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Beatmatching Tips

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Beatmatching Tips Posted on: 07.03.2013 by Gaynell Rydberg I'm following ellaskins on youtube to try and learn how to beatmatch, but I'm having trouble isolating the two different tempos. Say Track A is my current song and Track B is what I'm mixing in. 1. Cue B 2. Get Track A tempo in my head 3. Exaggerate Track B tempo and slowly bring it down The problem I have now is that I'm getting confused when I try to determine if the tempo is too fast or too slow. Are there any tips on how I can do this? Boost the bass EQ? Or is this just something that will take time? Thanks!
Vito Agate 11.10.2013	Originally Posted by SlvrDragon50 Do you believe one of you guys could take some time out of your day to make a video of your beatmatching, but record the cue side rather than the monitor side? Sorry, bit late to the party, but if still relavent give this a try... http://www.djbolivia.ca/videos.html Scroll down to 'Sample DJ Sets to help beginners understand how a DJ performs:' - Master plays out of the Right channel, CUE plays out of the Left channel, so you get to hear exactly what the DJ hears all through the mix. On TTs or CDJs.
Doreen Schurle 11.03.2013	Originally Posted by haze324 Say what? This weekend there was someone playing before me. When I came on, I had to beatmach "by ear" to transition. There is absolutely a HUGE benefit to being able to do it by ear and not relying solely on software. Goodjob to the OP for trying to master this. Oh I completely agree; there are some situations where you HAVE to do it by ear. All I'm saying is, when there's the opportunity to have the software do it for you, TAKE it.
Julissa Serrone 11.03.2013	Originally Posted by mdcdesign There's absolutely NO benefit to doing it by ear, just saying :P . Say what? This weekend there was someone playing before me. When I came on, I had to beatmach "by ear" to transition. There is absolutely a HUGE benefit to being able to do it by ear and not relying solely on software. Goodjob to the OP for trying to master this.
Meridith Betsinger 11.03.2013	Originally Posted by Vandalus Just a technical question, but how would one record the cue side? I've been believeing of putting up a video but I don't know how I would get that audio routed to the recording. Unless I reversed the order of operations and was matching the master deck to a cued deck in my headphones, but I still don't know how that would help you much. End of the week workday and my brain is mush maybe. The best way would be to get a cable splitter on the headphone output. One split would go to your headphones, and the other to the recording device/computer. As for mixing the audio and video together it shouldn't be too difficult, do a clap sync with your hands, or start the video recording on the first kick and then in your video editing software you'll sync the video and the audio track together. I believe I'll make a manual beatmatching video with traktor, using a video camera. will post it here
Doreen Schurle 10.03.2013	Originally Posted by SlvrDragon50 https://soundcloud.com/andrew-hua-1/...-mix2013-03-10 Just threw that together. Just mixing songs together, no FX since I don't feel comfortable enough with mixing songs yet to deal with FX. Gotta work on dropping the songs in at hte right time now. It's starting to get a bit easier. Most of the songs I mixed were 128 BPM, but there were some 127, 130, and 135 songs. I did a manual beatmatch and then double checked myself by pressing sync to see if the % tempo fader changed or not. Got it within 0.1% every time! Thanks for the help! Sounds okay, except for at 13:18, when you're half a beat out with the drop - and stays half a beat out until the fade-out. If you had properly gridded tracks and used sync, you wouldn't have had that problem There's absolutely NO benefit to doing it by ear, just saying :P Oooh, same thing at 25:12 as well, although it's only a fraction of a beat this time. Saying that, the audience in a club isn't going to notice either way lol.
Vito Agate 11.10.2013	Originally Posted by SlvrDragon50 Do you believe one of you guys could take some time out of your day to make a video of your beatmatching, but record the cue side rather than the monitor side? Sorry, bit late to the party, but if still relavent give this a try... http://www.djbolivia.ca/videos.html Scroll down to 'Sample DJ Sets to help beginners understand how a DJ performs:' - Master plays out of the Right channel, CUE plays out of the Left channel, so you get to hear exactly what the DJ hears all through the mix. On TTs or CDJs.
