Using the Circle of Fifths to DJ

US David Bennett covers harmonic mixing      11/08/26

Mixing your favourite music together for a room full of loved up dancers (or equally on cassette for a loved one) is a fun and very accessible hobby... and profession if you're good enough! With the dawn of syncing digital tunes, mixing has never been easier, but it's important to ensure your tracks don't jar against each other - in terms of harmony as well as tempo. Here we have a video covering the Circle of Fifths from David Bennett, suitably sponsored by Mixed in Key. The timestamps are below... 

0:00 The Camelot Wheel 1:10 Relative minor 2:00 Closely related keys 4:25 Harmonic mixing 6:07 Mixed In Key 7:01 Diagonal changes 9:19 Modal changes 11:25 Pitchshifting tracks 11:50 Who invented the Camelot Wheel? 12:35 Circle Of Fifths vs. Camelot Wheel 14:00 Key changes in DJ mixes


More details from the video... 

Harmonic Mixing is when DJs create smooth, satisfying transitions between songs by selecting tracks that are either in the same key as each other, or in closely related keys. But how do the DJs know which keys are closely related? Well, the same way that musicians do... with the Circle of Fifths! But DJs have their own name for this music theory tool, the "Camelot Wheel". Thank you to all the DJs I talked to to help inform this video, especially Yakov.

Start harmonic mixing today with Mixed In Key: https://mixedinkey.com/?c=bennett

 

More from David Bennett Music Theory

About the author [midierror]: midierror is co-founder of Potato Audio, he makes nifty Max For Live devices, award-winning Sample Packs and hosts the 'midierror meets...' interview series speaking with all kinds of people working in sound & music. 


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