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Work your magic on the music - Advanced Techniques

About tempo, BPM, and beat mixing

The “tempo” of a song refers to how fast or slow it is. Tempo affects the mood of a piece—a fast tempo makes music feel exciting or energetic, while a slow tempo feels more relaxed.

One way tempo can be measured is in “beats per minute,” or BPM. Most dance music ranges between 110 and 140 BPM. A mellower song would have a lower BPM, while a high-energy sound would have a higher BPM. In most dance music, you can hear the thumping sound of the kick drum on each beat.

“Beat mixing” refers to the art of linking or overlapping two songs together so that they actually sound like one—or at least, you can’t tell where the first one ends and the next one begins. Since it’s unlikely that your playlist will include songs with the exact same BPM, you can use MixMeister to create seamless transitions between songs with the help of beat mixing.

To do good beat mixing, you need to change the speed—or BPM—of one or both songs so that they have the same BPM at the point where they overlap. Then, you can line up the beats at the overlapping segments to make the transition sound great. One of the great things about MixMeister technology is that changing the BPM of a song will change the tempo only; it will not distort the sound of the voices or the instruments!

Keep in mind that for most of a song’s duration, it will retain its original BPM. But MixMeister prepares for the overlap of two songs by gradually slowing down or speeding up the songs to meet at an intermediate BPM for the duration of the overlap. For example, let’s say track A has a BPM of 130 and track B has a BMP of 140. The BPM at their overlap would be about 135. Track A would start speeding up gradually during the middle of the song so it would reach 135 when it overlaps with track B. Once track A has stopped, track B would speed up gradually so that it reaches its normal BPM of 140 by the middle of the song.

When you turn on Beat Mixing, MixMeister uses this technique to link a series of songs together. You can then take this automatic beat mixing and fine-tune it however you like.

This picture of the Timeline shows a good beat mix of two overlapping songs. Notice how the spikes (or beats) of the upper song line up with the spikes of the lower song. Since the beats of the two songs are coordinated, the transition between songs would be hard to detect.

To Create a Beat Mix in Three Easy Steps

Create a playlist with your favorite music. Dance music works particularly well with beat mixing.
In the Playlist menu at the top of the screen, select Sort All By BPM (Ascending). This groups the tracks with similar BPM together.
Select all of the items in the playlist and then select Use Beat Mixing from the Edit menu.

Press play and enjoy the results.

What Happens

MixMeister creates an 8-measure intro range and outro range at the beginning and end of each track. In most dance music, a measure is 4 beats.

If you're not familiar with musical terminology, think of the parts of a song as a poem. Each beat is like a syllable. Each measure is made up of 4 beats (usually) and forms a word. A phrase is made up of multiple measures (typically 8) and forms a musical sentence. Most great beat mixes line up the phrase from one song with the phrase from another song. In the process it fades from one to the other. The result is a smooth “morphing” from one song to another.

MixMeister will then take these ranges (intro and outro) and stretch each song. It will make the measures in the outro from the first song the same length as the measures in the intro of the second song. It does this by changing the tempo of one or both songs. MixMeister also cross fades the volume during the time both songs play. These default settings created by MixMeister give you the makings of a great mix.

Adjusting the Mix

You can sometimes make the mix sound even better by adjusting where the intro and outro range are.

To move the intro and outro ranges

Click in the Music Plot for a song to move the cursor to a point near the end of the song. Use the play buttons in the track button bar to the left to listen to portions of the song. Decide where you want to start fading to the next song. Tip: Click in the timeline to use the cursor to mark this point.
Click in the horizontal red bar at the top of the outro range and drag it to slide the outro range to start at this point.
Change the length of the outro range by dragging the outro sprockets left or right. Some songs sound great with a 24-measure overlap. Others should be much shorter.
Repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 for the intro range of the next song.