Doreen Schurle 11.03.2013	Originally Posted by haze324 Say what? This weekend there was someone playing before me. When I came on, I had to beatmach "by ear" to transition. There is absolutely a HUGE benefit to being able to do it by ear and not relying solely on software. Goodjob to the OP for trying to master this. Oh I completely agree; there are some situations where you HAVE to do it by ear. All I'm saying is, when there's the opportunity to have the software do it for you, TAKE it.
Julissa Serrone 11.03.2013	Originally Posted by mdcdesign There's absolutely NO benefit to doing it by ear, just saying :P . Say what? This weekend there was someone playing before me. When I came on, I had to beatmach "by ear" to transition. There is absolutely a HUGE benefit to being able to do it by ear and not relying solely on software. Goodjob to the OP for trying to master this.
Meridith Betsinger 11.03.2013	Originally Posted by Vandalus Just a technical question, but how would one record the cue side? I've been believeing of putting up a video but I don't know how I would get that audio routed to the recording. Unless I reversed the order of operations and was matching the master deck to a cued deck in my headphones, but I still don't know how that would help you much. End of the week workday and my brain is mush maybe. The best way would be to get a cable splitter on the headphone output. One split would go to your headphones, and the other to the recording device/computer. As for mixing the audio and video together it shouldn't be too difficult, do a clap sync with your hands, or start the video recording on the first kick and then in your video editing software you'll sync the video and the audio track together. I believe I'll make a manual beatmatching video with traktor, using a video camera. will post it here
Gaynell Rydberg 10.03.2013	Yea, I believe I panicked at the 13:18 mark because the song was getting close to ending, and I hadn't beatmatched yet haha. I actually noticed during the song that the beatgrid was off so I was doing some regridding at the same time (which I've never done before). More practice though! Gonna try to do a mix every day.
Doreen Schurle 10.03.2013	Originally Posted by SlvrDragon50 https://soundcloud.com/andrew-hua-1/...-mix2013-03-10 Just threw that together. Just mixing songs together, no FX since I don't feel comfortable enough with mixing songs yet to deal with FX. Gotta work on dropping the songs in at hte right time now. It's starting to get a bit easier. Most of the songs I mixed were 128 BPM, but there were some 127, 130, and 135 songs. I did a manual beatmatch and then double checked myself by pressing sync to see if the % tempo fader changed or not. Got it within 0.1% every time! Thanks for the help! Sounds okay, except for at 13:18, when you're half a beat out with the drop - and stays half a beat out until the fade-out. If you had properly gridded tracks and used sync, you wouldn't have had that problem There's absolutely NO benefit to doing it by ear, just saying :P Oooh, same thing at 25:12 as well, although it's only a fraction of a beat this time. Saying that, the audience in a club isn't going to notice either way lol.
Gaynell Rydberg 10.03.2013	https://soundcloud.com/andrew-hua-1/...-mix2013-03-10 Just threw that together. Just mixing songs together, no FX since I don't feel comfortable enough with mixing songs yet to deal with FX. Gotta work on dropping the songs in at hte right time now. It's starting to get a bit easier. Most of the songs I mixed were 128 BPM, but there were some 127, 130, and 135 songs. I did a manual beatmatch and then double checked myself by pressing sync to see if the % tempo fader changed or not. Got it within 0.1% every time! Thanks for the help!
Rolanda Clodfelder 10.03.2013	So what you're trying to do is adjust the tempo fader until you don't get the double bass anymore, then you just recue the track when you're ready to bring it back in? Basically - yes But not so much adjust as to "bounce" the fader up and down into smaller and smaller more accurate increments while the track is playing. How I do it is launch the track at whatever the pitch fader happens to be set at. If its too fast pull it all the way + to the max and push and pull the fader from big to smaller to smallest increments - generally its in 99% sync within 2 or 3 seconds of doing it and ready to mix. Simply re-cue, wait till you are ready to mix and launch again - If I find it goes out of time (which happens occasionally), I'll just pull and push the fader in smaller increments DURING the actual mix itself. 5 times out of ten though I wont pre-sync my tracks at all, I'll just launch on the first down beat at a point I know works on the other record, sync using the method above while mixing it in. Thats more down to knowing the tracks than anything else though. I'm one of those people who decides even after I've had a track cued up for 4 minutes ready to go that I'll change it up at the last minute and mix and beatmatch it on the fly. Best of luck
Yu Santellano 09.03.2013	To go from there start, cos there's about a million techniques here, platter, no platter, fader, no fader etc. What I do is: 1. Find my start point. 2. I'll always have it set so I can see the static track BPM (I won't go completely blind, I dont believe theres any need), so i take a guess, 1% slower? 2% faster? 3. Wait for the start of the next bar in Track A (the playing track). 4. Press and hold my cue on track B 5. Too fast? Too slow? Adjust fader accordingly. 6. Drop it again 7. Repeat until it's right. 8. If I can't get it exactly right, and time is running out, then I use the platter. I know that seems like a lot and/or really slow, but in reality it's all happening pretty quickly.
