If you're ever in a setting where you don't have luxuries such as nice CDJs with BPM counters you should be able to rely on minimal assistance for mixing.

I'm a firm believer of relying on less to get the job done only because it makes me more versatile.

However, old equipment lacking these features is getting phased out and won't be something you will have to worry about in the near future. Beat-matching is pointless to me now anyways. Most of the major places in my area have taken away turntables and replaced them with CDJs; in all honesty if we're going digital I'm going straight to computer. I see it a waste to spend money on standalone CD players when my laptop can do the same thing (if not more).

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Originally posted by upcoming I dont understand why people force that way so much ,shouldnt the final result be important and not the technique you use to get it?

LOL Of course not. These days, people go to watch DJs beatmatch without a beat counter. Who goes to clubs to listen to music? Crazy people.

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Originally posted by dj_alfi change your avatar for fucks sake.

I don't have CDJ's, at home I spin on vinyl, and I love it. Seeing that needle drop on the record is just something else. So, I never use BPM counters, don't need 'em, if you are serious about dj'ing, learn to beatmatch just by using your ears. When I play at clubs I sometimes use CDJ's, but still ignore the counter, I just don't pay attention to it.

Deltawye

I use bpm meters on cdjs as a guide, but I always double check.

Never completely trust a machine. Trust your senses.

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Originally posted by chinamon not true. i say "ugh" but i am a tranny.

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Originally posted by kotsy lol colour me retarded

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Originally posted by upcoming Last night I had a argument with fellow djs. I work on cdj800 mk2 and djm400. The way I mix the tunes is this;track A is playing,i put track B through headphones just to set the cue point and then I simply put the same bpm as it is on the player that plays track A.Then I simply move the crossfader to the right and track B comes in at cue point that is previously set............19 out of 20 times the transition is perfect and if something goes bit wrong I just adjust it with jog wheel and thats it,simple and effective. A dj that works with turntables and serato tells me this is wrong and that I should listen to both tracks through headphones and match bpm and pitch this way and that it is essential I learn to do it that way. I admit it is good to learn to match the bpm by ear without looking at the bpm counter but honestly why should I do this if I am playing on cd players and will never use turntables? Why should I then waste time setting it up that way if I can have it all done and ready in 15 seconds with my technique....................What do you think about this,is it simple a matter of gap beetwen generations or......?

no offence, if you can't beatmatch with your ears, i don't think you would be able to tell whether your transition is "perfect" or not.

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Originally posted by upcoming Last night I had a argument with fellow djs. I work on cdj800 mk2 and djm400. The way I mix the tunes is this;track A is playing,i put track B through headphones just to set the cue point and then I simply put the same bpm as it is on the player that plays track A.Then I simply move the crossfader to the right and track B comes in at cue point that is previously set............19 out of 20 times the transition is perfect and if something goes bit wrong I just adjust it with jog wheel and thats it,simple and effective. A dj that works with turntables and serato tells me this is wrong and that I should listen to both tracks through headphones and match bpm and pitch this way and that it is essential I learn to do it that way. I admit it is good to learn to match the bpm by ear without looking at the bpm counter but honestly why should I do this if I am playing on cd players and will never use turntables? Why should I then waste time setting it up that way if I can have it all done and ready in 15 seconds with my technique....................What do you think about this,is it simple a matter of gap beetwen generations or......?

so, what will happen the one time you're expected to mix on gear that doesn't have beatcounters?

oh, and this is the biggie too

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Originally posted by stan229 Digital BPM counters are never accurate 100%

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Best statement below. While BPM counters may help you get out of a jam...they are not 100% accurate. Kind of like birth Control for woman

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. My theory is this-TRUST YOUR EARS OVER EVERYTHING ELSE!

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Originally posted by stan229 Digital BPM counters are never accurate 100% either and neither is moving a crossfader to mix. I'm with Mr Mystery.. use your ears and not your eyes and stop using a crossfader for mixing if you ever want to do any serious mixing

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Originally posted by m. sylvia No one leaves Sound-Bar sober on my watch.

First thing i did when i got my cdj's was put a little piece of electrical tape over the bpm. It looks like ass , but I wont ever have to look at it.

Jay

Like others have said: Use the counter as a guide to get close, then use your ears to get the mix to be perfect.

I would learn to use Tech 12s if I were you, if only to train your ears to be able to hear the good matches. When you get on CDJs after learning to mix with vinyl, then mixing with the CDJs feels much easier.

My goal for the near future is to find some cheap second-hand Tech 12s to compliment my CDJs, so that I can learn to mix vinyl well (and have a use for my vinyl collection!)

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If you can use your ears to get perfect...

GETTING CLOSE SHOULD TAKE ABOUT 3 SECONDS.

Then another 10-15 (maybe a little longer) to get the pitch within .02%->.05% of what it needs to be.

Try this: Move the pitch slider on your CDJ until it JUST changes from 128-129bpm on a track. Now, move it up until it JUST changes from 129-130bpm. That's a HUGE range. In order to lock two tracks, you're talking about getting it within a few millimeters of where you need to be. Simply saying "this deck says 128, and that deck says 128, they should be ok" is definitely not good enough.

Train your ears. The only thing I use BPM counters for is to see how fast I'm playing.

Or get some vinyl decks. In order to mix really tight with vinyl you have to ride the pitch throughout your mix anyway. There's no "set it and forget it" quite like on CDJ's (well, sometimes you get lucky and don't need to make any corrections, but it's not the norm).

People dancing don't care how the hell you are beatmatching, as long as your doing it. Using the BPM counters to help figure out where your tracks are is not wrong IMO. To me its like a car with a speedometer. Why not use it. A trick I figured out when using CDJs is to move the pitch fader up to the next whole number. for example, track A is at 129. but to avoid being at 129.9, simply move the pitch fader down till it says 128. At that point you are at 128.9. Afterwards simply adjust upward till you hit 129, then you know your in close range.

BUT, all this said, you must still use your ears with the jog wheel to fine tune. If your using both the methods in combination, I don't see why ANY transition would go bad. Plus, having your tracks perfectly beatmatched give you as a DJ the opportuinty to do whatever you like with the tracks. Effects can go a LONG way when you have the time to fcuk with them

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