How To Mix Music Harmonically In Key

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Harmonic mixing consists of two elements: knowing the key of every song that you play and knowing which keys are compatible.

But before we continue, here is a briefing of  the terms needed to understand more about harmonic mixing.

MEASURE:

A distinct unit of music with an assigned number of beats. The house, techno, trance and progressive dance tracks almost always have four beats to a measure (4/4 time), though rarely tracks are done in 3/4 or 6/8 time. Most songs or tracks are usually built on 8 measure phrases with the chorus containing those 8 measures (sometimes repeating for another 8 measures: 8 + 8), while the verses are often 16 or 24 measures or more in length.

PHRASING:

A term used in overlaying records where the DJ mixes in correct musical phrasing, or set of measures. For example, an 8-measure track intro can be neatly overlaid on an 8-measure break.

Keep the beats synchronized while in harmonic mixing.

TEMPO:

The tempo is the speed at which musical notes are executed, commonly expressed in the DJ world as the number of beat per minutes. BPM.

PITCH ADJUSTMENT:

When a DJ mixes in key (harmonic mixing), he or she has to work with the PA and the BPM to achieve a harmonically pure mix. You can usually mix within 1 or 2 BPMs differential and still get an excellent mix, but beyond that point a quarter note or an unpleasant dissonance set in. Keep in mind that unless you own a Pioneer mixer with PA, as soon as you pitch a track more than 1.5 + or – on your Technics 1200 MK2 the key can change. Very dangerous in harmonic mixing so beware.

CHROMATIC SCALE:

A scale of notes encompassing the entire range of notes within an octave in our Western 12 note system: Ab (A flat), A, Bb (B flat), B, C, Db (D flat), Eb (E flat), F, Gb (G flat), G. I use flat in referring to the individual note and keys for simplification of reference, but note that you can also refer to them with the use of sharp: Ab refers to the same note as G# (G sharp), Bb is the same as A# (A sharp), etc. These notes that can be written as either sharps or flats appear on the piano keyboard as the black notes between the white notes, and are known as accidentals.Important to understand in harmonic mixing.

KEY:

The key of a song identifies the family of notes that are found in its particular scale. Though the chromatic scale contains 12 different notes from Ab to G, the individual scale identified with a particular key signature contains only seven different notes. For example, the C major scale contains all 7 different white notes on the piano keyboard: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, whereas the B major scale uses all the black notes, so that five out of seven different notes in it’s scale are flat. Key to Harmonic Mixing.

MODULATION:

A key change creates a lifting of all music and a chord by a measure degree to create further excitement or musical tension in a song. Modulations most commonly raise the key by a half step or a whole step. For example, the C major family of notes can be lifted a half step to Db major, or a whole step to D major. A song can also modulate from major to minor, or vice versa. Harmonic mixing!

MODULATION MIX:

The DJ can create the modulation by harmonic mixing from one record to the next from one key to another key by suddenly and cleanly slamming into the next record, “slam” or “slip cue”, or with the help of a 4 or 8 measure (rhythm only) beginning on the incoming record. For a perfect modulation mix you must remember to never allow the incoming bass line or any type of notes to play on top of the outgoing track that has any type of notes happening for harmonic mixing.

AIRBEATS:

A section of music where the strong rhythm drop out, or in the beginning of a track before the kick drum or heavy percussion begins, such as high hats or any type of ticks or as in the case where the vocals are the only indicators of measured rhythm. Airbeats can be used in overlaying, but be careful to overlay accurately or you may have what is commonly know as a “train wreck” when the kick drum on the incoming track begins.

CHORD:

Three or more musical tones sounding in a combination simultaneously, with the lowest tone usually considered the “tonic” or root of the chord.

BASSLINE:

The lowest tones heard in a musical arrangement, usually played in house or dance music on bass guitar or a bass synthesizer. Also very useful in harmonic mixing.

ARPEGGIO:

Sounding the musical tones of a chord in a sequence, rather than simultaneously. Also in harmonic mixing.

