Mixing in a vocal build up

Hi guys, I am new to the forums and new to Traktor.

I have been using Virtual DJ and there's a technique I love to use that I cannot figure out how to do with Traktor Scratch Pro.

So I would have a progressive, non vocal house track playing and it would be coming up to the build up. With no preparation, totally on the fly I would quickly find a song with vocals that also has a build up. My intention is to put the vocal build on top of the progressive track's build up. If done right and in key, the two build ups go perfectly together. It works especially well if the progressive track is very hard while the vocal track has a weak drop, and you just cut out the vocal track's drop letting the other track go.

But... this can only work if you have the drops of the two tracks matched up. Since the vocal track's vocals are themselves building up to a particular point (the drop) you want to have that moment coincide with the drop of the hard track.

This is very easy to do with Virtual DJ, since the waveform displays are on top of each other, so you can match up future events visually. So you just zoom out all the way on the display so you can see far ahead into the tracks and match up the drops visually. Then you mix in the vocal track and you are all set. The two drops are at the same time so the build ups build together to the same point.

Also, if you want the two build ups to start together and end together, but they are different lengths, you can loop an appropriate moment in the shorter build up to prolong it and see visually when you need to release the loop so the drops coincide.

I cannot seem to figure out an effective way to do this in Traktor.

The beat counter is not at all reliable. Its often hard to tell on the complete waveform where the drop is and its hard to know that you have the mouse directly over it.

So how can you know exactly how long you have until a track's drop so that you can put another drop over it appropriately without preparation?

 

I'm not sure i understood everything correctly but my advice would be to learn your tracks and mix them live using loops. I play soulful vocal house and loops are my best friends when it becomes to mixing two or more tracks together.

If you know your music, making them drop at once isn't that difficult.

 

+1 on that.

Most music is in 4/4 so its very easy once you know your tracks.

 

Just set your loop and load/cue points properly and you're set.

 

In traktor, set a cue point on each track thats on the drop, then, use the beat move to go back (say) 32 beats and set another cue point on both tracks.

Start playing your first track. When you hit the first cue point, bring in track 2 and let the two build together. When you hit the second cue point, 32 beats later (or however many you want), you know both tracks will drop on the same beat

It does rely on having cue points preset, but it has fantastic results.
Also, having used VDJ as well, I know what your response will be.. this isn't strictly on the fly.. however, relying purely on the waveform in VDJ, zoomed far out.. isnt the most accurate way either, so both have their pluses and minuses.

 

DJmoonie, thats exactly what I was thinking and you are right that it takes preparation so its not exactly on the fly. But I think I've found a work around. What I can do if I am playing tracks I have not prepared cue points for is quickly load the same track into an unused deck and set the cue points up live. I messed around with that and I think with a little practice I will be able to do it quick enough to not cause problems.

But in my experience doing this with Virtual DJ, it has always been very easy for me to match up the drops, unless there is alot of bass in the build up and its hard to visually see exactly where the drop is. Usually you can tell easily because it goes from a flat wave to a spike where the first beat kicks in on the drop. And so all I have to do is match up the first bass spike of the drops on both tracks.

As for knowing your tracks, you would have to know your tracks REALY well to be able to pull off what I am suggesting. You would have to know exactly how many beats long each track's build up is.
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Also, I just want to add this:

I know this is a debate that has been raging for a while, but theres absolutely no doubt in my mind that setting up waveform displays just like Virtual DJ has would open up huge possibilities for on the fly mixing. Ofcourse if your sets are prepared it doesn't matter, but if you happen to be in a situation where you are mixing tracks live with no preparation, it is incredibly useful to know exactly where one track is in relation to the other.

 

One other way that doesn't require as much preparation ahead of time and once completed would allow you to use the technique you described on the fly with any two tracks is to add a cue just to the drop of each track and set the header to show beats to cue. Making those values even would put the drop at the same time. You can loop the incoming track and wait for the present track to catch up, release the loop and bring it in. Should be spot on each and every time.

 

Now that is an interesting solution.... How do you set the header to show beats to que?

 

It's in preferences somewhere. I don't have Traktor on this laptop and can't check for you, but it's in the section where you select the different options for the header display.

 

Select the main menu then 'deck details'

Under the 'deck heading' section you can choose what appears.

 

What he said.

 

Yeah, I used to dabble in VDJ, but had to switch to traktor due to hardware compatibility. The one thing i miss is that overlapping waveform.

The answer definitely lies with cue points, and shifting 32 beats. This guy does a really good job showing this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpJDaA8m3Hk

Another thing that could help, if you choose to have these predetermined cue points, is to name them things like "64 beats B4 the drop". that way you know how far back you want to start that song so the buildups line up and the drops happen simultaneously.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: just found this too... could be useful!

Change info displayed on decks - go to settings->deck details, under deck heading you can change what's showed where. I like having title/artist/release on the left, elapsed/remaining/total tim in the center, and bpm/beats/track key on the right. Experiment and see what you like. The Beats display is actually quite useful for knowing where you are in the phrase. If you use cue points extensively to mark breakdowns and drops, you can also set it to Beats until Cue, and it'll show you how many beats remain until the next cue point.

 

same info in this thread couple posts up.