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beat-mixing queation
hey i got a set of sherwood belt drive decks and a synergy hybrid mixer a couple of weeks ago and i was wondering, when you are beat-mixing is there a certain way to find out which record you need to speed up or slow down?or do you just have to mess about with it til you get it right? would really appreciate any tips anyone has about mixing cause im a total beginner.
thanks.
try increasing the bass in the queued track
it just takes practice! youll get the hang of it eventually but dont expect great things straight away especially if your using belt drives 
keep at it! its worth it in the end 
I found myself asking the same question only a few months ago. Everyone said practice, practice, practice and I knew there had to be a straight answer aside from just practice. After a few months I found this isn't the case. You'll just develop an "ear" for it, it especially helps if you know your tracks, because you'll know right off the bat what kind of pitch you'll need.
You just need to know the tracks so you can differentiate between the basslines.
In practicing you learn to hear the off-beats from the solid on-beats. In the beginning, I really couldn't hear when a record is going off. Practice by really paying attention to how the records sound like mixed with a solid beat and then listen to the slight differences on how the beat sounds when it's a bit off. The beat sounds different when Track A is faster than B and vice versa.
In the beginning, somebody told me this little trick:
Track A runs ahead of Track B: you hear:
Taboom taboom taboom
Track A and B run in good:
Boom Boom Boom
Track A is behind on track B:
BoomTA BoemTA BoemTA
I know, a stupid trick, but in the beginning, it helped me alot...
Btw, Belt driven TT's suck for beatmatching, they can't keep up the tempo. when you have a little money, buy direct driven TT's
Mose people assume that kick-beats are all the same...
This, my friend isn't the case.
Like was said above, you'll develope an ear for which one is running faster. The bass drum on one song isn't always the same on the other... One might sound like a BOOM... and the other might sound more like a THUMP (To put it in explainable words) You'll develop that sense for it once you become more familiar with your tunes. I find it a bit more difficult to know which is faster or slower especially when I am mixing a new record.
Often times to tell which is moving faster or slower, trial + error is needed. If you think record A is moving faster than record B... Then try dragging the platter on record A... Did it get better? If so, slow the pitch down. If it got worse, speed it up.
Just remember, the record you have playing 'live' is generally not the one you want to be fiddling with, only the one you are trying to cue.
okay, well i know alot of people say they beatmatch using the kick drum, but thats not really the way i do it(i beatmatch using the hihats) .
the way i do is like this:
take for example we have track A playing, and we're ready to beatmatch track B.
What i do is kill the bass for track B and let it start playing over track A. now all you should be really focusing on and hearing for track B are the hi-hats (that chee! sound ie. boom! chee! boom! chee!). try and get that chee sound lined up with the bass on the first track (which is the hard bit, because this is where you have to beatmatch the two tracks, just take a roung guess at it though).
now the problem everyone has
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| is there a certain way to find out which record you need to speed up or slow down |
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| Originally posted by GelatinPufF okay, well i know alot of people say they beatmatch using the kick drum, but thats not really the way i do it(i beatmatch using the hihats) . the way i do is like this: take for example we have track A playing, and we're ready to beatmatch track B. What i do is kill the bass for track B and let it start playing over track A. now all you should be really focusing on and hearing for track B are the hi-hats (that chee! sound ie. boom! chee! boom! chee!). try and get that chee sound lined up with the bass on the first track (which is the hard bit, because this is where you have to beatmatch the two tracks, just take a roung guess at it though). now the problem everyone has THe fact that the you're only listening out for that "chee!" sound on track B will mean that if track B is a little to fast it will start going like this over the bass of track A BOOM!----CHEE!----BOOM!-----CHEE!---BOOM!------CHEE!--BOOM!-------CHEE!-BOOM! now the "chee!" sound is moving to fast, slow it down a little, get it line up again and see how much closer you are to getting the two beatmatched..... NOW if track B is a little to slow, it will sound like this: BOOM!----CHEE!----BOOM!---CHEE!-----BOOM!--CHEE!------BOOM!-CHEE!-------BOOM! this time its too slow. speed it up a little and line it up again and see how you go. this was probably no help at all, but oh well! good luck |
i think hes asking more of a basic question like... how do u know how much you have to put the pitch at? and stuff like taht... more technical question.
