Banter's post about their personal experience getting started with Mixmeister does a superb job of bringing together a number tips, tricks and techniques that benefit all Mixmeister users and was quickly bumped into our Hall of Fame section. The original post is reproduced here in our Tips & Tricks section as it's too good to miss.

Collecting Your Music:

I started a year ago converting my CD’s to mp3 format and collecting other music (through a paid website).
I have broken my Library into four groups or genres:
Top Tunes = Billboards Top Ten Songs of each year 1950-Current
Dance Club = The No#1 Dance Club Song of each week From 1980-Current.
Disco = The No#1 Disco Song of each week from 1976-1979
Rock N Roll = Top Classic Rock songs of 1970-Current


Mp3Gain

I saved all the mp3’s on a portable hard drive after tons of listening & sorting. Why? So if I made any mistakes along the way I could always start over at the beginning with the basics. I started over a few times. One good example: I used an (un-named) mp3 volume adjuster to filter and level the volume of “All” my mp3 music to 0db. That was a huge mistake. After reading the forum on BeatMixing.com I soon found out most members of the site were using mp3Gain which can be found at http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/ . I thought I would give it a try. No doubt, it blew away the competition. Best of all it is free and it does batch scanning by dragging and dropping! Again, once you have done this you should take another backup and place that on your portable hard drive and do not delete the original. Create another file. That’s right, keep a step by step back-up of all your work as you go along. You will thank me for that thought.
Ha Ha, Such a thankless world.


MixMeister Library

With all my music sorted into four groups and now the volume gain set to 95db (as suggested by most who use mp3Gain, I am ready for MixMeister (Fusion). To start I went to the Library Tab and created four New Categories to match the music categories I created listed above. Once you drag and drop your folders into the Library of MixMeister you should NOT do anything on your computer while MixMeister scans for many things one being the BPM of your music. Next I watched the Tutorials (found in the Help menu) over and over as well as referred to BeatMixing.com. In no time I was sampling on my own before venturing out to setting a DEFAULT Intro & Outro for each song.


The Song Slicer:


Important: Before you start creating Intros & Outros you must know that YOU are going to make mistakes. Yes, the key word is YOU. It is not MixMeister. You need to get to know the program. I started over three times before I GOT IT. Once I even totally reformatted the hard drive of my laptop just to start over. I made a big mistake that time.
Keep in mind that I am only using my laptop for my music and MixMeister. After reading and reading and even more reading of BeatMixing.com and playing with MixMeister (Fusion) I finally got it. It is like learning to use any computer program. YOU need to understand the theory in order to get it. Finally I GOT IT. What was the big secret to creating Default Intros & Outros? The Song Slicer. If you want to set Default Intros & Outros you will need to get married to your Song Slicer first. Again, this is a must. The best way I was able to understand Song Slicer is to watch the tutorials over and over (this can not be expressed enough). Also, here is a page written on BeatMixing.com by Wildr’s that finally made everything click in my head about the SONG SLICER:
http://community.beatmixing.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6881038761/m/3891003181
Thank You Mr. Wildr’s.


Quick Save Work:

Once you do any work with a song you want to save it. It is easy. Simply go to the song in the Playlist, right click the song, then click Quick Save Tweak . If you do not save your Tweaks all recent work will be lost on that song.



Mistakes:

Now that I understood the Song Slicer I wanted to create a Default Intro & Outro pattern that would work for majority of songs But most of all work for me. I say pattern because if you are going to set Default Intros & Outros it only makes sense that the Default Intros & Outros work together with as much music in the Library as possibly. If the mix does not sound right at all then I can assure you something is wrong and you need to address one of the songs in the Song Slicer or your beat pattern does not work.
As a rule of thumb, after I am done working EVERY song in the Song Slicer and have made my Default Intros & Outros, I mix EVERY new creation with a different song just to make sure it is correct. Why? Just trust me, by mixing the finished product with another finished song you will know if it is correct. Yes this takes time, but it also makes perfection! Let me just state that MixMeister can produce some great mixes as long as YOU do not make a mistake.



My Theory:

I know there must be many theory’s out there on how to set your music up to mix. Mine is only one. If there are any others out there please feel free to read, read, read. What may work for me might not work for you. When it comes to MixMeister I am an amateur, however in my day when DJ’s mixed with vinyl I was the King in my area. Money talked! :- ))

How did I come up with what I think to be the perfect Default Intro & Outro for my use? Well, during my club days most mixes were created within 4, 16, 32 or 64 beats. However to set one song with a 16 beat Intro and another song with a 32 or 64 beat Outro will not work in most cases. That is if you are trying to set all your music with a Default Intro & Outro. If you set every song to have a 16 beat Intro & Outro you could just about mix your entire Library w/o the use of headphones for pre-listen to your mix. As for me, I am setting all songs to have a 16 beat Intro & Outro as Default. This way if one needs to make a minor change while playing Live, it is really easy.


