Harmonic Mixing

Mixed In Key
The most popular harmonic mixing software is called ‘Mixed In Key.’ This software allows you to
analyze all your music folders and label your songs with tags such as Artist, Comments, Title, or
Key depending on which field you choose in the Mixed In Key preferences. Mixed In Key also
works great for analyzing acapellas, so your mashups are in key.
Camelot Wheel
Once you’re done scanning all of your music, there is a simple chart you can follow called the
‘Camelot Wheel’ that will tell you which keys are compatible. The Camelot Wheel lists musical
keys that are displayed as ‘hours’ on a clock. For example, 4 o’clock corresponds to 4B or 4A.
The ‘B’ letter represents major keys, and the ‘A’ letter represents the minor keys. To follow the
chart, you can mix between songs by subtracting one ‘hour’ (-1), adding one ‘hour’ (+1) or
staying in the same ‘hour.’ So if you are in the key of ’4A,’ the next song can be 3A, 4A, or 5A.
Circle of Fifths
Music theory wise, the Camelot wheel represents the ‘Circle of Fifths.’ The Circle of Fifths
shows the relationships among the twelve tones of the chromatic scale, their corresponding key
signatures, and their associated relative minor and major keys. This chart is really helpful when
composing melodies and harmonies because it helps you figure out notes that work together
and sound the most musical. For DJs, it is just a handy chart that will guide you to choose what
tracks will go well together better.
Key Combinations
Below are some examples of key combinations I like to use and how they affect the energy of
the crowd.

Staying in the same key: (4A – 4A) or (F minor – F minor). These tracks will both be in the same
key and are therefore perfectly compatible harmonically. Playing two tracks in the same key will
give the effect that the tracks are singing together.

Moving up a fifth (+1 on the Camelot Wheel): (4A – 5A) or (F minor – C minor). Playing a fifth up
will raise the energy in the room Harmonically these two keys are almost perfectly compatible.
Only one note is different between the two scales.

Going down a fifth (-1 on the Camelot Wheel): (4A – 3A) or (F minor – B flat minor). I like to say
this type of mix will take the crowd deeper. The tracks will sound great together. It won’t raise
the energy necessarily but will give your listeners goosebumps!

Going from relative minor to relative major (Change letter on the Camelot Wheel): (4A-4B) or (F
minor – A flat major). This combination will likely sound good because the notes of both scales
are the same, except the root note is different. The energy of the room will change dramatically.

Going from minor to major (+3 and change letters on the Camelot Wheel): (4A – 7B) or (F minor
– F major). These keys may have three notes that are different. However, the root note is the
same and will provide a great musical effect on the dancefloor, either brightening the mood or
darkening the mood.

Going up a minor third (-3 on the Camelot Wheel): (4A – 1A) or (F minor – A flat minor): While
these scales have three notes that are different I’ve found that they still sound good played
together and tend to raise the energy of a room.

Going up a half step (+7 on the Camelot Wheel): (4A – 11A) or (F minor – F sharp minor).
These two scales often don’t have many notes in common, and musically they shouldn’t sound
good together. However, I’ve found if you plan it right and mix a percussive outro of one song
with a percussive intro of another song, and then slowly bring in the melody this can have an
amazing effect musically, raising the energy of the room dramatically.

Going up a whole step (+2 on the Camelot Wheel): (4A – 6A) or (F minor – G minor). This scale
will raise the energy of the room. I like to call it ‘hands in the air’ mixing, and others might call it
‘energy boost mixing.’

Playing the dominant key of the relative major/minor key (+1 on the Camelot Wheel and change
the letter): (4A – 5B or 5B – 4A) or (F minor – Eb major). I’ve found this is the best way to go
from major to minor keys or from minor to major keys because the scales only have one note
that is different and the combination sounds great.

Playing the subdominant key of the relative major/minor key (-1 on the Camelot Wheel and
change the letter): (4B – 3A) or (A flat major to B flat minor). This is similar to playing the
dominant key of the relative major or minor key and is another great way to transition between
major and minor scales since the scales are only different by one note. Plus, it sounds really
good harmonically!

Key Lock and Master Tempo Features

It is important to note that the Camelot system is a simplified view of harmonic mixing, and
assumes that the tracks being played are either at the same BPM or that the DJ is using ‘Key
Lock’ or the ‘Master Tempo’ feature found on CDJ’s or other DJ programs. Key Lock and Master
Tempo keeps the original key of the track, no matter what tempo is being played. If Key Lock is
not on, then every 6% (technically 5.94631%) change in speed will shift the key up a half step.
For example, a track in C minor played at 6% will become a C sharp minor.
In the past, I would have advised against using key lock because you may lose a lot of bass and
high frequencies in your tracks. Also, you may also get unwanted sound artifacts if your tracks
are pitched up or down from their original speed. However, recently Traktor Pro and Ableton
Live licensed the new Elastique Pro key lock algorithm that sounds amazing. With the new key
lock algorithm, it is almost impossible to tell the difference in sound quality when the key lock is
on or off. Since this algorithm was released, I rarely turn key lock off when I am DJing in Traktor
Pro.
There has been a lot of controversy in the DJ scene about harmonic mixing. Most people who
are against it usually haven’t tried it themselves, and once they do are blown away by the
results. Some common complaints from the harmonic mixing haters are ‘I do it all by ear’ or ‘I
just go with the flow and play what sounds good.’
Well, the truth is good DJ’s usually CAN mix by ear, but most of the track combinations that
work great came from a lot of trial and error, and practicing. Technically speaking, there are 24
possible keys in western music (12 minor and 12 major), and out of the 24 keys, only 6 keys are
harmonically compatible with any given key (4 are in perfect harmony, and 2 are in reasonable
harmony). Only 25% of all possible choices are harmonically compatible, meaning that if you
don’t know the keys of your tracks you are probably going to waste 75% of your time looking for
the right track.
Final Thoughts
In the new digital age, we are bombarded with so much music that we don’t have the time to go
through every release and figure out what goes well with each other. Using Mixed In Key makes
it possible to intelligently and quickly pick tracks that go well together, and will make your music
world much smaller, which in this day in age is a good thing.
Sure, just because tracks are in key with one another doesn’t mean they will work at that
moment, or work at all together. However, you will at least, know what WON’T go well together.
I’m not saying by any means to be a slave to harmonic mixing, but it will present you with some
great options and combinations of what WILL work harmonically. Then it’s just a matter of
picking what tracks fit the vibe, keeps the pace, tells the story, and rocks the house!
Check out the other tutorials of DJ Endo’s series on harmonic mixing.