Derrick Carter — Essential Mix 2011-06-04 - Derrick Carter
House · 2h 03m · analysed 19 Aug 2026 · source: soundcloud.com
Public mix analysis — no affiliation or endorsement. This report measures a publicly available recording hosted on soundcloud.com. The scores are produced by SOONOS and do not imply any partnership with, or approval by, Derrick Carter.
In short
Essential Mix 2011-06-04 - Derrick Carter by Derrick Carter scores 85/100 in the SOONOS analysis (festival ready). The strongest dimension is IDENTITY (93/100) and the weakest is SURPRISE (82/100).
Derrick Carter's ability to maintain a relentless groove while layering complex vocal and percussive elements is a testament to his mastery of the Chicago house sound.
Key takeaways
What weakened the set
- Long static loops (6×) — Sections sitting on the same loop without layering, EQ moves or tension shifts (12:30, 24:30, 30:00, 40:00, 56:00, 75:00). Long loops kill dancefloor momentum.
What to try next
- Experiment with even longer, more gradual builds to create greater tension.
- Incorporate more unexpected elements to surprise and further engage the audience.
- Explore more diverse emotional landscapes to create a more complex narrative.
- Maintain the long, percussive blends as they are a key part of your signature sound.
Timestamped insights
Each moment below is tagged with how it was produced: “measured” comes from the DSP pass on the audio, “listening” comes from the multi-agent listening pass.
Smooth transition between vocal house and percussive house, maintaining energy.
Precise beatmatching and phrasing during a complex layering sequence.
Seamless integration of the incoming track's percussion over the outgoing vocal loop.
Smooth transition using a filter to bring in the new track's melodic elements.
Effective use of the outgoing track's percussion to bridge into a more stripped-back groove.
Seamless transition that maintains the vocal energy while shifting the percussive focus.
Effective transition that uses the breakdown to reset the melodic elements.
About this house set
Essential Mix 2011-06-04 - Derrick Carter is a house DJ set by Derrick Carter, running 2h 03m. It was measured by the SOONOS multi-agent engine and scores 85/100 overall — festival ready.
The engine files this performance as “Promising”.
Derrick Carter's ability to maintain a relentless groove while layering complex vocal and percussive elements is a testament to his mastery of the Chicago house sound.
How the score breaks down
SOONOS scores this set across 5 weighted categories. The strongest is IDENTITY at 93/100; the weakest is SURPRISE at 82/100.
Analysis coverage for this file is 100% — the share of the set the engine could measure with full confidence.
Energy and structure
The energy curve was sampled at 63 points, moving between 75 and 94 on the SOONOS energy scale — a narrow dynamic range across the set.
7 transitions were detected and scored individually.
Beat-grid measurement (DSP) reports 193.1 grid breaks per hour, with a median beat offset of 17 ms.
How this score is built
Measured layer (DSP): the audio file is analysed directly — beat grid, tempo stability, loudness and energy. These values are measurements, not opinions.
Listening layer: a multi-agent pass reads musical intent — programming, storytelling, coherence and crowd effect. This layer interprets, it does not measure.
Fusion and ceilings: the two layers are merged, and the measured layer always wins on execution. When the DSP hears an execution problem, it caps the final score even if the listening layer is positive.
Measured coverage for this file is 100% of the set.
Full SOONOS analysis
Derrick Carter's ability to maintain a relentless groove while layering complex vocal and percussive elements is a testament to his mastery of the Chicago house sound.
The 8 dimensions
Not available — the 8-dimension profile was not measured for this set.
Score breakdown
TECHNIQUE
How well did you execute?
25%86
TECHNIQUE
How well did you execute?
STORYTELLING
Did the mix go somewhere?
25%88
STORYTELLING
Did the mix go somewhere?
ENERGY
Did you control the room?
20%85
ENERGY
Did you control the room?
SURPRISE
Did you remain unpredictable?
15%82
SURPRISE
Did you remain unpredictable?