Notes:

When you drag the intro or outro range, MixMeister will snap the position to the closest beat position that it finds. Generally, this snap size is eighth notes or 1/2 of a beat. By default, MixMeister will also snap the width of the intro and outro to measures (4 beats). If you need greater control of the intro and outro, you can disable "snap to beat" from the View menu or the right click menu in the Timeline. See Using “Snap to Beat” for more information.
MixMeister will overlap the songs based on measures. It won't strictly follow the sprocket positions. For example, if the first song has a 2-measure outro while the second song has a 3-measure intro, only the last two measures will be linked up.
The first beat of each measure is marked with a vertical red stripe. The other beats are gray. (You may need to zoom in to see the individual beats.)

Adjusting the tempo changes in beat mixing

MixMeister generates 4 tempo boxes for each track that uses beat mixing. Here’s where MixMeister will put them by default:

30 seconds after the intro range for the song. (Original music tempo)
30 seconds before the outro range for the song. (Original music tempo)
At the first outro sprocket. (Tempo between the original tempo for the current track, and the original tempo for the next track)
At the second outro sprocket. (Tempo between the original tempo for the current track and the original tempo for the next track)

You can change the sound of your beat mix by adjusting these tempo boxes.

To change the tempo of one of the tempo boxes

1. In the lower part of the Timeline, find the red tempo box associated with the song whose tempo you want to adjust.

2. Do one of the following:

· Drag the tempo box up or down (up to increase BPM or down to decrease BPM). Release the mouse button when the tool tip indicates the BPM you want.

· Right-click the tempo box, and then click Edit. Type the exact BPM you want, and then press Enter.

The lines between the tempo boxes represent how the tempo will change over time between the tempo boxes. If you want the tempo to be the same for the entire length of the song, set all of the tempo boxes for the song at the same BPM.

To change the length of time between tempo boxes

If you want MixMeister to use more or less time to go from one BPM to another, do the following:

1. In the Timeline, scroll to one of the tempo boxes that is not at a sprocket.

2. Click on the tempo box and move it to the right or the left.

Note:

· If you want a more gradual change in tempo, move the tempo boxes or sprockets farther apart.

· If you want a less gradual change in tempo, move the tempo boxes or sprockets closer together.

· If you want to move a tempo box that is lined up with a sprocket to the left or right, you have to move the sprocket.

· You can move any tempo box (even those lined up with a sprocket) up or down if you want to change tempo at that point.

Tips for creating a great beat mix

Here are some pointers about beat mixing to keep in mind:

· Rearrange the order of songs in your playlist so that neighboring songs are within about 5 to 10 BPM of each other. The more similar the BPMs of two overlapping songs are, the less noticeable the tempo changes will be. (Note: While MixMeister can handle differences in BPM of 20 or more, this mix may not sound very good.)

· Beat mixing works really well on tracks that have long rhythmic beginnings and endings using lots of drums. Dance tracks are often ideal for beat mixing thanks to the noticeable drumbeats.

· Try lining up musical phrases as the “outro” and “intro” where two songs overlap. (A musical phrase is similar to a sentence in a book. It is a continuous thought that lasts 10-30 seconds. A singer would typically take a breath at the end of a phrase.) By overlapping the ending phrase of one song with the beginning phrase of the next song, you can make the transition sound more like a single song.

· If you have one transition where you don’t want to use beat mixing, simply make the intro range or outro range for one of the tracks have a length of zero measures.

Editing a track with drag & drop, copy & paste, and cut

Want to reuse a cool lick several times within the same track? Curious to hear what it would sound like to preview a few bars of your second track while the first song in your playlist is still playing? No problem—just use drag and drop, the Timeline’s button bar, and the Timeline’s right-click menu to customize any mix.

To drag and drop a segment of a track to a new location

In the Timeline, point to the title bar at the bottom of a track segment. (Text will appear that says, Adjust Segment Position.)
Drag the segment to the position you want, and then release the mouse pointer.

Drag & Drop notes:

· MixMeister forces you to keep a song’s outro after its intro.

· You can only drag copied material elsewhere within its own track—not into any other track.

· In addition to dropping segments within the boundaries of the actual song, you can drop segments within the empty spaces before and after a song. (However, you can’t drop anything before the beginning of the first song on your playlist.)

