DJ BETTER - HOW TO MIX IN KEY (THE CAMELOT WHEEL)
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- Опубліковано 19 сер 2024
- Learn how to mix in key and refer to the Camelot Wheel, with DJ Arman.
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/ justarman
Please also check out my progressive house side project and follow at:
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Sometimes you just need to trust your ears & gut! If it sounds right & the vibe is great even if violates the Camelot wheel, just go for it!
Agreed!
Absolutely
They didn't needed that back in the days lol
Music theory is just another tool for music. You can build a house with bare house but you might find it easier and faster to build that same house with power tools
Especially late on in the night, it's more about what you play than how you play it. Later, heavier sets especially the focus should be on energy
Excellent video, I think one important thing to add for new dj's out there is that with time, once your track lists begin to grow to the amount where you basically can "afford" to mix entire set in the same key, the whole issue becomes a minor one :)
I had started using the Camelot keys in Serato a few weeks ago just messing around matching the numbers/letters and did notice the mixes sounded much more natural, but wasnt sure what it all meant... Thank you for the detailed explanation!
does rekordbox or engine prime also have the camelot keys?
Dude, this video and the "mixes that mesh" one have been a game changer for me. I've watched a number of your videos and your music is right up my street too. Thank you for sharing!
Glad they are helping and thanks for watching!
I love this kind of progressive house, can feel the Balkan Connection's vibe ;)
Easily the best demonstration on UA-cam for mixing in key. Thanks man.
Hello Arman,
thanks a lot for your tutorials. I'd like to give my 2 cents to this topic.
There are other options to mix in _compatible_ Keys:
If you are in 8A you can go to: 8A, 9A, 7A, 8B, 3A, 1A, 10A, 6A, 11B.
Let me explain:
as Arman mentioned someone can choose the next track from the same/neighboring keys (7A, 8A, 9A, 8B). Also if you subtract -7 (small energy decrease) or add +7 (small energy boost) to the current sector you'll arrive at 1A or 3A. If you subtract -2 (high energy decrease) or +2 (high energy boost), you'll be at 6A or 10A.
There aren't many major key tracks so it's easy to stuck in one of them. For example if you are in 8B you have 2 options: 8A or 5A. I think 8A is trivial so let's see 5A: one can go from major to minor by subtracting 3 and changing the letter (which is pretty much from C major to C minor). Also from minor to major by adding 3 and changing the latter 8A to 11B (A minor to A major).
There is one more "major to minor" trick (it works less times than the rest): adding 1 and changing from B to A (8B -> 9A).
Please note (in general about mixing in key): use your ears! Even tough two songs should be compatible and they kinda sound right, they doesn't necessarily fit together! However when the key and the vibe are matching then something magical flows into your ears ;)
happy mixing!
/zerogee/
Agreed. I find the three plus or minus and change letter works very well. Now i know why. It simply changes from major to minor or opposite. Kool.
That is Exactly what I started figuring out while writing melodies and beats, and eventually got my hands on some vinyl Stanton Str8 80's back in 1999, and not only taught myself how to mix Drum & Bass with no timecodes, no sync buttons, where even just 1 ONE of your tracks in your 75 lb record crate weighed more than entire collections on today's SD cards/Flash drives.. But then I started making mashups of D&B and Rap/Hip Hop when they were still called "Remixes" lol... In which sometimes you can scroll through song after song until you find the perfect one, or at least one in the "safe zone" of keys...
But excellent video, It gave me some clarity and helped reinforce my thoughts on what I simply just called my "opinon" or method of mixing back then..
Thanks! And hang in there, this covid crap'll be over somewhat soon (Hopefully) and we can all get back to Rockin the Funky Beats.....!
@4:20 There are other possible harmonic moves besides the basic moves on the wheel (from r/beatmatch, I cannot take credit):
Up or down by 2 (2 semitones), e.g. 8B --> 10B
Up or down by 7 (1 semitone), e.g. 8B --> 3B
If in major: up diagonally (e.g. 8B --> 9A)
If in minor: down diagonally (e.g. 9A --> 8B)
Major-to-minor or vice-versa: generally speaking, this means switching letters and subtracting 3 when in major (e.g. 1B --> 10A) or adding 3 when in minor
Flat-to-minor: generally speaking, this means switching letters and adding 4 when in major (e.g. 5B --> 9A) or subtracting 4 when in minor
It's also important to note that that even the best DJ software out there only get the key correct about 75% of the time ( I think Serato still is considered the most accurate, followed by Rekordbox). So always cue the track and listen to it first, your ears are always the best bet.
