Drum and Bass is a brilliant genre to DJ and with so many tracks available to DJ, it can be difficult to select which tracks to mix, especially if you're a beginning DJ. Mixing at 174 BPM can be pretty scary.
With some amazing sub-genres on offer in the Drum and Bass scene, ranging from Liquid, Jump Up, Deep and Jungle to name a few. With a lot of experience in DJingdrums and bass, here are some lists to sink your teeth into when DJing Drum and Bass. Some DJ tips will also be added in this article for good measure.
All of the tracks chosen in this article are drum and bass tracks that have either the standard drum pattern type or a very simple 4x4 drum pattern.
Standard D&B drum pattern
The key component of a standard drum and bass pattern is for the second kick to hit 3 1/2. Basically, between beats 3 and 4, what's known as out of the ordinary.
D&B 4x4 Drum Pattern
A not so common, but easier to mix like abeginner dj, is the 4 x 4 beat. This beat has the kick and snare alternately hitting evenly on each beat, as seen below.
I want to make this article as easy as possible for you.Beginning DJs to get stuck in DJingDrums and bass.
To make the Drum and Bass music tracks easier to understand, I have divided the music tracks into sub-genre lists. Feel free to be inspired by all the music tracks in these mix lists.
The DJ tips I've compiled should help you along the way when mixing these tracks. The track lists below are in order from light and melodic bassline to dark and heavy.
Liquid
| Artist | To accompany |
| logistics | Together |
| XRS y DJ Marky | striptease |
| Jaheem | Put Women First (Caliber Remix) |
| Totally Huge Extinct Dinosaurs | Garden (Caliber Remix) |
| DJ Marky and Ben Westbeach | Shame |
| Red eyes | brothers and sisters |
| mark intalex | Virgo |
| vir-lata | You Converse feat. kevin king |
| random movement | a day without death |
| Red eyes | What she wants |
| Etherwood, Rocky Nti | Said |
| Lenzman | so slightly |
| D-bridge | Chinese Blue |
| Boosta, Atmos T, Nicole | All my Love |
Deep
| Artist | To accompany |
| called off | Wish list |
| dawn wall | long legs |
| GLXY | butterfly effect |
| Pola and Bryson, Blake | Not said |
| oriental colors | Chaves |
| mohican soil | Fixation |
| Pola & Bryson | way back |
| dawn wall | praise the Lord |
| dawn wall | I see you |
| Ivy Lab, Frank Carter III | afterthought |
| ivy lab | gomeisa |
| mutated forms | Affectionate |
| Calibre | miraculous |
Dark
| Artist | To accompany |
| Rest | Something new |
| SPY | sabotage |
| Enei and colors of Easter and Noel | Cracker |
| DJ Marky & SPY | Rifi-rafe |
| total science | Nosher (DJ Marky & SPY Remix) |
| not glued | start bill |
| Total Science, Hydro, War | Denial |
| Loco | Consequence |
| Bad Company | the nine |
| Those | Blue Movement |
| Those | Facade |
dance floor
| Artist | To accompany |
| Metric | I see you feat. kathy brown |
| 1991 | goblins |
| culture shock | Redo |
| culture shock | Protection |
| Subfoco | Time Tunnel |
| Sub Focus, TC, Culture Shock | you do it better |
| wilkinson | Samurai |
| Sigma | but stronger |
| Deadmau5 and Kaskade | Souvenir (J Majik & Wickaman Remix) |
| graphite | acid generation |
| forge | Return |
| Dimension | If you want |
Week
| Artist | To accompany |
| Robo | Mattress |
| DJ Hazard, Twisted Minds | sir happy |
| dj danger | bricks don't roll |
| macky gee | Tour |
| 1991 | The mix of D&B people |
| Dillinja | the bell melody |
| clipz | Push Up (TC Remix) |
| DJ Friction | 3rd grade gurms |
| DJ Friction | Robocop (Robostep VIP Tax Collector) |
| fiscal | original ninja |
| fiscal | evasion remix |
| The original sin | Therapy |
Tips for mixing drums and bass
collapsing mix
If you have some Drum and Bass tracks that don't have an actual beat (kick and snare) as part of the intro, then a trick I've used in the past is to use this intro to blend in the details of the current track playing live.
What this means is that on the second breakdown (in the middle of a track), you can use the intro of the new track you're bringing in to mix it into the breakdown.
The breaks often have little to no drum beats, which makes mixing much easier.