QUARTER TONE:

A musical tone that would have a pitch found in between any two half steps in the 12 tone chromatic scale. If two record in the same key are mixed with more than 1 or 2 BPM differential between them, the pitches can be thrown off into this middle ground, resulting in a strange sour sound, rather than in a harmonic mixing sound.

SYNCOPATION:

Accenting of beat or rhythms in a piece of music that are usually unaccented.

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Harmonic Mixing Simplified with Camelot Wheel Chart

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(Mark Davis created the Camelot wheel)

Harmonic Mixing

Many professional DJ’s move around the Camelot wheel with every mix in key.

To select a compatible song, choose a same key code or within one “hour” of your current key code.

If you are in 8A, you can play 7A, 8A or 9A next.

If you are in 12A, you can play 11A, 12A or 1A.

This will be smooth every time in harmonic mixing.

You can also mix between inner and outer wheels if you stay in the same “hour.”

For example, try harmonic mixing from 8A to 8B, and notice the change in melody as you go from Minor to Major.

Harmonic mixing is a simple technique, but it opens up a world of creativity.

You will play creative DJ sets and discover interesting song combinations.

Always try to stay in harmonic mixing for better outcome.

It’s easy to get started with any music genre.

Check out how to make a good DJ Playlist with harmonic mixing here for some more reading if you like.

Enjoy Harmonic Mixing  !

Lounge Music Playlists By DJ White Hawk

This DJ lounge playlist set has been arranged harmoniously and beat matched in sequence.

1  Matenda – Floating Sky

2  DMT – Maillon Faible

3  Eli Kazah – Let Me Go.

4  Shen – Flood Plain

5  Jean F. Cochois – Dusty Playground

6  Nightmares on Wax – Capumcap

7  Solar Fields – Discovering

8  Black Star Liner – Harmon Session Special

9  Emotional – Daylight- ArenaBG

10  Mono Deluxe – High Hopes

11  Love Gypsies – Fantasy – Can You Feel It

12  Rauschfaktor – Aquarium (Cafe Rmx)

13  Nada – Earthgarden

14  One AM Radio – Witness

15  Cheb I Sabbah – I’m Ninalou

16  Zero 7 – Out Of Town

17  En Voice – Impressions

18  Atlantean – Starbound

19  Zaharamusic – Aire

20  Zico – Hope

Some parts are only harmonically mixed with no beats, that’s up to you to do the mixing.

Some tracks might be difficult to find.

Enjoy

DJ White Hawk

DJ PlayList

Aspiring DJs should build a great library of music FIRST.

YOU MUST KNOW YOUR MUSIC

• Know the BPM of your songs

Beats Per Minute. Arranging your dance music this way creates consistency in tempo and provides better continuity for people who are dancing.

• Know the harmony notes of beginning and end of songs

You can find software for that too. Here is one new software which I haven’t checked out yet but I won’t need it anyway for myself. Mixed In Key. I use Mixmeister Fusion which has all those features. It’s a great DJ software.

More about harmonic mixing

• Trim your songs

Long fade outs or talking and skits at the end can be trimmed.

A good piece of free software for trimming unwanted bits from the beginning and end of songs is   Mp3Trim or  Mp3Directcut ( is my preferred one).

If you use Wav files then try Audacity but don’t convert to another format. Always keep your original files backed up.

• Normalize your songs

Normalizing your songs will bring the volume levels in line with each other, so that the volume stays fairly consistent.
An easy way to normalize a collection of MP3s is to use a free piece of software called  Mp3Gain . For Wav files you can use Audacity.

• Select and combine

Select tracks into the same BPM harmoniously if possible. If harmony can’t be done then just beat match it and that should be OK.

Keep building the playlist.

• Building A CD Mix?

Try this!

First track should be an instrumental (no vocals) and the duration shorter than 2 minutes 30 seconds.

Second track should have vocals and should not be longer than 4 minutes.

All  the rest of the tracks should be less than 5 minutes each.

• Take in Requests?

As a commercial DJ, you are EXPECTED to know just about everything and HAVE just about everything they will ask for.

Take your DJ career serious? Then GET serious!

Peace

DJ White Hawk

Amin