Gaynell Rydberg 09.03.2013	I'll try this out today, the diagram helps a lot. So what you're trying to do is adjust the tempo fader until you don't get the double bass anymore, then you just recue the track when you're ready to bring it back in?
Yu Santellano 09.03.2013	Nice diagram Deevey - just got a question about the technique for it though, would I be constantly re-cueing then re-dropping the track as well? Because surely if you just rode the fader on its own, even if you started the songs at the same time, you would have to wait for the songs to catch up to one another after the fader adjustment to see if it's the right adjustment would you? If you get what i'm saying.
Jerica Salava 09.03.2013	Originally Posted by Vandalus How so? I've got a pioneer djm-850, so I can route audio - in fact, that's how I record audio through traktor, I route the master internally into/out of channel 2 which I then tell tracktor that chan 2 is the source of the recording. Assuming this is similar to what you mean, what's the next step? You can get a 3.5mm to 1/4 inch adapter. You probably have one on your headphones. Then use a 3.5mm male to 3.5mm male cable to connect it for the DJM-850 headphone port to any recording device 3.5mm input jack Laptop, PC, etc. Then you can play with the Monitor Mixing knob and either output CUE, MASTER or a mix of both. >
Rolanda Clodfelder 09.03.2013	Actually no; I ride the platter (well, the edge anyway) to keep it in time, then make adjustments to the fader until no adjustment on the jog is required to keep it in time. If it works for you its all good Personally I like to ride the fader and not touch the platter whatsoever except to launch the track I find it faster and more accurate to beat match - Its another throwback from vinyl I guess when touching the platter continually while in the mix meant a horrible down-pitch to the vocal or synth due to lack of keylock where a gradual motion with the fader was almost un-noticable. I found this lil diagram I'd drawn up a while back might make it easier for peeps to understand how to quickly ride the fader into the right place - if you get it down you should be able to sync most anything blindly within 2 or 3 bars. Hope it helps in the search for techniques. For the purposes of making an instruction video, couldn't u just have the "CUED" channel at full volume, just for the purpose of demonstration. Im sure this wouldn't confuse the punters so much. Just use the headphones out on the mixer as your Audio source ? If I had access to Decks/Mixer setup these days I'd do up a lil demo - of course if anyone wants to donate me a set hehehe
Yu Santellano 09.03.2013	Originally Posted by SlvrDragon50 My resolution is set to 8%, but I have control up to 0.01. I'm just not very good at spotting the tiny beat drifting. I'm still having difficulty isolating the beats :/ Keep drifting into Track B as my main beat. More practice! What you're looking for is a double "thud" that sounds a bit wrong, move the platter/fader (whichever you want) until it stops, re-cue and try again, see if it stays like that. Done.
Yevette Matatall 09.03.2013	Originally Posted by Vandalus How so? I've got a pioneer djm-850, so I can route audio - in fact, that's how I record audio through traktor, I route the master internally into/out of channel 2 which I then tell tracktor that chan 2 is the source of the recording. Assuming this is similar to what you mean, what's the next step? I was being a smartarse in that the DB4 has a selection in the menu were you can send the cue and master signal out of the record output. For the purposes of making an instruction video, couldn't u just have the "CUED" channel at full volume, just for the purpose of demonstration. Im sure this wouldn't confuse the punters so much.
Carmelo Politowicz 09.03.2013	Originally Posted by narrah You can do it with a DB4.... im sure this dosnt help How so? I've got a pioneer djm-850, so I can route audio - in fact, that's how I record audio through traktor, I route the master internally into/out of channel 2 which I then tell tracktor that chan 2 is the source of the recording. Assuming this is similar to what you mean, what's the next step?