hard to explain, you feel it, you move it down milimeter by milimeter till you feel its right
i was always scared to change my pitch at large amounts... I thought i was wrong to have the pitch at 6%. don't be scared. Some songs are simply just really slow or really fast. And as long as the beats are hitting together, you should be good.
hey thanks everyone.ive tried everything that you hav suggested and i think im getting a bit better.
i have another question for you tho.when i know the bpm of 2 tunes how do i get them to match up,im a little confused as to the +2 and +4 etc.is that just simply if a tune is at 140bpm wen the pitch slider is at 0 and you move it to +2 it will be at 142bpm?cause i counted the bpm for a couple of tunes and then tried to match them up and it was way way out.
i know im asking some stupid questions here but i have to get the answers somewhere.
thanks a lot guys.
basically, yes. im no professional, but thats how a good way to look at it. beat matchging is trying to get 2 tunes playing at the same speed then. the pitch slider either slows a tune or speeds it up.
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| Originally posted by lesprock hey thanks everyone.ive tried everything that you hav suggested and i think im getting a bit better. i have another question for you tho.when i know the bpm of 2 tunes how do i get them to match up,im a little confused as to the +2 and +4 etc.is that just simply if a tune is at 140bpm wen the pitch slider is at 0 and you move it to +2 it will be at 142bpm?cause i counted the bpm for a couple of tunes and then tried to match them up and it was way way out. i know im asking some stupid questions here but i have to get the answers somewhere. thanks a lot guys. |
Good questions...I might as well take advantage of the attention. Is there any use for the pitch bend? As far as I can tell its only temporary but I'm used to Traktor where you can use it to fine tune the permanent pitch. Stupid, I know...Thanks for the help.
there is no use for pitch bend on a turntable, at least imo. I've never used tracktor, but in VTT, the pitch bend lets you move the pitch, and have it "snap" back to the original place. quite helpful actually, if that was on my techs i would use it.
however, the great thing about vinyl is, you can just touch the label to make it go a little faster, by lightly pressing in a circular direction in the direction the records already spinning, with your fingers as close to the spindle as possible.
if you need to slow it down, you can drag your fingers on the pitch dots.
however, even better than this (smoother, less noticeable when the track is live) is to just move the pitch up a little bit, and then back down (or vice versa if it's to slow) it's a little more difficult, but a superior way of doing a pitch bend.
BTW, very nice taste in trance you got there mate, those are some of my favorites.
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| Originally posted by JohnSmith there is no use for pitch bend on a turntable, at least imo.... quite helpful actually, if that was on my techs i would use it. |
Normally I just nudge record B forwards. If it get's further out of time, then it's going to fast. If it gets back in time its too slow, then just adjust the pitch.
Hmm...thanks for the input. I have a pair of Gemini XL-500 IIs that have a pitch bend but I haven't really been able to put to use. I guess now would be a good time to start messing with the finger method....
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| Originally posted by JohnSmith BTW, very nice taste in trance you got there mate, those are some of my favorites. |
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| Originally posted by Ghostface Normally I just nudge record B forwards. If it get's further out of time, then it's going to fast. If it gets back in time its too slow, then just adjust the pitch. |
When I first started, I couldn't tell which record was moving faster. So, I would take the record that I wanted to add to the mix, and begin monitoring it through the headphones. Periodically, I would tap the vinyl to slow it down (tap the second record). After a few taps, the records would be matched - usually. As soon as the beats synch up, you will notice it. It sounds like heaven Inevitably, the records would fall out of sync again. This is where I would change the pitch a bit, tap the record again, and see what happens. Soon you will start to hear the differences. That's how I learned, and it worked for me. Hope that helps!
Loki
yeah i agree with loki i did something the same .. what i always do if it's a new song i just brought i always listen 4 a min to track A then i switch and listen to track B .. and then i know witch one is faster .. ( not always but most of the time you can hear ) and then adjust the pitch ... and if you do that for a year you will great a some sort of feeling and then you adjust the pitch much faster
Well, in my opinion... you sould leave the track that is playing to the crowd alone, and match the one you're mixing into, to the track that's playing. so...
in the A has been playing, match B to A and then mix together.
Think about it though, it makes sense, because you don't wanna change the tempo of the dancing on the floor just to mix the next track in....change the music, not the people listenning. You are the DJ, you're supposed to have control of the music and then the dancefloor. That's the way I see it.
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