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Harmonic mixing and notations

Wed 26 Feb 25 @ 2:47 pm

If you know music theory and the Circle of Fifths
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths
it is easy to understand harmonic mixing, because moving clock- or counterclockwise does increase/decrease the number of sharp or flat symbols only by one. With this only one of eight tones of the tone scale is changed when making one step in the circle. And that can sound more harmonic than a bigger distance on the circle.

But without knowing by heart the sequence ...FCGDAEB... it is not possible to know about harmonic relations. That is why Openkey and Camelot (Lancelot) notation was invented. These numbers are easy to compare. But it is a real pitty, that both notation system did not start numbering at "G" and 1 o'clock position. Some people therefor invent other numbering systems, but I find this not necessary and even more confusing.

In order to see quickly the relation of all three notation systems with 12 o'clock on top, I created the following diagram:


Note, that not all alternative descriptions like Abm or C# are in the diagram. See more at:
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enharmonic_equivalence
Note, that in some countries in Europe (e.g. Germany) "H" instead of "B" and "B" instead of "B-flat" is written.

If you need a bigger/better image file of this chart, please send me a note.
And please send me a note in case of errors or your wish for modification.


Harmonic mixing is also possible for two "incompatible" songs with key-shift ±n semitone(s). However more than two semitones do not sound good. And you do not know about the new position in the musical circle. Basically you go 7 steps clockwise for any +1 key-shift and 7 steps counterclockwise for -1 key-shift. Some "basic" mathematics are required, when going over number 12 :-)
That is why DigitalDJtips created another wheel and table for this purpose:
• https://www.digitaldjtips.com/quadruple-mix-options-harmonic-mixing

The explanation for ±7 steps for one semitone is simple. A fulltone (2 semitones) difference requires effectively ±2 steps in the circle. This is one turn (12 steps) plus 2 steps either clockwise or counterclockwise. 12 + 2 = 14 for a fulltone difference leads to 14/2 =7 for a semitone difference in the circle.

When you load a track in VirtualDJ (no playback required) and change key-shift, you will see immediately the updated impact on the harmonic relation with other songs in the playlist. That is really good, because you can decide if ±1 semitone key-shift could match with harmonic mixing.

You can also keep in mind, that shift key ±1 (semitones) does match, wenn the "difference" of numbers is 7 or 7 steps in the circle.
shift-key -1:  6  7  8  9 10 11 12  1  2  3  4  5
song with:     1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12
shift-key +1:  8  9 10 11 12  1  2  3  4  5  6  7

With this table it does does not matter if you are with Openkey or Camelot notation. With shift-key ±2 this difference is only 2 numbers or steps (two semitones). But it does probably not sound so good. Mainly the voice in songs does sound not natural or original, when the shift is to high or low. Especially when the voice of the person who sings is well known.