Dude thank you! I have been scouring the internet in my free time trying to find other possible "harmonic moves" and coming up dry. Big ups
I printed out this comment lol, thanks man 👨
:D :D
I made pretty much the same comment about 1 month before yours
can you explain "Up or down by 7 (1 semitone), e.g. 8B --> 3B " a lil more? am trying to understand how you got 3? i 8-7 is 1? it might be a dumb question but i wanna learn xC
@@AlvinHack 8B is C major and 3B is D-flat major. So by going from 8B to 3B you're just moving the root of the scale by one semitone(C to D♭).
Lawyer by day.
DJ by night.
❤️ It.
very good video short and to the point !!! examples shown with guitar makes more clear everything
Never stop posting please. Can you upload videos that maybe are considered advanced techniques? And not so intermediate.
Thanks in advance, arman!
That was the best demonstration on mixing in key I’ve seen. Nice 👍🏻
i think i learned more in this video than my entire time in high school! you're a rockstar.
When I first started playing music for fun I heard about this but it was never fully explained to me. The wheel reminds me of the color wheel in photography. Nice to now have to get dark and twisted instantly. Thanks for vid
It would be fun to have a Camelot wheel sticker to put directly into your cdj’s 😄
Interesting video and your music theory is on point. Anyway even transitioning from compatible songs is always better to pay attention to the perfect phrasing on each song where to mix. As you showed on guitar some transitions can clash even between songs that shouldn’t. Depending by how much notes and chords are involved on each song.
I'm new to DJing but I have some musical background and I've definitely found that analysis software (such as Mixed In Key) is a bit hit or miss for determining the key and I've started going through my music more carefully with a keyboard on hand to verify. One fairly common musical pattern that confuses the software is when the music mixes modes within the same key (for example A minor/8A and A major/11B). I've noticed Mixed In Key in particular will almost always favour the minor mode when detecting and this can be misleading when the intro and outro of a song are in a different mode than the body.
Being an experienced musician helps in terms of determining what 'mother earth' is in a song.
Thanks Arman for explaining keys in the simplest form for us🥰
I learned something new today. I didn't know that DJs had their own theory tools. :)
helped a lot not a whole lot of good tutorials out there for this topic thanks!
Thank you so much !!
Thank you for shareing that knowledge, big apreciation!!!
Man you just told them the hidden secret of harmonic mixing in key :) .love your vedio bro
Beautiful and simplistic explanation. Thanks for sharing the knowledge 👍.
Great explanation man, thanks a lot. I've watched some videos about key syncing and this was the best one! Great content!!
As usual, a very well explained tutorial. Thank you!
youre a Godsend thank you bro best wishes for you and your family
thanks so much Arman, greetings from NY
Dude what you are talking about. Deep House is not dark! It's uplifting! It has a soul. It's when you get down deep in your gut, and it comes out on the dancefloor. I didn't learn how the mix in the key using the Camelot wheel. I listen to tracks and trust my ears and the basis. You are making this harder than it is.
Great video, thanks for sharing. The use of the guitar really helped too!
Thanks for the demo! Other people just talk talk talk ;)
Very useful video! Thank you!
Superb explainer video to help me take my DJing mixing skills to another level. Thank you Arman... :)
I’m new to djing but have been a muso for a while. Have just realised now that the Camelot wheel is basically an offset circle of fifths, with colours...
Thank you for everything! You are a nice Person. I could watch you for hours :)
he's married ok so just chill
Iv'e played Icky Thumps Riff and the place whent mad. Your explaing from a muscicians perspective, i'm giggling at the thought of how many heads this is going over.
The challenge is that you have to have enough songs to move around the wheel, otherwise you'll be stuck in a key range. This is a challenge that I haven't seen any DJ's talk about.
IMO any DJ will have to jump keys ar some point, regardless.
good tunes too played!
Thank you!!! You are the best!
those deep tracks slap
Hey dude the so called bad mix at the end doesnt sound bad at all to me.
Its not a good harmony. It would kill the vibe on the dance-floor. Kill the trancd.
بهترین زمان برای تغییر موزیک در ایون های ایرانی چقدر هست ، ممنونم ارمان جان
So 12A and 12B is major and minor with the same notes. And 1A and 1B is also major and minor with the same notes. And we can go to 1A from 12A but why can’t we go from 1A to 12B because 12A and 12B have the exact same notes . Can anyone please explain?
