How to EQ a transition

Play two full records on top of each other and it sounds crowded: two kicks, two basslines, two sets of hi-hats. EQ is how DJs make room. Turn part of one record down while the other comes in, and the two share the space, so the blend sounds like one record handing over to the next.

Three bands

• Low: the kick and the bassline.
• Mid: vocals, chords, synths and most of the melody.
• Hi: hi-hats, cymbals and the air on top.

Most trouble in a blend lives in the low end. Two basslines at once is the sound of a transition going wrong, even when the kicks are in time.

The bass swap

Most EQ transitions are built on one move:

1. Before you bring the new record in, turn its Low all the way down.
2. Bring it in on its fader. You hear its drums and top end over the record that's playing.
3. On the first beat of a phrase, swap the lows: turn the new record's Low up and the old record's Low down, at the same moment.
4. Fade the old record out, then put its EQ back to the center.

Only one bassline plays at a time, and the change lands where the music changes. If you're not sure where a phrase starts, Phrases and bars shows how to count it.

More moves

• Tuck the highs. Hi-hats from two records can sound busy together. Bring the new record in with its Hi down a little, and raise it as the old record's comes down.
• Clear the mids. When two vocals or two melodies argue, turn one record's Mid down until the other is clearly in front.
• Cut before a drop. Take the Low out of the playing record for the last bar before a drop, then bring it back on the first beat. The drop lands harder after the gap.
• Swap in stages. On a long blend, move one band at a time over a phrase or two: highs first, then mids, then the lows.

Cut more than you boost

Turning a band up makes the whole channel louder and can push it into the red. Most of the time the cleaner move is to turn down what's in the way, rather than turn up what you want to hear.

EQ and keys

A bass swap also helps when two records aren't in keys that sit together, because the basslines never overlap. Choosing records whose keys fit makes the job easier still: see Harmonic mixing and Camelot keys.

EQ in Mix//Sync

• Each channel has Hi, Mid and Low knobs, under Trim.
• At the center a band plays as it was recorded. Each knob catches there, and a double-click puts it back.
• All the way down, a band is gone completely, not just quieter, so after a bass swap none of the old bassline is left under the new one.
• Turning a knob up adds a little of that band.
• While you drag a knob, its value shows where its name was.
• The FX knob under each fader, with Filter chosen, sweeps the highs or the lows out of a record in one move.
• With a friend in the session, either of you can move the EQ on either channel.

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Related: Phrases and bars · Harmonic mixing and Camelot keys · Who controls what