Here's a method that I do that seems to work great and is fairly easy to pick up.

1) Start the new record out slightly faster than the one currently playing.

2) touch the platter until you get a beat to hit at the same time.

3) Obviously the new song will be faster, so slow down the pitch control based on how long or hard you had to touch the platter.

4) repeat steps one through three until you don't have to touch the platter any more and it stays in sync. I usually wait about 30 seconds to a minute and if they're still in sync, you're done.

Now you're not going to be perfect, so you'll need to practice pitch corrections as you're mixing too. And, sometimes you might touch the platter a little too hard, so you'll need to know how to spin the record faster by either manually pushing on the label part of the record (which is dangerous if you have a warped record or a record with a slippery label) or by twisting the metal post in the center of the platter.

I hope this helps!

DJ Adam Smith

I've had decks for a few weeks now, and I'm still struggling with beat meatching. That said, I can't offer you much advise on how to get better, but I can share a few things I've learned about learning.

So many people will tell you to count BPM's and figure out pitch adjustments. Might as well trade in your equipment for a math book and a slide rule and go back to school. Eventually, you're going to want to get to the point where you want to be able to mix by ear, so why not start learning that way now. Don't learn something just to make you feel better now and then have to reteach yourself how to beatmatch.

Something that fouled me up was cueing. When I started, I couldn't be bothered with the idea of starting the record I was bringing in on a precise spot in the song. As other people have said, try mixing somethng other than beats to start and just get the concept of bringing in another song and having it sound good. That's where I'm at.

Above all else, just stick with it and practice.

Practice Practice PRACTICE....mix using ur ears...pretty soon youll be able to mix songs you've never heard before....
ive actually had 5 different songs synced at the same time.....but ive been at it for a long time...
remember ur 4 beats.....4 is the magic number....1234..1234..1234..mix in 1234....

FIVE SONGS?
that's wack/
what is that, 2 turntables and 2 cds and a ...... what, radio?

did it actually sound good

or was it a jumble of noise

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what trainspotters are.

Hehe yeah same reaction here.

What kind of music do you mix Liquid?

Hmm btw i would go for 16 beats instead of 4, cuz most tunes spin in 16 beats.. with only counting 4 you could end up in mixing 2 beats insimultaniously

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If You Handle The Needle U Gotta Handle The Truth

quote:

Originally posted by patticus FIVE SONGS? that's wack/ what is that, 2 turntables and 2 cds and a ...... what, radio? did it actually sound good or was it a jumble of noise

Actually It's not a problem to mix 5 songs,( okay then a little ) but its on the edge, and u should carefully choose your records...
Have u guys forgot about acapella?
Trance w/2-3minutes introbeats?

Not everything is HardcoreTrance out there, some music has a little less punch than other.
And Aphex: I agree about 16beats, I Don't think about it when I mix, It just feels naturally, to slip the record into the right place )

But I've been mixing for a long time now lol

hm yeah interesting still, i know about acapellas but its a little pushing it

yeah i actually prefer 32 beats now i think about it..cuz its 8 bars, and your transition will sound perfect then

anything less than 16 will mess you up BIGtime.
but what do you mean having 2 beats simultaneously, isnt that the point of beatmixing? haha

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what trainspotters are.

I just want to thank everybody for their reply. You all have been very helpful and I really appreciate it. Thank you!

I always drop on a multiple of 16 bars (usually 32) because that's the normal size of a section of dance music before the arrangement changes - so many tracks have a 16 or 32 bar intro before a hook kicks in and ideally you want to get the outgoing track to finish at the same time as the next track is kicking in.

I also mix purely on headphones - partly because I have no spare monitor but also because I can't get both beats inline (even if they are matched) without listening to it on headphones (slight delay through monitor due to more electronics and distance from ear so incoming record is always ahead).

Are there any automatic beat matching mixers out there?
I would just like to know..
would make mixing a lot easier!

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Darchinova Are there any automatic beat matching mixers out there? I would just like to know.. would make mixing a lot easier!

Why even bother mixing then? Just get a supercomputer or something to do everything for you. That would take the point out of it.

If you don't feel euphoric when you mix -- even if it's horrible, like my mixing -- I think you're into DJ'ing for the wrong reasons.