19 - Supersonic 1

This mix features two new things in my life.

The first one is the new MixMeister Pro version 5. I’ve been a keen fan of version 4, and the new version introduces key matching and better beat locking. Key matching means that it tells you (a good guess of) what key each track is in; this allows much smoother mixes because you can easily find a track with a matching key to the one you’re mixing from. Believe me, when you’ve got over 3000 songs in there, having at least some guide to this is very very useful. And while every crossfade I did in MMPro4 used to require me manually tweaking one or more handles of the crossfade regions in order for the beat and bar to match, MMPro5 is now almost always correct in where it places the crossfade region. This too makes putting together a mix much easier and simpler.

The second is a new technique I’m developing called Short Cuts. One of the things I’m increasingly finding annoying about both my own and other people’s mixes is the predictability of the mixing method. You get the intro, the main track, and then the outro/intro of the new track. The main body of the track can have one, often two, and sometimes even three ‘breakdowns’, where the music dies away and then comes back in some new form. In some examples, this ‘new form’ is actually just exactly what you’ve been hearing for the last five minutes, and introduces no real change or variation in the track. When this is combined with some irritating floating string pad, sawing away at your nerves like a dentist’s drill, you just don’t want to hear any more of that track! And really, since every mix always crossfades on the last main ‘hold the one key and just remove instruments until you’re left with sixteen bars of the bass drum’ segment, the crossfade is actually pretty boring too. So you’re left with long stretches in a mix where you’d really rather it just get on with doing what you like, which is presenting you with something new and interesting.

So the Short Cut method mixes on the gradual rise that characterises most ‘come back’ segments, fading into the ‘come back’ or initial rise sections of the next track. If you don’t recognise the songs, then it sounds (when done right, I hope) like the continuation of the original track, with a new variation or something; if you do recognise them, then it can often take you by surprise. It certainly does with me, and I should know where the mixes are!

This is also the first mix to feature a small-file and large-file format. The smaller file is 80kbps average, and about half the size of the larger 160kbps average file. Both are put together with LAME 3.9.2’s ABR feature, so you’re getting the best quality it can give you. Still, if you’re putting these
mixes on a small MP3 player, such as a mini-iPod or one of those 256MB USB key / MP3 player things, then this will mean you’re getting the best quality you can fit, rather than having to transcode another MP3 file (resulting in more loss of quality). Let me know if you have any problems with either of these formats!

Completed 18 Jan 2004

Styles

• Trance
• Psy-Trance

Files

• 19 - Supersonic 1 - 80kbit.mp3 - 80 kbps - 47.9 MB
• 19 - Supersonic 1 - 160kbit.mp3 - 160 kbps - 90.1 MB

Total play length: 01:19:28

Track listing

I welcome any suggestions, criticisms and recommendations for new music to listen to. I will consider doing specific mixes for people, but this is only a hobby. Hope to hear from you.