If you've ever played a musical instrument the concept of playing in key is nothing new. But what about DJs? Are there lessons out there that go over majors, minors or even basic chord progressions? Having 2 songs mixed in key gives the impression that the songs were made for each other.
MixedInKey has developed a software for DJs that will analyze your songs to determine what key they are in. That way when you are building your set you can select songs that where performed in the same key or a complementary key.
In order to have your mp3s analyzed add them to MixedInKey. From there, the software will determine its key and display them according to their Camelot Sound keycode. Add songs according to their keycode using your favorite mixing software and start mixing.
We had our reservations about this program, fearing that all your mixes will be in the same key leading to one boring set. But the system itself, teaches you musical concepts and if you follow the system you can move from one key to the next to add chord progressions to your mix.
MixedInKey is available for both Windows and Mac and cost $58.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-22-2008 @ 6:57PM
Respire said...
For those that want to try out the concept (or are die-hard free software fans), Mixshare offers a free javascript-based alternative.
http://www.mixshare.com/software.html
Reply
6-22-2008 @ 7:39PM
Jon said...
In my opinion if you can't work out if 2 songs are in the same key you shouldn't be mixing in the first place, do some ear training rather than relying on software!
Reply
6-23-2008 @ 10:28AM
legacydevice said...
Honestly, this is a great piece of software. It finds the key as well as the tempo, fairly accurately, saving you alot of time. Remember that alot of DJs do not write music and thus might not have an intimate knowledge of keys; for what it's worth, neither do I or Eddie Van Halen, but we've both done ok!
6-26-2008 @ 1:32PM
NumbersAndNoise said...
@legacydevice
I will agree that the tempo-matching function is important, as it has to be perfectly accurate, but ignorance of music theory isn't this permanent condition, nor is it even hard to learn it. If DJs want to be taken seriously as musicians, it's something they should learn, as it is equally applicable in any genre of music. And yes, I know EVH didn't know much theory, but his success is despite it, not because of it.
http://www.musictheory.net/
Educate yourself. It can't hurt.
7-11-2008 @ 5:07PM
Mark Davis said...
Jon said "In my opinion if you can't work out if 2 songs are in the same key you shouldn't be mixing in the first place, do some ear training rather than relying on software!"
There are a couple of misconceptions here. First, harmonic mixing does not require that tracks be in the same key, only that they be in compatible keys. For that to work, two types of information are required: the keys of each track, and what keys are compatible. Unless you have been trained as a musician, you would probably not know this information. External information helps.
Secondly, even professional musicians have difficulty keying some tracks. "Ear training" is inadequate for many situations.