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I’ve been using key / harmonic mixing for a LONG time. Like many DJs, I thought the Camelot wheel was my friend. But it turns out it had been sabotaging my sets in ways I didn’t even realise. There are 5 big problems I want to tell you about, and how I managed to avoid them.
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🎧 Music
* Johnny Berglund – Handcraft / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Jon Björk – Tearing Threads / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Trabant 33 – Der Tanz Für Die Folk / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Kikoru – Intentional Evil / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Sonata No. 14 In C Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2 ‘Moonlight’: I. Adagio Sostenuto / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* John Barzetti – Dissonance Theory / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Divertimento In F Major, K. 138 ‘Salzburg Symphony No. 3′: III. Presto / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Eine Kleine Nachtmusic / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* National Anthem Worx – National Anthem Austria / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Wendel Scherer – Machiavellian / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Mar Vei – One Chord / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Pableno – Jalapeno / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* waykap – Sinner (Instrumental Version) / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* RaFa Sessions – Deep Marks / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Ruzer – Love Me Right Here / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Pableno – Forged / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* House Of Say – At the Barbershop (Instrumental Version) / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Felix Johansson Carne – In the Dance / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Alphascan – Going Crazy / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Michelle Ross, Eric Jacobsen, Odyssey Orchestra – Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, Violin Concerto in E Major, Op. 8 No. 1, RV 269 “Spring”: I. Allegro / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Michelle Ross, Eric Jacobsen, Karen Ouzounian – Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 8 No. 2, RV 315 “Summer”: I. Allegro non molto / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Blue Saga – Transitions (Extended Version) / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Conway Kuo, Blair McMillen – Mozart: Violin Sonata in A major, K. 526 II. Andante / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Conway Kuo, Blair McMillen – Mozart: Violin Sonata in G major, K. 301 II. Allegro / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Mira Ma, Eric Jacobsen, Odyssey Orchestra – Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488: III. Allegro assai / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Taelimb – Padlock / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Sir Gigalot – Morning Reggae / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
* Heyson – Gettin’ Ready / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
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Have you ever felt trapped by your DJ workflow? How did you break out of it?
Learning basic DJ skills have taught me (through listening to their work more closely) that most club DJ's completely ignore most of the "rules". Some of the most popular DJ's at the local clubs simply play songs that people want to hear, transitions be damned. Like half of their sets are absolute train wrecks but the reality is, especially when you get past 11:PM and the drinks are set in, no one cares. So the rare chances I get to play, I simply do the best I can with song selection and get the "vibe" right, but don't worry too much about anything else.
Bang on video. Perfect timing, I've just came to the same realization.
OMFG !! What a stupid video! Mixing in key is of course very useful to sound better when you mix harmonic parts. But you don't have to mix harmonic balls and can also focus to the rhythmic parts or whatever that fits. Nevertheless you can also transpose some tracks to to match specific keys. There is an unlimited way of possibility to mix different songs without being in key and still sound good but my preferences of course to mix in key and have a lot of variations. It is a completely nonsense suggestion to stop mixing in key.
Problem 6 : if you cut bass from a track (for example, on a track with vocal that you just want to use as an acapella) you definitely change the key of it. Nice video by the way. DJ community needed to hear this !
Absolutely love your narration. I got ADHD and have to listen to the same sentence 5 times sometimes; it helps if the voice is easy on the ears!
I think you are missing a big part of this… and that’s how you are travelling around the wheel… it doesn’t need to be static or linear… if you know what notes are in a chord and what chords compliment each other you can bounce around the wheel without going in a straight line.
And Recordbox is trash.
was just thinking about this recently.. mixing only with key can be very boring and closed to being creativity.. I mostly mix by BPM and genre
me and my friends started DJing since mid 80s, never had what so-called mix in keys. We just picked whatever we wanted to mix next, no bother with the keys. You are absolutely right, we used to mix outro with intro, there s no key with the beats without any instruments. Keys are only matter when you do mashup like blend in a acapella with another song with instrumental.