I'm curious why C major & A minor are given the number 8, as opposed to 1 or 12. They are the keys with all natural pitches, so the wheel logically ought to start there.
Hello! Thanks for the video. What about # or b chords?
amazing video !! Thank you very much for this
you are a god
Thanks!!!!
This is a very good video for beginners because you can explain very well! Could you do more music theory?
Greetings from north Germany mate!
Thanks for the content. You explain very well. Useful tips!
This guy is excellent!
If it sounds good, it is good.
I see your RC car remote in the back! (or RC boat?)
Great info. Now what RC car you have. Seen the remote in the background. Cheers
Also, how are you supposed to deal with other modes like Dorian and Mixolydian? They aren't represented on the Camelot wheel at all, yet thousands of tracks use them!
I've been practicing DJing for 4 months and know the camelote wheel by heart, but Serato doesn't show any keys for some tracks. How can I fix this?
Bad booth monitors or no booth monitors have presented a problem in the ppast making it very difficult to mix in key. I like to hear the music in the booth, if i can't then i have to do it through the headphones which sucks really.
are you wearing a tesla plate ?
Skip to 3:00 if you dont want to be patronised out of your fucking mind by this guy.
Some videos are saying the other way like reversed t not the letter t you showed
Great video bro. Very very informative. Thank you
Thank you!
Let me give you my personnal experience. To mix in key means that you should mix G minor with G minor or G major. So in this case, 6A goes with 6A and 9B. What I observed is that for every minor key (keys that end with A in the caamelot wheel), the equivalent major key is always 3 digits up. Example: 6A goes with 9B, 5A goes with 8B, 4A with 7B, 12A with 3B...
I am not saying that other approaches are wrong. Of course not. You need to know that 9A and 9B consisit of the same notes, same as 8A and 8B and so on, but these notes do not come in the same order. So if you can't mix in the same key as 7A anymore (meaning you have no more 7A or 10B), you can try to change the key and jump from 7A to 7B. You are now in the key of F major and you can perfectly mix your music together using F major (7B) or F minor (4A).
Of course, you can choose to not mix in key sometimes. If you think a track in A minor will nicely complement a track in D minor, go for it! I have done it several times when I felt like it's time to get things moving in a slightly different direction.
The main idea here is: trust your ears!
Thanks for your amazing video.
just I wanna know which Key is better to start a Gig as a warm up to bring the energy into a dance flour ?!
How should one start off their sets? Should you start with a specific key? And end with one?
so general rule can also be: don't change the "number" too much? like just going from 5B to 8B instead of 9B?
And what about: from 5B to 8B OR 5B to 7A?
And what about "key sync button"? Worth using it?
teaching us about keys but playing it on an out of tune guitar.....priceless! :)
very nice explained
When I analyse my tracks, they are in Major scales mostly 4A,5A,7A,...12A. it sounds about right 👍. I mix usually melodic Techno/ House , dark progressive. I trust my ears but this technic cannot be ignored.
I use Rekorddbox just as you, but as I’m a total beginner I have no Idea witch letters stand for witch key. Can you maby do a Video or post or maby a Graphic where you explain an Rekordbox Key contractions?
Ok this is the classic theory of harmony the circle of 5ths and 4ths backwards what about the modal theory there is some interesting mixture over there not necessarily clashing,,,,,i am also not sure for the second example if this is the same good as the first one....
And the track used in the video pls
Nice! Next video: advanced mixing techniques? Specifically for PROGRESSIVE music? Or do you always mix the same way, reducing mid and low to zero then gradually bringing them in? Surely there are more ways... Or am I making it unnecessarily complicated?
Nice one, thanks for the idea.
l337z0r Search 'Kike Nieto'... His channel have many mixes!
hey ..cool tutorial ..thx..could you share the tracks you used ? Thx... keep up the good job
If you're using the Camelot Wheel, you must be a Knight of the Round Turntable...
Nice video. Thanks. That "camelot wheel" is the circle of fifths. I remember a text of John Cage (the future of music) talking about free modulation and I think maybe dj's should try that instead of modulating as usually: moving to the relative minor, clockwise to the fifth, counter-clockwise to the fourth and its relative minors, etc. Does it really sound "bad" when you mix two songs in keys that are not "allowed" by the tonal harmony?
In deep house yes ;) If you're playing Stockhausen maybe not ;)
yeah. this is good to know. but sets will tend to sound super boring no non djs...better to change things up imo.
