To provide the music for my niece’s wedding, I used a program called DJ Mix Pro. It’s not a well known program, but it’s really good at what it does (and really affordable), so I thought I would mention it.

Talented disc jockeys are able to take two songs, match their speed (measured in Beats Per Minute, or BPM), and seamlessly fade from one song to the next. It is an art that requires skill, talent, and a good ear.

DJ Mix Pro simulates this skill and performs it automatically by using its own patented “Beatlocking Technology.” After adding your mp3 collection to DJ Mix Pro’s library, the software automatically determines each song’s BPM. Based on that information, you can group songs with similar BPM together, and the software does the rest.

By default, DJ Mix Pro loads the next track when the current track has 20 seconds left. When the current track has 15 seconds left, the second track will begin to play and the software will automatically adjust the speed of the second track to match the first one. It will then cross fade the two songs, lowering the volume of the ending song while raising the volume of the second one. The end result is a continual stream of music with no dead air between tracks — perfect for a wedding reception!

Once you add your songs to your playlist, you can sort them by dragging them up and down in the playlist. For my niece’s wedding, I spent 10 minutes getting the songs into the order I wanted, and then saved the playlist. When it was time for the party I simply double-clicked on the playlist, and it started playing. I didn’t have to touch a thing.

One thing I like is you can mess with options, song orders, and beatlock settings for hours, or you can literally drop and drag a bunch of mp3s into the program, click “shuffle,” press “play” and walk away. You can literally be up and running with crossfading songs and beatlocking in 30 seconds.

The free/demo version of the software has a few limitations. It only performs beatlocking on twenty songs, and you cannot export your final mixes to .WAV. Fortunately, the registered version is only $20, and your license key will be emailed to you immediately upon PayPal purchase.

The DJ Mix Pro website looks like it was designed in 1995 using Notepad. The website suggests you save your license key file “to floppy” and suggests that users have at least 32 Mb of RAM. Despite apparently being frozen in time, the software does a good job at what it does. Playing mp3s on your computer is never a substitute for a real life DJ, but if you’re wanting to play some music for a party and “set it and forget it,” DJ Mix Pro will do the job.

Link: http://djmixpro.com