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Posted by Turkish on Oct-01-2003 22:12:

Fine Tuning

Hey all,

I've been mixin for a while now and have got beat matching down alright, but does anyone have any advice for really fine tuning my beat matching cause sometimes the two songs are just a hair or two off.

thx a bunch

Posted by SgtFoo on Oct-01-2003 23:05:

slight pitch changes in the right direction will fine tune the beatmatch, but if you go wrong, you're fucked.
sometimes, I just beatmatch the track perfectly right as soon as possible, then i cue it up and match it quickly later, when i need it to come in to mix.

Posted by Breeze on Oct-02-2003 12:53:

yes this is a tricky thing to do, fine tunning tracks. i just match the beats and fine tune it using the pitch only otherwise if u touch the platter/vinyl u can hear a big change. one slight movement out of place and ure fucked ahhah

Posted by Chris d(-_-)b on Oct-02-2003 14:52:

quote:
Originally posted by Breeze
yes this is a tricky thing to do, fine tunning tracks. i just match the beats and fine tune it using the pitch only otherwise if u touch the platter/vinyl u can hear a big change. one slight movement out of place and ure fucked ahhah

I have to disagree. Ofcourse it depends on skills and stuff but i usually slow the vinyl a bit by applying some pressure on labeled center of the vinyl. This does not have a big effect on the track. It only temporaly slows down the track and the variation is very small and very easy to control. If tha track is too fast, i slow iyt down by hand and only then change the pitch. Again if it is too fast, i first adjust the speed manually and so on. In my opinion, messing with the pitch "in the mix" is wery unaccurate and and can't be controlled as much as when doing it with hand.

Posted by razzi on Oct-02-2003 15:22:

i have to agree with chris, lightly touching the label or the shiny black at the end of a track let you control the beatmatching much better, and there really isnt a noticable pitch change.. obviously yeah skill and what youre used to has an affect. make sure your hands arent sticky, and that the record isnt warped, or it can fuck you up royally

if the track you are bringing in is just a bit too slow, you could always up the speed by alot (2-3%) and then bring it back down to its original pitch change (but a little higher) that way it will catch up with a smoother pitch shift i guess. my advice: start beat matching perfectly and this wont be an issue :P jkjk

Posted by Ben Sherman on Oct-04-2003 14:39:

the way u do it is all down to personal preferance and obviously the way that suite u best.

to slow the record down i lightly touch the platter,i dont like touching the records whilst slowing down as i find thatthe records is more sensetive to heavier touch than the platter,so its easier to fuck it up.

to speed the record up i used to pinch and twist the spindle, but again i have found that this doesnt give me the fine control i want, so now to speed up a tune i give the label a nudge along. ie one finger on the label and pull the record around until its back in line.

i also make sure i do all of these adjustments through my headphones, ive seen djs make adjustments whilst in the mix not through the phones, but personally i like the phones on cos i think it gives me a more direct like to the sound i am trying to control.

the majority of my pitch adjustment comes whilst im cueing the new tune,hopefully when im actually in the mix the adjustment that is needed if any is so small that i can fix it just using the pitch slider and from practice u will get to know when tunes are going out of sync b4 the kicks start to drift just by the way it sounds,i dunno what i really listen for but its something but u do start to recognise it.

Posted by Freak on Oct-04-2003 16:11:

Lots of posts on this forum about touching the platter and it being really noticeable...
Some people perpetuate this myth that its a bad thing to touch the record or platter- far from it.its quick, convenient and if done correctly- practically unnoticeable.
On a club system it is masked agreat deal also as these systems are quite flattering.

You can learn to ride the pitch adjuster also- all depends on how you want to do it. This method is harder to learn- and takes longer to correwct in the mix than a simple physical touch.
In a night i will use both methods- but i will touch the record and platter more than fine tuning purely by using the pitch adjust.

All depends on how you do it- if you give it a nudge (index finger on label) in the midle of a beat and are pushing it by half a beat or something then yes it will be noticeable.
if its done at the right point and if its done in small amounts then its barely noticeable. Rememebr- fine tuning should only be fractions of beats- if its more then your whole pitching needs work.

Same for slowing it down by swiping the edge of the platter- if its done in a vocal passage or something then very noticeable
-if its done at the end of a bar on an offbeat then its not so audible.

if you drop the fader by a very small amount it will also help to mask it.

When i started out as a trainee warm up dj years ago i wouldnt ever touch the record or platter and my mixing sucked because of it. My basic pitching was fine-but i was almost scared to touch the record and fine pitch and as a result it would drift by very very tiny amounts which i would try hopelessly(at the time) to correct purely using the pitch slider and sound shit.
Dont be afraid to touch it.

Dont forget- after you have given the record a nudge or touched the platter- remember to adjust the pitch slider accordingly-otherwise it will just drift back out again and you will have to do it over and over.

p.s- if the hole for the spindle is oversized or the record is warped be very very very careful- as it could go severly tits up when you touch it and it jumps. <-this DOES happen and is a total pain in the ass.

Posted by Nemesis44 on Oct-04-2003 18:57:

Hey folks,

I am a perpetuator of myth with regards to pitch versus hands on.
There are technical reasons why pitch adjustment may be better but the difficulty level of using that method is outweighed by the ease of the more hands on approach especially for new DJs. And in the long run the difference between the two in terms of effect on mix is virtually undetectable, the difference is more mechanical. (Nuff said about that).
Although the actual correction with pitch can be just as quick as a manual one just depends on how you do it.

What actually makes a good beatmatcher though has little to do with the technique he/she makes the adjustments. It's more down to his/her ability to hear a slight miss match before anyone else does. As time goes on you actually develop a sense for knowing it before it's happens. So ultimately the only thing that needs to be done is practice and get used to hearing it.
Personally I use the pitch method, started doing it as a turntablist when creating melodies in mixes with other records. Been doing it for about 16 years now so it just feels natural. However if the end result is the same the method is not important.

The thing I would say that you may want to avoid is touching the record itself especially in the case of single sided test pressings as they may slip and throw the mix into buffalo stampeed mode. Some records are just more slippy than others... so be careful.

Cheers
Nem

Posted by Freak on Oct-05-2003 15:29:

quote:
Originally posted by Nemesis44
What actually makes a good beatmatcher though has little to do with the technique he/she makes the adjustments. It's more down to his/her ability to hear a slight miss match before anyone else does.

Spot on that man

p.s
a one sided test press that is warped is even worse