Yevette Matatall 09.03.2013	You can do it with a DB4.... im sure this dosnt help
Jerica Salava 09.03.2013	I'm guessing you could output the CUE and play with the monitor mix knob? >
Carmelo Politowicz 08.03.2013	Originally Posted by SlvrDragon50 I have no clue if you can record the cue side, but I'd imagine you could just send the cue output into your recording device lol I'd just like to hear what's going on in the headphones during cue since the live DJ videos I'm watching on youtube, I'm only hearing the monitors. Well hmm. I'm probably not the person to be able to help you since I don't believe I have any way of doing the audio and video at the same time effectively. Maybe someday the good people at DJ TechTools will let me come over to their offices in SF and do a little recording!
Gaynell Rydberg 08.03.2013	I have no clue if you can record the cue side, but I'd imagine you could just send the cue output into your recording device lol I'd just like to hear what's going on in the headphones during cue since the live DJ videos I'm watching on youtube, I'm only hearing the monitors.
Carmelo Politowicz 08.03.2013	Originally Posted by SlvrDragon50 Do you believe one of you guys could take some time out of your day to make a video of your beatmatching, but record the cue side rather than the monitor side? Just a technical question, but how would one record the cue side? I've been believeing of putting up a video but I don't know how I would get that audio routed to the recording. Unless I reversed the order of operations and was matching the master deck to a cued deck in my headphones, but I still don't know how that would help you much. End of the week workday and my brain is mush maybe.
Carmelo Politowicz 08.03.2013	Originally Posted by mdcdesign Wtf is this psycho doing? You see how he's "finding the beat" using the jogwheel? You. Don't. Ever. Do. That. That's what you do on TURNTABLES, not on non-moving platters. That's what the instant-triggering cue and play buttons are for, sigh. Notice how he has to immediately touch the jogwheel to correct the mistake caused by this technique? Disagree completely. Either option is fine. I've been playing on turntables forever, so doing it that way is just my natural workflow when converting to CDJ's, and since I only have TT's at home (DVS) that's what makes sense to me when I play out. And so what that he made a slight phase adjustment at the beginning? You telling me that you've never hit the "play" button a little early or late? No one's going to hear the correction unless the channel fader is up, and even if it were (assuming that was something you wanted to do), typically its because you WANT the crowd to hear the scratch drop in. If it's off ... then just get better at letting go of the platter (or vinyl, as the case may be) or quickly correct it. And anyway, no one in a club is really going to notice it unless you were WAY off in starting the track.
Lauretta Ehrhorn 08.03.2013	If I get time I will mate. Just gone full time at work as a charge nurse and have vowed to shelf DJing after 20 years of it. It will be on Turntables if I do get time but the principles are exactly the same.
Gaynell Rydberg 08.03.2013	Do you believe one of you guys could take some time out of your day to make a video of your beatmatching, but record the cue side rather than the monitor side?
Lauretta Ehrhorn 08.03.2013	Deevey yes thank you. More of a red wine evening ;-)
Doreen Schurle 08.03.2013	Originally Posted by deevey You mean riding the Tempo fader and Nudging the platter I hope :P Dyslexic morning ? Actually no; I ride the platter (well, the edge anyway) to keep it in time, then make adjustments to the fader until no adjustment on the jog is required to keep it in time.
Rolanda Clodfelder 08.03.2013	I don't like his start/stop technique. He should be riding the platter and nudging the tempo fader in response but if it works for him then fine. You mean riding the Tempo fader and Nudging the platter I hope :P Dyslexic morning ?
Lauretta Ehrhorn 08.03.2013	I don't like his start/stop technique. He should be riding the platter and nudging the tempo fader in response but if it works for him then fine. Blood by Francois Dubois is a mighty fine song however. My vinyl's ruined unfortunately.