Learning To Count Music:


To set a 16 beat Intro and Outro, you need to use music with a 4x4 count (1, 4, 8, 16 beats). Beat counting of music is like writing an essay.

An essay starts with:
1) One word.
2) Many words make a sentence.
3) A few sentences equal a paragraph.

Music starts with:
1) One Beat.
2) Four Beat equal a Measure.
3) Four Beats x’s Four Measures equal a 16 Beat Phrase (4x4 Count)
3A) Or a Four Beats x’s Eight Measure equal a 32 Beat Phrase. (4x8 Count)

I guess the hardest part I can not show you here is where the first beat of a measure or phrase starts in the middle of a song. It is just something that needs to be shown in person. So if you know a DJ or someone who knows music why don’t you throw on a tune and ask, “How do I find the beginning of a Music Phrase in the middle of a song”?
I’m just glad I was born with Rhythm in my soul.


Setting your Intro & Outros to a Default Setting:

To start go to Tools then Snap To then 1 Measure. Once you are done setting your Default Intros & Outros make sure you put this setting back to “Eighth Note”. (This is very important as Wild’s explained in link listed above). Having Snap To 1 Measure set, each box will equal 4 beats and 4 boxes equal 16 beats. (Note that this also allows for a better fit on your screen and easier explanation)

For the Intro point, place your Intro Marker 16 beats (4 boxes or 4 measures) before the point you want the intro song to take over.
At this time you can set your Volume markers. If you want the song to fade in before your Intro Marker, feel free to do so. The reason I am use a 16 beat Default Intro and Outro is because I can raise my volume markers before the point of the Intro Marker, thus allowing me to make the mix a 32 beat mix without having to change anything but my Intro Volume Marker. How hard can that be? Trust me, easier done than what I am trying to type.

For the Outro point, place your Outro Marker 16 beats (4 boxes or 4 measures) before the point that you want exit the song.
Now place a Volume Marker right on the Outro Maker (set at 0db).
Then put a second Volume Marker 16 beats or 4 boxes past the Outro Marker. This should also be the point you want your song to end. (set at -6.00db to -8.00db)
Now set a third Volume Marker at the base of 20beats or 5 boxes past your Outro Marker. By placing it at the base of the box you should have no sound after this point. This is all done to create a smooth fade out and save a drastic cut off of your mix.

There is no rule for setting Volume Markers. Most of the time they are set by ear and if a person feels comfortable in how the fade in and out sounds. This is another reason why I encourage everyone to mix ALL songs with another song to check for mistakes or minor adjustment. You can also set Treble, Midrange and Bass Markers at the same time as you set the Volume Markers.


Back It All Up!

Now that you have made it to this point (or when you do) it is important to back up all your work. Again, on that portable or external hard drive I will back up all the files that contain my mp3’s and also contain a file of each MixMeisters song. If you ever need to re-install, all you have to do is put the mp3 folders that contain the MixMeister saves back on your hard drive from the portable hard drive. Once this is done just drag your folders right back into MixMeisters Library after you recreate categories.

Two things I would like to suggest for backing up:
1) Never put music into My Music or on your Desktop. If you do and you use that same computer to go online then you are inviting the web to check your music files and they will become updated with information you may not want such as genre, year, album and comments. Oh those comments! I only like the song title and year in the properties of my mp3’s as well as a genre I make up. So if the net updates any of my songs, it will change the info I had set to them. This is why I put all songs into a folder called Tunes. Then I put that folder under My Documents. Of course you can do what I do, I just never go online with the computer that contains MixMeister and my Tunes. Stay out of my music!

2) Get a portable or external hard drive. Make sure you get at least 60gb. This way you can hold plenty of music even if you do have it stored three different times in three different ways. Saving your work could never be a more thankful when something goes wrong.


Your Three Goals:

I have written this to attempt to help others get started with MixMeister. If I can only express three things it would be:
1) Watch the Tutorials in MixMeister under the Help menu.
2) Read all you can read and then read some more on BeatMixing.com
3) Most importantly, learn how to use the Song Slicer correctly.


Closing:

This is written for DJ’s that understand a 4,8,16 & 32 beat mix and are trying to learn MixMeister for the first time. If you do not understand this because you have never mixed music, you might want to hook up with a DJ that can show you how to count music (it is something easier when shown live). Someone teaching you to count music while it is playing Live is much easier than one writing it all out on paper. Now if you are a DJ and have no clue of what I am trying to explain, I’m Sorry :- ((

I am only three weeks new to MixMeister. I think it is by far the best products out on the market for DJ’s. I have tried a couple mixing programs that were recommended to me by some of the top DJ’s in NY and they are sooooooooo wrong. If they would only take the time to learn MixMeister they would know what I found out, MixMeister has put a fix to just about every problem for my use.

Good Luck
Banter