So in Serato there is a music note. Below the Camelot guide. From 6a it goes to -1 or 11a or to the right for 1A or +1 why is that?
Does the same go for minor progressions too? for example, if I'm playing a A Minor, it will go well with E Minor, D Minor and C Major? Or just E Minor and D Minor? When going from Major to Minor we go inside the circle, but can we also go from Minor to Major outside the circle?
hello, first of all great videos... Im a musition and id like to mix some live performance together when mixing what's your advice?
Hey Arman ! Thanks for all videos all of those so helpful ! The question is can i see key of track on my layout ?
Yes in the info section only
just great , so simple n easy
How do you determine the energy of a song? I heard that there are rules for energy levels in a club and I am not sure about even what is the highest and lowest.
Great tutorial, really helpful - thanks a lot :) What's the 1st track name?
Robert R. Hardy - Last Indos (Nicolás Rada Remix)
And what about gettin a Drum-machine/Groovebox for your own production?
Greetings from Ukraine! Man thx a lot for your videos. Can you show plz how you understand that one track is D major and another one A major, does there is some sign on CDJ or you understand it by ears only?
Yes, the CDJ displays the key information. It will provide this if you analyze your music through the Rekordbox software first. Thanks for watching from Ukraine!
What about OCTAVES ?
You can skip a few close related, then move inbetween OCTAVES.
It's not particularly useful to consider octaves when mixing together pieces of music since almost any song in any key will use multiple octaves within that key. The bass line will always be in a low set of octaves, lead instruments and vocals in higher octaves. Considering octave jumps when creating your own chords can be a useful musical tool, but it's not very relevant to music mixing.
what's the last song name?sounds like good
Hello Arman I use rekordbox to process the music but it only gives me the key, not with the number as to use the Camelot wheel, how can I do to get this information that I will need when mixing? thanks for the video, great content as always!
Just map the keys to the camelot wheel
There is an option on the mapping where you choose it to be either the musical note or the key. Also as a simple recommendation; you dont have to look at the image to know if you can mix the song, Just see it this way; you can mix same number diferent letter or same letter with number +/- 1
what board do u use
Sorry if this sounds silly, but how do you know in advance what key the tracks are in?
what is the track playing at 12:30 ?
Robert R. Hardy - Last Indos (Nicolás Rada Remix)
Great post, I've been djing for a while but I don't have any formal musical education and this a revelation for me though I think this ways of mixing could be very limiting also. What do you think? Do you always mixed in key?
What’s more accurate, keys analysed by rekordbox or mixed in key?
I have both, and I’m getting some mixed results.
I haven't seen a proper compare of DJ SW tools done is a long time, this is the most recent I can find:
djtechtools.com/2015/11/16/key-detection-software-comparison-2015-edition/
Seems like Rekordbox was good and then got awful, but they have had updates since so it's hard to say. I personally use Serato 2.0.5 and its been dead on.
I use both Serato and mixed in key...I don't know which one is more or less accurate since they're both wrong fairly often, in the end I just use it as a general guideline and improvise as I go along
Yet another video that does not mention that this only works if you are not changing the tempo of the track to be fixed into the one already being played. Remember changing the pitch of the tune will change its key, which requires key locking the tune before the tempo is changed...
What's the name of the stand is your audio monitors? The ones on the desk at the beginning not the ones at ur cdjs
ISO Acoustics ISO130
the wheel 3:15
Question! Usually dj:s order their tracs by bmp. How can i know is my next track with kinda same key?
if you dont illegally download your music it should tell you what key each song is just like itll tell you what song is by each artist, album, bpm etc
Hugo Davey yes it does tell. Im using rekord box! But i problem is that that i can only use one ”order opinion”: by bpm, by key, by album, by name what ever. I cannot choose bmw low to speed and key. I only can choose one thing. Sorry im bad at english... so my question: should i choose key or bmp
choose key and just adjust bpm but i wouldn't go to a song with more then 2 bpm difference personally
My CDJs allow me to sort by key - any software should do this also.
Sound of Arman mine too but then i cant sort by bpm. I cant do both
"Turntables"
dj talk
hahahahahaha
how do you figure out which key is the track playing on? Does it show on the DJ Console you are using? or is it by hearing?
get mixed in key, its a free software that you can analyze your tracks through. alot of dj software will automatically analyze your tracks when you import them too.
Thanks @@lukasziman