Week 5: Bracket A - Final Matchup (Voting Closed)

[Mans]

Welcome to the final week of the mixing ladder for the Bracket A! We want to thank all of the DJs that have participated so far and all of the listeners that have voted/provided feedback.

Below are the mixes for Bracket A - Final Matchup in the mixing ladder! Please vote for your favorite mix below. Feedback is also welcome, and encouraged!

Voting closes on Thursday, July 2nd at 11:59 pm EST. Remember that voting is only open to valid BTF accounts. Newly made accounts will be monitored for possible foul play.

ATTENTION MIXERS: As a reminder, if mixers vote on every OTHER matchup (BOTH BRACKETS) for this week, they will have 2 votes added to their own matchup’s tally in their favor! DO NOT VOTE IN YOUR OWN MATCHUP!

The theme of the matchup was Jhummer.

Both DJs were assigned the song Punjabne - Kaka Bhaniawala, linked below:

DJ 1:

DJ 2:

 

[Aspreet Saini]

DJ 2

 

[Hsingh21]

DJ 2

 

[PjN]

DJ 2

 

[HdBrar]

DJ 2

 

[lakha23]

DJ2

 

[sdadoo15]

DJ 2

 

[Mans]

DJ 2

Personally like the concepts from DJ 1 and the Jhummer vibe they had going there vs the Hois by DJ 2 but it just was not executed properly.

 

[sukhman_34]

Dj 2

 

[swisscheese]

Wow... both of you guys outdid yourselves 0_0
Firstly, comments:
D1: PARTY IN THE USA IM DED!! I think cleanliness overall coulda been a bit of an issue here but the concept was nice. I liked that I could hear the original dhol/tabla from the mix. I think the drop was hurt a bit by your choice of faller which was a bit overpowering and out of tune but the rest of the mix otherwise was pitch matched well. However, I think this mix was definitely lacking in a baseline
DJ 2 had a super clean baseline but the EQ caused the mids to not show through enough, causing the lyrics to be a bit hidden, and the bell sounds were a bit too loud for my taste and out of tune, but otherwise, this mix was much cleaner imo. Really loved the ambience created in drop and the trap beat!

Good god I hate to pick one over the other... but imma go with 2 just for the cleanliness and bass line. But good god y'all showed why you deserved to be here in the finals!!

 

[GSingh]

I liked the mellowness of DJ1. A lot of melodic elements being thrown around and surprisingly most of them worked decently.

DJ 2 had a cleaner sound for sure but the EQ hid the vocals behind a wall of bass, which definitely hurt the overall vibe for me. The dhol roll also felt a bit cheap -- the recording of it is super ghetto so it's hard to make it sound pro.

DJ1

 

[dhvshah]

vote: dj 1

however, dj 2 i liked the addition of "final round" in the beginning of the mix that was cool

 

[mogul517]

DJ 1

 

[TegHans]

DJ 1: Safe mix, background elements meshed in nicely with no issues. The guitars from party in the usa worked nicely but the vocals didnt as much.
DJ 2: More impactful of a mix than DJ 1's but could not help but notice the messiness in terms of pitch and chaos in the background.

DJ 1 for me

 

[kman58]

Unfortunately for me, this was one of the weaker rounds for both of these DJs, and both mixes left me wanting a lot more in many areas.

DJ1: This did not feel like as much like a jhummar. There was barely any dhol in there to indicate as such, and I was really looking for some sort of pulse on the track (maybe via strong percussion), but it was tough for me. The quality of the actual mixing could also be improved too. I don’t usually care for extra bass/kick, but this mix could certainly have used a bit for some beefiness. Also, the Miley Cyrus, while a nice touch, was unfortunately out of key (Punjabne in your mix is in E, and Party in the USA is in G in your mix, so you’re a minor/diminished 3rd off but it would’ve probably hit harder had they both been in E or G). Nonetheless, overall much better use of sampling throughout, and this was the slightly more musical mix for me.

DJ2: Personally, fell flat for me. Teg and G hit it on the money with their comments here, particularly about the dhol sounding cheap. That particular sample you used is a tricky one because it sounds like it was recorded on a flip phone, but by subduing some of those upper frequencies, soft reverb, and the right compression to tighten the sound, it can complement a mix well. I appreciated the use of a more jhummar-y dhol here. However, the pitching was way off everywhere, and the mix was boring throughout. It’s not easy listening to the same track and samples for almost 90 seconds continuously, so some sampling variation could’ve been huge for your mix in being the clear winner.

For musicality, vibes, and just gut feeling, going with DJ1 here.