When I was in Brno this summer, I jammed on saxophone with a house DJ who used the Camelot key wheel. Trouble is, the system is lousy for modes other than major or Aeolian minor. A track in G Dorian, for example, might be listed as F major! This created a huge source of confusion for me, and I ended up just having to do everything by ear.
I just realized this the other day. I love harmonic mixing and it's the key to mini-mashups, but i took note of my tendency to browse for numbers rather than vibe. i'm considering hiding this info for a bit. The same goes for BPMs – i am learning creative ways to make huge BPM jumps. thanks for speaking to exactly where i'm at
Key shift on my Rane 4 and instrumental intros are how I get around most of it. If all else fails just drop it on the 1.
Thanks for this Chris. I have become a slave to the key. Thanks for setting me free to play what I actually want to from time to time 🙂 🙏
Thx, I'm you decided to trust yourself. Vibe > Key
Great video Chris 👍 ive always found key mixing can hokd you back. Most of the ti e the song i want to play next isnt in the right key. So i just do like a break start then play the song i wanted incase it doesn't sound good. But as mentioned before, when i used to mix with vinyl it wasn't a problem 🤔
Omg bro, this video sounds overly dramatic. If you don't want to harmonically mix, it's up to you, but it's so much genre dependent that you cannot simply recommend people to ignore keys.
It all depends on particular tracks and genres being played.
I usually play harmonically whenever I can because it simply sounds good to me. And I jump to some unrelated keys from time to time, letting some transitions to be slightly dissonant – just not to get stuck in the same key area. I simply cut more mids and make the mix faster/more abrupt then. It's also worth knowing in practice what kind of dissonance still sounds kinda acceptable. For sure not ignoring everything and going yolo trying to mix f-minor and f#-minor together.
But yea, when you have like a 60 minute slot at a festival, you cannot get stuck in some key for too long and need to get more creative.
Also it's crucial to listen to the tracks, for example I often mix A major -> a minor if there's not too much clash C/C# in the intros etc. and I don't even know those "camelot" numbers. Probably these are completely different symbols far away from each other. I guess it's better to know music theory 🤷
I've always been strictly against playing by key when playing in clubs/festifals. It's about the unexpected, catching the corwd with every track based on how the crowd is doing. You'll hardly achieve this by playing in key, since it just appears too smooth, no matter how you mix it. It just sounds like it's been a switch in the same song. But playing in key also has its right to stay for example when playing in bars and just want a smooth, ongoing groove. So I guess, it depends what you want to achieve, whether you're going to mix in key or by feeling.
To quote Goldie "Mixing in Key is bollocks"
for me key bring more ideas than takes them away. I also do sometimes just bpm listing instead of keys and most recent tracks. key to non-monotonous set is definitely using a lot of different keys during the trip. but yeah, I also know the struggle of having those couple tracks that you sort of like and want to play, but they are just way too fast for current trend (130+ bpm vs some 120 bpm organic house) or just sound really weird and unfitting.
really great vid
Definitely got myself into a comfortable rut, and in no part thanks to the software. I decide to do a mix of Nu Disco/Funky House, and because I can, and because there's something pleasing about being able to get an exact BPM of 123.45, I lock it! I know, I know! I have the tracks I've selected, and then descend/ascend them in key and playing them in the order. Occasionally there could be some dissonance as the software pushes the track to the locked BPM, altering the key (aware you can tweak this back, but I can forget) Usually it all sounds good, as even if the key is different, it's been mixed by beat, and cut before the melody.
Do my mixes sound good? They're all right. They're steady.
Are they exciting? If I'm honest, not really.
The first step is recognizing the problem.
I will try to mix it up more. Literally.
Produce with you ears is the best.
Love this video! My input. First of all, you can venture out of traffic light and experiment, like this individual mentioned. Also, use key sync! Match the key of current song to song you're going into
Also, you can end a song at the end of a section, echo/reverb out, and start a new one in a totaly different key, a whole new dimension. And then start key mixing there! No more stale mixes. Ya'al are welcome.
