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| quote: | Originally posted by hey cheggy
This is something i wrote for another site, well part of it anyway, i took out all the audio samples, but I hope it helps.
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Before you start, you need to have an understanding of the basic structure of dance music. Genres such as house, trance, hardcore and techno run on what is called a 4/4 beat. This means that there are four beats to a bar. Each beat is hence, a quarter note. Now a phrase consists of 8 bars or 32 quarter notes, that is, 32 beats. If you listen to a song, you will notice that there is a change every 32 beats. Now this change may be very slight and subtle, such as the addition of an extra snare, or it could be something much more noticeable, such as the beat stopping all together as the song moves into a “breakdown”, that is, the part of the track where there is no beat. These can be seen on the record, being signified by slightly darker patches of vinyl. They usually look like rings going around the record. If you count the amount of beats from the start of the song to the first breakdown, you will notice that it is divisible by 32. For example, it might be 32 beats or 64 beats. It could be something much larger like 256 beats.
So what is phrase matching? Phrase matching is lining up the two songs so that they both start the phrase on the first beat. An example of a song not being phrase matched is shown below. Each number refers to the beat in the phrase. 1 refers to the first beat, 2 to the second, 3 to the third and so on:
1—2—3—4---5---6----7---8----9—10—11—12--19
6--7—8--9--10--11--12--13---14--15--16--17—18
The above is not phrase-matched, as the numbers do not line up with each other.
Below shows two beats that are phrase matched.
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12…………29-30-31-32-1-2-3-4-5…
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12…………29-30-31-32-1-2-3-4-5…
Can you see how the first beat of the phrase matched up with the first beat of the phrase with the other song. These two tracks are phrase matched. Remember, a phrase is 32 beats, so after 32 beats, the next phrase starts, hence the numbers go back to 1. If you listen to a song, you will notice that there is a change every 32 beats. This change may only be minor but it should be there.
Now, when you throw in a track, it is important that you throw it in on the first beat of the phrase, on top of the first beat of the phrase of the track that is already playing. This way, any changes that occur at the end of each phrase will happen together. So, when the outgoing track begins to die down in intensity, the incoming track will start to build up. These increases and decreases in intensity occur every 32 beats as well.
When to throw in the track. Well, preferably after the last breakdown. This means that you won’t get two tracks playing together but only one beat being heard. Say the intro on the incoming track is 4 phrases long, that is, 128 beats, and the outro of the outgoing track is 6 phrases long, that is, 192 beats, then thow the incoming track in after two phrases, that is, 64 beats. This is phrase matching. You could also throw it in after 96, but I would say either 128 or 192 would be preferable.
Next, it is important to take into consideration when throwing in the next track when playing trance, of where the melody of the outgoing track end and where it begins on the incoming track. It is important to make sure that they do not over lap. Therefore, if the melody ends after 64 beats from the breakdown on the outgoing song and begins after 32 beats on the incoming track, then throw it in either after 32 beats so that the melodies do not overlap as this will sound really bad.
Obviously, the goal is to have the songs transfer over a long period of time, but it can take months to be able to beatmatch to a level where you can have two songs matched for over a minute without needing to adjust. Don’t give up trying.
And teatea, 1 hour is okay for practicing, although it’s not an overly large amount. Just play when ever you feel like it, cos if you don’t want to mix or if you’re not in the mood, then it will only frustrate you. And don’t worry if it takes a while, there are plenty of people who like to say they could beatmatch in 2 weeks, but these people can’t beatmatch for shit. No offence to them, but after two weeks, you might think you’ve got it but you don’t. Your beatmatching will always improve, everyday, and then one day, it just clicks and you go up a level. Then three weeks later, you might click again and get better all of a sudden. Just keep in there dude, you won’t regret it. |
Thanks for this. Uve given me a better understanding 
Thanks
Mikey
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