GoKawiilThough more accepted as an art form than ever before, it's easy to perceive DJing as a trivial pursuit. But although it can appear to primarily involve jumping around and pressing play, the best DJs put hours of work into crafting a set that will flow seamlessly from one song to the next while managing the crowd's energy throughout the experience. One of the most difficult elements to master is the basic act of mixing between songs. Without proper transitions, a DJ set feels jarring and disjointed, but when mixed properly, it feels like a curated experience. To that end, transitions need to occur between tracks that are compatible with one another, both rhythmically and melodically. They also need to tame both songs, since simply playing one atop the other can end up sounding harsh and chaotic.
All these complexities mean that most people will require some amount of practice with costly equipment before DJ mixing begin to feel natural. But a new feature from Spotify aims to make complex DJing accessible to just about anybody. Somewhat unimaginatively called Mix, it's now widely available to Premium subscribers on both mobile and desktop apps, alongside other new improvements to playlists. Digging into Mix as a hobbyist DJ, I expected to feel somewhat annoyed, but Spotify has executed the feature surprisingly well, striking the right balance between user friendliness and functionality.
Unlike actual DJing, Spotify Mix doesn't let you mix in real-time. Instead, it lets you permanently set transitions inside of user-created playlists, adjusting timing and effects for each transition. Mixing an entire playlist this way can be a tedious process, but the result is a listening experience that's both bespoke and shareable. Grab a glowstick and read ahead to try it out for yourself.