Gaynell Rydberg 08.03.2013	[QUOTE=CountenanT;593999] Originally Posted by b1sh0p 0.5bpm is pretty far, but it depends on the resolution of your pitch faders - what's your pitch range set at? If you lower it to about 4% (3% being about the speed at which most people will notice a record is playing at the wrong speed, and will notice when you bring it back to 0%), you should be able to make fine enough adjustments. Using Traktor and a mixtrack pro, I can adjust about 0.06bpm at a time, and it seems to do the trick. You won't get it spot on every time - that's what the platter is for! Also, not sure I agree that turning the BPM counters off is necessary - if you're using traktor, change the display for BPM to "Track BPM" and it will only show you the original BPM of the track, not the adjusted value. I'd say this was acceptable, as it's the equivalent of writing the BPMs on your CDs/records. Which is usually a good idea. My resolution is set to 8%, but I have control up to 0.01. I'm just not very good at spotting the tiny beat drifting. I'm still having difficulty isolating the beats :/ Keep drifting into Track B as my main beat. More practice!
Lisa Lochotzki 09.03.2013	Yup, nothing wrong there. Use the method you want, get the job done
Jerica Salava 08.03.2013	Originally Posted by deevey I don't see anything wrong with his technique at all, its exactly how I like to cue and fire on a Pioneer as well. Personally I find it much more "in touch" with the music than using the tap-tap-tap on the buttons (which I despise doing) and just as accurate, you can mis- fire on buttons just as easy. Different Folks n' all.. ^ I agree. That's vinyl style. Although I feel you could wear out your buttons out with all those presses. Wonder how long they last? I feel that using the jog definitely looks cooler. >
Rolanda Clodfelder 08.03.2013	Wtf is this psycho doing? You see how he's "finding the beat" using the jogwheel? You. Don't. Ever. Do. That. That's what you do on TURNTABLES, not on non-moving platters. That's what the instant-triggering cue and play buttons are for, sigh. Notice how he has to immediately touch the jogwheel to correct the mistake caused by this technique? I don't see anything wrong with his technique at all, its exactly how I like to cue and fire on a Pioneer as well. Personally I find it much more "in touch" with the music than using the tap-tap-tap on the buttons (which I despise doing) and just as accurate, you can mis- fire on buttons just as easy. Different Folks n' all..
Yu Santellano 08.03.2013	[QUOTE=b1sh0p;593868] Originally Posted by SlvrDragon50 Ahhh. So much easier when I incorporate the platter. I'm only getting within +/- 0.5 bpm though. How close do I need to get the tempo? I know spot on is the goal, but is there some range that's acceptable?[/] Personally, I'd turn off the bpm counter if you can. You want to learn blindfolded, samurai. 0.5bpm is pretty far, but it depends on the resolution of your pitch faders - what's your pitch range set at? If you lower it to about 4% (3% being about the speed at which most people will notice a record is playing at the wrong speed, and will notice when you bring it back to 0%), you should be able to make fine enough adjustments. Using Traktor and a mixtrack pro, I can adjust about 0.06bpm at a time, and it seems to do the trick. You won't get it spot on every time - that's what the platter is for! Also, not sure I agree that turning the BPM counters off is necessary - if you're using traktor, change the display for BPM to "Track BPM" and it will only show you the original BPM of the track, not the adjusted value. I'd say this was acceptable, as it's the equivalent of writing the BPMs on your CDs/records. Which is usually a good idea.
Gaynell Rydberg 08.03.2013	Originally Posted by mdcdesign Wtf is this psycho doing? You see how he's "finding the beat" using the jogwheel? You. Don't. Ever. Do. That. That's what you do on TURNTABLES, not on non-moving platters. That's what the instant-triggering cue and play buttons are for, sigh. Notice how he has to immediately touch the jogwheel to correct the mistake caused by this technique? Yea, I don't do the platter thing. I just press the cue a couple times to get the beat and then launch. Gonna spend all day beat matching tomorrow!
Doreen Schurle 08.03.2013	Originally Posted by SlvrDragon50 Hmm.. I wonder if one of the tutorials I followed is wrong. He never touches the platter. Bad way to beat match? Wtf is this psycho doing? You see how he's "finding the beat" using the jogwheel? You. Don't. Ever. Do. That. That's what you do on TURNTABLES, not on non-moving platters. That's what the instant-triggering cue and play buttons are for, sigh. Notice how he has to immediately touch the jogwheel to correct the mistake caused by this technique?

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