Phrasing: mixing tracks on phrases

Bar, phrase, section

A bar in club music has four beats. Four bars are 16 beats, eight bars 32 beats. In house and techno, the track usually changes every 16 or 32 bars: new elements join, a drop follows, a break begins. These blocks are called phrases.

How to mix on phrases

Start the new track on the downbeat of a phrase while a new phrase also begins in the track that is playing. Count aloud: 1-2-3-4, 2-2-3-4 and so on up to eight bars. When the next section begins, you fade in or out. That way drops and breakdowns coincide, and you avoid two sections running against each other.

An intro with a mix-in section and an outro with a mix-out section help: almost all tracks made for DJs are built that way.

Typical problems

If the one is set wrongly in the beatgrid, you count on the wrong beat. And if a track has an irregular structure (for example 12 instead of 16 bars), you go by ear rather than by the number. With cue points set at the start of each section, you can see the phrases in the waveform.

In practice: learning to hear phrases

Count bars as you listen and notice when the sound changes: a new instrument, a change in the bass, a filter opening. The change is usually after 8, 16 or 32 bars. After a few tracks you hear it automatically.

Cues at the start of every section help. If during the gig you only look at the waveform and see the cues, you mix safely on phrases, even when nervous.

Related terms

Frequently asked questions