Matching beats in 10 seconds !

[Miroslav]

Re: Matching beats in 10 seconds !

I know some DJs who do the split headphone mixing very well...and ultimately, you do whatever works for you...I'm sure there's some kickass DJ out there whol beatmatches entirely by just shifting the records with his/her hands

My $.02: I figure I'm in the strongest and most flexible position when I keep things as simple as possible, relying as little as possible on specific blending features of my mixer, etc. Then you can hopefully play anywhere with as much confidence as possible. To that end, I found myself having to get comfortable to switching headphones to either ear...sometimes the monitor is on your "weak" side and can't be easily shifted to the other...

[jeffrey collins]

Re: Matching beats in 10 seconds !

we all pretty much know that mr. digweed fully mixes in his headphones.

I do it too sometimes. If there isn't a split cue in the mixer...i simply turn both cues on when I really need to discern the difference in tracks...it makes it quite a bit louder in your headphones too so I then need to turn the headphone level down.

I actually mix at a much lower level in my headphones than any of my other dj friends...weird.

[FM]

Re: Matching beats in 10 seconds !

A lot of times the programming of a set can really make for a boring night. As you may wanna play one way but your crowd definitely wants to hear something a bit different.

You might be playing some banging house music, then go into some more progressive stuff, then you see you're losing your crowd, it makes you wanna play more banging house music.

well, programming also refers to mixing in key where you can move the set flow up and down any which way you please...I too hear way too many DJ's (even those that are good regionally-wise and the like) just "mix" with no flow at all...track plays, beatmatch/bang the next one, beatmatch/bang the next one after that, etc. Once in a while 2 good sounds come together but that's it.

It's when you can mix in key (i.e. hitting that point just when a track starts to outro or has done so for a few seconds, then bam a bassline or whatnot hits to keep things moving vs. mix the straight-outro with the straight-intro for a minute plus with very little going on...or really advanced is instead of mixing the intro part in, take the track 2+ minutes in where a cool part is and just quickly work that in right as the outro starts up, etc.) and blend stuff together that makes it really interesting...

[jeffrey collins]

Re: Matching beats in 10 seconds !

it also makes it really boring to listen to a club dj try to do the same kind of mixing that a top40 dj does where they just play 1-2 minutes of a song.

the first part of your comment to me is about the feeling...not programming. I'm of the thought that if i'm trying too hard to mix, then i lose the feel of it and if i'm not feeling it...then i feel i've let people down.

[Erik Mitchell]

Re: Matching beats in 10 seconds !

Great thread. I'm pretty keen on beat matching, however I don't have the best equipment. I have a Numark dual CD mixing console, just something to start out with, but maybe the pitch is not sensitive enough? I mean I can get close but I can only fine tune by a tenth of a percent (-1.6, -1.7, etc...) Is there much better equip or is this something I have to deal with?

[FM]

Re: Matching beats in 10 seconds !

higher-end players have .05 & .02 increments...but .1 is the same thing that a Tech 1200 has...

[jeffrey collins]

Re: Matching beats in 10 seconds !

there is a lot better equiptment out there. Get yourself something fron Denon or even Pioneer and you can't go wrong. But they are more expensive than other products. Just make sure this is something you'll really stick with before getting more equiptment.

[chuy]

Re: Matching beats in 10 seconds !

Great thread. I'm pretty keen on beat matching, however I don't have the best equipment. I have a Numark dual CD mixing console, just something to start out with, but maybe the pitch is not sensitive enough? I mean I can get close but I can only fine tune by a tenth of a percent (-1.6, -1.7, etc...) Is there much better equip or is this something I have to deal with?

Go for Pioneer, allen&heat... no matter you don't stick to this DJ thing in the future.

If you are doing something, do it big, try your best to get the better gear you can afford on (if you change your mind about djing or won't be able to continue, there will always be a lot of newcomers who'll gladly buy your equipment. That way, your expensive investment won't be a total waste).

Do it big, talent is a must and being talented makes you shine over the rest, but if you have the best equipment, you'll definitely be closer to success and even more motivated.
This world needs brilliant new talent, not average skills or nice wannabe's.

DO IT BIG! Cheers.

[Miroslav]

Re: Matching beats in 10 seconds !

or just invest in a laptop and some programs and start doing "live laptop" sets. No one needs to know that you just hit play in winamp and that you're checking your email

[day_for_night]

Re: Matching beats in 10 seconds !

the best way to get good at fast beatmatching is to play live and force yourself NOT to beatmatch the track at all prior to when you want to mix it in. cue up the track and drop it in near the end of the track like you normally would, then you have either 32 or 64 beats to match it before you'd better be mixing. you might make a few errors, but it'll sure teach ya quick. nothing like the possibility of fucking up live to make you focus!

[chuy]

Re: Matching beats in 10 seconds !

...nothing like the possibility of fucking up live to make you focus!

And don't forget that live fucking keeps anyone in focus too!!!

[Glenn-Holmes]

Re: Matching beats in 10 seconds !

there are some nice advices here. i for example use both pitch control and fingers why? cause thats how i got used to. it works fine for me
so maybe it takes abit more than 10 seconds but im cool with it.

and if we want to see it from a different aspect and actually answer the question form the first post
i've heard eric morillo's magic is just repitching all his records into cd's - all with the same pitch so that he won't have problem with that and he'll have plenty of time to put the accapellas in the right place and right timing and work as mad on the effects machine. unfortunately i only heard this rumour after i saw him live last year on ibiza at the radio one weekend (he was very good btw)

[kningl]

Re: Matching beats in 10 seconds !

Not to sound horrendously amateurish, but why is split-mixing on your headphones preferred for DJing?

[jeffrey collins]

Re: Matching beats in 10 seconds !

sometimes the monitors you are using in the club don't work as well as you would hope, so split cueing is helpful. Then sometimes you just get so used to it, that you always do it.

It's also a nice way to save a little bit of your hearing, as the headphones will bring down the decible level to your ears by 5-10 db...depending on how good your headphones are.

And in these days of everyone living on top of one another, you don't wanna bother your neighbors at 3AM while you are practicing, so you learn to do everything in your headphones...then you just continue that into the dj booth.

[federicocharles]

Re: Matching beats in 10 seconds !

...i only heard this rumour after i saw him live last year on ibiza at the radio one weekend (he was very good btw)

One of the best morillo sets i?ve heard!!!