Hey,
I DJ Trance, I signed up to the forum to see if I can help you…
I mostly DJ the uplifting 138 – 140 BPM style, as someone said before, with Trance it’s very important that the two tracks blend together harmonically, it won’t sound good if the melodies are not a good match / clash, I also do not completely rely on the detected key, even though two tracks have the same key it might not necessarily blend well (the key also changes if you change the BPM).
There is usually a change every 16 bars in Trance (melody coming in / out etc) and it has a pretty standard formula, the best time to start mixing is when there 48 – 64 bars remaining, for example, if there is a final outro break down I would sometimes start the track there then once the beat starts again I would start bringing in the next track.
With Trance I’ve always found that using a basic ‘bass swap’ works really well, so with the track you are bringing in, cut the low / bass eq completely, then swap the bass (bring bass up on new track, down on old track quickly) at either the next 16 or 32 bars change (this will depend on the track itself, so trial and error required) this technique sounds really good in the mix.
Also if some part of the track is over powering whilst bringing in the new track I gradually cut a tiny bit of the hi or mid eq out before I do the bass swap to make it blend better if there are any clashes with hi hats etc.
Then you can either move the crossfader gradually / turn down the line fader or gradually move the remaining eq’s down to kill for a smooth mix until the old track has finished, whatever style you prefer.
It does not always work like that 100%, but I hope I’ve given you a basic guide to get you started!
