what's the problem with beatmixing?
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what's the problem with beatmixing? Posted on: 31.05.2013 by Melany Bondanza hey, i'm a digital dj .. and i know if I want to start playing in clubs the chances are very high I have to play on CDJ's so my biggest worry is beatmatching .. but what I dont fully understand is the problem of beatmatching.. beacuse isn't it true you can see the BPM of the tracks playing on the CDJ's so the only thing you have to do is get the BPM as close as possible and then just synce them? or am I missing something | |
| Augustine Mitzen 01.06.2013 | ^ amen. i know i'm beating a dead horse, but CDJ1ks display the bpm in exactly the same fashion as the lower models.. everything important got said, i believe |
| Aleisha Nakaoka 31.05.2013 | Wether you can see the BPM display or not you still have to keep the 2 songs synced manually which involves a lot of pitch fader riding, manual nudging and slight pressure (to slow down) on the platter. Songs almost never stay in sync once you get them beatmatched so keeping them on time takes a bit of coordination and practice. Sometimes they'll be out of sync but you don't know which one to adjust and which way to adjust it, i.e., faster or slower. Only practice and experience can teach you. It can;t really be explained in words. Phrasing is whole other story and to me it came naturally for some reason but some people may have to literally count beats. I find I can tell which bar the song is on almost all the time. In electronic music it's pretty much 1, 2, 3, 4 and there's usually a fill or variation on the multiples of 4. (4,8, 16, 32 etc.) For someone just starting out it takes a lot of practice and it's it's one of those things that you'll work at for awhile and one day it just clicks and all makes sense. The kinda thing you can only get by practicing. |
| Verlene Geevarghese 31.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by b1sh0p
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| Maryam Fevold 31.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by smittten
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| Kellie Myrum 31.05.2013 | Seal the area. Some lethal jokes around |
| Len Lukawski 31.05.2013 | Use your ears, use your eyes, use your nose, use a spaniel wrapped around a filthy tennis racket, use the summer of 1987, use google, use a collection of highly suspicious furtive glances, use Queen Elizabeth the second, use organic locally sourced yet undeniably short sighted dolphins, use Philip Bastard Schofield before Gordon the Gopher came along, use cheap shampoo two bags of crisps and and old Weekend at Bernies VHS cassette. Just as long as it sounds good. |
| Julissa Serrone 31.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by mdcdesign
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| Hayden Raugh 31.05.2013 | +1 I struggle to beat match garage etc One day ill master it! |
| Jeffrey Akinsanya 31.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by makar1
by using your ears you learn phasing.. (without the computer telling you) you make mistakes, you learn what works and what don't if you mix anything with off beats you should learn to beatmatch it'll improve mixing no end... |
| Alphonso Deitchman 31.05.2013 | The emphasis is on being able to mix by ear and actually listening to the music, rather than looking at a screen and pressing play. And if you want to practice beatmatching, do NOT use the waveforms...... |
| Olin Easley 31.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by b1sh0p
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| Sonja Roybal 31.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by mdcdesign
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| Doreen Schurle 31.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by Stewe
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| Kellie Myrum 31.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by mdcdesign
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| Doreen Schurle 31.05.2013 | I'm not going to get sucked into another beatmatching vs sync debate because I know EXACTLY how it'll go, but I will say this: Some people put far too much emphasis on beatmatching. Back when I was using vinyl, it was the mark of a good DJ to be able to blend two tracks seamlessly by ear, but nowadays it is - in my opinion - one of the LEAST important skills a DJ can have. If you've taken the time to grid your tracks properly, then being able to beatmatch them all manually is not only pointless, it's an utter, utter waste of time. Time that could be better spent working on things like phrasing, EQing, effects, correct use of HPF/LPF filters, etc. Also, you'll never "have" to play on CDJs. If you want to use controllers, use controllers. And just in case someone says, "yeah but sometimes Traktor gets the grids wrong, or "sometimes sync doesn't work", you've still got your waveforms. If you're going to practice beatmatching at all, use the waveforms. That's what they're there for. And to answer your original question, yes; most DJs just match the BPMs on the display, press play and then nudge the jogwheels when using CDJs. It's not like it was in the vinyl days where people had to do everything by ear. |
| Yong Aptekar 31.05.2013 | Can we not have a Beatmatching vs sync debate every week? Op if you feel you should learn to do it by ear, do it, it's only going to make you a better dj. At the very least, you will learn your tracks far better than you believe you already do. But if you want to use sync, nobody is going to stop you. |
| Antonetta Wikel 31.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by Timbo21
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| Jeffrey Akinsanya 31.05.2013 | have a go on some cdjs or tt maybe your a natural... for most people it takes practice to perfect your beat matching skills. theres alot of people that enjoy djing because of the beat matching and other who prefer to put there efforts in other stuff. personally i believe you can learn alot by trying to beat match.. even if it is a train wreck |
| Edwardo Rothenberger 31.05.2013 | I hate manually beat matching on Traktor. The pitch faders are crappy small, and the sound card latency makes it shit when using one ear on, one ear off. It's a pooh fest all round |
| Joesph Kasian 31.05.2013 | LOL at these butthurt people angered by you coming in and saying this about beatmatching. Yes, on higher model CDJs they do show the BPM to .00.....but I believe a true DJ should learn to mix the ways people have listed above, its becoming more and more of a forgotten art. TBH, its more about the way you match tracks and you're set progression coupled with the ability to read a crowd, some of the best DJs in the history of DJing couldn't beatmatch very well. |
| Melany Bondanza 31.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by Ed Paris
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| Olin Easley 31.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by m4rkw
Also, phrasing should really come natural to people, I was phrasing my mixes correctly before I'd even heard of it and I doubt I'm special in any way. |
| Matt Kane 31.05.2013 |
Originally Posted by m4rkw
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| Sonja Roybal 01.06.2013 |
Originally Posted by geminimech
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| Melany Bondanza 01.06.2013 |
Originally Posted by donstone
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| Verlene Geevarghese 01.06.2013 | What gets really interesting once you are comfortable beatmatching is knowing your tracks enough so that you phrase match properly |
| Oretha Afful 01.06.2013 | turn sync off, don't look at the screen, pick 2 songs you don't know the bpm of, erase your cue points, turn off auto-cue and then go and beatmatch and keep them syncd for at least a minute or so. rinse and repeat |
| Matt Kane 01.06.2013 | the bpm is the same? have you tried djing in traktor without using the sync-function? try beatmatching by ear without watching the screen. you |
| Kellie Myrum 01.06.2013 | In CDJ world of beatmatching you need to train your ears and give less attention to displays. |
| Melany Bondanza 01.06.2013 | only in traktor, thats the problem.. where the BPM is exactly the same.. so the only thing left is get the two songs sync and I dont find that very hard :P so what makes the difference on CD players? |
| Maryam Fevold 01.06.2013 | In most cases, yes. Especially with dance music where it's really easy for the CDJ to detect the BPM. Songs/genres with less pronounced beats/rhythms make it harder for the software to detect the BPM, though. And this is where, if the CDJ does get it wrong, it's useful to know how to manually beatmatch. |
| Alphonso Deitchman 01.06.2013 | Have you tried beatmatching before? |
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