And don't even get me started on BPM switching, OMG so much fun
128 into 172?
Great! Sync track, and slowly pick up tempo during buildup, hitting 172 at the drop. Vibez
The key to mixing , pardon the pun, is knowing your music well and knowing it so well that the vibe chooses the next track not a software program or labelling system. Harmonic mixing is awesome when you lockin a few tracks in the same key but then it’s important to shift the vibe into a different key to change the energy of the mix. I always mixed by ear and it always served me, I also mix harmonically when the moment calls for it, the key is to see it as a tool not as the way. Peace.
As a fellow youtuber; wow! This video has it all, a great theme/idea, amazing video quality, engaging edit, interesting location. Well done man I wish your channel massive success. As for the actual topic; I try to go all the way round the wheel a couple of times per set. Try to move around 1 step after a maximum of 3 tunes in each key.
I REALLY HEAR WHAT YOU RE SAYING IT OFTEN HAPPENS TO ME when playing more melodic… groovy tracks with more drums are easier to mix though by changing key!!!
Try whistling Chris.
This works really well for me when I create my mixes
Thank You for the "inside knowledge" of in-key mixing.
❤
A few things:
1: always trust your ears first, as Chris mentions rekordbox and other programs can mess up, but more importantly your crowd will be listening with their ears and not looking over your cdjs or computer. If it sounds good it is good.
2) playlists: I like to categorize my music by subgenre aesthetics: eg in DnB there’s liquid, techstep, jungle, and many more, a lot of those sub genres are known but I would actually focus on making your own distinctions that may not be super well known and categorize based on those as well. It will help refine your style.
3 key dominance: in styles of bass music like dnb, dubstep, garage and others you’ll find a lot of F, Fm, Em, Am and a few others because you have a psychoacoustic “sweet spot” where the sub bass is both audible and provides that sweet pressure that makes a dancefloor go off. I find that a supermajority of tracks in those genres are in these keys, but that said I cherish tracks in other keys as it allows for movement. If you find yourself halfway through a set only playing tracks in Fm or 4A make a conscious effort to move.
4 in long blends: harmonious keys are super important here. I’m talking double drops in bass music or in techno and house your long 2,3,4 deck blends. Even stuff without a lot of “melody” still tend to be written in key. If you do these long blends and they are dissonant it tends to hurt the dancefloor experience, if you have some dissonance for 16,48 bars in a transition and then completely pull out the last track then it is a useful device as this video describes. But for longer and more complex blends I find it doesn’t work
I've never cared about the key you're in. If you filter out the low end and chop the tune in in a loud club, no one cares. If you're blending in slowly, then having the right key can help. I think the only people that are concerned about this wrong key is other producers and DJ's the average listeners isn't bothered unless beats are clashing out of time. A good mix is a good mix. But great video
So sometimes mixing out of key works. . It literally creates a different melody by mixing out of key sometimes good most time bad . But when it works it's super amazing.
Tbh I dislike so much of this video. But then I realized you were talking about Drum n Bass so I no longer cared at all. 😉
If you come from a vinyl mixing background, you're likely accustomed to relying more on intuition, track energy, and reading the room rather than focusing on mixing in key. Back in the vinyl days, DJs didn't have the luxury of key detection software. Instead, they developed a deep understanding of track structure, energy levels, and how to create an emotional journey for the crowd. Bring it back!
Great video! This is a perfect example of why DJs should embrace technology as a tool but not just a solution to problems. We can't lose our humanity to technology
01:30 – "I blindly followed these teachings for over a decade" is probably part of your problem.
Thank you for this! I'm a starting DJ and it felt like mixing "in key" it's some sort of rule one has to follow.