· MixMeister uses “non-destructive editing” on the tracks. This means that you can remove and copy sections of the track without impacting the music file. This behavior is unlike most wave editors, which actually manipulate the music file itself. The benefit of non-destructive editing is that you can always return to the original music file, no matter how much you manipulate it in MixMeister. Another benefit of non-destructive editing is that it is much faster and produces much smaller working files since you are only dealing with a set of pointers into the music and not the actual music data itself.

· The “Snap to Beat” feature of MixMeister affects where you place the cursor to drag and select. See Using “Snap to Beat” for more information.

To copy a segment of a track and paste it to a new location

In the Timeline, either click a segment to select it (you’ll see an orange outline around the segment), or drag across a portion of a song to highlight it.
Click the Copy button in the button bar at the lower-left corner of the screen. (Or, you can right-click the segment, and then click Copy.)
Click elsewhere in the track where you want to paste the copied segment, or, drag across a portion of the song that you want to replace with the copied section.
Click the Paste button in the button bar at the lower-left corner of the screen. (Or, you can right-click the segment, and then click Paste.)

Notes about Copy & Paste:

· In Primary tracks, pasting at the blinking cursor means that you’re inserting the copied material, thereby moving the existing music out of the way to accommodate the new music. Pasting over a highlighted section will first remove the highlighted section and then insert the new section.

· In Overlay tracks (described later), pasting at the blinking cursor means that you’re pasting on top of the current music.

· You can only paste copied material elsewhere within its own track—not into any other track.

· In addition to pasting segments within the boundaries of the actual song, you can paste segments within the empty spaces before and after a song. (However, you can’t paste anything before the beginning of the first song on your playlist.)

To cut a segment of a track

In the Timeline, either click a segment to select it (you’ll see an orange outline around the segment), or drag across a portion of a song to highlight it.
Click the Cut button in the button bar at the lower-left corner of the screen. (Or, you can right-click the segment, and then click Cut.)
If you like, you can paste the cut segment elsewhere in the track. (See: “Notes about Copy & Paste”)

Notes about cutting:

· In Primary tracks, cutting a segment will remove that segment, and then close the gap. In other words, it won’t leave space where you cut.

· In Overlay tracks, cutting a segment will leave a space where you cut. In other words, it won’t close the gap.

· Again, MixMeister uses “non-destructive editing”, so you don’t have to worry about changing your music files.

Using “Snap to Beat”

Snap to Beat is a great feature that can really speed up your track editing and mixing. When Snap to Beat is turned on, its settings affect standard things you do in MixMeister—such as selecting, copying, and pasting—thereby making it easier to do quick manipulations like copying an entire phrase of a song and pasting it at a logical place later on.

Since Snap to Beat lets you paste sections of music according to beats and measures, it helps you achieve results that are more likely to make sense musically. Suppose you have beat mixing turned on, and you want to extend a song’s 4-beat drum intro to 12 beats so that you have more time to mix it with the previous song. Using Snap to Beat, it’s easy to select and copy the 4-beat measure and paste it twice to extend it to 12 beats.

If Snap to Beat is on (which it is, by default), you can then specify measurements for its two snap settings—Snap Position To and Snap Length To. These settings are global in MixMeister. That means that the current settings apply to any track in any playlist you work on. The settings are not stored with the song or playlist.

Tip: Keep in mind that in MixMeister, a “measure” = four beats, and a “quarter note” = one beat. Also, the default setting for Snap Position To is “Eighth Notes” and the default setting for Snap Length To is “Measures.”

“Snap Position To” affects:

The actual placement of the cursor when you click within the Timeline. For example, if you have the Snap Position set to “Eighth Notes,” and you click in the Timeline, MixMeister places the cursor on the closest eighth note (half beat).
Where a sprocket in a standard mix track will land when you move it.
Where the left edge of a segment will land if you’re dragging it on top of another segment. (If you drop the segment over blank space in its track, it will land wherever you place it since there is nothing to snap the segment to.)
Where an intro or outro range in a beat mixed track will land when you drag and drop the range.