Make sure you get some kind of tempo/time matching, especially the matching phrases as well.
Harmonic Mix - Check Key
Harmonic mixing means that two tracks have the same sound, so there is no conflict between the keys, making it a lovely sound for listeners to enjoy when you mix two tracks together.
Think of it as 'sweet and sour'.
The way I think of it is if you have two mixed tracks that clash in sound then that's 'Sour'.
When the tone of two tracks in the mix sounds great and soft at the same time, that's 'Sweet'.
The way you can do this in DJing is by using DJ software like Rekordbox. There is a function in Rekordbox that highlights a track 'Green' for when it is harmonically compatible with the track playing on the master.
If you want something a little more sophisticated, you can always get a copy ofSoftware mixed in keywhich also helps you achieve the same result.
Switch directly to the drop
With certain styles of drum and bass tracks, such as Jump Up, it's very easy to switch or "cut" directly to another track. Especially with some tracks with such catchy and subtle bass lines.
I can recommend two types of switching:
- day 1
- On the 8th (or before)
For "day 1“I mean literally changing the crossfader on the first beat of a new track's bass line drop. Sometimes this works well and sometimes it doesn't for other tracks, so it pays to practice.
For "the 8“I mean, you can use the crossfader again to just switch from one channel to another, but do it on the last beat of the phrase or on the eighth beat of the bar.
The example I usually use for this is the TC – Game Over track. The eighth beat before the bass line drops is a Nintendo or Mario sound effect that I love. Which means this is a great little sampler to switch up and cut.
This is a great technique if you want to change tracks quickly and keep your DJing interesting and spontaneous.
Use EQ for Bass Swap
A classic technique used by some Drum and Bass DJs, like Andy C, which is to use the LOWequalizedswitch to cut the bass lines in and out.
Switching from one bass line to another is the trick here. So you should get two tracks that play together in the mix and complement each other.
Then once you have two tracks in the mix, playing live through the speakers, use the LOW EQ switches on both channels where the music is playing in the mixer.
Start changing LOW EQ to zero for a track, then switch from one track to the next.
check the weather
Not all drum and bass tracks are 174 BPM, some are slightly different from time to time. Check the tempo in your DJ software before mixing and adjust the tempo accordingly.
Don't let the tempo be too high for both tracks when mixing DnB. From past experience, I have found that my mixes are very fast, as the tempo of one track may be faster and the next track may be faster, and so on. Be sure to monitor how quickly the tempo enters the mix.
Drum and Bass is already fast, don't make it much faster.
My best drum and bass songs
Of the top D&B track lists above, I thought you might want to hear my top picks from each.
—–
Logistics – Together
In my opinion, a timeless classic that has been around for a while. It seems to be a common feature on many DJ record cases (and digital record cases as well).
A great song structure for budding DJs to pick up and mix. The rhythm is easy to understand and figure out. The fall is brilliant with great excess of energy.
—–
Anil – Wish List
A deeper D&B soundtrack with a great steady beat. It sounds a bit runny as a track, but I classified this one in the "deeper" style of D&B. A really easy track to start DJing.
—–
Sin pegar - Bootstrap Bill
This track is an absolute hit! I don't know why I haven't heard enough on other DJ D&B sets.
The rhythm structure is a bit different from what I promised at the beginning of the article, please forgive me. The bass drum is a bit crazier than the standard syncopation of 1 and 3 1/2 bass drum beats. The snare is very prominent on this track, though it allows you to pick the snare when matching the beat.
—–
Culture Shock – Protection
In my opinion, it's a dance floor hit, with a very easy to get and mix rhythm structure. A very good track to get thedj setpumping.
—–
Assault – Back Mattress
Just as an FYI -Clipz - Push It Up (TC Remix)miDillinja – A melody from the otherare two of my other favorites, but due to the ease of mixing and budding DJs, Heist Mattress Back is really easy to mix to the beat.
Some Jump Up D&B tracks start with just a top hat, so I thought I'd share with you all this absolute Jump Up dance floor hit.
Related questions
What are the best songs to mix?
Greatsongs that go well togetherthey are music tracks that have similar rhythms and similar but compatible harmonic keys. Read and listen here for more details:The 50 Best Mixing Songs for Beginners.
What do DJs use to mix music?
DJ usedj mixersto mix the songs. DJ software, turntables or DJ controllers are also part of the music mix, this may vary depending ondj equipmentto set Cue points and markers are used to help DJs tophrase matchand mix music seamlessly.