Hi Chris, never thought you would come to Salzburg, if you‘re still here and fancy a coffee and a chat about D&B, music or whatsoever just let me know. Greetings from Salzburg 😁
Relying on any of the DJ software and their key detection isn't accurate to begin with. I would say most DJ software only gets it correct 70% of the time. Using something like Mixed In Key to scan the tracks before hand gives you a more accurate key detection (90-95%). From there you would still need to understand music theory further than just what a key is by a camelot wheel to even be able to determine whether something is showing as the correct key or even whether a mix sounds "off" (dissonant). So while this video has some general knowledge on the topic, I don't think it's accurate to say harmonic mixing isn't always good or why we shouldn't always focus on it. Most DJs aren't musicians or have enough of a music background to understand harmonic mixing to that extent, hell most normal audience listener's don't either BUT, that does not mean we should not mix in key as much as possible. There's a whole different level of emotion that harmonies evoke that affects even non musicians (even if they dont understand it). Think all DJs/Producers should learn more music theory to understand how to actually mix in key. To avoid getting stuck, knowing the songs in and out and each of the songs' structure and actually constructing transitions together rather than picking 2 songs based simply on bpm and key is the way to do it.
Key is like 10th on my list of things to consider when selecting tracks, but it's definitely part of deciding how I will mix them, like how much melodic sections might overlap.
Even then, using your ears is always number 1. If it sounds good it's good, even if the software says WRONG!
Other thing to remember is no matter how accurate the software is, they don't understand tracks with modal interchange, that use notes from other keys for brief moments or play complex chords.
Drum and bass DJ here–the 4A trap is so real
That's one hell of a reality check
All of these are why I have never mixed in key. Key changes add variety and harmonic interest! And when a mix just happens to be harmonic by chance, its like a bonus!
I never did worry about it. If i was a "name" dj only doing an hour set, i could practice and prepare so it sounds very impressive, like james hype for example.
But when im doing a 5 hour set with a constantly evolving crowd, I haven't got time for that luxury. Same witn stems. Not got time for it 😂.
The Sub Focus and Dimension blackhole do be real though.
Trust your ears
Pick the tunes first then adapt the keys. Simples👍
Mixing „in key“ is like mixing „in beat“. Might sound great – but gets boring at some point.
Just using the Camelot wheel is the problem. A software just telling you +1 or -1 is never going to be as good as understanding some of the more complex relationships between keys. I never use the Camelot numbers but instead always display the actually keys. And only use the key suggestion function sparingly.
I also play drum and bass, but literally design sets to go around “the wheel” with lots of fun little diversions. You can’t just blindly trust the Camelot wheel.
I was exposed to Key in music at my first regular gig where the house DJ had all his vinyl sleeves marked with BPM and Key. BPM of course was essential, key I knew little about. I should say that this was a "Boys Nite Out" DJ, a Billboard reporter and all-around professional. A lot of the music was melodic, vocal disco and high energy so Key was very important to his sets. I passed on learning too much about it and wrote it off as above my pay grade. Flash forward 35 years and Rekordbox Key Mixing has really improved my sets, or at least my homework in putting my sets together. It also seems to help me choose when I'm drifting and searching for the next song or next phase of my set. I think it's useful but I don't think I play out enough (DM for bookings please!) to be caught in any whirlpool of key mixing. One of my good DJ friends is always giving me grief about using it at all – he plays a lot of house, afro-house and what I'd call high-energy dance. I sometimes think his sets could be a little more melodic, but he gets the crowd going just fine so who knows?
I'm sorry but there are lot's of problem here.
1) the algorytms that says "this track is minor" are mixing all minors scales. phrygian, natural minor, harmonic minor, etc. All of that is the same for the algorytm. but these are different scale/set of notes
for example, if a track is in E phrygian (which would be common in techno), it will probably be labeled as E minor, but in fact it's not, it is the same scale as Aminor and Cmajor, but using E as the root.
2) the circle of fifth doesn't tell you that the nearby scale sounds good with it. it only tells you that these 2 scales share 6 notes (over 7, since in our system most scales have 7notes in total). if you chose 2 scales that are 2 blocks away, they share 5notes in common, etc.
Harmonic mixing could 100% work, but it has been over simplified and the detection tools are not working properly. I could go on forever lol. cheers.