“Snap Length To” affects:

The size of your selection when you drag across a portion of a track in the Timeline. For example, if you have Snap Length To set to “Measures,” as you drag past two beats, MixMeister makes the selection four beats long (a “measure”); as you drag it past six beats, MixMeister makes the selection eight beats long (two “measures”), and so on.
The length of an intro or outro range in a beat mixed track when you crop or extend the range.

Note:

· The length of intro and outro ranges will not snap to a length that is less than a measure. So even if you set snap length to eighth notes, the intro and outro ranges will snap to measures. If you set snap length to something more than a measure (2 measures, for example), then the length of the intro and outro ranges will follow the Snap Length To setting.

To turn “Snap to Beat” on or off

1. Either open the Tools menu or right-click the Timeline and see if there is a check mark next to Snap to Beat. (If you see a check mark, “Snap to Beat” is turned on.)

2. To change the current setting of Snap to Beat, do one of the following:

· On the Tools menu, click Snap To Beat.

· Right-click the Timeline, and then click Snap to Beat.

To change the setting for “Snap Position To”

Make sure Snap to Beat is turned on. (For directions, see the first procedure in this section.)
On the Tools menu, click Snap Position To, and then click the position setting you want. The settings range from “8 Measures” down to “Eighth Notes.”

To change the setting for “Snap Length To”

Make sure Snap to Beat is turned on. (For directions, see the first procedure in this section.)
On the Tools menu, click Snap Length To, and then click the length setting you want. The settings range from “8 Measures” down to “Eighth Notes.”

Primary tracks vs. overlay tracks

Most of the time, you’ll be working with “primary tracks” in MixMeister. By default, MixMeister assigns the primary track designation to all tracks that you add to a playlist. However, there may be situations when you want to add something extra to your mix and therefore want to add an “overlay track.”

About primary tracks

Primary tracks are the meat and potatoes of MixMeister. They’re what you’re going to be working with most of the time.
With primary tracks, you can do beat mixing.
Primary tracks are restricted by their sprockets. Since sprockets determine how each song in the playlist lines up with the songs in front and in back of it, you can never move a primary track in the Timeline such that it plays out of the order dictated by the playlist.
The symbols for a primary track in your Playlist or Timeline are an open circle for songs using Standard Mixing and a musical note for songs using Beat Mixing.

About overlay tracks

Overlays are perfect for adding special sounds (like “Whoosh”), voice-overs, or perhaps a riff that foreshadows a song coming up later. (Currently, they’re not well-suited for drum loops—although it’s worth a try!)
The symbol for an overlay track in your Playlist or Timeline is an up arrow .
The timing of Overlay tracks is always relative to the previous track in the Playlist. So if you delete a song three songs earlier, the Overlay track will stay in a position that is relative to the preceding song.
MixMeister doesn’t provide automated beat mixing with overlay tracks. Although, you can line up the beats of an overlay track with another track manually.
Overlay tracks have no sprockets. Therefore, an overlay track can move along its track without being hindered by where it is in the playlist. It can play anywhere in the Timeline.
Changing the tempo of an overlay track works differently than with primary tracks.

Adding and adjusting overlay tracks

When you drag a track from your Catalog to the Playlist or the Timeline, MixMeister assumes it is a primary track. However, it’s easy to change any primary track to an overlay track.

You can use all of the cut, copy, and paste techniques that you use with primary tracks, but some of the other adjustments you can make (described below) work differently than with primary tracks.

To change an existing primary track to an overlay track

1. In the current Playlist or in the Timeline, right-click the song you want to change to an overlay track.

2. Click Select Track Type, and then click Overlay Track.

To crop or extend an overlay segment

1. In the Timeline, point to a segment line at an end of a segment in an overlay track. (Text will appear that says, Crop or Extend Segment.)

2. Drag the line to the point where you want to crop or extend (shorten or lengthen) the segment, and then release the mouse pointer.

To move an overlay segment

1. In the Timeline, point to the title bar at the bottom of an overlay track. Text will appear that says, Adjust Segment Position (Speed = XX.X% or YYY BPM).