IDENTITY
Did the mix sound like you?
15%93
IDENTITY
Did the mix sound like you?
Energy arc
Transitions analysed (7)
EQ blend with low-end swap
Smooth transition between vocal house and percussive house, maintaining energy.
Long blend with layered percussion
Precise beatmatching and phrasing during a complex layering sequence.
Long EQ blend with low-end swap
Seamless integration of the incoming track's percussion over the outgoing vocal loop.
Mid-frequency layering and filter sweep
Smooth transition using a filter to bring in the new track's melodic elements.
Percussive overlap and quick low-end switch
Effective use of the outgoing track's percussion to bridge into a more stripped-back groove.
Long EQ blend with low-end swap on the phrase.
Seamless transition that maintains the vocal energy while shifting the percussive focus.
Quick EQ swap during a percussive breakdown.
Effective transition that uses the breakdown to reset the melodic elements.
Technical subscores
85
EQ balance
90
Beat alignment
88
Energy control
91
Tempo stability
86
Loudness control
90
Musical coherence
84
Harmonic compatibility
86
Transition cleanliness
Measured (DSP)
17 ms
Beat-grid drift (median)
Typical gap between the two tracks' beats while they play together. Lower is tighter.
84 ms
Drift p95
Worst-case drift: 95% of the set stays tighter than this value.
7,366
Boundaries detected
Points where the audio changes track or section.
46
Hard cuts / h
Abrupt track changes per hour, with no blend between the two records.
9
Clipping events
Moments where the recording hits the ceiling and distorts.
354
Level jumps
Sudden volume steps between tracks.
Measurement confidence 100% · analysed on the full audio.
Recurring patterns
Long static loops (6×)
Sections sitting on the same loop without layering, EQ moves or tension shifts (12:30, 24:30, 30:00, 40:00, 56:00, 75:00). Long loops kill dancefloor momentum.
Timeline
- 2:15Energy Peak
- 8:45Breakdown
- 14:30Vocal Hook Impact
- 18:50Rhythmic Layering Peak
- 26:45Vocal Hook Impact
- 30:15Bassline Re-entry
Coaching notes
- Experiment with even longer, more gradual builds to create greater tension.
- Incorporate more unexpected elements to surprise and further engage the audience.
- Explore more diverse emotional landscapes to create a more complex narrative.
- Maintain the long, percussive blends as they are a key part of your signature sound.
- Experiment with more dramatic filter sweeps to create higher tension peaks.
- Consider incorporating a few more melodic 'hooks' to provide emotional contrast to the rhythmic drive.
- Experiment with more dramatic filter drops to create tension.
- Use short, dry delays on vocal stabs to add rhythmic complexity.
- Consider a brief 'reset' moment with just a kick and a bassline to refresh the listener's ears.
- Experiment with more dramatic tension and release moments.
- Incorporate more varied textures to enhance the sense of pressure.
- Explore a wider range of emotional states to add more depth to the narrative.
Curious how your own set scores?
Methodology and limitations
This report is produced automatically from the published recording. It measures what is present in the audio file: a bad source encoding, a partial upload or a heavily processed broadcast version can change the measured values. Nothing here reflects the room, the crowd or the night itself.
Read the full SOONOS methodology →Questions about this analysis
- What score does Derrick Carter's Essential Mix 2011-06-04 - Derrick Carter get?
- Essential Mix 2011-06-04 - Derrick Carter scores 85/100 in the SOONOS Mix Database (festival ready), based on audio measurement plus multi-agent listening.
- How long is Essential Mix 2011-06-04 - Derrick Carter?
- The analysed recording runs 2h 03m.
- Which part of the mix scores best?
- IDENTITY is the strongest category at 93/100, while SURPRISE is the lowest at 82/100.
- How is this score calculated?
- SOONOS measures the audio with a DSP pass (beat grid, loudness, tempo, energy) and runs a multi-agent listening pass on top. Measured axes always override the listening layer, so an execution issue heard in the file caps the final score.
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