01. M.I.K.E. – Salvation (Valentino Kanzyani Remix)
02. RST, Jared Knapp – Encompass (Tritonal Remix)
03. Andy Moor – Halcyon (Original Mix)
04. Gabriel & Dresden – Arcadia (Swing To Chunk Mix)
05. [loops back to 01]
loopable trance genre harmonic mix
You know how you can browse tracks on sites like Beatport.com, and you get to preview a portion of the track? Well, those previews are just MP3 files that are split from the full tracks. Each preview is usually about 2 minutes, and you can get the URLs for an entire genre via RSS feeds.
So, you can use the Firefox plugin “FlashGot” to automatically download all of the MP3 files that are referenced in the “Top 100″ House music RSS feed on Beatport. Then, you can run them through key detection software to get musical key info on them all.
Once you have those samples and key information on them, it’s possible to mix them together live, without ever having listened to the tracks beforehand. Here’s a recording of me mixing 8 tracks in about 10 minutes with this style:
[ Download MP3 ]
[audio http://caustik.com/mixes/special/Free%20House.mp3]
It’s a lot of work to keep the mix going, since the samples are so small. I’ve been pretty much warping the tracks in real time, figuring out where the phrases are, getting them sync’d up, and timing the drops. There’s a lot of room for error if you lose concentration, or if you just happen to get a track that doesn’t line up quite right. So having an emergency fallback to save the mix in these bad scenarios would be good..
It’s an interesting technique, for one because it’s free to get these track samples. That saves a lot of money, considering each track is normally either 1.99$ or 2.49$.. — also, the speed of mixing is a lot faster, so it really helps you develop your mixing skills, and forces you to learn recovery techniques.
Probably more on this technique in the future!
Just some electro house, result of experimenting with a top secret project! 
– more on that later [ Download MP3 ]
[audio http://caustik.com/mixes/special/August%202009%20Electro%20House%20Mix.mp3]
Just wanted to try making a mix that loops back onto itself. In other words, if you put this mix on repeat, you should never notice when it’s over and has started playing again. [ download ]
[audio http://caustik.com/mixes/special/Circular DJ Mix.mp3]
01 Astrid Suryanto – Distant Bar (Gutterstylz Vox Mix)
02 Sissy – I See You (Micah’s Only When I’m Visible Mix)
03 The Knife – Like A Pen (Thomas Schumacher Remix)
04 Faithless – Music Matters feat. Cass Fox (Mark Knight Remix)
05 Moonbeam – What Dreams May Come (Original Mix)
06 Ido Ophir, Miki Litvak – Shnorkel (Dousk Remix)
[ Download MP3 ]
[audio http://caustik.com/mixes/APU/Caustik%20-%20A.P.U.%20-%20007.mp3]
What happens if you take a loop, pitch bend it down to half tempo, while mixing in a new loop at full speed? How about if you combine that with some Ableton pitch-sustaining tempo manipulation? Listen for yourself!
[audio http://www.caustik.com/mixes/experiments/recursive1.mp3]Here’s another experiment, this one with pitch/tempo manipulation up and down. Halfway through creates a pretty cool effect.
[audio http://www.caustik.com/mixes/experiments/recursive2.mp3]
I’m sure some other digital DJ has thought to use this technique. I’ll see if I can work it into the next APU mix.
I have recorded a new mix, using the Xone:3D mixer and Ableton Live software. This particular mix has lots of bass, so be sure to enjoy it on a speaker system with nice quality subs if you have one available. A good car stereo system, home theater , or set of high quality headphones will do the trick 
Mini-Mix 003 : Download MP3
For anybody interested in technical details … I utilized something called Harmonic Mixing a lot in this mix. Basically that means taking the musical key of each track into consideration when creating transitions and selecting loops. Just like combining different keys on a piano will make different chords, combining loops in a similar fashion makes for a much more coherent mix.
I’m really just scratching the surface of harmonic mixing, but the results in my mind are pretty clearly an improvement. When mixing without regard for musical key, instruments tend to clash in subtle ways. Being conscious of the keys of your tracks, and choosing them carefully, is a very valuable heuristic for making a smoother mix.
Filing this one under “DJ Techniques” …
As I am becoming more and more comfortable with my new Xone:3D hardware, I am learning a variety of fun tricks.
The hallmark of a great DJ is the ability to take a track and make it his (or hers). A technique that really piqued my interest, at a recent rave (EDC), is the layering of the same track twice, offset by a few beats or bars.
John “00″ Flemming completely blew me away with a set at EDC 2007 using this technique. He was playing some great psyc-trance rhythms with delicious dirty bass, and using the multi-track technique to tease on each drop. I have been recently experimenting with similar techniques.
Here is a recording of this type of technique that I made using Ableton Live and my Xone:3D. The first dramatic drop is done by duplicating the track, offset, applying a High Pass Filter (HPF) to the currently playing track, along with a “ping-pong” Ableton filter, and then sliding in the 2nd track when the bass drops. The result is a climax which leaves behind some mids and highs which are then manipulated as the track progresses. Later in this example, the two tracks are faded in and out, which is another funky effect.
The sloshing highs through the middle of this example, before the track fading, is not part of the source track and is done using only the HPF on the remainder of the HPF+ping-pong effect.