2. Drag the track or segment to the position you want, and then release the mouse pointer.

To change the tempo of an overlay segment

Since overlay tracks do not have tempo boxes, you can’t fine-tune the BPM for overlay tracks like you can with primary tracks. However, you can “stretch” an overlay track by following these instructions, thereby affecting the tempo.

1. In the Timeline, point to the segment line at an end of an overlay segment. Make sure the pointer is also over the title bar at the bottom of the track. (Text will appear that says, “Adjust Segment Length (Speed = XX.X% or YYY BPM).”)

2. Drag the line to the point where you want to stretch the segment, and then release the mouse pointer.

The Overlay segment will now be stretched (or compressed) to play the entire segment in the time span selected. Even with Overlay tracks, MixMeister will adjust the tempo of the music without changing the pitch.

Playing with the bass and treble settings of the music

To add a little variety and some cool effects to a mix, you can use MixMeister to adjust the bass and treble of the music over time.

To change the bass of the music

Right click in the Timeline on a segment where you want to change the bass
Select Add Bass Volume Marker. You will now see a square green bass volume marker in the Music Plot. Move this single marker up to increase the bass of the entire song. Move the bass volume marker down to decrease the bass of the entire song.
If you want the bass to go up and down throughout the song, repeat steps 1 and 2 as many times as you want to add additional bass volume markers. Move the markers independently and the lines between the markers show how MixMeister will gradually adjust the bass between markers.

To change the treble of the music

Right click in the Timeline on a segment where you want to change the treble
Select Add Treble Volume Marker. You will now see a square yellow treble volume marker in the Music Plot. Move this single marker up to increase the treble of the entire song. Move the treble volume marker down to decrease the treble of the entire song.
If you want the treble to go up and down throughout the song, repeat steps 1 and 2 as many times as you want to add additional treble volume markers. Move the markers independently and the lines between the markers show how MixMeister will gradually adjust the treble between markers.

Saving a track’s current settings

If you’re a DJ who likes to use MixMeister “on the fly,” you’ll probably want to go through each song in the Catalog to customize and save the track settings you like. That way, you don’t have to redo your work each time you create a playlist using that song.

For example, if you like to use a particular portion of a song as the intro for beat mixing rather than the original intro that MixMeister assigned, you’d want to use Save Current Track Settings as Catalog Default so that the next time you drag that song to a playlist from the Catalog, those settings are already done. Of course, you can always restore the original settings MixMeister gave the track.

To save a track’s settings to the Catalog

In the Playlist or the Timeline, find the track whose settings you want to save.
Do one of the following:

· Right-click the track, and then click Save Current Track Settings as Catalog Default.

· Click the track, click the Edit menu, and then click Save Current Track Settings as Catalog Default.

Note:

· When you use this feature, MixMeister saves the following track settings:

Segment breaks

Master Volume

Volume curve

Mixing Style (Standard Mixing or Beat Mixing)

Track Type (Overlay or Primary)

Tempo

Bass settings

Treble settings

Sprocket positions

Intro and Outro length and position

To revert to your last saved settings

Use this procedure when you’ve made additional custom changes to a track in the Timeline, but then decide you want to use the track settings you saved previously as the catalog default settings.

In the Playlist or the Timeline, find the track whose settings you want to undo.
Do one of the following:

· Right-click the track, and then click Revert to Last Saved Default Track Settings.

· Click the track, click the Edit menu, and then click Revert to Last Saved Default Track Settings.

To restore a track’s original track settings

Use this procedure when you’ve saved your track settings as the catalog default, but then decide you want that track to have MixMeister’s original settings in the Catalog.

In the Catalog, Playlist, or Timeline, find the track whose original MixMeister settings you want to restore.
Do one of the following:

· Right-click the track, and then click Restore MixMeister’s Original Track Settings.

· Click the track, click the Edit menu, and then click Restore MixMeister’s Original Track Settings.

Notes:

If you select this option on a music file in the catalog, MixMeister will save the Original Track Settings as the default track settings for that file.
If you select this option on a track in the Playlist or Timeline, MixMeister will apply these track settings to this track in this playlist only. It will not save these settings as the default track settings for that file.

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